The days passed slowly until a week had gone by, with no sign of Jack. Gloria became increasingly sure that he was deliberately staying away to convey the message that he wanted no deep or lasting relationship with her. She was angry at herself for thinking about him, and angry at him for presuming she wanted a relationship with him.
She had promised herself she could handle whatever came up as the result of this impulsive trip west, and so far she had, even Aunt Ethel's illness. Now it was time to take another step, and she had done so. She'd sent out queries about job opportunities in Great Falls. She had decided that if Ethel sold the motel she would move on.
After a morning visit to the nursing home she stopped at the grocery store for a few things, and at the ten-cent store she got a new coloring book for Peter. The air was cold and damp, and dark clouds rolled out of the northwest. The smell of woodsmoke, hanging low, greeted her when she turned into the drive. She parked the car and hurried into the living quarters of the motel.
Janet was putting a load of sheets and towels in the washer when Gloria came in the back door with her arms filled with sacks.
“Wow! You must've bought out the town.”
“Not quite. But I did get the makings for a yummy cake, a couple boxes of cereal for Peter, and a new coloring book.”
“Yummy cake? Sounds good…and fattening.”
“It is good, and loaded with calories, but what the heck. You melt caramels and add chocolate chips and coconut for the filling of a chocolate cake. I'll copy the recipe for you.”
“I'd like that. Gary loves desserts.” Janet added soap to the machine and turned the dial to start it. “Jack was here while you were gone. He took Peter back home with him. I didn't think you'd mind.”
Gloria turned quickly and started taking the groceries from the sack. “Did he say when they'd be back? It's getting terribly cold, and it could snow.”
“He wasn't on the cycle. He had the Ranger, and he put Peter in his snowsuit. He'll be all right.”
“Yes, of course,” Gloria said absently. She put the groceries away automatically. It was clear now that he was avoiding her. But how had he known she wouldn't be here? He must have called on the CB, she reasoned, and Janet must have told him she'd gone to town. She wished she had the nerve to ask Janet.
The day moved slowly. Janet went to the room she shared with Gary. Gloria made the yummy cake and left it on the kitchen counter to cool. The stillness of the house bore down on her. She missed Peter's chatter, his endless questions. She thought of using the CB radio to call the Hangtown station. If Jack answered, she didn't know what she'd say to him besides, “What the hell do you mean coming here and taking my son?” No, she wouldn't say that. Peter had talked of nothing but Jack, and how he was going to come get him and show him the antelope that came down to the salt blocks he'd put just outside of his town.
She wouldn't chastise him for taking Peter; it would be mean to deprive Peter of his company just because she and Jack were having their problems. When she saw him again, she'd treat him the same as she had
before:
friendly, but strictly impersonal. There was no way she would let him know how crushed she was, how miserable she felt, how used. His denial of her, now, would tarnish forever the memories of the beautiful moments they'd shared.
She sat on a stool behind the counter in the office and watched the cars go by. She was deep in thought when the long, shiny black car with the tinted glass turned into the drive and stopped in front of the office door. Gloria gaped in surprise; she knew immediately who it was, and was gripped with apprehension. She got slowly to her feet and was standing when the back door of the car opened and Marvin, holding his hat with one gloved hand, stepped out.
He stood beside the car and looked the building up and down; Gloria was sure he was mentally assessing its worth, for money was forever on his mind. The wind blew open his long black overcoat, and it flapped out behind him like wings. When he reached the office door, the driver opened it for him, then went back to the car.
Marvin looked around the office haughtily, ignoring Gloria until he'd finished his survey of the premises. Then he looked at her.
“Well, Gloria, I must say you've certainly buried yourself in the sticks. Back to your roots, huh?” He removed his hat, placed it on the counter, removed his gloves, and carefully smoothed with his fingertips the silver hair at his temples. Almost colorless gray eyes looked into hers, and he lifted his arched brows disdainfully. His every word, his every gesture, was meant to intimidate.
“What do you want?” Gloria demanded angrily. She was surprised at what little effect he had on her. Where was the old fear, the feeling of inferiority, she used to experience when she was with him?
