CHAPTER 41
Saturday morning…
Three days have passed since Eva and I went to the hospital for the scan, and this morning I walk into the kitchen and see Eva looking at her phone. I walk up behind her, wrap my arms around her and kiss her. Then I look over her shoulder to see what she is looking at and I smile as I see the scan picture on her phone.
"Is everything ok?" I ask.
Eva nods, "Yeah, I'm still deciding if I want to tell Dominic about the baby or not. I have this odd feeling about him, I don't know if it's me and my trust issues but I don't think I totally trust everything he says" she says as she turns to face me, "Do you think I'm being crazy?" she asks.
I shake my head, "No, you are not being crazy. It is your gut reaction. You know nothing at all about him and you are naturally being wary". I don't tell her that I have had similar concerns about his sincerity. I also wonder if taking Maisie to meet him is a good idea, and so I decide to voice these concerns with Eva.
"Do you think it is a good idea to take Maisie for the first introduction?" I ask carefully.
The look of relief on her face is total when she hears that, "Oh thank god someone else thinks that way. I was scared to say anything in case it made me look paranoid, but I don't want to introduce Maisie to someone and then him decide he wants nothing to do with us or if the meeting goes badly I don't want Maisie to see that" she says, all the words tumbling out of her mouth in a rush.
"Does Maisie think she is meeting him today?" I ask as I don't actually recall Eva ever talking with Maisie about this meeting and Eva shakes her head.
"No, I kept putting it off as I had doubts. She doesn't even know we are going to Bristol" she says and her face flushes with guilt.
I nod and pull out my phone, I call Sandra, "Hello Sandra it's Gideon, now I know this is really short notice but…" I stop as she interrupts me.
"You would like me to take care of Maisie today while you take Eva and Kyle to meet Dominic Stanton. Eva has been debating whether or not to take Maisie on the first visit, as she said something didn't seem right about him and she has been reluctant to even talk about it with her. So, I was expecting this" she says kindly.
"Thank you" I say with relief.
"Not at all… and Gideon, take care of them and if something doesn't seem right get them out of there" she says seriously, and I wonder what she knows about Dominic Stanton to say something like that.
"I will, I promise" I say. I hang up and smile at Eva, "All sorted, Maisie can stay with your gran" I say and Eva gives me a relieved smile.
The front door bell rings and Eva looks at me, "I bet that's Kyle" she says and goes to answer it.
A few moments later Kyle appears at Eva's side and Vic is also with them and whilst he smiles brightly, I can see worry in his eyes.
I walk over to greet them, "Good morning" I say as I offer my hand to Vic, he accepts it and pulls me into a hug, as he does so he whispers in my ear.
"Take care of my kids," he says and I nod. I realise that something more is going on here, Vic knows this family as it is his family too and he is clearly concerned about this meeting.
"Is Maisie going?" he asks trying to sound nonchalant and failing miserably.
Eva shakes her head, "No, I decided not to take her for the first meeting, call it maternal instinct but something is bugging me about Dominic Stanton and I don't want to expose Maisie to him… yet" she says.
Vic looks relieved and smiles and it is a genuine one this time, "Good call" he says and he moves closer to Eva and pulls her into his arms, "Keep your wits about you and trust your gut. I don't want to say anything which will influence you one way or the other about Dominic, but if something doesn't seem right to you, just walk away" he says. Eva listens to him carefully and nods.
"Ok" she says.
Vic looks up at me, "Do you want me to take Maisie back with me, I can drop her off with Sandra if you like?" he says.
I nod, and call Maisie down. She squeals in delight when she sees Kyle and Vic and flings herself at them.
"Kyle! Granddad!" she shrieks.
Vic laughs and picks her up, "Hello Maisie, how do you fancy coming with me today, we can go to the park and feed the ducks and go and see Gran-gran and stay there for a bit, what do you say?" he says.
Maisie nods her head, and looks at us, "Can I?" she asks looking at us pleadingly.
Eva laughs, "Do you want to stay the whole day?" she asks her and Maisie shrieks again and moves so suddenly that Vic nearly drops her.
"Steady on Maisie" he says as he lowers her to the ground.
She runs off to get a bag together, and Eva looks at Vic, "Thanks dad, I haven't actually told her about this visit as I have had my doubts for a while. So, don't say anything to her" she says.
