Page 34 of Silver Lining
The clock in the downstairs foyer had chimed the midnight hour before her father rapped at her bedroom door, then stepped inside. "I assumed you'd be awake."
She sat up in bed and cried, "You have to fix this! Daddy, you have to make Max marry me!" Fresh tears burned her eyes, and she covered her face and sobbed. "He can't do this! He can't abandon me now, he just can't!"
When her father didn't rise from the chair next to her bed and take her into his arms to comfort her, she peeked at him through her fingers. Even in the dim light falling through the door from the hallway sconce, she recognized the anger clamping his mouth and steeling his eyes. How dare he be angry with her? His pride was nicked, but her life was ruined. Resentment trembled through her body. It wasn't fair that she had to manage him and turn his anger into sympathy before they could even discuss how he would fix this problem and save her.
"I'm sorry I disappointed you," she murmured, speaking through sobs, saying what she knew would appease him. "Please Daddy, please forgive me. I'm so sorry, so ashamed."
"You should be," he snapped.
"What?" Shocked, she dropped her hands and stared. He was supposed to sigh and shake his head, then comfort her and call her his good girl.
"Here." He tossed a handkerchief on the quilt. "Dry your eyes and blow your nose. Compose yourself because we have matters to discuss."
"You smell like whiskey!" He'd been drinking. That explained why he wasn't reacting as he should and usually did.
"McCord took advantage of you, and he'll pay for that. But I also know that Max McCord is a decent man. If you had said no and meant it, you wouldn't be in this trouble now."
Fire rushed into her face. "You're blaming me?" She couldn't believe it. "Me?"
"The woman sets the pace. You're as responsible as McCord."
Fury glittered in her eyes. It would be a long time before she forgave him for suggesting she bore some fault.
"I'm also to blame." Falling silent, he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I spoiled you after your mother died. Maybe I should have remarried. Maybe if there'd been a woman in the house, someone with whom you could discuss woman things …"He dropped his hand to his lap and looked at her. "I can't fix this the way you want it fixed. I can't make the pregnancy disappear. I can't free Max to marry you in the next few days. Neither of those things will happen."
One more shock rocked her universe. He'd always been able to correct whatever problems disturbed her world. Deep inside she'd believed that somehow, someway, he'd fix this problem, too. Panic leapt into her eyes.
"What am I going to do? Everyone knows we don't have any relatives back East," she said, her voice spiraling toward hysteria. "But I can't stay here." She was being driven from her home. It was unbelievable. "And you know what everyone will think, don't you? They'll think Max refused to marry me because I was pregnant! They'll say… Oh heavens, I can't bear it. Daddy, you have to do something.
You have to help me!"
"Listen to me." Finally he took her hand and held it between both of his on the edge of the bed. "You'll marry Wally McCord the day after tomorrow. The two of you will elope to Denver ."
She blinked hard, thinking she couldn't possibly have heard correctly. But he continued talking, relating a fantastical story about how she had always loved Wally instead of Max, and fortunately, she had recognized the true object of her affections in time, before she married the wrong man.
"Wally?" she repeated dumbly. Her brain ceased to process information. Surely he wasn't suggesting that she marry Max's brother.
"There will still be talk; that can't be helped. Gossips will imagine two brothers vying for the same girl.
You and Wally meeting behind Max's back. Eloping. I don't know yet how to explain the woman Max married, but we'll come up with something."
"I can't marry Wally," she whispered, staring at her father. "I hardly know him."
"You can marry him, and you will."
"Wally McCord?" She shook her head in confusion. When she tried to pull Wally's face into memory, she saw Max, younger and grinning, softer and more malleable, easygoing. Where had this idea come from?
"You have three choices," her father stated flatly. "You can do nothing, stay here, and face the disgrace and humiliation. Or you can go back East, have the baby, put it out for adoption, and still be the object of whispers and speculation. Lastly, you can marry Wally McCord, scatter a few lies to dampen part of the scandal, and thank heaven that he's willing to give your bastard a name. No matter what you do, there will be a storm of gossip. The way I see it, marrying Wally McCord is your best choice. I wish he wasn't a McCord, but he's all we have."
"But I don't want Wally," she wailed. "I want to marry Max."
"That is the stupidest, most foolish thing I've ever heard you say." Her father's fingers tightened painfully around her hand. "Remember this. McCord's pride was more important than you," he said bitterly. "Max didn't have to draw a marble out of that hat. If he'd cared one iota for you, he would have refused. And if he'd truly cared, he wouldn't have destroyed your innocence, then ridden out of here to spend the summer in the mountains."
This time when she burst into tears, he wrapped his arms around her and let her cry on his neck.
She didn't know how she could hate Max and want him at the same time, but she did. One thing she did know. It wasn't over between them.
CHAPTER8