Marvin sensed her detachment and gave her the silent treatment, looking at her with narrowed eyes, mouth turned down slightly at the corners as if he smelled something unpleasant, hand poised in front of him as if ready to flick away dust or lint from his coat. The look had been cultivated and refined over the years, and usually managed to reduce even the most self-assured person into quivering servitude.
Suddenly laughter bubbled up in Gloria's throat. How could she ever have been frightened by this…phony? Something goaded her to say, “Stop playacting, Marvin. I've seen this act a hundred times. What do you want?”
“Be careful what you say, Gloria. I still have the means of taking from you what you treasure the most. Why you value this cheap, tawdry lifestyle or the company of truckers and barroom scum is beyond me, but as long as you do, I'll not hesitate to use it to my advantage.”
“You'll never get your hands on Peter—not as long as I live!”
“That's up to you, entirely up to you.”
“I'm not coming back to you, Marvin. I've got the right to live my own life without interference from you. Understand that right now.”
“My dear girl, if it were at all possible I'd just as soon never see you or that…child again. But unfortunately, you made an impression on some of my friends and business associates and they have inquired about you. I simply cannot let you and my…
son
disappear. People will think I've cast you off. So I've come to take you back to Cincinnati.”
“I'm not going!”
“Very well, stay. I'll take the boy.”
“He's not
your
boy, dammit!” Her poise completely abandoned her, and she heard herself shouting.
“Control yourself. Your lack of breeding is showing.”
Gloria drew in a deep, pained breath. “Don't tell me about breeding, you fatheaded stuffed shirt! I've got more breeding in my little finger than you've got in your whole body.”
“Gloria, you really are a stupid girl; beautiful, but stupid.” Marvin raised his brows, and his mocking eyes surveyed her face.
“You're not taking Peter! You don't even like him!”
“No, I don't. But that's beside the point. You and Peter are coming back with me. We are going to remarry and you will conduct yourself in such a manner as to not cast a blemish on the Masterson name.”
“I will not marry you again!” she hissed, glaring into his cold gray eyes.
Marvin reached into the inside pocket of his overcoat and drew out a long white envelope. He opened it and unfolded a legal document.
“The court has given me custody of the boy for six months out of the year.” There was a triumphant gleam in his eyes as he watched her face turn ashen. “Come back with me, take your place as Mrs. Marvin Masterson, or I take him now.”
“When we got the divorce you didn't want custody. Why are you doing this?”
“If you had not run off like a silly girl, it wouldn't have been necessary.”
“I don't understand you. I don't understand you at all. Why do you want us there?”
“My dear girl, I plan to run for governor, and the image I wish to project is of a devoted family man who carefully guards the welfare of his young wife and child.”
“Peter and I despise you!”
His eyes narrowed with anger. “Do you think that matters to me? You carry the Masterson name.”
Something in his eyes caused a feeling of panic to sweep over her. Her heart pounded, and she felt a compelling urgency to turn and run. She felt as if she were floating through space, and tried to get her scattered thoughts together. There had to be something she could do—if only she had time to think! She breathed deeply and tried to stem the tears of rage that were stinging her eyelids. Vaguely she heard the back door slam.
“Mom! Mom! Look what I got. Look what Jack—” Peter's happy shout stopped abruptly when he saw Marvin.
A fierce pain pierced Gloria's heart when she saw the look of terror on the face of her small son. She knelt down beside him. “What do you have here? A kitten! Oh, Peter—it's beautiful!”
Peter moved close to her and peered over her shoulder at the man who stared at him so coldly.
“Where are your manners, boy? Get rid of that animal and step up here and shake hands as you've been taught to do. I've come to take you home. What you need is a good school where you'll not be coddled and allowed to run wild.”
Peter's stricken eyes sought Gloria's. “I'm afraid we have no choice,” she said softly, and hugged him.
Peter looked up at Marvin, then back to Gloria. His face crumbled and he burst into tears. The kitten became frightened and jumped out of his arms. Peter struggled to leave Gloria's embrace and she let him go.
“Jack! Jack!” he cried between sobs, and ran out of the office.
