The Cowgirl Who Loved Horses, Queens of Montana Bonus Book

by Vanessa Bartal

  Chapter 24

  For the next couple of days the atmosphere between them was arctic. Cecily felt sick, body, mind, and soul. She hadn’t meant to pour out her worries to Marcus or confess to him what his mother had been doing to her, but once she opened the bottle she couldn’t contain what emptied out. Now he was angry at her, and hurt, and she didn’t know how to fix it. On top of her original hurt Cecily now added the fact that he hadn’t denied his adoration of Libby. And to make matters worse, he had defended his mother. In his eyes the woman could apparently do no wrong. As if to add insult to injury, Lydia was once again gleeful at the tension and distance between Cecily and Marcus. She also doted on Marcus by making all his favorite dishes and being more solicitous to him than usual.

  Evan was her only ally, Cecily thought. He noted her wan complexion and lack of appetite with concern and remarked on it one night at supper.

  “Cecily, are you feeling all right?’ he asked. “You haven’t been eating much, and you look tired.”

  “I’m fine, thank you,” she lied. “How are the new bulls working out?” She didn’t really care about the new bulls, but she didn’t want to dwell on her own lackluster appearance.

  He launched into a long discussion that lasted throughout dinner. Cecily was thankful for the opportunity to turn off her brain and listen to him for awhile. Like usual, she offered to help Lydia with the cleanup, only this time she made sure to do it with Marcus in attendance.

  “Why, yes, that would be nice,” Lydia surprised her by saying.

  Cecily was relieved to have something to do and had no energy to puzzle over the sudden turnabout until she was in the kitchen and overheard Lydia and Marcus in the dining room.

  “That’s a nice change,” Lydia remarked.

  “I’m sure she just doesn’t feel comfortable invading your territory, Mom. It is your house after all.”

  “She seems perfectly comfortable eating my food and relying on my hospitality,” Lydia said. Her tone was injured.

  “Hospitality?” Marcus echoed. “She’s your daughter-in-law and you make her sound like a temporary houseguest.”

  Cecily knew she shouldn’t eavesdrop, but she had nowhere else to go, and, try as she might, she couldn’t tune them out. She was riveted.

  “Isn’t that what she is, Marcus? You have to admit you made a hasty decision that you are now regretting. Anyone with eyes can see that you two are unhappy.”

  “We’re in the middle of a disagreement,” Marcus said. “That doesn’t equal unhappiness.”

  “You and Libby never argued like this,” she said.

  It sounded like Marcus slammed something on the table. “Mom, what are you talking about? Of course Libby and I never argued like this; we weren’t married. Libby is married to Dobbie and growing larger with his child every day, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

  “There’s no need to be vulgar, Marcus.”

  “That is not vulgar, Mom, it’s a fact of life. Libby is Dobbie’s, not mine. Cecily is mine.”

  “Maggie is still available,” Lydia said.

  There was dead silence from the other room and Cecily held her breath.

  “What are you saying?” Cecily was glad Marcus’s tone conveyed all the shock she felt.

  “I always knew one of you boys would end up with one of the Chapman girls. It’s too late for Libby, but you can still marry Maggie. She could come home from New York. You can get your marriage annulled. You know Judge Roberts would do it if we asked him.”

  Cecily didn’t wait to hear Marcus’s reply. She couldn’t. She set aside the dish she was scrubbing, dried her hands, and walked sedately to her horse. She couldn’t care less that the sun was setting, and she ignored Jessup when he tried to talk to her. Instead she rode calmly to her house and let herself inside, not bothering to turn on any lights. She walked to her old room, curled up on her bed, and cried herself to sleep.

  It was too bad she missed Marcus’s reply to his mother because it would have gone a long way to heal the breach between them.

  For a while he just stared at her until she became uncomfortable and started to squirm. He realized, belatedly, that everything Cecily had told him was true. If his mother was saying these outrageous things to him, how much worse had she been to Cecily who was the object of her venom?

  “Mom,” he tried to keep his tone even and patient by remembering how deeply his brother’s loss affected her. “Cecily and I could never be annulled, one of the main reasons being that our marriage has been consummated. Repeatedly.”

  She winced. He didn’t mean to shock her, but maybe a shock was what she needed to see reason.

  “Maggie was Mathew’s. She wouldn’t want me. Can’t you see that would be painful for her? It’s better for her if she finds someone else, someone not related to her dead fiancé. Besides that, she’s a child. She’s eighteen. That’s eight years younger than me.”

  “That girl is six years younger than you,” Lydia pointed out.

  “By ‘that girl’ I’m assuming you mean my wife. She may be six years younger, but she’s mature for her age. She’s been standing on her own two feet and running her ranch for two years. Now listen to me, and listen to me good. I am in love with Cecily. I married her for that reason, and for that reason alone. I don’t know why you refuse to see it, but Cecily and I are happy together. We suit each other. I know you’re having a hard time adjusting to our marriage. I am sorry for the way it came about; it was never my intent to exclude you by going to Las Vegas. I was trying to protect you, and I wanted to be with her as soon as possible. But what’s done is done. It’s irreversible and the sooner you make peace with it, the better off we’ll all be. If you can’t learn to love Cecily, I expect you to at least be courteous to her.” His hands were shaking by the time he finished speaking. His mother gave him a curt nod, which he returned, and then he exited the house and saddled his own horse.

  He rode for hours until the edge of his anger and upset burned off, returning home exhausted. Cecily wasn’t in the room, but sometimes she stayed up late talking to the horses. He showered and went to bed, falling into an exhausted, dreamless sleep.

  It wasn’t until the next morning that he realized Cecily hadn’t slept beside him, and when he realized it, he jumped out of bed. His panic was immediate and intense, and when he guessed she went to her house, it turned to blazing anger.

  If she thinks she can leave me barely three months into our marriage, she has another think coming, he thought as he angrily rammed his feet into his boots. He paused at the door to grab his Stetson and his keys, and then he was gone.