Melvin’s marriage to Ronnie had been a loveless one for years but they’d kept up public appearances for the sake of his business dealings. Though it was no secret that he had numerous extra marital affairs they were always short-lived and discreet but Maxine was different. When they started he didn’t really expect that he would fall in love but he had. When Maxine gave him an ultimatum he succumbed to the pressure and filed for the divorce. Ronnie didn’t contest it as she too was ready to free herself from this sham of a marriage, but she made sure to have her lawyer negotiate a very nice financial settlement before she signed the papers. Ronnie was not above resorting to blackmail to get what she wanted. She had enough substantiation of his infidelity to extort an exorbitant alimony payment and child support that allowed her and their daughter to live in the lifestyle they had become accustomed to.

Melvin was a wealthy though frugal man so the money his ex-wife sought wasn’t the issue. What was at stake was his reputation and public image. He was a stubborn, arrogant, ruthless man that didn’t take well to losing. He was also shrewd enough to know that the public humiliation of a nasty divorce scandal could precipitate an adverse effect on his business. For that reason he chose to give Ronnie what she wanted and cut his losses. He couldn’t risk that the men and women who invested heavily in his venture capital projects would find that he was weak, had no control or couldn’t handle his shit. He had to stay focused on the business at hand and couldn’t be distracted by turmoil in his personal life.

***

Melvin and Maxine married six months after the divorce was final. They purchased a five bedroom house in an affluent area of Philadelphia and settled down to start a family. Melvin was an old fashioned man at heart. He was only too happy when Maxine sold her share in the foreign language communication’s company to dedicate her life to her husband, focus on her art and become a mother.

When Maxine discovered that she was pregnant she was ecstatic as was Melvin. Although Melvin’s relationship with Kit was unsalvageable and he’d pretty much disowned the rebellious teen he still looked forward to fatherhood. As far as he was concerned he’d given Kit all the privileges of an upper middle class upbringing. Unfortunately she never took advantage of all it offered except to use her parent’s money and generous gifts to fund her bad habits. She would sell her expensive possessions and use her weekly allowance to purchase drugs and alcohol or to hang with her low-life so called friends. Melvin tried initially to reach Kit but soon lost patience and totally dismissed her mere existence. He was excited to have another chance and hopefully this time the child would live up to and exceed his high expectations.