Waves

Part 44

LET'S GO!

Four hours. That's how long, minus a fifteen minute recess breathlessly begged for by the state in an attempt to slow down the evisceration of their witness, it took Eve to get Joseph Franklin so ruffled, so discombobulated that he perjured himself into a hole. She had carefully backed him against a wall when it came to his marriage with his wife; forcing him to admit that he had been happily married and that his relationship with Bridget Pope had been a secret at the time she died.

The letters his daughter Connie Banks had given Eve during their first meeting months earlier had been particularly damning, each one more salacious than the next. Eve had Franklin read several of them out loud to the jury, their faces giving away their thoughts on the matter easily. It was clear from the letters that they were not a couple in love, but rather Franklin was a master manipulator; obsessed with Pope, controlling, and frankly cruel.

It made for a dramatic moment both in the courtroom and on the live stream that Joe and Andrea were watching while sipping on margaritas in their hotel room, each of them offering their own commentary like two drunk, cranky Muppets.

"His caterpillar-ass eyebrows keep flinching every time she twists the knife," Joe muttered. "He looks like he should be guarding the money at Gringotts," Andrea agreed, pouring them each another cocktail.

They watched as Eve wrapped up her demolition of Franklin and the judge gave his final instructions to the jury for the day, both of them commenting on how pleased she looked. Turning the volume down on the pundits who soon appeared on the screen to dissect the day's testimony, Joe checked the time on his phone to make sure he had enough time to speak to Andrea before Eve arrived "home."

"I wanted to bring something up to you. Well, more like ask you about," Joe said nervously as he turned to face Andrea. Raising her eyebrows, she turned off the TV entirely and put her glass down, nodding.

"So, you know, despite all the drama and...events since Eve and I got back together, things have been going really well. Like, better than well. I'd say amazing," Joe started, "and even though things are going to be a little different for me soon, I don't want the baby to slow down the progress Eve and I have made this time around."

Andrea smiled, a hunch forming about what Joe was getting at. "Kiddo, you don't have to be nervous. Spit it out," she urged him. "I wanted to check with you and ask permission before I ask Eve to move back in with me," Joe blurted out, "and I don't want you to think it's going to be like before. I'm not asking her to move in so I have a live-in maid or nanny or assistant. I want her to move back in because I love her more than anything. Because every day I wake up and see her, it's a better day and I'm a better man for having her by my side. I just want her around no matter what, all the time."

"Oh Joe. You don't need my permission for that. You know I love you and that you have my blessing for something like that. It's not like I don't know what you two are doing anyway," Andrea joked while she peered over her glasses, causing Joe to choke, "but besides. Eve's like the wind rolling in off the coast during a storm. There's no containing her or possessing her. She's a big girl who will do what she wants, however she wants."

Joe felt a sense of relief wash over him at Andrea's words; the anxiety he'd been sitting with for weeks about asking her finally leaving his body. "Thank you Andrea. It's not going to be like last time. I promise."

Nodding, Andrea reached for Joe's hand and squeezed it. "I know it won't be. Although, I do have to say, when you first started talking...I thought you were going to ask me for permission for something else."

Joe took a second to process what Andrea was insinuating before his eyes went wide and he shifted in his seat. "Oh! That. I mean, I don't want you to think I'm not thinking about that. That's kind of all I think about. I-I just, with the baby coming, and the trial, I didn't want her to think I was pushing things or pressuring her. But I want nothing more than that, but only if Eve wants it too."