CHAPTER 21:

That night, as the couple was getting ready for bed, Daniel who was making his final notes for work recounted the day's events to Willie whose eyes were glued on her copy of What To Expect When You're Expecting. She finally put the book down when the plot thickened in Daniel's story.

"You went all the way to Jersey?"

"I had to. Ginger sent the wrong disk to Suzuki."

"So, Suzuki knows about us." She stated calmly

"Yep"

"And Betty knows about us?"

"Yeah"

"How did she take it?"

"Well, she was shocked, she still is shocked."

"And Suzuki St. Pierre also knows about us and he'll keep our secret? How much did you have to cough up?"

"Not a single dime. Let's just say…like everybody else Suzuki has secrets but his is much deeper than ours. It could ruin him."

"Oh, my God. You mean you found out that he's a straight guy who couldn't get a break and then posed as a gay man to do what he loves?"

"You…knew about that?" Willie rolled her eyes at him

"Danny, I think I may have mentioned this before…I know everything."

"Right."

"I'm glad you handled it though. I was so damn stressed today. But, something else is on your mind, Daniel." It surprised him that Wilhelmina could read him so easily.

"It's DJ. His grandparents from France called. They miss him. A lot."

"And you're worried that they might want him back?"

"They want him back. They told me that they miss him. And now I can't help feeling like an asshole."

"Why? He's your son."

"New York is no France, Wils."

"I get it, you think maybe he'll be happier when he's with them back in France."

"Yeah. I don't know what to do. What would you do?"

"I'm sorry, honey but you're asking the wrong person."

"But Wils you're a parent."

"A bad one. I sent my daughter to boarding school, Daniel. And she hates me for it. It's different with DJ, he says he loves you and he loves it here. But if you're still not sure, ask him."

"Yeah, but what if he wants to go back?"

"Well, that should be a bridge we cross when we get to it. Talk to him and he might want to stay with us." She scoffed at her own advice "Look at me giving you parenting advice when I never cared if my daughter wanted to be in boarding school or not. I was sure that it was for her own good."

"You did it out of love, Willie."

"Every time I call and our conversations are about to end I tell her I love her and her response is…'Is that it?' and then she hangs up. I thought I was helping her…I mean the only interaction she had with other kids was from 8:00 to 15:30. After school, she would be alone with the nanny who spent the afternoons watching Days Of Our Lives. When I got home, she would be tired and I figured that boarding school was the solution. And now she resents me." Daniel didn't have anything to say to comfort her, so changing the subject was the best choice in order to get rid of the now unusual silence between them.

"It was a lovely vacation wasn't it?" Daniel said finally in an attempt to change the subject

"Indeed."

"You know what I think I'm gonna miss most? Running into Brad and Angie everywhere we went."

"Tell me about it, it's like they were stalking us…with their little entourage."

"Willie, those were their children."

"Oh. right." Willie said feigning innocence causing both of them to descend in a wave of laughter.

Through Claire's insistence, the Meades, sat through dinner at Player, telling each other about their day. Daniel texting on his blackberry, DJ having desert and Alexis recounting the taping of the Regis and Kelly episode.

"The gall of Regis and Kelly, spewing that garbage. Hot Flash serves a growing and diverse demographic. We need a forum to discuss ageing, menopause, personal dryness…" Claire vented

"Mom" Daniel warned, mildly disgusted.

"Actually, Mom there is something about Hot Flash that we need to discuss."

"DJ, no cake c'mon." Daniel warned but DJ ignored him "Hey, déjeuner first, then dessert right?" Daniel tried to reason with him but the boy wasn't listening. "No, come on. What are you…" The cake flew from the platter and onto Alexis' silk dress. DJ burst out in an annoying laughter "Hey! That is not funny. Apologize to your aunt right now!"

"No it's fine. Chocolate on silk, that'll come out" Alexis said with sarcasm

"What has gotten into you? Finish your dinner."

"Je n'ai pas faim" DJ answered cheekily

"Fine, you're not hungry? Go do your English homework. DJ, I'm not messing around. Right now. Go! Now!" DJ huffed, threw the napkin on the table and walked away

"Well isn't this a lovely evening?" Claire sarcastically said

In the morning after Daniel had a talk with DJ, who locked himself in that room all night long, he took a chance and went up to Mode to see if Wilhelmina was in yet. To his luck she was already sitting at her pristine desk with what he assumed was the book.

"Hey, babe" Wilhelmina looked up immediately with a smile on her face

"Good morning, baby."

"You're in already? I was just taking my chances."

"I need to get some work done. Daniel honey, I know you don't work in a fashion magazine anymore but when you wear the same outfit two days in a row…people notice…even at Player." His lips curved into a smile

"No, no, I slept at Player and knowing you I came to check if you're already in."

