As Max headed for the living room she took Royce's arm and escorted him to the back door. "I'll call you later. Good bye, Royce."
Chapter Nine
When Julie came into the living room Max was standing in the middle of the floor with his feet wide apart and his hands behind his back. "Is your friend gone?"
Julie perched on the edge of the couch and mentally girded herself for battle. "Yes. Say what you came to say. We need to present a united front when Shannon gets here."
Max paced across the room with the sensual grace of a prowling panther. "What was he doing here?"
Julie didn't hear his question. She was too engrossed in drinking in every detail of his muscular body. "I know Shannon's hopping mad. What did she say to you?"
Max narrowed his eyes. "You first."
Indignation stiffened Julie's backbone. "Me first? You're the one who barged into my house demanding that we talk."
Max aimed one long index finger in her direction. "You're the one who's refusing to answer the first question I put to you. What was Royce Garner doing here?"
Julie thought that was none of his business. She said, "Royce is my friend."
Max glared at her. "Answer the question. What was he doing here?"
One look at the set expression on Max's face made Julie decide it wouldn't be wise to antagonize him further. "He came at my invitation."
Max exploded. "That still doesn't answer my question. What the hell was he doing here?"
This was the man who had promised to be here and then failed to show or even call. "I'm making Shannon's old room over into a nursery. Royce offered to help."
All the anger drained from Max. Dropping into a chair he let his head fall into his hands. "Julie, this is our baby, mine and yours." He lifted his face. "Did it ever occur to you that I might like to help with that chore?"
Quite frankly, it hadn't. It wouldn't be to her advantage to admit that to Max. "You weren't around. Royce was."
"I ran into some difficulties or I'd have been here before now."
Would he? Julie wondered. "Why didn't you call?"
"I didn't think you'd be interested in excuses."
Julie decided not to pursue the subject. "You're being evasive too. What did Shannon say to you?"
"Our daughter is one unhappy woman."
"Our daughter is not a woman, she's a spoiled child and that's what she's acting like." How could Max defend Shannon's terrible behavior? "She hung up on me and then refused to answer her telephone when I called back."
Max actually smiled. "Count yourself fortunate. I got a tongue-lashing."
Talk about role reversals! Shannon was behaving more like a parent than a daughter, and Max and Julie were behaving like naughty, guilty children. Aloud, Julie wondered, "Why is Shannon so angry?"
Max's smile vanished. "Shannon's not angry, she hurt and a little jealous."
After a moment's reflection, Julie had to agree. "Why didn't I realize that?" This was yet another wedge that wicked fate had driven between her and her daughter. "I have to make her understand."
"Understand what?"
Julie didn't know what, exactly. "That -" She faltered. "I want her to be happy about the baby."
"Maybe she could be if she thought you were." After a significant pause, Max asked, "Are you happy, Julie?"
Julie's head flew up. "What kind of a question is that?"
"A perfectly legitimate one," Max shot back, "and one that deserves an answer. Are you?"
Legitimate seemed a strange choice of words. "Will you stop worrying? I am not going to saddle you with this baby." Maybe that would put his mind, if not his conscience, at ease.
"Then you are feeling trapped?"
Maybe she was, a little. "I'm going to have this baby and I'm going to be a good mother to it. I don't need your help or Shannon's interference to do either of those things."
Max's brows drew together until they met across his nose. "You're not the only one concerned here. Shannon and I both have a vested interest in this baby." He stood and came across the little space that separated them. "I realize that I don't know much about families, growing up as I did with no mother at all and not much of a father but even I can see that you need both Shannon and me now." He sat beside her and took her hand in his. "Why do you keep pushing us away?"
Julie pulled her fingers from his grasp. "Shannon's place is with Brett now. I have my business and my home here in Summerville and your life is wherever fancy and your wandering feet lead you." The hopelessness of the situation hit her with sudden impact. "I don't see any of those things changing any time soon."
"Some of them might if you were willing to make some compromises."
