Aidan closed the door after James and Helena had gone. His head was spinning. He had initially thought their visit was some sort of pathetic attempt by James to apologise once again, but instead it had turned into something more – James and Helena were actually trying to lay claim to his daughter. They were like vultures, picking off what remained on the carcass of his family. If they hadn’t left when they did, he was pretty sure he would have punched James’s lying, cheating face. The smug head on him standing there, pretending that he was doing Aidan a favour by telling him what he claimed was the truth. Helena had been so supportive of him in the hospital; he had thought she was his friend, but she had her own personal agenda. Helena was worse than both Rowan and James put together. It seemed she would stop at nothing to have a child of her own and now she was trying to take his daughter from him? And if they had actually done a paternity test – which he very much doubted – how would they have got a sample from Milly? The audacity of the pair of them would almost be funny if it wasn’t so serious.
He marched into the kitchen and looked around at the detritus of family life. He still couldn’t believe that a month ago he had been living an ordinary existence, but it was like someone had come and swept the rug out from underneath him and everything was chaotic and falling down around him. He could hear the kids running about upstairs, playing a game together. He was glad they seemed to have got distracted from what they were supposed to be doing because he knew if he saw their sweet faces he would never be able to hold it together.
Suddenly he felt a presence behind him in the kitchen and he turned around to see his sister Gemma standing there.
‘I was ringing the bell, but you didn’t hear me so I used my key. Here are your dinners for the next week,’ she announced as she set an armful of foil containers down on the island. ‘There are two lasagnes, a bolognaise and a curry – I didn’t put much spice in because I know what Milly is like.’
‘Thanks,’ he mumbled.
Gemma had been a lifesaver over the last few weeks. Even though she was busy with her three sons and her part-time job as a primary school special needs assistant, she would drop off a lasagne or a hearty casserole or stick on the washing machine for him. He just never seemed to be able to get on top of everything. Whenever he thought he had everything done, he would remember something else that needed doing.
‘Did I just see James and Helena coming out of here?’ she continued.
Aidan nodded.
‘I suppose he wanted to apologise?’ Gemma went on. ‘I hope you told him where to go.’ She opened the freezer door and put in two sliced pans. ‘He probably didn’t even have the gumption to do it himself – I’d say it was Helena’s idea,’ she said wryly.
Aidan had told Gemma the truth about James and Rowan being in the car together and what he had learnt about the one-night stand. He had felt ashamed telling her; it was embarrassing admitting that his wife had betrayed him in the worst way imaginable. Rowan’s parents, and his own too, still believed that Rowan had just been giving James a lift to work that morning. So far, he had managed to shield them from the truth of Rowan’s double life. Although he was so angry with his wife, he didn’t want to taint her memory, that wouldn’t be fair to her parents, especially when she wasn’t here to defend herself and give her version of events.
‘Are you okay, Aidan? You don’t look too good,’ Gemma asked in concern.
Aidan felt his legs grow weak and he made his way down onto a stool.
‘They said some stuff.’
‘Like what?’ Gemma asked, closing the freezer door again and giving him her full attention.
‘Helena said she carried out a DNA test on Milly and that James is her father.’
Suddenly, laughter spluttered from Gemma’s lips. Of all the reactions Aidan had been expecting, it certainly wasn’t laughter.
‘Are you serious?’ she said in disbelief. ‘Oh my God, that pair have some neck.’ She took a seat beside him at the island and he filled her in on the full conversation. ‘I’m sorry, but you buried your wife just a few weeks ago, you nearly lost your three-year-old daughter too. You’re trying to help your three young children come to terms with their mother’s death and they call over to dump some more shit on your doorstep? Are they having a laugh?’ She was even more outraged than he was.
Aidan felt his shoulders come down from his ears and his heart rate began to slow a little too. ‘So you think they’re making it up?’ Aidan continued, feeling a little more sure of himself.
‘C’mon, Aidan, what do you think? They must think you’re really gullible.’
‘I just don’t get it; Helena was so good to me in the hospital – she was such a good friend. I don’t know why she would do this to me now.’
‘Well, what you said about them not being able to have a baby, maybe James is filling Helena with shit and he thinks that by telling her that there is a chance he could be Milly’s father, it will keep her on side.’
Aidan felt reassured. That was one explanation for it. ‘But it’s so twisted. Helena is a clever woman, surely she wouldn’t fall for that?’
‘As the saying goes: Love is blind. Sometimes we see what we want to see. Milly is your daughter, Aidan.’
‘She’s a lot darker than the boys,’ Aidan said, once again feeling upended by a wave of uncertainty.
‘But Rowan was dark,’ Gemma countered. ‘I’m telling you, they’re so desperate for a child – Helena told you that herself – so now they’ve set their sights on your daughter. They’ve hatched this bizarre plan together – it’s actually crazy when you think about it.’ She shook her head in disbelief once again.
‘Yeah, you’re right,’ he agreed.
‘If you were really worried, you could do your own test to put your mind at ease, that way you’d know for sure,’ Gemma continued.
‘But I know she is my daughter,’ he said, feeling more sure of himself now.
‘Well then, that’s all that matters. You need to put those crazy lowlifes out of your head and forget about it. Where are the kids anyway?’
‘Jack and Milly are getting dressed, I was going to take them out for a cycle.’
‘And Callum?’
Aidan sighed. ‘He’s gone out, I don’t know where or who with. He won’t answer his phone if I try to ring him. He’s being really difficult.’
‘Have you got a GPS tracking app installed on his phone?’ Gemma asked.
‘No,’ Aidan said, feeling even more useless. ‘Should I?’
‘Well, I have one on the boys’ phones, it’s peace of mind.’ She paused. ‘So he’s still lashing out at you then?’ Gemma asked, pursing her lips together.
‘He’s lashing out at all of us; he’s horrible to Jack. He won’t go to the counsellor. I just don’t know what to do with him.’
‘Just be patient, it’s going to hit him the hardest because he understands loss more than the younger two.’
‘But I can’t let him create a toxic atmosphere, things are hard enough in this house right now. He can’t keep using his family as a punchbag.’
‘Just give him time,’ Gemma encouraged. ‘He’s at a really difficult age and then when something like this happens – his feelings are bigger than him, it’s only natural that he doesn’t know how to deal with them.’
They heard footsteps on the stairs and they quickly ended their conversation as Milly and Jack came into the kitchen. Milly was wearing her marshmallow pink ballet tutu with a pair of red sports socks. Rowan had started her in ballet lessons just before the accident and Milly adored the tutu and had even worn it to bed the day it arrived. Her face fell as she looked around the room. ‘Where is Lena gone?’
‘She had to go home, love,’ Aidan said.
‘But I want to show her my pwetty costume!’
‘Well, your Auntie G would like to see it,’ Gemma said. ‘Give me a twirl.’
Milly’s face lit up once more as she began twirling gracefully around the kitchen. Just below the layers of netting, an angry scar on her thigh was visible; a reminder of all that had happened. As Aidan looked at his daughter spinning around the floorboards in her stockinged feet, his heart surged with pride. Milly was his child, he was certain of it.