"Slept at Player? Your building was finally condemned?" She deadpanned and Daniel chuckled

"No. DJ and I…"

"He locked himself in that room all night?"

"He's out now. He dozed off and I ended up falling asleep too waiting for him to come out. He did about 10 minutes ago."

"You talked to him?"

"Yeah, I tried. I don't know what's with him lately. He spilled cake on Alexis after I told him no cake before dinner and he wouldn't listen."

"Chocolate on silk? Bad move, DJ."

"Yeah, and he laughed about it and I yelled at him."

"And now he's mad at you? Welcome to parenthood."

"I don't want him to hate me."

"He doesn't…hate you. I guess the reason he locked himself in is because he was shocked and a little frightened."

"Shocked?"

"At your reaction. Usually when he hit people with his scooter, sprayed silly string on models, disrupting photo shoots and put glue on people's seats you laughed along with him making him think what he was doing was right. You were a cool dad and now when you got serious and yelled, it scared the day lights out of him."

"How can I make him do the right thing without becoming like my dad? I want my son to love me."

"DJ loves you. You don't have to be like Bradford. You can have fun with DJ but at the end of the day he needs to know who's boss. He needs to know that you are his father, not his big brother. As for the yelling…it will be necessary at times. They don't like it but sometimes it's the only way."

"Thanks, Willie. You know that's exactly what my mom said. I just…I want to be a good dad to our children. I'm scared of screwing up."

"You think I'm not? The thought of getting it wrong again, gives me mild panic attacks. Every time I think about it. I try so hard not to think about how bad I'm going to be." He kneeled in front of her and placed his hand on her belly.

"I'll be here with you and you with me. We'll be there for each other, Willie. We'll be bad together." Daniel joked trying to lighten the mood rubbing her belly softly and then kissed her passionately. Little did they know they had an audience….

"Oh, my dear God" Claire whispered, stopping dead in her tracks, eyes wide as saucers. She came in early to give Wilhelmina a piece of her mind about cutting off Hot Flash and she got more than she bargained for.

Daniel sat at his countertop having cereal while waiting for DJ to finish showering so they could go to back to Player. Then, there was a sharp knock on his door, he was sure that it was the cops. When he opened the door, there stood his mother disappointment and anger written all over her face. 'Shit. She knows.' He cleared his throat and decided to play it cool "Uh mom, what are you doing here?"

She pushed past him and let herself in and before he could say anything, her hand connected with his left cheek.

"Mom? What the…"

"You're sleeping with her." Claire accused "Daniel how could you?"

"Mom, please." Daniel tried to calm her

"After everything…EVERYTHING she's done to this family?"

"Mom, look…"

"How long?" Daniel's attempts to reason with her kept getting shot down "For how long has this DISGUSTING affair of yours been going on?"

"Mom, please don't scream, DJ's back there, showering."

"I don't care! How long?" Daniel decided to be a man about it and swallowed hard

"Since…she and Dad broke up."

"Over 4 months ago? Oh, God!" Claire did the math in her head "Is that…is that THING she's carrying yours?"

"Mom!"

"Of course it is…or you don't even know because she's such a slut who would sleep with both father and son. That bitch!"

"Look I didn't say anything about the baby…"

"Wilhelmina is a slutbag who can't keep her legs shut. That thing could have been fathered by any of her whores. She's a player, Daniel. You think you were the only one she was BANGING?"

"Mom, please! How did you find out anyway?"

"Mode has glass walls. And I saw you kissing that sick bitch!"

"Mom, stop, okay! I'm sorry you had to find out like this, but it is what it is. I'm sorry."

"Daniel, you're gonna stop sleeping with her and that's it. I'm not gonna have…"

"Mom you can't tell me what to do, I am a grown man"

"A grown man who's obviously thinking with what's inside his pants! That's not what being a man is about! God, you are just like Bradford, very easily taken by a beautiful bitch who seduces you, thinking…"

"I am nothing like Dad, okay? And it's not like that with Wilhelmina, mom. I lo-…" He felt another stinging slap on his left cheek. He was sure this one left a red mark.

"Over my dead body will I let you utter those words in relation to her! Do you hear me? HOW DARE YOU?"

"Mom, you don't understand."

"Look son, I can…deal with your previous lifestyle of you and your serial womanizing and partying but not this…I don't have the stomach for this. I can't believe you're screwing the woman who screwed over your family. She destroyed…"

"Wilhelmina didn't destroy anything. Our family was already falling apart way before she came into the picture."

"Have good day, son. I'm not gonna stand here and listen to you tell me how great she is how she is now a saint just because you're fucking her."

"Mom, that's so disturbing…"

"Shut up! I…just…I don't know who you are anymore." Claire whispered in the verge of tears. She walked out with a loud a slam of the door.

