Aidan walked across the open-plan office in a daze. His colleagues rushed over to greet him as soon as they saw him. He vaguely remembered seeing some of them at the funeral through his haze of grief. He stood there going through the motions, listening to their platitudes and their awkward attempts at making conversation until eventually they all left him to get on with things and he went into his office and shut the door behind him.
He waited as his laptop powered up and exhaled loudly as he watched hundreds of emails begin to download. He looked around the office with its views across the IFSC and the wide mouth of the Liffey snaking through the city. Everything had changed and yet nothing had. His team had kept the show on the road in his absence, the job hadn’t come to a standstill, and he realised that they could survive without him. That thought would have bruised his ego just a few months back, but now he really didn’t care.
The things that had once seemed important, now seemed so trivial. All those urgent deadlines, always hungry to win the next client and then the one after that, the approval from Richard and the rest of the board – it had been like a drug. He was always too busy. Too important. Life had been turned on its head and he now realised none of it mattered – not the accolades or the approval. Why had he spent so many hours toiling away at this desk when he had a lovely family at home waiting for him? Why had he been so concerned with his appearance here instead of to the people who mattered to him? He should have been home earlier in the evenings, been there at dinner time or to help Rowan with bath-time when the children were smaller. And would it really have killed him to take a half-day here and there to surprise the boys by collecting them from school or to see their school concerts? Would Rowan still have slept with James if he had been more present in their marriage? That was the question that would torment him forever more. It was hard to accept that maybe if he had had more balance in his life, then things might have been different. Yes, he needed to earn a living, with three children to feed and clothe, but he didn’t have to work at the intensity that he had been working at before the crash. His head was full of ‘what ifs’.
And now this letter had arrived and knocked him completely off balance. It was sitting in the pocket behind the lapel of his suit jacket like a grenade. He was about to reach inside to take it out and read it again when suddenly there was a knock on the door.
‘Aidan, how are you doing?’ Richard asked, sticking his head around the frame. ‘It’s good to have you back.’
‘I’m doing okay, thanks.’
‘How are the children?’
Aidan thought about Milly’s wobbling lip as she had clung to his hand that morning as he led her into the crèche. She would now be attending it full-time while he was at work. She hadn’t wanted to leave him, and he hadn’t wanted to leave her either. The minders had had to peel her off him and he had had to leave her there, screaming after him. At the school, Jack had looked so downtrodden, and Callum had wordlessly slammed the car door as he had dropped them off at the gate. Gemma was going to pick them up for him today and his mother had said she would step in too but he hated the fact that he couldn’t be there for them.
‘They're doing all right; it’s a big adjustment for them.’
‘I can imagine,’ Richard said, shaking his head sympathetically. ‘I know it’ll be tough trying to juggle it all with the children and everything, so feel free to take your laptop home if you need to leave early or whatever.’
‘Thanks, I appreciate that.’
‘Well, I’ll let you get stuck in.’ Richard closed the door and left Aidan alone once more.
When Richard was gone Aidan took the letter from his pocket and reread it again, still feeling that same disbelief as he had when he had first read it that morning:
IN THE MATTER OF PART VII OF THE STATUS OF CHILDREN ACT 1987
NOTICE OF MOTION FOR THE TAKING OF BODILY SAMPLE
BETWEEN
James O’Herlihy Applicant
AND
Aidan Whelan Respondent
TAKE NOTICE that an application will be made to the Court on 6th November 2021 on behalf of the above named James O’Herlihy for an Order directing that DNA tests be carried out in respect of the persons whose names are set out below for the purpose of ascertaining the parentage of Milly Whelan of 14 Ledbury Road, age 3.
1. Aidan Whelan, 14 Ledbury Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.
2. James O’Herlihy, 39 Abbeville Road, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.
Dated this 24th day of October 2021
How was this happening? How could James and Helena do this to his family? Why were they putting them through this on top of everything else that had happened? It was now dawning on Aidan with searing clarity that they must be feeling pretty confident in their claims if they were willing to go down the legal route. Their far-fetched story when they had turned up at the house that day had seemed ludicrous to his ears, but maybe they had been telling the truth? But no, Milly was his daughter – he knew she was – he was named on her birth certificate. He felt as though the walls of his life had crumbled with Rowan’s death and subsequent knowledge of her liaison with James, but now the foundations were crumbling too, and he was sinking beneath it all.
Even though he didn’t want to get further embroiled with James and Helena, legally he knew he had a duty to respond. He couldn’t just ignore this letter, hoping the situation would go away, no matter how much he wished he could. He had to protect his family at all costs, so he picked up the phone and dialled the number of his solicitor, Brendan Waters. He had been in touch with Brendan several times recently in terms of the legal aftermath of Rowan’s death as he guided him through her will and other policies that they had had in place, but he felt mortified as he explained about Rowan’s one-night stand and James’s claim that he was Milly’s biological father. It was humiliating admitting that his wife had turned to another man. Finally, he told Brendan about the application James had made to the court to have a paternity test carried out by both parties.
‘We can ask to have it struck out on grounds that it’s vexatious, but I must say it is very unlikely the judge will agree to that. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child recognises a child’s right to know their parents – children have a right to accurate information. The judge will want to be seen to be fair to both sides and a DNA test is relatively easy and is the most straightforward way in matters like these. Mr Whelan is either lying or he’s not,’ he added simply.
‘But what if I refuse to do the test, they can’t pin me down and take a sample – aren’t there rights about things like this?’
‘That is true, but you must be aware that if you refuse to do a test, the court can draw whatever conclusions it sees proper in the circumstances of the particular case. The judge will ask themselves why you are refusing, could it be that you are afraid of what the results might show? It’s a gamble and I wouldn’t advise it.’
‘They did a test on my daughter without my consent, surely that’s illegal? I trusted Helena and she took a conversation that I had with one of Milly’s doctors and used it against me. They have broken so many laws here that I don’t know how we’re not the ones taking them to court!’
‘We can certainly lodge a counter-claim, but it won’t change the outcome if it is proven that Mr O’Herlihy is Milly’s father then—’
‘He’s not,’ Aidan interrupted.
‘Very well then, you’ve nothing to worry about,’ Brendan stated.
Aidan ran his hands down along his face after he had hung up. It felt as though his whole world had been shifted. It was eating him up inside. He was now doubting one of the most fundamental things in his life – he was doubting whether Milly really was his daughter, and it was terrifying.