Page 32 of Silver Lining
Swearing steadily, he placed a boot on the log and twisted the ax until the wood split into two pieces.
He wanted to shout at God or fate or whatever malicious power had guided his fingers to the green marble. He wanted to smash and destroy and turn back the clock and make everything end the way it should have.
Ridley's expressionless voice called through the darkness. "Mr. Houser wishes to speak to you before Mrs. McCord arrives."
Before he returned inside, he took a moment to run his fingers through his hair and compose himself. The answer was obvious. He simply had to divorce Louise without delay. But the baby would be born before a divorce was granted. Cursing, he shrugged into his jacket. No matter what happened, he'd smeared a stain of scandal on Philadelphia which would follow her to the grave. She didn't deserve that. She didn't deserve any of this. Her only crime had been to love him.
"Did you know my daughter was pregnant when you married that other woman?" Howard demanded when Max returned to the sitting room.
"Of course not."
"But you knew pregnancy was possible, you son of a bitch," Houser snarled.
Max braced a hand on the mantelpiece and stared into the unlit fireplace. "If she'd told me, if she'd 'even hinted, I would have left Piney Creek at once. We could have moved up the date of the wedding and this disaster wouldn't have happened." That was the tragedy. None of it had to have happened.
"Pregnancy is hardly the type of news a decent young woman mentions in a letter. And don't even hint that my daughter is in any way to blame for what you did to her! You ruined her, betrayed her, and jilted her. You've destroyed her good name and brought shame on this family!"
Max dropped into a chair and sank his head in his hands. "I'm totally responsible." There had been a moment after Ridley had fetched the shotgun that he'd believed Houser would pull the trigger, and he hadn't attempted to defend himself.
"You're damned right you're totally to blame." Howard threw a glance toward the shotgun leaning against the fireplace. Then he flexed his fingers and tossed back a whiskey. "She could have had any man in this county. But, no. She wanted you. Every beau she ever had would have given her the moon and the stars if she'd asked. But not you. I told her she was making a mistake. I told her, Think about the house he's building you. Do you really want to live outside of town? On a ranch? Does he care about your wishes? But at least I thought you were a decent man. I would have sworn Max McCord wouldn't force a respectable woman to abandon her innocence and morals." He made a spitting sound. "You'll pay for this."
Every day for the rest of his life. He would never forget how happy she had been to see him, followed by her devastation and agony when she understood that he could not marry her and she was truly ruined.
Ridley had taken Livvy's cape in the foyer, but she still wore her hat and gloves when she hurried into the sitting room, her skirts crackling around her boots. She threw Max a quick questioning glance, then turned sympathetic eyes to Howard Rouser.
"I'm terribly sorry, Mr. Houser."
"You don't know all of it, Mrs. McCord. Your swine of a son ruined my innocent daughter." Rouser's face was on fire and his hands trembled.
" Philadelphia is pregnant," Max said, forcing the words across his tongue.
"Oh my Lord!" Livvy's knees collapsed and she dropped onto the settee as if her bones had melted.
Shock widened her eyes.
"He should be horsewhipped, then tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail!"
"Oh Max."
"I'll leave for Wyoming in the morning." He clawed a hand through his hair. " Philadelphia can go back East. I'll join her there, and we'll marry as soon as the divorce is final."
"Max, stop and think. What if Louise turns up pregnant?" Livvy asked softly. "Will you divorce one pregnant wife to marry another?"
Howard Rouser's lips curled in revulsion. "You were bedding another woman while my daughter was trying on her wedding gown? You son of a bitch!"
At some point Howard Houser had switched from sherry to whiskey and had consumed enough that he swayed on his feet. "You're never going to touch my daughter again, you hear me? I'll see you in hell first.
I'd rather have a street sweeper for a son-in-law than you!"
Livvy narrowed ice-blue eyes. "Put away the whiskey, Mr. Rouser. We aren't going to settle anything if you're drunk."
"And just what in the hell is there to settle, Mrs. McCord? My daughter is ruined, our two families are disgraced, there'll be enough scandal and gossip from this to entertain Fort Houser for years. I'll send Philadelphia somewhere to have your son's bastard where at least she doesn't have to endure public shame and humiliation. And then what? If she brings home a baby, you know damned well what people will think and say! So she loses her home as well as her good name."
"That won't happen." Livvy's back straightened and her shoulders stiffened. She turned a hard stare on Max. "A McCord created this mess, and a McCord will make it right."
"I'll move the earth to make that happen," Max said, dragging his fingers across the pox marks on his jaw. "But I can't make it happen soon enough. The baby will be born before the divorce is final."
"I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about Wallace."