Vic nods, "No I won't, Sandra said you were worried about it" he says.
Eva looks at him carefully, "Is Dominic Stanton a bad person?" she asks bluntly.
Vic hesitates, "I wouldn't say bad but he's not a good person either, he's selfish and he wants everything his way. He doesn't take other people's feelings or opinions into consideration and he can be pretty domineering and abrasive," he says, "In my opinion" he hastily adds.
Eva nods, "I got that much from him already, I reached out to him and it took him ages to even reply. I mean I know it was probably a shock. Then this whole visit, everything has been on his terms. I get he works in a hospital and is busy, but we have to go to him, we have to be at a certain place at a certain time or he won't be able to see us. It all just set me on edge that he is doing this because he feels he has to not because he wants to, and I can't help but think he's not going to want to see us again, that doesn't bother me in the slightest and I'm sure Kyle isn't too concerned either way" she pauses and glances at Kyle who just shrugs.
"I wasn't even bothered about going at all, the only reason I am going is because you asked me to, and I wanted to be there for you when you meet him as it wasn't right you meeting someone on your own… I mean I know Gideon will be there, but this bloke is supposed to be our granddad, do you get what I mean?" he says and he puts his head down.
"It's ok Kyle" I say understanding immediately what he is trying to say.
Eva touches his arm reassuringly, "Yeah I get what you're saying too, and that is pretty much how I feel I'm only going out of curiosity really but if he is only doing this because he thinks he has to and if nothing more comes of it I wasn't really prepared to put Maisie through that. I'm not going to introduce her to some strange man who she is never going to see again. We can handle it but she can't" she says. She glances at Kyle who is standing silently listening.
"But if something does come of it we can always take Maisie to meet him at a later date" she adds.
I am surprised, Eva is a very astute person and she can read people well, and she has got all that from the few conversations she has had with Stanton and is in my opinion behaving very responsibly with regard to Maisie.
Maisie reappears and runs to Vic, "I'm ready, let's go" she demands and Vic laughs.
"Ok then, hang on one second" he says, he turns to Kyle and pulls him into a hug and whispers something in his ear and Kyle nods and hugs him back.
"Thanks dad" he says.
Then he turns to Eva and hugs her and whispers in her ear, she smiles and nods and I watch as she brushes away a stray tear. She has been very emotional since she found out she is pregnant and it doesn't take much to get her crying these days. She told me it was pregnancy hormones. She has also started getting morning sickness quite badly in the mornings and she has complained of feeling queasy for most of the day. So, to say I am worried about this visit and the effect it is going to have on her would be an understatement.
"Thanks dad" she says to Vic and pats his arm as he moves away.
He turns his attention to Maisie, "Come on then you!" he says brightly and Maisie slips her small hand into his and practically pulls Vic towards the front door.
"Bye mummy, bye daddy!" she yells and as she calls me daddy my heart lurches as it always does.
Eva and I shout goodbye and then they are gone, Eva turns to Kyle.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" she asks him and he nods.
"Yeah, like you it's more out of curiosity than anything. But as far as I am concerned dad is my dad and my granddad lives across the road from us" he says with a shrug.
We leave the house and climb into the car; I glance at Kyle through the rear-view mirror and he looks pensive. I glance at Eva and she has an identical look on her face, I take a deep breath and start the engine.
oooOOOooo
We arrive in Bristol in good time, we park up and go a walk along the river and it is quite picturesque. We see Millennium square with its modern art and huge television screen and as we walk, we catch a glimpse of Brunel's SS Great Britain which is now in a dry dock and is a museum and tourist attraction. We walk away from the river front and into the city and we see Bristol Cathedral and the grassy open space in front of it. This is where we are supposed to be meeting Stanton, he had described a statue in front of the main entrance to the cathedral and that he would meet us there.
Eva looks around and spots the statue and points.
"That must be the statue he meant" she says, and we all walk over.
"Now what?" Kyle asks as he looks around.
"We wait!" Eva says as she pulls out her phone and looks at the time. "He was pretty adamant that if we weren't on time he wouldn't meet us, so if he is late then I think we should say the same thing, so he has 10 minutes to get here" she says with a grin.