At lunch time Daniel was by Willie's side as the doctor performed the ultrasound. The sound of the baby's heartbeat filled the room causing the couple to smile at each other.

"Okay, you are having a boy." Doctor Weiss announced

"Oh, my God." Willie murmured in disbelief, her lips immediately twitching into a smile

"We're having a boy." Daniel said. "This is amazing." He bent down and kissed her deeply. When the couple's excitement finally died down the doctor continued and took his file and started recording the ultrasound findings. Daniel got to work and wiped the goo from her abdomen.

"Are you feeling any nausea?" The doctor questioned

"No, the morning sickness seems to have subsided."

"Is the baby moving as before?"

"Yes"

"Have you been experiencing any vaginal bleeding or spotting?"

"No"

"No abnormal changes?"

"No"

"Okay. Good. And now let's get to another important issue, the amniocentesis results. Would you like to us to go into the office?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing"

"Well, then you can tell us here."

"Everything came back fine. There were no abnormalities detected, the little one is perfectly healthy. I also have the paternity results."

"Oh, I see" Wilhelmina said in a low tone

"A non-invasive test was conducted in the laboratory against the DNA sample that Mr. Meade here provided. Would you like me to read them out loud or should I let you…"

"Just read them out loud, Dr Weiss."

"It won't make much of a difference anyway." Daniel assured

"Okay, here it goes…The alleged father cannot be excluded as the biological father of the fetus based on the samples submitted from the mother and the alleged father and the DNA extracted from the population of fetal cells." Wilhelmina's lips slowly curved into a smile and so did Daniel's.

"That means I'm the father!" He said enthusiastically but it wasn't as overwhelming as he expected it to be. The fact that he was the biological father really didn't make much of a difference.

"And one more thing, we have to record your current weight, Ms. Slater."

"Oh, okay. Daniel get out." The smile she wore just a few seconds ago was gone as she spoke firmly. Daniel was now surprise at her change of attitude changed doctor mentioned her weight.

"Why do I have to…" Luckily he wasn't as slow as people assumed he was "OH…I got you." And he hurried out of the room.

A few days later, Daniel nervously stood outside the school building with DJ, trying to find words of encouragement to get him through his first day of school.

"Like I said, remember not to get too hung up on any one girl. You're…you're young. You gotta play the field."

"Quoi?" DJ questioned with a nervous smile

"And listen in class, okay? It's what I told you. Ecoutez le teacher."

"Oui. Papa, your French is…how you say…sucky." Daniel chuckled softly

"Just have a good day." Then he gave him a goodbye hug and DJ ran into the building. With a lump in his throat, he slowly walked back toward his mother who was waiting by the town car.

"You're a natural father."

"Am I being selfish? His grandparents want him back in France. I know he misses them."

"Well, he can miss them and still want to be here with his father."

"He's in a foreign country. He's away from everything he knows, everyone. Don't you think he'd be happier with them?"

"Doesn't really matter what I think, does it?"

"Mom, please."

"Why? Didn't your girlfriend give you any advice? Because I'm sure you went to her first before you came to me."

"Mom"

"I bet she doesn't know the answer to that, does she? She sent her own child away to some foreign country for her own selfish reasons…"

"Mom please."

"Okay. But just talk to him, son."

"I know. I have to ask him. I'm just afraid I'm not gonna get the answer I want. I don't wanna lose him." Claire smiled at him proud that he's grown up. A part of her deep, deep down wanted to believe that Wilhelmina had something to do with that growth but she quickly pushed any positive thoughts about the woman away. After some silence in the town car Claire finally asked

"Why her? Of all women that you could possibly sleep with, why did it have to be her?"

"Mom I know you don't like her but…"

"You're wrong, Daniel. I despise her."

"Look I know your mind is made up about her. I won't get into how I feel about her 'cause I don't feel like getting slapped today. But she and I are having a son together."

"The spawn that she's using to gain control of your father's company is yours?"

"Please don't call my son a spawn. Mom, I know you're disappointed but Wilhelmina is an amazing person. She might be an iron fist at Mode but that's Mode, that's work. She's a totally different person outside of work. I mean she gets along well with DJ…she loves him and he loves her…"

"So you're replacing the boy's mother with that sleazeball of a woman?"

"That's not…that's…mom let's just drop it. Let's talk about something else."

"How about Hot Flash? You'll be happy to know that your 'AMAZING' girlfriend advised Alexis to turn my magazine into a flyer."

"Look, I'm sure she had her reasons I mean Hot Flash is a project that developed in less than 2 months ago. You have to…"

"God, you sound just like her."

Daniel rolled his eyes. Yeah, this is going to be one happy family. My son is going to have the best upbringing, he thought sarcastically.