by Teagan Amici
“If this is about fees, let’s not get too upset about them right now. I understand from Jess that you are a single parent, but I have to say that I do need a retainer to act as your lawyer, and to ensure that privilege exists between us. If you have a dollar on you, that will do”.
“No, it’s not that, Mr Du Pont, I’m sure that Blair can afford you, but you know what?” I fished in my purse and found a dollar coin which I passed over. “You never know what is going to happen, so here’s the retainer. I’d like to engage you on my behalf, and also ask your help for Blair, Blair Easton”.
After Gerald, for that’s what he insisted I call him, pocketed my dollar I explained what had happened that day. The first part was easy, and I tried to stick as closely to the truth as I could. I ended up being honest, and saying that I hadn’t seen how Blair had knocked Darren out, which was true, but skimmed over the part where I saw a panther, instead skipping to the part where I had kicked Blair out of my house, and then kicked Darren out when he regained consciousness. Gerald took detailed notes, making me clarify the point where I was scared for Melody, and then when my story came to an end, he hesitated, clearly struggling to put his next question into words.
“Now, I have to ask this, so that I have all the information I need in case it comes up, but the allegations this Darren made, as to your daughter’s parentage, did he have grounds? More importantly, was he ever violent towards you before?”
“No he didn’t have grounds, I wish Blair was Melody’s father, but he’s not. As for your second question, no, Darren wasn’t violent before, but I was really scared the other day”.
“That’s good, the truth is always best. Now, before we go back out there, do you have any other questions for me?”
“Well, actually I do. Do you know if I could refuse a DNA test?”
Gerald looked at me quizzically before asking why.
“Well, I haven’t filled out Melody’s birth registration form yet, and I really don’t want Darren to have anything to do with her. I always thought it would be wrong to deny him access to her, but you didn’t see him the other day and…”
“Let me stop you there. Even with solicitor-client privilege, I can’t counsel you to do anything illegal, or represent you if you ask for my help and I know you are guilty of something. If you are talking about falsely filling out a government birth registration form, I can’t be involved in that, and if you tell me you are going to do it, then I can’t lie for you if you get caught”.
I looked Gerald in the eye, seeing a glint in his.
“Well, thank you for setting me straight. I won’t do that though, but surely it wouldn’t do any harm if Blair goes around telling people he is Melody’s father, no matter who is registered as her real father?”
Gerald smiled and me and shook his head, holding out a hand to help me up from my seat. Once we were outside in the main room again, he took charge, striding to the desk and requesting to see his client. He also requested I be given a private room to care for my child, somewhere where I could be contacted to provide my statement if required. Gerald made it clear that he wanted to be present if I was questioned, and I watched as he was buzzed in to the back areas of the station. I went to the room that was indicated, happy to see a more comfortable chair than the hard plastic ones that were in the interview room. As I settled in to feed Melody, I made a couple of phone calls, one to thank Jess for sending Gerald to help, and one to Cole. The first one was very enlightening. Jess told me that she had originally thought that Gerald had always just done conveyancing, but apparently he had previously been a successful barrister in several high profile cases. He had ceased operating as a barrister after some issues with some clients that he had some bad dealings with, and had decided to go into property law, spending his days searching titles and arranging property transfers. This was how he had met Diane, who had referred his services to Jess, and after their business was finished, they had started dating. I laughed as I pressed end on that call, everything seemed to have started with Diane.
Diane was first on my mind when I spoke to Cole, originally keeping my tone light until I established that Diane wasn’t in earshot of Cole before explaining what had happened. She was too close to delivery to upset, so I told Cole to stay where he was unless we needed his help, but not to tell Diane what was wrong.
After feeding and changing Melody, and rocking her back to sleep, I sat on the chair with Melody sleeping against my chest, and allowed myself to have a silent cry. Just as everything was starting to be so good, Darren managed to mess my life up again. But as I looked down at Melody’s little snub nose and how her eyelashes fluttered as she slept, I knew that Darren had at least done one good thing for me. I resolved though, that no matter how bad I felt about denying Darren parentage of Melody, that she would be better off without him. He didn’t care about her at all. Maybe one day he might, but we would deal with that then. I would be honest with Melody though, and tell her that her biological father was not Blair, but that no-one else could claim to be as good a father as he was to her, and he was all that counted. I hoped that Blair would agree with me, as I would probably need his signature on the form if he wanted to claim parentage. As my thoughts turned to Blair, another tear dropped down my cheek, but I sat up as I heard a rattle at the door. I cried out loud enough to wake Melody when I saw Blair standing in front of Gerald, and then both Melody and I were swept up in a tight hug that earned a belligerent squawk from Melody as she found herself squashed between myself and Blair.
“Ok lovebirds, let’s get out of here before they change their minds, you can do that at home, surely?” said Gerald wryly.
Blair silenced my questions, and took charge of Melody and my bags as the men hustled us out and to my car. As I started the car, I heard Blair giving directions to Gerald, and when he slid into the passenger seat, I glanced quizzically at Blair as I started to drive.