I smile, Eva won't let anyone walk all over her. Her experiences with Nathan have hardened her and if this man thinks he is going to dominate her he will have a rude awakening.
I look up to see a tall man walking swiftly towards us. He is almost marching, he barely pauses as he thrusts out his hand, not to Eva or Kyle but to me.
"Dominic Stanton, and you are?" he says in a sharp clipped voice and I dislike him immediately. He reminds me of my grandfather, I glance at his outstretched hand and push mine firmly into my pockets.
"Irrelevant" I say, and I see Eva grin as she watches the exchange. I gesture towards Kyle and Eva, "This is Eva and Kyle, your grandchildren and I am just here as moral support for them" I add.
I see the surprise on his face and I see him take a sharp breath in. It is clear he likes to dominate and intimidate people and is not used to people standing up to him. He glowers at me wordlessly and then turns and looks at Eva and Kyle carefully, the way he looks them up and down as if he is appraising them irritates me.
"I am assuming you can prove you both have the same father? I know you belong to Richard but I had no idea about you" he says looking first at Eva and then Kyle.
I can see Eva is getting wound up and it won't take much for her to explode if he carries on behaving like this, but I am so grateful now that Maisie didn't come, as she didn't need to see the appalling way this man is behaving.
"Shall we go somewhere a little more private and I can show you my proof" Eva says equally sharply and I can't help but hear the note of warning in her tone. Kyle hasn't said a word yet but he is looking at the man derisively.
Stanton nods and leads us to a small café. We take a seat in the corner and Eva rummages in her bag for the DNA results and I watch as she slaps them with more force than was necessary on the table in front of Stanton. He glares at her once more before he picks them up and reads them carefully, then he nods and pushes them back towards Eva.
"So, what exactly do you want from me and my family?" he says haughtily.
I watch as Eva bristles not only at his words but the implication behind them that they were looking for something from him. Kyle reaches for her and he is actually the one to speak first.
"Nothing mate, because you are nothing to me, so I want nothing from you and I only came today because Eva said you wanted to meet us both. Quite frankly I have better things I could be doing on my weekend than sitting with a rude obnoxious twat who clearly thinks he is better than everyone else. I wasn't particularly bothered about meeting you at all but I came, mainly to support my sister and also out of curiosity to see what you were like and to be honest from what I have seen so far I wish I hadn't bothered," he says.
I am astounded, Kyle has never, ever spoken out like that before. He is always the quiet one who blends in and pretends he's not there. Eva is shocked too but I see a proud smile on her face as she leans forward, "I think my brother pretty much summed it up" she says simply.
I watch as Stanton stares at them in shock, and he looks offended by what they have said. Can he really not see it is his attitude that has caused their reaction?
I decide to speak, "I have to say I am a little surprised at your attitude Mr Stanton, can you not see that coming here on the attack has not created a very good first impression?" I say.
Stanton turns and regards me coldly, "You said you were irrelevant so your opinion does not concern me" he says.
I shake my head, "No but your attitude concerns me as I really don't like the way you are talking to and behaving towards my wife and my brother in law" I say.
He turns his head and ignores me and focuses on Eva, "You said you have a daughter, where is she?" he asks almost accusingly.
Eva glares at him and I can see her anger is about to spill out of her, "First of all don't you dare speak to my husband in that manner he has done nothing to you" she snarls.
Stanton ignores her remark and repeats his question, "I will ask you again. You have a daughter, where is she?"
Eva snorts with laughter, "I was unsure of whether or not to bring her with me on the first visit. She is only four years old and I have to say the way you are behaving I am glad I decided to leave her with my grandmother as I'm now certain this will be the only visit I will have with you, and I don't like introducing people into her life who are not going to remain there" she says.
"So, what exactly do you want from me and my family?" he asks again as if he is wondering why this meeting is even taking place.
This time when Eva speaks, it is with a cold icy control. Even though I can see that she is trying hard to control her temper and I know that she is going to tell him straight and it won't be tactful, and I smile at the thought. Kyle also grins as he watches Eva as he knows that in a moment Stanton won't know what has hit him.
