“Well, that’s why you’re here, child. I need to ask you a few… delicate questions. Will that be all right?”
Nodding, Melissa clutched her head, still feeling a bit lightheaded.
“Have you been tired a lot, Lissa?”
“Yes. I… I haven’t been sleeping well.”
“Do you get lightheaded often?”
“Not until recently.”
“Are you nauseated most days?”
Closing her eyes, Melissa put her hand on her brow and licked her lips. “Yes, and I can’t eat sometimes, even when I’m so hungry. The sight of food and sometimes even the smell turns my stomach.”
Dr. Newcomb regarded her with a critical eye. Arching a brow, he asked her one more question. “When are you expecting your monthly?”
Melissa blushed deeply but cleared her throat and answered him. “I… It was supposed to come last week but never did. I’ve been under a lot of stress recently, so I figured it would be coming soon.”
With a sigh, the doctor sat next to her and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I know exactly what’s wrong with you.”
“I’m just overly tired. I--”
“Lissa, you’re pregnant.”
“What?” she breathed in disbelief.
“You’re showing all the classic signs. The fact that you’ve missed your monthly is proof enough.”
“But it’s not possible!” A panic began to settle deep inside her heart. Tears stung her eyes as she gazed at the doctor, seeing sympathy plain as day on his face.
“Whose is it?” he asked quietly.
Taking a shuddering breath, Melissa folded her trembling hands in her lap and bit her lip. “I… I’ve only been with… oh, God!”
The tears began falling mercilessly.
“This can’t be happening!”
“Lissa, honey, you have to tell the father of the baby.”
“I can’t!” she wailed.
“Why not?”
“Because the father is Marcus!” Unable to face her shame with the doctor, she stood and began pacing. A long silence stretched out between them.
“He got you pregnant and left you high and dry?”
“No, it wasn’t like that. He left because he didn’t want to get me pregnant--because he knew this would happen if he stayed. But it’s happened regardless. What am I going to do?”
“You’ll have to get married to save your reputation.”
“But he’s long gone. How can I possibly marry him? And he wouldn’t want to marry me anyway.”
“I’m not talking about Marcus, Lissa.”
She stopped her pacing to stare at him.
“The only people who know about your baby are in this very room. If you marry me, Lissa, I’ll claim the baby as my own.”
Melissa felt her world fall away from her. “You’d do that? Why?”
“Because I’ve always admired you. I knew you were sweet on Marcus in the past, but I can give you a good life now, a good home. And I’ll provide for your child as if he were mine.”
Covering her face with her hands, she moaned as her shoulders shook. She felt Dr. Newcomb’s arms around her and heard his voice in her ear. It soothed her somewhat as he rocked her back and forth. Even though he was older than her father, and even though she’d never look at him romantically, he was the only man offering himself to her. How could she face the world as an unwed mother of a bastard?
With tears in her eyes, she lifted her face to the doctor’s and felt a cold numbness overtake her heart.
“I’ll marry you, Timothy. I’ll marry you.”
~ * ~
“Are you sure you want to do this, Lissa?” Chuck Bloom asked when Timothy opened the door to his office and announced their engagement.
Melissa nodded, staring at the boardwalk with her hands folded in front of her.
“Mind if I have a word outside with my daughter, Newcomb?”
“Be my guest.” Turning on his heel, Timothy walked back into his office and closed the door behind him.
“Sweetheart, are you sure?”
“Father, you need to know something.”
“What is it?”
“I… I…”
The contents of her stomach threatened to revisit them as they stood on the walk in front of Dr. Newcomb’s office. Fortunately, no one was nearby to hear their conversation. Melissa lowered her voice regardless.
“I’m pregnant.”
A moment of silence passed before she heard her father growl. “I’m going to kill him.”
“Oh, Father. It wasn’t Dr. Newcomb--”
“I know damn well who it was!”
“Please keep your voice down,” she implored, tugging on his arm. “Timothy has offered to marry me to save my reputation. He’s going to claim my baby as his own.”
“It shouldn’t have to be this way, Lissa. Marcus should damn well live up to his responsibilities!”
“He doesn’t know, Father. He left because he didn’t want this to happen.”
“He took advantage of you, Lissa!”
“No, Father, he didn’t. I asked him to… be with me.”
“Have you lost your mind, girl?”
“I ask myself that same question every single day. But Marcus isn’t coming back, no matter how badly I want him to do the honorable thing.”
“But you don’t love Dr. Newcomb.”
“And Marcus doesn’t love me. That’s what it all comes down to, Daddy. Marcus simply doesn’t love me.”
