Chapter 10

Tuesday morning, I was finally in my office and I was about to start looking at what I should be doing next, when Laura entered my office and closed the door behind her.

“Will, I’d like have a few words with you.”

“Just tell me how can I help you, Laura.”

I didn’t like the smile that formed at the corner of her mouth.

“Jeanie told me.”

Even though I knew my face didn’t reveal anything, my mouth suddenly felt dry. Yet, I was not sure if Laura really knew something, or if she was fishing for information. So, I just raised my eyebrows and waited for more. I could almost feel Laura’s gaze on me.

“She didn’t mean to, but she accidentally gave away that she knew about oral sex, and I was quite sure that the man who abused her was not the one who did it to her. In the end, she was crying and begging me not blame you.”

I could not read her face, but I knew - all too well - how Laura felt about child molesters. My mind was empty when I tried to think how to justify what I had done with Jeanie, but everything I could think of felt like excuses, even to me. However, Laura continued before I could even open my mouth.

“You know, Will, she intends to go after you as soon as she becomes eighteen?”

“Yes, I’ve guessed as much.”

There it was. I didn’t even try to deny it.

“The point is, Will, that even though I like you, I’m not sure I’d like you as my son-in-law. Besides, I’m sure that neither of us wants Greg to know anything about this. Jeanie explained to me that she almost blackmailed you to do it, but Greg might not see it that way.”

“Laura, I can promise you that I have no intention at all to start courting Jeanie.”

For some reason, my comment made Laura laugh out loud.

“Will, I’m not at all worried about you. I’m worried about Jeanie. She deserves as normal a life as possible, and she can’t have it if she only sees you.”

“So, what do you want me to do? If you want, I can leave this company and start working elsewhere.”

“No, that’s not what I want.”

“What is it, then?”

“I want you to forgive Jennifer. That poor girl loves you with all her heart, and up until that stupid mistake, you were willing to marry her. So, you need to forgive her and give her another chance.”

“You’re blackmailing me!”

“No, I’m just asking you to see what is right and reasonable. You need a woman in your life, and you’d be a good father to that little boy.”

Eventually, I gave up. I didn’t promise to marry her immediately, nor would I relent about the farce regarding parenthood. I was not the father of the baby. Period. But I could be there to support her and help her - Laura would see that. Another thing was that, if I ever were to adopt him, I’d make sure that Austin the 2nd would never have any rights regarding him. Once Laura was satisfied, she was all smiles and she kissed my cheek before she turned to leave.

“They will be released tomorrow - so you should visit them this afternoon while her parents are at work.”

Like I had some real choice? I didn’t manage to do much until it was time to leave.

“Hi, Jennifer, how are you - and the baby?”

I could see a series of expessions flash on her face, but there was no mistake about the last one. She was genuinely happy, there was no mistake about that. A bit surprisingly, there was no need to force my own smile - even if it wasn’t very wide.

“Oh, Will, I’m fine - and so is the baby.”

The way she blushed was quite cute, and it took me a moment to realize that she had just prepared to breastfeed her baby.

“Oh, I’m sorry Jenn. I’ll leave you in peace.”

Suddenly her blush turned into a small smile, and I could almost see wheels turning inside her head.

“No, Will, please stay. Besides, there is nothing you haven’t seen before.”

The way she took the baby to her breast told me that she had already done that a few times. Seeing her breastfeed the baby, brought a flow of memories, and for a moment, I had problems controlling my emotions. Jennifer didn’t see any of that, since the little boy was so hungry that he missed the nipple a few times. Once she was able to look at me, I had already managed to archive the images of Caryn feeding Judy. The look in her eyes, when her eyes met mine, was almost heart-breaking. The problem was, that she had already broken my heart, once. Still, I knew that I had to try - and I had to admit that a part of me wanted to try.

“I see you’ve already mastered that.”

“It’s not so much my doing. He’s so often so hungry that I don’t really need to do a thing.”

I had to admit that it really looked like that little boy had decided to get everything Jennifer had to offer, and even more. After a short while, he got a bit antsy as her first breast seemed to run out of milk and she had to switch sides. Soon, he was sucking and snorting again like his life depended on it. Well, in a way it did. I could not help thinking how different he was, compared to little Judy. No, I don’t want to go there. Not anymore.

“You know, once you have finished I could help burping and changing him. If you don’t mind.”

“But... - could you... - would you really do that?”

“What, don’t you trust me or my ability?”

“No, I just had no idea...”

I just smiled at her, and allowed her to finish feeding the baby. Then, I took one of the towels lying there, put it over my shoulder, before taking the baby in my arms. I made sure to support his head, until he rested against my shoulder. It didn’t take half a minute to get a loud burp out of him and I was just about to put him on the changing table, when I felt the small body shudder

The shudder was soon followed by an unmistakable scent. Oh shit. Literally. I heaved a sigh, but luckily at this point, the outcome isn’t anything intolerable. However, it didn’t prevent Jennifer from giggling a bit, when I took the fourth baby wipe from the box.

