Encounters with John Wayne Ch. 24

After talking about the fishing trip, Ward started telling her some of the stories of their escapades during their college days and some of their practical jokes on each other. Apparently, when they were in college, their favorite pastime was going to bars, getting drunk and starting fights; no wonder they always looked like they were having fun doing those movie scenes—they were re-living their youth! They had pulled some pretty radical practical jokes on each other, like the time Ward had bet Duke fifty bucks that they could stand across a newspaper from each other and Duke wouldn't be able to hit him.

Wayne took over at this point, laughing, and explained to her that Ward had put the newspaper down in a doorway, then slammed the door shut and yelled at Wayne to try and hit him now! Wherein, Wayne explained, that he smashed his fist through the door and knocked Ward down, so he won the bet! Then Ward laughed and said, "Yeah, but your hand hurt like hell for a week after that—and it served you right!"

Diana was laughing with them as much as they were while listening to their raucous stories. Then Ward looked at Diana and said, "Sometimes I tell these stories to some of the new actors or actresses we work with to show them that Duke has a fun side to him, because most of the new people always think that Duke is just a hard ass!" Diana spewed the sip of beer she was taking and looked at Wayne—and they both burst out laughing! Ward just looked at the two of them, frowning in confusion, and asked, "What's so funny?"

Diana looked at Ward, and said in a strangled voice through her laughter, "You have no idea... just how true that is!" as she continued to roll on the chaise with laughter, both she and Duke were laughing so hard that tears were coming out of their eyes.

"How true what is?" Ward asked, still looking totally confused.

Diana calmed down just enough to look at Ward, put her palm up and dig her fingers like she was grabbing something and said, "How hard his ass is!" then fell into a fit of laughter again.

Then as realization dawned on him, Ward looked flustered and started to stammer from embarrassment, "Oh. I guess that comment must've stirred up some private joke between the two of you! I think I get the gist of it...don't need to say anything else...that's one mental picture I don't need! Just never thought of it THAT way before!" Diana and Duke just laughed harder. As they tried to calm their laughter, Ward told them he was going inside and get them some more beers and he'd be right back.

When they finally stopped laughing, Wayne looked at her and asked, "Do you think you can trust him now?" She nodded and said that he seemed like an old and dear friend to her already, and she sighed heavily as she wished to herself that she could feel more confident that she could share a life with the big man. He could see in her face that meeting Ward had made her question her decision about not staying with him; maybe Ward catching them together would work more to his advantage than against him.

When Ward came back out with more beers, the three of them sat and chatted for a little while longer like they had known each other for years. Then Ward said, "You know, I watched the two of you before you left on the boat earlier, and I was just a little curious about the conversation the two of you were having. I saw you salute him...what was that all about?"

Diana looked at Ward and said teasingly, "You've got a bad habit of watching us when we don't know it! If you don't stop that, I'm gonna punch you again!" He put a mock look of terror on his face and then grinned and laughed. She went on to tell him that she had assigned herself as first mate and then related their conversation about her family's military associations, what her father had done and that she had visited the Pentagon a lot, explaining that it was because Wayne had asked her how she learned to salute so well.

She didn't tell Ward the rest of that conversation, thinking the big man might not want his friend to know the rest. She looked at Wayne and smiled softly and he smiled back, the look in his eyes telling her he knew what she had done and why and that he appreciated it. Then Diana excused herself to go the bathroom, and both men watched her as she got up and walked into the house, both of them watching her ass. Then Wayne turned back toward his friend just in time to catch Ward jerking his head to look at him so he couldn't tell what part of her Ward had been staring at—as if he didn't know; he was a big breast man, but Ward was an ass man—and Diana had a very nice ass! Ward had the good grace to look sheepish at being caught staring at her.

Wayne shook his head at him and chuckled quietly, then said to his friend, "I think her getting to know you has helped my cause with her rather than hurt it, so I thank you for that. But, we only have about 6 hours left together, and as much fun as we've been having sitting here chatting with you, I need to be alone with her again...you understand?"