"When we discovered the truth, I thought it was only right to inform you about Kyle. Your son died not knowing he had fathered another child with our mother. We don't want or need anything from you. We have a father who loves us and who is there for us, who has always been there for us. We have extended family who mean the world to us, we don't need you and I have to say after the way you have behaved today, I don't know about Kyle but I don't particularly want you in my life or my daughter's life. You obviously have some sort of massive chip on your shoulder about something, but from what I know, your family isn't exactly perfect" she pauses and takes a breath.
I grin again, she is in full swing now and she is going to let him have it both barrels.
"Let's take a moment to talk about your family" she says sarcastically as she emphasises the word your. "Your son was a fucking man whore. He was married yet he slept with my mother and she understood him to be single. Not only that she wasn't the only one, from what I have been told about my daddy" she puts air quotes around the words my daddy. "He was nothing but a selfish twat who thought he could just screw around with any woman, no sorry… girl he wanted, because let's be clear here it appears he always seemed to go for teenagers who were considerably younger than he was. In fact, in my honest opinion I think he strayed uncomfortably close to the paedo line. He fed them lies and promised them the world to get what he wanted which was to shove his dick in them and yet delivered fuck all and after meeting you today I can see where he got his selfish nature from, as you really are quite foul".
To my surprise Eva stands up, she gathers the DNA paperwork and pushes it into her bag, she looks at Kyle, "I don't know about you Kyle but I'm done here?" she asks him.
He immediately stands and nods, "Yep" he says simply.
Eva looks at me, "I'm ready to go" she says and I nod and stand up, this clearly wasn't what Stanton was expecting and his mouth drops open.
"Don't you dare walk away from me" he splutters arrogantly.
Eva spins on the spot and leaning towards him she glares at him, "Why? What will you do?" she shoots back at him. "I dare Mr Stanton, because you have made it quite clear you really want nothing to do with us. That point has been obvious for years as you knew all about me but never bothered, so there is really no more point in us being here. You've met me, you've met Kyle and spectacularly fucked it up with your arrogant, rude and offensive manner and I am so glad you haven't met my daughter and now you never will as I am returning the favour - I want fuck all to do with you!"
She moves to my side and slips her hand into mine and Kyle stands on her other side flanking her, protecting her.
"Bye then granddad - have a nice life!" Kyle says with such sarcasm and bile I am a little shocked.
Eva laughs at that and waves her hand towards Kyle, "What he said!" she says with equal sarcasm.
With that we leave the café and Stanton is left just sitting there with his mouth open.
"Well, that was a waste of time" Kyle says when we get outside.
Eva shakes her head, "No it wasn't, now we know for sure. We would always have had doubts if we hadn't done this" she says, she wraps her arm around Kyle.
"Are you ok?" she asks him and he nods.
"Yeah I'm fine, he was a complete twat though wasn't he?" he says.
Eva nods, "Yeah he was" she agrees.
As we are driving home, I listen to Kyle and Eva analysing the meeting, they are both adamant that neither of them want anything to do with Stanton after the way he behaved today.
Eva turns to me, "What did you think of him?" she asks me.
I shrug, "Truthfully, I took an instant dislike to him as he marched towards us. His manner reminded me too much of my grandfather and then the way he ignored you two and greeted me instead sealed it for me" I say.
Eva nods, "Yeah I think he was put out wondering who you were, he knew about me and Kyle and Maisie but I don't think he was expecting another adult. It makes you wonder just how bad his behaviour would have been had it only been me and Kyle there" she says.
I go cold at that thought, the man was obviously a bully and the idea that he reigned it in because I was there is disconcerting.
"Well I'm glad I was" I murmur.
Eva reaches for me and squeezes my knee, "I am glad you were too, and thank you for getting me to trust my instincts this morning and stopping Maisie coming. If she had witnessed all that, I would never have forgiven myself. I'm also really glad I never told him about the baby" she says.
"He was certainly a strange character. Vic seemed to think that the meeting wouldn't go well though, from what he said this morning" I say. I glance at Kyle again through the mirror, who nods.
"Yeah, dad said to be careful and he said if he said anything not to let it upset me. I also overheard him saying to mum that Dominic Stanton was a complete wanker and that nothing good would come of this meeting" he says.
I watch as Eva throws back her head and laughs loudly at that, "Well that pretty much sums him up!" she says.