Once he was clean and dry, I put him in his own small bed that was next to the one Jennifer was using. When I was ready to stand up, Jennifer stopped me with her hand.

“Thank you, Will. I have no idea how I’m going to make it, once I’m alone at home with him, and my mother goes back to work.”

I took her hand, and sat down on the side of her bed. When I looked in her eyes, I could see different feelings flashing through.

“Jennifer, we cannot pretend that nothing bad happened. But if you don’t object, I would not mind dating, and helping one single mother. I might even take some days off, so that I could help her and the baby. Who knows, if that would lead to something more permanent...”

I didn’t get any further before Jennifer started crying silently, and - had she been any stronger - I would have worried about my hand.

“Will, I’m so sorry ... I was so stupid...”

I stopped her with a gentle shake of my head.

“Jenn, we cannot change the past. We can only try to make the best of our future.”

Those few words made her cry a bit more, but the new tears didn’t look all unhappy. Maybe, just maybe, something good would come out of this.

Three weeks later, I wasn’t so sure anymore. It had nothing to do with my relationship with Jennifer; and not even with her mother, who hated my guts. The only thing that kept her at bay was that she was waiting for the DNA results, and that I was actually helping Jennifer take care of Michael, baby Mike. Should it turn out that I was Mike’s father, there would be no way to avoid her wrath. But that was not the problem. No, the problem was that little Mike was a colic baby.

I considered myself someone in good condition, but two weeks with only a very little sleep, started to take its toll. Thus far, I had been able to hold myself together and even support Jennifer, who occasionally broke down and cried, because there was nothing else she was able to do. That, in turn, made me feel totally inadequate: I couldn’t simultaneously sooth her and calm little Mike down. The only thing that seemed to work with him was walking around that small apartment. So, when our attorneys finally informed us they were ready and had the meeting organized, I was on pins and needles even though I was sure of the result.

Even if I had had to familiarize myself with a whole lot of legal things while catching Sean Donaghue, it didn’t mean I would have liked that business. Nor did it make me any kind of expert on those issues. Therefore, I accepted the orders my legal representative had given me, and I was kept in the dark about the results. However, I had been tested a few times after the vasectomy, and I could be quite confident, when I arrived at the meeting with Jennifer and - thankfully - sleeping little Mike.

A few days earlier, Laura had been quite unhappy with me and my unwillingness to accept Mike as my child as a part of the deal. Once I had explained my reasoning to her, she could understand my point, but it didn’t mean that she would be happy with me, and she let me know that. Which in turn, caused me to inform her that I was not happy being blackmailed into a relationship. Suddenly, she had smiled at me.

“Tell me, Will, would you be happier alone than you are now with Jennifer and little Mike? Remember that the colic does not last forever.”

“Easy for you to say!”

“Really? We have a fifteen-year-old teenager - going on thirty-five - pushing her limits every day, and a baby who crawls everywhere.”

“Should that make me feel better?”

In fact, that had made me feel a bit better. Somewhere deep inside, I had had to admit to myself that I felt better with Jennifer and Mike than I felt without them. But it didn’t mean that I had forgotten, or totally forgiven her. Which was why I was in this room today; facing the wrath of Mrs. Downs.

Once all the introductions were over, Mrs. Downs was the first one to open her mouth, wanting to hear the results. Somehow I wasn’t surprised.

“So, please tell me if you have been able to determine the father of little Mike?”

I could see how their lawyer hesitated, and didn’t answer immediately, which gave my representative the opportunity to cut in.

“In fact, we have, Mrs. Downs.”

The victorious euphoria that filled her face told me that she had only understood the message, but hadn’t taken notice of who had made the statement. Before anybody could say a thing, she had turned to me.

“So here we are Mr. Hart! Now there will be no way...”

“Mother!”

“Honey, men like him should be put in their place...”

“MOTHER!”

I already knew that Jennifer was smarter than some people believed, so I was not really surprised that she had understood. I took her hand in mine, and smiled at her and shaking my head a bit. The miracle of miracles was that little Mike continued his sleep. There were tears forming in the corners of Jennifer’s eyes, and I gently wiped them away. Yes, maybe there would be some future for us.

The other lawyer had now summoned his courage, and he cleared his throat.

“Mrs. Downs, the DNA tests clearly show that Mr. Hart cannot be the father of the baby. However, my colleague here, has shown me the results of another test made by a respectable laboratory that defines the father of the baby.”

There. Now it was out. For the second time in my life, I had been publicly proclaimed a cuckold, so that there was solid evidence. There is at least one thing that doesn’t come easier when repeated. Only this time, I had not been married, and the last time, it had been something that gave me another chance to nail Sean Donaghue. Whatever. Jennifer was sobbing silently and I made myself squeeze her hand slightly. Did it make me a bad person that I wanted to share the pain I felt?

