Chapter 7


"I don't know Claire - he hasn't been a very good father for either Nick or me" Alex stopped himself. He couldn't make up his mind about his relationship with Harry. The truth about Harry not being his father had cause a lot of pain, but the truth also was that Harry hadn't been a good father - Everything he had ever done, didn't came without a cost. He always acted in his best interest. Either he cut ties with Harry completely or he would try and sort something out with him - it wasn't like Harry hadn't tried. Alex had put up with everything Harry had thrown his way, because he had too, but now that Alex had discovered that they weren't blood related, he suddenly didn't have to accept any of the things Harry had done in the past.
"Look. It's not always about being related by blood" Claire said and looked at Alex. "You have to admit that Harry isn't all that bad - Well most of the times, but he had done some great things for you and Nick". She kept looking at him, waiting for him to say something - but he didn't. "Look. Would you have loved this little bundle of joy" Claire said and pointed at her bump "Any less if you weren't to know you were the father? Wouldn't you still be around to help with all sort of stuff?". She was right - Harry had been there and even though his actions hadn't always been the best, he was still his father.
"This is why I always come to you" Alex said and sent a smile Claire's way, that made her smile as well. They had worked through things over the past couple of months, and they were slowly beginning to get back to where they were, before all of this mess had started. There was still one thing, that still bugged Claire - He was still seeing Melissa. She was still beating around the bush, trying to shut any feelings down towards Alex, unless they were matey feelings. She started to regret she hadn't been honest about her feelings for him, before Melissa got in the picture - but she wouldn't ruin things between them, by confessing them now.
"I better get going now" Alex said and started to walk towards his ute, followed by Claire. "You coming back after you two have talked?" she asked and watched him open the door to the ute. "I can't Claire. I'm sorry. I have to go and .. Meet Melissa in Fisher." She felt her heart drop when he mentioned her name. "Are you okay with that?" Alex asked her in a gently voice.
"Why wouldn't I be okay with that?" Claire smiled at him. "It's just .. I'm only 3 weeks away from due date now, what if he or she comes early?" Alex smiled and walked closer to her. "Well, you won't come early, won't you?" he asked in his baby voice and placed his hand on her belly. "I promise you this is the last weekend in Fisher until the baby is born, will that make you feel better?" he asked before getting in the ute. No, it wouldn't she thought to herself. The problem wasn't really the distance between them, more the relationship with Melissa. She smiled to him before he drove off.

Alex pulled up outside of Killarney, sitting a few minutes in the ute before making his way to the house. He hadn't been back here since the day Harry and Liz had their fight, and he had found out the truth about his father. As he got to the door he couldn't decide on whether to knock or just walk straight it - he went inside the house without knocking, after all it had been his home for so many years, even though Harry weren't his father.
He walked through the narrow hallway with the walls covered in pictures of their family - or he noticed that all the pictures of his mother or with his mother in, weren't there anymore. "Harry?" he called, but no one answered. He got to the living room, but still no sight of Harry anywhere. He walked to the big window that had a beautiful view to the garden.
"Alex .. " a voice reached him from behind. He turned around and saw Harry. "This is a surprise" Harry said and walked closer to him.
"Yeah, well .. I think we should talk" Alex said. Harry invited him to sit on the sofa with his arm pointing at it. "Nick told me about you and Claire - I must say, it was a surprise" Alex shook his head, was he already on to business?
"Look Alex. Whatever happened between me and your mother, shouldn't affect you. I still see you as my son - nothing will ever change that. I know some things got said in the heat of the moment." he stopped, and took a moment to let Alex digest what he had just said.
"You still get Killarney - That if you want to of course." he finally continued. "You'll have someone to pass it on to now as well"
Alex looked at him, surprised about his kindness - This was so unlike Harry, it left him speechless.
"What do you say son?" Harry asked and was holding out his hand "Can we call it truce?". Alex shook his head and a small grin appeared on his face. "Truce" he said and took Harry's hand. They still had things to figure out, but for now this was better than nothing - with time they would get back to normal, or at least it was what Alex hoped for.

"Tell Claire I can't wait for my grandson or daughter to be born" Harry said to Alex's back as he got in his ute. "But theoretically it isn't your grandchild, is it?" Alex answered out of the window. "Come on" Harry laughed and shook his head. "Yeah, righto" Alex smiled back before he left Killarney.

The drive to Fisher took about 2 hours - 2 hours he had spent thinking of the past months and today's conversation with Harry. He finally felt he was in a good place and he was looking forward to the day the baby would come and to be co-parenting with Claire. He knew it would be hard, given Claire's stubbornness - but he wasn't any better himself. Claire. Her name kept playing on repeat in his head. Suddenly he started missing being around her and that huge bump of hers. After all they had been through, nothing had changed between them. What are you doing Alex - get your thoughts together.
He left his ute and started to walk towards Melissa's apartment. It sure was different being in the city, he didn't give much for it - Always liked the bush better, but Melissa had insisted on going out to dinner, in a real restaurant as she called it. He gently knocked on her door and could hear her move around inside the apartment.
"Hey there handsome" she said as she answered the door. She was absolutely stunning to look at, the long red dress and her hair that came in waves from her head - but something was different. He started to question himself, what he really was doing here.
"Alex?" he snapped out of his thoughts.
"You look stunning" he finally said and watched how a smile crossed her lips. He quickly stopped questioning himself about his relationship with Melissa - it was all the things from today, that was playing with him and making him unsure about everything.
"Let's go - I've booked a table for 7 o'clock" Melissa said and shut the door behind her. She grabbed Alex under the arm and started to lead him down the hallway.
"We are going to have so much fun tonight" she said and started to tell him about her day.