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Todd squinted at him suspiciously.
“Alone.”
“Who is she?”
“Alone,” Roark repeated testily.
“Huh.” Todd went back to his typing, saying only one thing more. “Coffee’s made, but I used the last of the milk.”
Chapter 20
Noah decided to give Maris a week to simmer down.
He concluded that a woman who catches her husband in adultery deserves a seven-day grace period in which to lick her wounds. It was more than an adequate amount of time for an ego to be restored. If the God of Genesis could create the cosmos in that length of time, surely a wife could come to terms with her husband’s infidelity.
He also set the deadline to coincide with the one that Morris Blume had imposed on him. When next they met, Noah needed to report that everything was going smoothly and proceeding according to schedule. It would be nice and tidy if he patched things up with Maris before making that claim.
He was of value to Blume only as long as he was a member of the Matherly family. His pending deal with WorldView would be jeopardized by an estrangement from Maris and Daniel. Even a minor tiff with them might cause Blume to balk. Before that important meeting, he must reconcile with Maris.
If within a week’s time she hadn’t approached him, he planned to go to her hat in hand and beg her forgiveness. He would rather choke than be penitent, but the ultimate reward would be well worth a few minutes of contrition. In the meantime, he had a suite at the Plaza. He would give her space, give her plenty of time to stew… and to contemplate the consequences of ordering him from her life.
Like hell, Maris, my dear. He hoped he had made himself clear on that point.
Unfortunately, he was forced to see Maris the morning following their nasty scene outside Nadia’s apartment. Avoiding Howard Bancroft’s funeral was not an option. When he arrived, he saw Daniel standing alone on the steps of the synagogue and knew immediately that his father-in-law was unaware of what had transpired the night before. Daniel greeted him as though nothing untoward had happened.
As they somberly shook hands, Daniel asked him where Maris was.
“On her way, I’m sure. I had to leave ahead of her so I could make a quick stop at the office.” The old man bought the lie. In any case, he let Noah lead him inside to get out of the drizzle that had begun to fall.
Maris arrived a few minutes later. She looked pale and wan in an unflattering black dress. It wasn’t her best color. He’d never liked her in black. She spotted him standing with Daniel in the vestibule, wearing paper yarmulkes, waiting for her.
After a slight hesitation, she moved through the crowd toward them. She was too respectful of the situation to cause a scene. He had counted on her discretion, just as he had counted on her not telling Daniel about his extramarital affair with Nadia. Besides being proud to a fault, Maris was boringly predictable.
She hugged Daniel tenderly. “How are you this morning, Dad?”
“Sad for all of us, but especially for Howard’s family. Shall we go in?”
They filed down the long aisle. Maris maneuvered it so that when they entered the pew Daniel was between them. She was the epitome of decorum, yet Noah knew she must be gnashing her teeth even to be in his presence. Imagining what an endurance test this was for her, he could barely contain his amusement.
Following the service, she consoled Daniel and, for his benefit, invented an excuse for having to take a separate tax
i back to Midtown. Noah didn’t see her for the remainder of the day.
Nor did he seek her out for the next several days. During scheduled business meetings, she pretended that everything was normal. They had never been overtly affectionate at work, except occasionally behind the closed door of either his or her private office. Around staff members, they had always conducted themselves in a professional manner. Consequently, no one at Matherly Press noticed the chill between them.
He went to their apartment when he knew she wouldn’t be there to collect a few changes of clothing. He wasn’t surprised to find that everything was exactly as he had left it. Maris had not sent for Maxine to pack up his belongings. She would never have entrusted the secret of their separation to her father’s loyal housekeeper. The bad news would have gone straight from Maxine to Daniel, and Maris wanted to prevent Daniel from hearing of it. She would want to spare the old man from worrying about their marital problems and the damaging effect such problems would have on the publishing house.
Daniel, none the wiser, continued to take Noah’s calls, and Noah continued to pay him brief visits in the late afternoons to discuss the events of the day. His relationship with his father-in-law remained solid. Maris was suffering in silence and alone, and she had only herself to blame. She should never have taken that haughty stance with him. She should have thought twice before issuing ultimatums that served only to make her look and sound ridiculous.
He relished the thought of her pacing, regretting her thoughtless outburst, and having absolutely no one in whom to confide. Each time he envisioned her wallowing in her lonely, self-inflicted torment, he smiled.
After a few days, however, Noah began to tire of the situation. He considered approaching Maris and putting an end to the silliness. But he stubbornly resolved to let her brood for the full seven days before approaching her.
She would weep and call him names and beg to know how he could have hurt her so terribly when she had done absolutely nothing to deserve it. He would give her the opportunity to vent. Once she had, she would grant him forgiveness. No doubt of that.
She would forgive him for the old man’s sake. Maris could always be counted on to spare Daniel any kind of unhappiness. She would forgive him also because women love to forgive and then to make the forgiven miserable every day thereafter for the rest of his postforgiven life. That wasn’t going to be his future, of course, but he figured that’s what Maris had planned for him. In light of his deal with WorldView, he would do nothing at this point to enlighten her. That would come later.
In the meantime, the temporary separation wasn’t without its perks. While Maris wasn’t speaking to him, he didn’t have to listen to her harping.