“Jess was worried about you, so she’s coming to see you after work. Gerald is coming back for a coffee and to take your statement while he waits for Jess. I know it’s irregular, but nothing about us is regular is it?” Blair said as he clutched my hand before bringing it to his lips. I laughed and snatched it back before I needed to change gear. Just then a terrible thought hit me.
“Oh no, work! I just left my computer on without signing off, or letting anyone know that I was finishing up for the day. I don’t know how I’m going to explain this, but I’ll have to think of something”.
“You know, I really don’t know if I should mention it, but you don’t need to work. You and Melody could move in with me. Believe it or not, I do work on other things sometimes when I’m not trying to get you to fall in love with me, and I can afford to keep us. I just didn’t say it before, because I didn’t want to step on your independent toes or anything. I suppose I could work out how to get an internet signal out to my house, so you could work from there if you want to, or maybe we could find you an office not far from home if you would prefer”.
I risked looking sideways at Blair, smiling at his worried face. He was trying so hard to respect my need to support myself, while working out how to get me to move in with him. I grabbed his hand and squeezed.
“Let’s not rule anything out just yet, but today has been too stressful to go planning anything. How about we just get through today first?”
We arrived home shortly before Gerald, and while Blair settled Melody in her portable cot where she could see us, I sent a quick email off to my boss, making up some phony excuse about a sudden illness, before logging out and shutting down my computer. As I was sitting there, staring into space, worrying about what they would think about me, I heard Blair talking to Gerald as he walked him in. Gerald came in, looking around.
“So this is the house Diane inherited? Not bad. It’s a great location, are you happy with it?”
We made small talk while Gerald got his notepad out of his briefcase, and before I knew it, I was going over my version of events from the day
in question. I signed the statement that Gerald wrote after reading it over, and Gerald witnessed it before putting it away. He then explained to me how he had managed to get the charges against Blair dropped. The statement Darren had given was easy to pick holes in, and once Blair gave his statement, and Gerald told the police what I had told him, they had decided that Darren must have been “mistaken” after having been knocked out. They cautioned Blair, acknowledging that he probably had thought he was doing the right thing by defending me and Melody, but that he should have been more careful to ensure that Darren hadn’t been hurt.
“So it’s over? There won’t be a court hearing or anything?” I asked, joy spreading across my face.
“No, the police had to speak to Blair, they only decided to arrest him when they thought you weren’t telling the truth, but when they thought over how you hadn’t seen anything at all and were confused and scared, they realised that Darren was the real aggressor. They suggested that you take out an AVO against him if you thought he would be an ongoing problem”.
“AVO?” I asked, furrowing my brow.
“Apprehended Violence Order. It’s a court order for him to stay away. To be honest, if he’s intent on breaching it, it won’t stop him, it just gives the police more power if he breaches it. I can help you with it if you like, all you have to do is ask the court for it, and explain your reasons to the court. It’s up to the court then if they will grant it”.
I shook my head. “No, not at the moment. I really don’t think Darren will be back. I think he only came over to see if he could squeeze some money out of me, but Darren is really a coward, and I don’t think he will risk another encounter with Blair”.
“What if Blair’s not here? You live somewhere else, don’t you?” Gerald asked, looking at Blair.
“Not any more. I live with Lesley now. If she’s here, we’re here together. I’d prefer to be at my house, but maybe that’s where we’ll go on weekends, just to get away somewhere quiet”.
“Can I ask why you don’t move there permanently? Does Darren know the address?”
“Really crappy internet at my house, and Lesley needs it for her work. She works from home, so this is where we will be”.
Gerald looked at my computer, then at me, finally asking what I did. After I explained myself, he smiled gently.
“Remember the card I gave you? My website address is on it. My assistant wants to go back to study, to get qualified herself. I’ve just started advertising for a replacement. If you think you meet the requirements, apply for it. You don’t need constant internet access, just most of the time. You can work from my office, which I think is closer to where Diane lives - if you live near that - and do some work from home. I’m not making any guarantees, but if you’re interested, there it is. Jess will never let me forget it if I didn’t tell you there was a job there that might enable you to move away from here. I know this is a great location, but if you want to move out, this might be your answer. Oh, speak of the devil, Jess is calling”, he said as he glanced at his phone.
As Gerald excused himself and wandered outside to take the call privately, I looked at Blair enquiringly.
“Well, what do you think? Should I?”
“Only if you want to, otherwise I’ll move in here, but we will be together, you agreed to be my mate, remember?”
I jumped over onto Blair’s lap, locking my hands behind his neck.
“You know I want to be with you, and it shouldn’t matter where we live, but maybe it does. I do like living here, but I will worry about Darren coming back if he gets it into his head that he might get something from me. On the other hand, at your place, I’m not far from Diane, and it would be good to be near her, especially when she has the baby and Melody will get a playmate. But what if I don’t get the job from Gerald?”
“Well, then, I’m sure you’ll get something. You’re always busy on that computer, surely someone will see the value in hiring you. We’ll work it out, but there is a downside - while we’ve still got that big house, my parents will still invite themselves over a lot”.