With that, Melissa stepped around her father and trudged wearily back to the general store.
Fifteen
“Hey, mister. You can’t sleep here.”
A hard shove woke Marcus from his fitful sleep. Raising his head from his crossed arms, he looked around, taking in the empty saloon around him. He sat at the front counter, one of his hands clutching an empty whiskey bottle.
“It’s closing time. Time for you to leave.”
Marcus turned his red eyes to the bartender sweeping the floor under his feet. He had to swallow a few times to work up some moisture in his mouth as he stumbled up from the barstool.
“Thanks. What do I owe you?”
“Nothing, mister. You paid earlier.”
“Right. What time is it?”
“Three in the morning maybe.”
“Is there a hotel in this town?”
“Yeah, up the street a ways. Gloria’s.”
Nodding, Marcus left the empty bottle and wandered out the two swinging doors. His head was pounding as he untied Pete from the hitching post, leading him by the reins up the road. Not a soul was out on the street, but a few lights were lit at the building up the road. Maybe he’d finally get to sleep on a real bed instead of the hard ground.
He’d deliberately avoided towns during the past few weeks, choosing to sleep out in the desert under the stars. But when his memories of Lissa hadn’t gotten any easier to bear, he’d decided to wander into a small town on the horizon to drink himself into oblivion, hoping that would get rid of her.
But now, as he struggled to stay upright when he walked, all he could think about was laying his spinning head down on Lissa’s soft lap and feeling her fingers run gently through his hair. He groaned as he stopped in front of Gloria’s, gazing into the windows with watery eyes.
With a shake of his head, he continued walking, leading Pete behind him. No, a real bed wouldn’t do. Not when what he wanted more than anything was to feel Lissa pressed warm against him underneath the sheets. He’d considered visiting the local whorehouse, but the thought had turned his stomach. After tasting a woman like Lissa, how could he possibly be satisfied with anyone else?
He finally managed to swing up into the saddle after two failed attempts. Giving Pete a gentle kick, he coaxed the horse into a trot out of town and into the night.
~ * ~
Marcus groaned at the swift kick in the gut that rudely awakened him. Pulling out his gun from the holster on his hip, he pointed and cocked it before he even opened his eyes. Coughing and holding his midsection, Marcus raised his head and cracked open his eyes, and they widened as they recognized the face in front of him.
“You gonna shoot me, McCaide? ‘Cause you damn well better after what you did to my daughter!”
“Chuck, what are you doing out here?” Shaking his head in his confusion, Marcus saw a small, empty wagon pulled by two horses not far away.
“Came looking for you, though I don’t know why. Seems as if you’ve turned into nothing more than a good-for-nothing drunk.”
“How did you find me?” Marcus asked with a groan, holstering his gun and shielding his eyes from the oppressive sunlight.
“I just followed the whiskey fumes, boy. Damn, you smell foul if I do say so myself.”
Scowling, Marcus scooted back until he sat against the tree he’d stopped at the night before. He didn’t remember much more than simply falling off Pete’s back and losing consciousness.
“Where’s my horse?”
“Over yonder,” Chuck replied, nodding with his chin at Pete a few yards away. “What the hell are you doing to yourself?”
“It’s none of your business, Chuck.”
“The hell it ain’t!”
“Why don’t you just leave me alone?”
“Because I love my daughter and she loves you, although I really don’t know why. You have no admirable qualities that I can see.”
Sighing heavily, Marcus rubbed his eyes and glared at the older man. “What do you want, Chuck?”
“I want you to be a man and live up to your responsibilities.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“You took Lissa’s innocence, for one.”
“Shit.” Marcus hit the back of his head against the tree a few times. “Look, sir, I can explain--”
“Probably no better than she did. Told me some wild story about asking you to do it.”
“She did.”
“And you didn’t hesitate.”
Looking him square in the eye, Marcus didn’t flinch when he answered. “No, I didn’t.”
“Well, guess what happened.”
“I don’t know, why don’t you tell me?”
“Don’t you take that tone with me, boy. I’m not too old to knock you out cold right here and now. Just because you’re the father of my first grandchild doesn’t mean I won’t rearrange your face, regardless of Lissa’s feelings for you.”
“What did you just say?” Marcus felt his anger leave him in a rush. His heart stopped beating as his face paled and his eyes widened with shock.
“You heard me, boy! Lissa’s pregnant. With your bastard.”
Howling a loud oath that echoed off the surrounding hills, Marcus stood and ran his hands ruthlessly through his hair. “Damn it, this wasn’t supposed to happen! I left so it wouldn’t!”
“Well, you left a little too late. And guess what Lissa has a mind to do now.”