Family quarrels are bitter things. They don't go according to any rules. They're not like aches or wounds, they're more like splits in the skin that won't heal because there's not enough material.
But the two were not billing or cooing: they were quarreling. And when lovers start to quarrel there's no telling how long it will go on.
The reckoning with his wife at the end of an escapade was something he counted on like the last powerful liqueur after a long dinner.