I planted a kiss on Blair’s jaw and let my hand tickle his abdomen.
“Well, there is a solution to that. If we filled the house with lots of babies, there wouldn’t be any room for them to stay, would there?”
I turned as I saw an indrawn breath, to see Gerald and Jess standing just behind us. Embarrassed, I hopped off Blair’s lap, smirking slightly as I noticed he didn’t stand immediately. Only Blair would know how aroused I was from our brief contact, but if he stood, everyone would know how I had affected him! To cover Blair’s momentary “lapse of manners”, I rushed forward to hug Jess and plant a kiss on her cheek.
“Oh Jess, thank you for being clever enough to find a wonderful man like Gerald, and for asking him to help us. And Gerald, I don’t know if I have thanked you properly for today, it has all been so bewildering. We haven’t even talked about how much we owe you, you have done so much today”.
Gerald put his arm around Jess before speaking.
“Well, you already paid me my retainer, so how about you buy us all some pizza or something, and then we’ll call it square? I really didn’t do that much, and Jess and Diane are so thick, if I hadn’t helped, I never would have heard the end of it. Blair is Diane’s brother in law after all, I couldn’t have the uncle of Jess’ godchild languishing in jail, could I?”
I thought I intercepted a look between Jess and Gerald, but put it down to private business. While Blair ordered some pizza, I put out some plates and napkins on the table, and when I turned, Jess was sitting on the couch, with Melody on her lap. She saw me looking at her quizzically and blushed.
“What? She was whinging, so I thought I’d help out”.
I laughed to myself as I went back into the kitchen for glasses and cutlery. Melody hadn’t been whinging, but if Jess wanted a cuddle, that was fine by me.
As it turned out, while we ate, Jess nursed Melody for most of the time. As the pizza wasn’t a food likely to spill and burn, she was able to eat with one hand while she held Melody with the other. Gerald looked over at them from time to time, with an unreadable look on his face, but seemed cheerful enough when he turned to speak to us. We passed a pleasant evening, with Jess urging me to apply for the job with Gerald if it meant I would be living near Diane and she could catch up with us both at once, and after they left and we had Melody tucked up in bed, Blair and I tidied up the house while we talked.
“Did you notice anything odd about Jess and Gerald?” I asked, reaching over to loosely put my arms around Blair’s neat waist and looking up into his gorgeous green eyes.
“Well, today was the first day I’ve met Gerald, so I can’t really speak about him, but Jess did seem a little quieter than the other times I’ve met her”, Blair smiled down at me as he sidled closer, rubbing his swelling pelvis against mine.
My breath caught then, and I forgot all about anyone but Blair and me, and started to walk backwards down the hallway, pulling Blair with me. He didn’t put up a lot of resistance.
Chapter 15
Over the next few weeks, life subtly but surely changed. My employer started losing patience with my sudden unreliability, and started to put the pressure on me to return to the office. Although the sensible side of me, the side that had never heard of shifters and would never have dreamed of being impulsive screamed at my choice, I quit. I had missed out on the job with Gerald, because I hadn’t acted quickly enough, but he made some introductions for me and I picked up some casual word processing work. Even better, I could go somewhere with more reliable internet (which turned out to be Diane’s house), download my projects, and then go home to do them, before repeating my travels to upload the finished work. The income wasn’t as good or as reliable, but since I didn’t have to pay rent anymore, it didn’t matter. I was worried about leaving Diane in the lurch, but her house rented again very quickly, and this time she asked market rate for the property so she was financially better
off anyway. I loved living with Blair, being able to make love with him every night, and despite his protestations of interfering parents, I actually enjoyed the times that Marco and Maria visited us. Perhaps it was because of my poor experience with my own parents and stepmother, that I embraced his parents without reservation, but whatever the reason, Maria and I got along so well I almost felt like her daughter. We visited Diane frequently, but for short periods, as she was at the point where she was almost ready to go into labour, and she tired so easily.
I left Melody with Maria one afternoon and made a quick trip to Dad’s house, catching him just when he was returning from work. I told him and my stepmother how angry I was that they had given my address to Darren without giving me any warning. While they were still staring at me, I told them that the best thing Darren had ever done for me was to dump me, because that began the chain of events that led to me finding true love with Blair. I told them that phone service was pretty awful where I was living, and that I wasn’t giving them my new address in case they felt the need to give it to Darren again, but that if they emailed me I would respond. I reminded Dad that I was his daughter, and Melody his granddaughter, and if he truly valued his relationship with me he would rethink his attitude towards me, Melody, and now Blair, and left him thinking about that. I drove home both in shock at how bold I had been, and proud of myself for finally letting my Dad know how I felt about how things were between us. I knew that eventually he would come around and reach out to me properly, but until that time, I was going to live my life to the fullest.
Without fuss, I finally lodged the birth registration for Melody. When I had completed it, I showed it to Blair before enveloping it and posting it. It took him a moment to realise what he was reading, but it warmed my heart to see the look of joy on his face.