They were coming dangerously close to repeating the conversation that had led to their bitter quarrel ten years ago. That realization only added to Julie's feeling of helplessness. "We've been through this before. I'm not going to leave Summerville and you aren't about to settle down, here or anywhere else."
"But I have settled down," Max argued, "and not too far from Summerville,"
Julie eyed him skeptically. "How long have you owned that ranch, Max?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Just answer the question."
Max shrugged. "I signed the final papers a couple of weeks ago."
"And how many nights have you spent there since it became your permanent home?"
Max ran his finger around his collar. "I've been busy. In one fluid movement he was on his feet and once more prowling across the room. "I'm not asking you to make any long range plans. Why don't we concentrate on what we're going to do between now and the time the baby arrives?"
There was no need for him to do anything. That was the point Julie couldn't seem to get over to him. "I have the situation well in hand."
"What about your job at the restaurant? Sooner or later you will have to stop working. What will you do then?"
That was none of Max's business, nevertheless, Julie explained, "Royce and I have worked all that out."
Max put his hands in his pockets and leaned against the wall. "You said something about fixing a nursery?" Julie could sense the tenseness in his body. He was as tightly wound as a coiled spring.
"Royce helped me clear the room. All I have to do now is find a painter and shop for baby furniture," She wanted to tell him to sit down and relax but she couldn't quite find the words to convey her message.
Max lifted his face and stared at the ceiling. After studying it for several nerve bending seconds he lowered his head. "In essence what you're telling me is you used me for a stud. Now that you have my baby inside you, your intent is to share all the details of that coming birth with your friend Royce Garner and shut me out completely. I don't understand why you didn't have Royce's baby in the first place--or isn't he man enough to do the job?"
His words sliced like a rusty scalpel across Julie's heart. "That's a despicable thing to say."
Max nodded, "And an even more despicable thing to do."
Julie said with overt honesty, "I never thought you'd want to move furniture or be concerned about my work schedule."
"I do want to move furniture and I am concerned."
Every sane instinct Julie possessed told her it would be a mistake to let Max get close to her again but her foolish heart wouldn't listen. "I'm going to start child birthing classes in a few months. I'll need a partner. Would you like to come along?"
A slow smile spread across Max's face. "Do you mean that?"
"If that's what you want." Max was feeling guilty about not keeping his promise to be here over the weekend and he was getting a lot of pressure from Shannon to... Her mind hit a blank wall. What did Shannon want her father to do? Julie glanced at the clock on the wall. "Did Shannon say when she'd be here?"
Max smiled. "Soon enough--don't borrow trouble." Coming across the floor he sat down next to Julie. "Why don't I paint the nursery?"
Julie was too surprised to object. "I suppose that would be all right."
"Good. Tell me what color of paint to buy and I'll get it tomorrow."
Why did she feel foolish telling Max what had been so easy to say to Royce? "I'm not sure yet. I'm waiting for my ultrasound. When I see it I'll know the baby's sex."
The insistent clanging of the doorbell made Max jump to his feet. "That must be our daughter. I'll get it."
This was the moment Julie had dreaded since she had first realized she was carrying Max's child. She had always laid down such strict rules for Shannon. How could she explain now that she had broken the most fundamental of those rules, the edict that said no sex outside of marriage?
Max swung the door open to reveal Shannon and Brett standing on the other side. Without a word Shannon stepped across the threshold and into the room. Brett followed along behind her.
With one sweeping glance Shannon's surveyed the room. Then her eyes shifted to scan Max from head to toe. "Well, Daddy, I see you made it."
Julie knew she should say something or do something. Instead she sat very still with her hands folded in her lap and her mouth clamped shut.
Several dead seconds ticked by. It was Brett who finally broke the strained silence. "Is it all right if I sit down?"
Julie nodded toward a chair. "Please do."
Moving around Shannon and Max, Brett found a straight chair in the corner and perched on the edge. "Thanks." His discomfort was so apparent that Julie almost felt sorry for him. What, she wondered, had happened to the brash, arrogant young man she knew as Brett Morrison?