When we arrive back at home I pull up outside Sandra's house and as we climb out of the car the door opens and Vic comes into view. He looks at Kyle and Eva closely and walks towards us.
"Well?" he asks.
Eva grins, "Dominic Stanton is a complete wanker!" she states bluntly and Vic's face breaks into a grin and he looks at Kyle.
"I overheard you saying that to mum and I told Evie" Kyle explains with a shrug, "But she is right, he is" he adds.
Vic sighs, "I'm sorry you had to find that out, I really hoped he would behave well. Let me guess he was on the defensive and wanting to know what you wanted with him?" Vic asks.
Eva and Kyle nod in unison.
"Come on let's go inside, your gran has been worrying about this all the while you have been gone" he says.
We all troop inside and Sandra comes to meet us. "Well?" she asks.
"It was shit" Eva states bluntly. Then she looks around, "Where's Maisie?" she asks.
"Tez took her to the park, when he finished work. They'll be back in a bit" Sandra says, "Come on and tell me what happened" she adds.
We all go and sit down and Eva and Kyle describe the car crash of a meeting and I watch as both Vic and Sandra get more and more angry.
"That man is unbelievable" Vic blurts out eventually, when he has heard every last detail about the meeting.
Eva looks up at him, "I can't understand why he thought his behaviour was acceptable" she says.
Vic sighs, "You were right when you told him he has a chip on his shoulder. He has, and it's a bloody massive one. First of all he is ashamed of what Richard did, he always knew what he was like and he tried to push it under the carpet, and focus on what a brilliantly clever man he was. But he knew that Richard was a womaniser and that he slept around and cheated on his wife and it embarrassed him. He also knew Richard preferred much younger girls and that was also something which Dominic found distasteful as, as you so bluntly pointed out to him it made him tread too close to the paedo line for comfort. When Richard told him about you, Eva he was mortified and he told him he had to cut off all contact, and pretend that you didn't exist. But Richard had a bit of a conscience and although he didn't want to be with your mum, he felt he had to do right by you and so he did provide financially for you. Your mum said he came to visit you when he could when you were a baby and growing up, but I also believe he also knew how your mum felt about him so I'm certain his visits weren't always so innocent, he came when…" he hesitates and trails off not finishing what he wants to say.
"He came when he wanted a fuck and he knew because mum was so in love with him he'd get one, so basically he used her" Eva says bitterly.
Vic nods, "Yeah pretty much, but Dominic also has issues because he hates our side of the family. When his dad remarried and they had my mum he threw a hissy fit and declared that he didn't want to know any of us, so when I got with your mum and discovered what his perfect blue eyed boy had done, he was in even more of a flap because he then convinced himself I would broadcast to the world what Richard was like out of spite for the way he had treated my mum over the years. But what he failed to realise is, I'm not as spiteful and vindictive as he is and that thought had never crossed my mind".
Eva laughs, "So when I told him straight what his son was like he already knew".
"Yeah and that's probably why he wanted to meet you both in the first place. To see if you did know, and now that he knows he has offended you and you have told him you don't want to see him again, he is probably stewing wondering what you are going to do next" he says.
Eva shakes her head, "I'm not going to do anything. I want nothing to do with him and I told him so" she says.
"Yeah, but he is still probably panicking wondering if you are going to make some sort of big gesture and reveal what he and his family are like" Vic says.
Eva snorts, "I just want to forget I met him and pretend that today never happened" she says.
Kyle nods, "Me too" he says.
Vic sighs, "There is something else you should know. He didn't like it when you made the move to leave, he likes to be the one to call the shots. So, you took his control of the situation away. You called the shots and you ended the meeting, so to him that will be unfinished business because he didn't make the decision. I'm just saying, don't be surprised if he tries to contact you again, plus in his mind you defied him and didn't take Maisie so that will also be eating at him so I think he will try to see you again".
Eva nods and pulls out her phone and taps into her contacts.
"There" she says, "I've blocked his number, and then deleted it from my contacts so he won't be able to call me again". She taps again and blocks his email address from her email contacts as well. "The only way he will be able to contact me now is by snail mail and I can ignore that" she says with a shrug.
I just hope that he doesn't bother to get in touch and that Eva can forget she ever met him.