A Fever in the Heart: And Other True Cases by Ann Rule Read Free Book Online

Jerilee may have made Gabby glad he was free. His wholehearted pursuit to win her love suggests that he didn't even reflect on the fact that she was not. At first glance, it seemed highly unlikely that Gabby would be attractive to Jerilee. He was forty-two years old, and nowhere near as handsome as Morris. Morris had put on some weight but, underneath, he was still solid muscle. Gabby was soft and out of shape. He was not in good health, although the Blankenbakers didn't know how precarious Gabby's physical condition was. But Gabby had one big advantage: He was an unknown quantity to Jerilee. She had been with Morris since she was seventeen, and at twenty seven she was no longer an immature teenage beauty queen. She was a lovely woman who had made a place for herself in the business world. To Morris, Jerilee was still Jerilee. They had achieved the comfortable familiarity of a long-term marriage. Morris loved his wife devotedly but he was used to having her around. The exhilarating, breathtaking romance of a new relationship just wasn't there any longer. How could it be? Gabby played on that, he pushed back any thoughts he had about the ethics of what he was doing to Morris. He had moved into his friend's life and he felt comfortable there. He wanted it all for himself. Gabby had always gone against the odds in sports. He was now prepared to beat the odds when it came to love. He wanted Jerilee Blankenbaker and he was ready to be whoever he had to be to win her away from Morris. Morris and Jerilee's home now housed a three-adult family. ll Morris noticed that Jerilee no longer complained about the nuisance of having Gabby live with them, he didn't mention it.
    He just hoped that Gabby would make other living arrangements as soon as possible. He wanted his old life back. Morris may even have been relieved that Jerilee didn't complain any longer about the loss of their privacy or about the extra work it was to have Gabby live with them.
    Gabby seemed to enjoy being around five-year-old Rick and four year-old Amanda too. Apparently, Gabby never tired of looking at Jerilee. His eyes followed her appreciatively as she moved around her kitchen fixing supper and when she got her toddlers ready for bed. Although she was very intelligent, she was not an aggressive woman. She bent with seeming ease to the needs and requests of the men in her life. Jerilee had looked for so long to Morris for protection and approval. Now, subtly, it appears that she began to lean on Gabby. Although she had good female friends, she was a man's woman, soft and pretty and sweet. No one but the participants knew just when the balance finally shifted in the Blankenbaker household. The change was cataclysmic, but it occurred so silently that it was as if a deep fissure in the earth had crunched one seismic plate against another and eracked every wall in the house. The marriage looked sound, but a gypsy wind blowing across the land could have flattened the whole thing. Obviously, Jerilee began to feel as if she were sleeping with the wrong man when she went to bed with her husband. She must have thought of the man in the guest bedroom, who was unquestionably thinking of her and seething at the situation. No one who knew them or who encountered them later believes that Jerilee had planned to fall in love with Gabby, and it would probably be fair to say that he had not expected to fall in love with her. He had simply switched his obsession with Gay to Jerilee, with barely a pause in between. Even Gabby who was quite used to having his own way must have seen the shame of stealing the woman who belonged to the man who had literally saved his life, who had rescued him from drowning.
    Undoubtedly, Gabby recognized what he was about to do, but it didn't deter him. It was Jerilee he s4anted now and he was going to have Gabby led Jerilee to believe that his financial picture was far brighter than it really was. He promised her that once they were married, he would buy