Shannon was still standing in the entranceway. Max gripped the doorknob impatiently. "Are you coming in?"
Shannon came inside and Max shut the door. The air in the room sizzled with the electric current of tension. Shannon inched across the floor and sat in the easy chair across from Julie. "Hello, Mamma. How have you been?"
The cushions on the couch gave beneath Max's weight as he sat down beside Julie. "Your mother is all right."
Shannon crossed her legs and gripped the arms of the chair. "I'd like her to answer for herself. Mamma, how have you been?"
Julie had this insane urge to say pregnant. She stifled the impulse. "Don't start with me, Shannon."
Shannon snapped, "Don't start? What does that mean? I ask how you've been and you say don't start?" Her voice dropped, became more conciliatory, "We have to talk about this, Mamma."
She was right, of course, and Julie knew as much. Why couldn't she relent? "Talk about what?"
Shannon turned to Brett. "See?" Her voice rose. "Didn't I tell you? She can be absolutely impossible at times."
Brett shrugged one shoulder and looked as if he wanted to agree. He didn't utter a sound.
Max intervened. "Shannon, please don't upset your mother."
Shannon's head snapped back. "Me upset her? What do you think she has done to me? Calling me on the telephone and announcing from out of the blue that she's pregnant?"
Max tried to placate his daughter. "Shannon, honey, please try to calm down."
Shannon sprang from her chair as if she'd she'd been catapulted from a cannon. Throwing both hands in the air, she shouted, "Calm down? How can I calm down when my mother who is old enough to have grandchildren calls me at in the wee hours of a Sunday morning and tells me she's going to have a baby?" She fell back into her chair. "My mother, that shining paragon of virtue, is going to have an illegitimate child."
Max growled, "That's enough, Shannon!"
Shannon turned the full fury of her wrath toward her father. "Who are you to tell me what's enough?" Then she collapsed like a leaky tire as her breath expelled from her mouth in a long hissing sigh. "I'm sorry, Daddy. I didn't mean that."
Under his tan, Max turned a pasty shade of white but he managed to control his temper. "It's all right. We're all a little upset and on edge but railing at each other won't solve our problem."
Shannon agreed, "You're right, of course. What are we going to do, Daddy?"
"We can work it out." Max promised, but he didn't sound any too sure.
Julie's eyes filled with tears. What a disappointment she must be to her daughter. "I'm the one who's having this baby and I'm the one who will solve any problems if and when they arise." Reaching across the little space between them, she took Shannon's hand in hers. "I know I've shaken your confidence in me. For that I am truly sorry. I also know that what your father and I did was wrong in the sight of most people, and maybe in the sight of God." Julie dropped Shannon's hand to wipe at a stray tear. "But none of that has anything to do with the new life I'm carrying inside me. And you don't have to worry. I'm fine and I'm happy about the baby. I hope when you get over the initial shock that you will be too."
"Oh, Mamma," Shannon came to sit beside her mother. "Please don't cry. I didn't mean those awful things I said." She put her arms around her mother and hugged her in a tight embrace. "If you're happy about having a baby then I'm happy for you."
Hope sparked as Julie began to breathe a little easier. "I've made some plans. Would you like to hear them?"
Shannon moved back and leaned against the arm of the couch. "I'd like to know how you think at your age you can take care of this house, work, and carry a baby for nine months."
"At my age," Julie questioned. "I'm not so old." She bit her tongue. This was not the time to start yet another argument with her daughter. "I've already carried the baby for over three months."
"But those are the easy months, Mamma. What about later when you began to expand?"
Julie wanted to tell her daughter that there were no easy months in pregnancy. She refrained from doing so. "Royce and I have worked things out. When I can no longer work in the kitchen, we'll hire a temporary cook and I'll help in the office."
"I think you should quit work," Shannon announced with youthful defiance. "At your age you can't be too careful."
"Don't be absurd. I can't stop working and you know it."