Gloria felt sick. Poor little fellow, poor little boy; he'd been so happy here. She could hear the low murmur of Jack's voice as he talked to the boy.
“Well—are you coming or not? The sooner I get out of this backwater and back to civilization, the better.” Marvin folded the paper and put it back into the envelope.
“Now?”
“Now. I'll wait in the car. Be out in ten minutes.” “What's going on here, Gloria?” Jack came into the room and stood at the end of the counter. Peter's arms were locked tightly about his neck, and his small legs were around his waist.
Gloria's eyes flew to Marvin, and the contempt she saw on his face as he looked at Jack only ignited her anger into full-fledged rage.
“Marvin Masterson, my ex-husband, has come to take me and Peter back to Cincinnati. His image as the devoted patriarch of the Masterson dynasty, which, by the way, includes servants, ex-wives, and adopted children, slipped when Peter and I left. He can't afford to have his friends think he's anything but a loving family man.” She shouted the last few words, and tears rolled down her cheeks.
“You're divorced, aren't you? He can't make you do anything you don't want to do,” Jack said calmly.
“Oh, but he can! He's got a court order that gives him custody of Peter for six months out of the year. I can't let Peter go alone with him,” she wailed.
“I'll wait in the car.” Marvin carefully placed his hat on his head and pulled on his gloves.
“Stay here!” Jack spoke so sharply that Marvin turned to stare at him as if he couldn't quite believe this bearded, long-haired, leather-coated yokel would have the nerve to speak to him. “Take the boy,” Jack said gently, and handed Peter over to Gloria. “I want to take a look at that court order.”
Peter wrapped his arms about Gloria and buried his face in her neck. The agony that pierced her heart was unbearable; she longed to be out from under the sneering gaze of the man she had married when she was so young and so naive.
“I want to see the court order,” Jack repeated, and held out his hand.
Marvin's cold gray eyes flicked from Jack to Gloria and back again. Disapproval etched lines between his carefully arched brows. The grim line of his jaw and his tightly pressed lips told her that he was burning with anger.
“My advice to you is—stay out of things that don't concern you.” With the faintest suggestion of a sardonic sneer he turned to go out the door.
“You're beginning to annoy me. Give me the court order!” Jack put a hand on Marvin's shoulder and spun him around. He slammed him against the wall and held him there with his forearm jammed against his Adam's apple. “Give it to me or I'll break both of your goddamn legs!”
“Get your hands off me, you ruffian. I'll call my driver.”
“Do that, you bastard! I'll mop up the floor with both of you.”
Gloria's heart was thudding like a jackhammer in her breast. She had no doubt that Jack would do exactly what he said he'd do. Oh, God! If he beat up Marvin, it would only make matters worse.
“Jack, don't!” The words left her mouth in a whisper.
“Now, listen, you arrogant son of a bitch, I don't intend to mess around with you. I mean to see that court order before you leave here. Give it to me, or I'll take it.” Jack punctuated his words by slamming Marvin's head back against the wall.
“Ah…ah…all right.” Marvin reached into his pocket for the envelope.
Jack snatched it out of his hand. “Stay right there,” he snarled when Marvin started to move away from him.
Marvin straightened his hat and threw Gloria a furious glance. “You'll hear from my attorney,” he threatened.
Jack ignored the warning and thumbed through the papers, scanning each sheet. When he came to the last page he studied it thoroughly. A moment of dead silence passed slowly. He looked Marvin in the eye as he folded the papers. Suddenly he slapped him across the face with them.
“You stupid bastard!” His voice boomed angrily. “What kind of a bluff are you trying to pull on this woman? These papers are not even notarized. All you've got here is a legal form with a signature. Now, if you don't want me to beat the holy hell out of you, get out of here and don't come back.”
“A mere technicality that I will remedy immediately. I'm not without influence in this state, as you'll soon discover.” Marvin stuffed the papers in his pocket. “I'll be back with my attorney and the sheriff.”
“Fine. If it's a fight for the boy you're wanting, I think we can give it to you.”
Marvin opened his mouth as if to say something, but he changed his mind, and slowly pulled on his gloves instead. His face was unreadable as he turned and went out the door.