Ward replied that of course he understood and that he would make his exit as soon as he could when Diana returned because he wanted to say goodbye to her. Then he said to Duke, "There was more to that conversation you two had on the boat before you left than she told me, wasn't there?" Duke took a deep breath and nodded slowly at his friend, then Ward said, "You can tell me about it later if you want." He figured it was the touchy subject about his not enlisting that Duke didn't usually talk to anyone about—but he had with Diana and then he kissed her...Ward wondered what she'd said to Duke to earn a kiss. Whatever is was, he silently thanked her for it.

When Diana returned, they were chatting about what time Ward wanted to be able to return to his home, and he said whatever time they wanted to leave was fine with him. Diana asked him if 10:00 would be too late for him and he said that was fine, then teased her by asking, "Are you sure you'll be done by 10:00? I don't want walk in on anything I can't turn away from again!" as he waggled his eyebrows at her again.

She blushed and said, "I promise we'll be out of here by 10:00—or at least clothed by then!" as she grinned crookedly at him again.

Ward barked a loud laugh, and grabbed her in a big bear hug as he rocked her back and forth, and then released her as he held onto her hands and looked at her as he said warmly, "I really like you, Diana! I think you're the only woman I've met that could keep Duke on his toes and in his place! You seem like you could be really good for him, but I don't know the whole story. But I feel I know enough about you to know that you'll make the right decision."

He released her hands, and she reached up and grabbed his face and pulled him down to plant a gentle kiss on his lips, and then said softly, "Thank you. I really like you too, and I hope we do get the chance to meet again sometime if..." she trailed off and then just smiled at him as she took her hands off his face.

Ward smiled down at her softly as he straightened up, then looked at Duke's face and saw his eyes narrowed—he could tell that Duke didn't like that Diana had kissed him; but it was just a friendly gesture! Then Ward thought about the fact that he'd seen Diana naked and Duke knew that, so maybe that was where Duke's slight jealousy came from where he was concerned—he could understand that. But Duke had told him he couldn't stand the thought of her with any other man—that he couldn't handle it! What was it going to do to his friend if she didn't stay with him?

Ward thought about that as he said goodbye to Diana and then went to Duke and said, "Come on, Duke. Help me get the launch raft out, and I'll see that those fish you two caught get dressed and packaged when I get back to the marina." Ward and Wayne walked down to the raft on the beach while Diana stayed on the patio. Ward looked at Duke as they were moving the raft into the water and said quietly, "I can tell she loves you very much, which is why she's wrestling with the decision of whether to stay with you or not. But she's also very smart, and maybe she knows there's something between the two of you that just wouldn't work in the end. This is a matter on which you may have to trust your head rather than your heart...you understand what I'm saying?"

Duke frowned slightly at him, but nodded his head that he understood. Ward took off out to the boat and Wayne watched him for a moment, then turned around and headed back up the beach to the patio. Wayne stood a few feet from Diana for a minute, rinsing the sand off his feet with the hose as she watched Ward approaching the boat; then she looked at him and they just stared at each other for several moments—so many scary thoughts drifting through their minds.

He suddenly took a few steps toward her as he reached forward, grabbing her body and pulling her against him, the force of his momentum causing him to spin around on his last step as he crushed his mouth to hers. She put her hands on his upper arms to hang onto him as he spun her around, then she slowly dragged her hands up his arms to his shoulders and neck, and then to the back of his head, grasping his hair as she kissed him back hard. They stood there kissing passionately for several moments; then he picked her up in his arms and carried her into the house as they continued to kiss.

Ward had looked up after climbing into the stern of the boat just in time to see Duke grab Diana and kiss her in a way that would've rivaled any romantic movie scene, only they weren't acting. And when Duke scooped her up in his arms and headed into his house—he didn't have to use his imagination to know where they were headed and what they were going to do! He had images aplenty from his little voyeuristic indiscretion yesterday! He shook his head to get rid of those images, as he both envied and pitied Duke at the same time. He envied Duke because of everything Diana was giving him, and he pitied Duke because of everything he stood to lose if she walks away and they don't part with some kind of mutual understanding tonight. He vowed again to support his friend, however this "thing" turned out.