Free Second to Cry by Carys Jones Page B

look. Her previous nerves now seemed to have completely disappeared.
    ‘A simple blood test will silence any doubts from either party,’ Aiden said as diplomatically as he could, hoping that Deena had come in to give her consent for the paternity test which would save him a great deal of headaches over the matter.
    ‘I have no doubts!’ Deena answered sharply.
    ‘Silence your husband’s then,’ Aiden offered. ‘Look, I shouldn’t even be discussing this with you as it’s your husband who hired me but to allay your fears, it’s a very straightforward test. Davis won’t feel a thing and we can have the results back in under forty-eight hours.’
    Aiden had seen the way Deena put herself out for her boys at the game. Surely she’d do this one simple thing to appease her husband and secure the family’s future?
    ‘Mr Connelly, let me make myself perfectly clear,’ Deena began, sitting up straight in her chair, her blue eyes locking on him with frightening intensity.
    ‘There will be no paternity test. There will be no further investigation in to myself or my son because it is insulting to have to weather these accusations as a mother and I’m sickened that you’d entertain it for my husband, even for a second!’ her words came out angry and fierce.
    ‘Mrs Fern—’ Aiden wanted to explain himself but she denied him the chance.
    ‘Drop the case, Mr Connelly!’ she shouted at him, standing up from the chair and preparing to leave as she smoothed creases in her dress.
    ‘But your husband has employed my services.’
    ‘Then lie to him. Do what you have to but, I advise you, seriously, to drop this case.’
    ‘Are you threatening me?’ Aiden asked, shocked.
    ‘Should I be?’ Deena countered.
    ‘Look, Mrs Fern—’
    ‘Just drop the case, please!’ Deena said, her voice losing its harshness. ‘Leave me and my family alone. We’re happy; this is just a rocky patch. Samuel and I will get through it.’
    ‘I’m sure you will.’
    ‘Then drop the case!’ she pleaded again, her blue eyes misting over. ‘I need you to promise me that you won’t pursue this any further?’
    ‘I can’t promise that.’
    Deena pursed her lips together as she thought hard. Aiden sensed that she had expected him to back down about the case, no questions asked.
    ‘Please, won’t you drop it, for me?’ she tried a different tactic, tossing her hair and batting her eyelashes at him. Aiden rolled his own eyes in response.
    ‘No.’
    ‘Really? Because word around town is you’ll do anything for a pretty blonde!’ she retorted spitefully.
    Aiden recoiled inwardly from the viciousness of such rumours but didn’t let it show.
    ‘Word around town is wrong,’ he told her coolly.
    ‘Mr Connelly, please,’ she lowered herself back into her chair so that they were at eye level.
    ‘Please, I am begging you. This test will tear my family apart.’
    ‘Your husband hired me to—’
    ‘It’s not normal, is it, to question who fathered your two-year-old son?’ Deena interrupted. ‘Samuel is sick and he’s delusional but I refuse to let my children suffer because he is losing his grip on reality.’
    ‘Are you saying he has dementia?’ Aiden queried gently, confused by the whole scenario which was unfolding in his office.
    ‘It’s a terrible affliction,’ Deena stated, her hard exterior returning. ‘Samuel is forgetting things and lashing out at me and the boys. You saw that for yourself when you came to our home.’
    Aiden felt reluctant to label Samuel Fern as suffering with dementia when the old man had seemed completely coherent when he visited him.
    ‘Is he seeing a doctor about it?’
    ‘Several.’
    ‘Where are they based?’ Aiden asked, thinking that before taking Deena’s word for it he’d need a professional opinion. After all, if Sam Fern did have dementia it wasn’t fair to put his whole family through further stress and turmoil.
    ‘They are specialists, not from round here.’ Deena waved a