Somehow, the mood inside the room had made a full turnaround. I could tell that the lawyers would have liked to continue, but for once they were discrete and waited for Mrs. Downs to process what she had just heard. Not only had her little angel girl been unfaithful, but she had also gotten pregnant while having an affair. Oh well, no time like now.

“Mrs. Downs, Charles - could I have a short, private meeting with Jennifer and with our legal advisers? Please.”

Because I was getting back together with Jennifer, I felt I also needed to rebuild my relationship with her parents. I expected no problems with Charles, but Jenn’s mother had never really liked me. A ‘wanna-be cop’ private investigator was not good enough for her daughter, especially when there was an office full of promising, young lawyers. She had never stopped to think how I could afford to let Jennifer live in my apartment for free, while bunking elsewhere by myself. However, I had decided to try to act civil towards her, even if I did not really want to.

Once the door closed behind Jennifer’s parents (who had also taken little Mike with them) I cleared my throat and turned to face Jenn and the lawyer her family had hired.

“Jenn, now that we all know the situation, I do have a suggestion for you. Please listen to it, and then you can discuss it with your lawyer - and even with your parents, if you want to.”

She nodded her approval and I continued.

“As you know Jenn, I’m an investigator - and a damned good one. I guess that you already know that Mike’s biological father - Austin Thaddeus Whelan the 2nd is married and already has two kids in their teens. He also prefers married, or at least engaged women, when having extramarital affairs, since they are less likely to cause any trouble afterwards. But that is not important, here. What happened, happened, and there is no way to change it. However, if we are to get back together, there are some things I need to be sure about.”

In a way. I knew that my threat was a hollow one since Laura had made it clear that we should get back together. But neither Jennifer or her attorney protested, so I continued.

“My point is that if I’m the one who is going to be Mike’s father, I want to make sure that there is no possibility that Austin Thaddeus Whelan the 2nd could someday come and claim his rights. I’ll not sign the birth certificate, but I may consider adopting Mike. If that is not okay with you, please say it now, and I won’t continue.”

They did not stop me. A bit later. there was some discussion when I presented my opinion that this Austin fellow should be reminded that chasing married or engaged women may have some consequences. I could tell that Jennifer was not too comfortable with that, but I wanted her to learn her lesson. I might finally forgive, but there would be some painful things to remember.

Two weeks later, Jennifer and I were sitting in another meeting with our lawyer. Austin Thaddeus Whelan the 2nd had not come himself, nor did he send any stiff-looking lawyers. No, I was quite sure that he was kept hidden somewhere, since according to what I had heard, he was a very aggressive negotiator - which was fine as long as they held upper hand. Since I had included a copy of the DNA test in the file, they knew now that wasn’t the case. So, instead of stiff-looking lawyers, or Austin Thaddeus Whelan the 2nd himself, Jennifer and I faced his wife, a successful business woman - and an heiress.

“So, Mr. Hart, how much do you want? One hundred thousand, you sign the birth certificate, and we’ll all forget this little mistake. Or, maybe we could make it two hundred thousand. With that money you could make sure that your son can have a good education and you can use the rest as a down payment for a bigger apartment.”

For the sake of the people working in her businesses, I truly hoped that she usually did a better job of finding out things about her opponents.

“Mrs. Whelan - I guess you don’t want me to call you Suzanne?”

From the way her face darkened, I could tell that she really did not want to negotiate on a first-name basis. I smiled and nodded.

“Mrs. Whelan, I’m not, and will never be the biological father of the little boy. I may become his father by adoption, in case Miss Downs and I get married, someday.”

I knew that she was rich, not filthy rich, but comfortably rich. She had the money and her husband - with a wandering eye - had a respected name. Almost a perfect match, I guess. However, I was not fully prepared to see Mrs. Whelan smile. In fact, I had liked her frown better.

“I see. But Mr. Hart, I’m sure that even a successful investigator can’t easily save ... let’s say half a million. Besides, you shouldn’t feel too bad, since my husband can occasionally be extremely persuasive. Especially when we speak about married or engaged women and a single event. But trust me, he’ll never bother you again.”

It seemed that I had to revise my opinion about Mrs. Whelan. Even if she had not properly done her homework, she could immediately note and exploit the weaknesses I showed by letting her know that my pride would not allow me to become a known cuckold. I smiled back at her.

“How considerate of you, Mrs. Whelan! However, let me assure you that I don’t feel threatened by your husband, not in any way. Besides, I seriously doubt you can legally access the kind of money that would make me change my mind. However, you might want to negotiate with Miss Downs what kind of concerns she has about her and the baby’s future.”

I cannot say that I learned to like Mrs. Whelan, but since I had lived my youth on the fringes of those people, I could understand her reasoning. Her side of the family brought in the money while her husband had a name that could be traced back to the beginning of the nation. After hearing my terms, Mrs. Whelan looked a bit confused, but she agreed without hesitation, and a bit later, the negotiations securing the future of little Mike were also over.