Shannon frowned in Max's direction. "Talk to her Daddy. You seem to have an inside edge when it comes to persuading her to do things."
From the corner Brett said, "That's hitting below the belt, Shannon. You can't blame a seduction entirely on a man. Sometimes it's not his fault at all."
Shannon's hackles rose. "How would you know that?"
Max smiled at his squirming son-in-law. "You'd better stay out of this, son. You can't help me and you could hurt yourself."
"No." Shannon held up one hand. "I'd like Brett to explain how he knows so much about seduction."
Julie didn't even like her son-in-law, yet she found herself defending him. Looking her daughter squarely in the eye, she admonished, "Don't take your anger at your parents out on your husband."
Shannon pressed her fingers to her temples. "I don't know what I'm saying anymore. This is making me crazy."
Max's face took on a set expression. "Your mother doesn't have to work another day if she doesn't want to. I am more than able financially to take care of her and the baby for as long as necessary."
The last thing Julie wanted was to be dependent on Max for anything. "That's very generous of you but I prefer working."
Max's granite chin jutted out. "You make it sound like I'm offering you charity. I'm not. This is my baby, too."
"Maybe he's right Mamma," Shannon interjected, "Maybe you should stop working at least until after the baby comes."
Brett spoke again, this time in that arrogant tone that Julie knew and despised. "Shannon, I think your parents should get married again."
In the ensuing silence a dropped pin would have created an echo. Shannon was the first one of the stunned three to find her voice. "Why didn't I think of that?"
Julie didn't dare look at Max. The last time her mother had railroaded him into marriage; now her daughter was pushing him toward making a commitment. She leveled a slashing stare in Brett's direction. "You are butting in to things that are none of your business." And then she turned her scurrilous gaze on Shannon. "Since you saw fit to marry without my blessing or
my knowledge I will thank you to keep your opinions about my marital status to yourself."
From behind her, she could hear Max's swift intake of breath. "They're only trying to help." He laid his hand on Julie's arm. "Marriage is a very personal and private commitment. Julie and I would have to decide that for ourselves."
Julie thought with some irony that if Max had been half as glib-tongued the first time around as he was now they might never have been married the first time. There was no point in letting Shannon entertain false hopes. "Marriage is not an option." She suddenly felt boxed in and trapped between a reluctant ex-husband and a disappointed and demanding daughter. Groping frantically for some way to ease this awkward moment, she asked, "Would you like to stay for dinner?"
Brett stood. "No thanks, we're having dinner with my grandparents." He glanced at his watch. "And we really should go."
Shannon gave her mother a quick peck on the cheek before she stood and nodded to Brett. "Let's go." She stared down at Julie. "I'll be in touch. If you need me you can call."
"I won't," Julie stopped. She had almost said I won't need you. "Hesitate to do that."
After hurried goodbyes and admonishments to 'keep in touch' Brett and Shannon left.
Max saw them out, closed the door and turning leaned against it. "Does that dinner invitation extend to me?"
What could Julie say? "If you want to stay you're welcome." She struggled to her feet. "I hope you don't mind pot luck."
"Why don't we order in?" Max was across the room and standing by the telephone. "Is there a fast food place around here that delivers?"
"There's a chicken place over on Grant Street. Don't order anything spicy. The baby objects."
They ate from cartons in the living room. As Julie set her empty food container on the coffee table, Max asked, "Would you like an apple tart?"
"No. Thanks. I've had plenty."
Max picked up cartons, paper cups and napkins and put them in a plastic bag. "I'm going to the kitchen to dump this. When I come back, we have to talk."
Julie watched him walk away thinking as he retreated toward the kitchen, that having him near and so attentive was like being given a bit of heaven here on earth. If only... She gave herself a mental shake. That was precisely the kind of fantasy she couldn't afford to entertain. She forced her thoughts back to the events of this afternoon. She and Shannon had talked but they hadn't settled any of their problems. Still, a truce was better than open warfare. Closing her eyes she let her mind drift.
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