My Son(4)

“Get out of my house” she had whispered angrily

“Not without my son” he had snarled back, holding her angry gaze with his own.

“I have legal guardianship” she had yelled “And you don’t even know if he is your son yet”

Marc had looked back at the picture, a look of disbelief in his eyes

However, glaring at her once more he had moved back down the hall to her doorway, pulling open the door before looking back at her

“I will be back Miss Brown and next time I will be coming for my son”

before slamming the door behind him

As the door had closed with a loud bang, the sound had seemed to knock the wind from Kelly, who from standing rigid, bravely holding up her chin in defiance, had visibly crumbled, falling slowly to her knees, her shoulders slumping forward and the tears filling her lovely eyes.

Oh God she had thought, please don’t take Max from me … not Max, tears now streaming unchecked down her face. Looking up at the picture of the small child she had so lovingly painted, her heart had beaten so fast with the panic which now swamped her at the thought of losing her little boy.

Right from his birth it had been Kelly who had looked after him, as although she had loved her son, Trudy had never been overly maternal. She had been happy to let her cousin bring her son up while she continued to live her life the way she always had, attending parties with her many boyfriends. Naturally outgoing and beautiful, people, especially men had been attracted to Trudy and she in turn had enjoyed their attention. However, a rule Kelly had stuck to rigidly was that no men where ever allowed to stay over in the flat, which resulted in many nights and often whole days in which she was left to raise little Max on her own. Kelly had never blamed or judged her cousin for the way she lived her live, but had been thankful for the joy that Max had brought into her world, especially at such a dark period in her life.

Kelly had thought back to the day he had been born, remembering how she had fallen in love with the small vulnerable baby the minute Trudy had delivered him with Kelly there to hold her hand. She had cursed Marc De Santo for the way he had thrown her dear friend and cousin aside and ignored the fact that she was carrying his child.

At least that was what she had thought. From his reaction only moments ago a flicker of doubt had dented that long held anger towards him. Surely he wouldn’t bother to pretend to her that he had not known about Max. Men like Marc De Santo didn’t care what people like her thought. They were too rich and powerful to have to live like the rest of the mere mortals, as what he wanted he got. She had felt the vice like fear grip her heart realising that right now he wanted Max, and with that the tears once more had began to fall

Kelly had spent the rest of the day in a blind panic. Having safely ensured that Max stayed with her friend that evening on the pretext that she was not well, she had first talked on the phone with her lawyer and then met with him in person to talk about Max and Marc.

“But Trudy’s will clearly said that she wanted me to bring him up” she had cried as her lawyer had kindly sat her down pushing a warm cup of tea into her trembling fingers

Mr Grace, who although appeared so outwardly gently, was a formidable man in the courts, and was not one who believed in sugar coating the truth, and with a deep sigh he had faced her

“Kelly....I don’t know what to tell you. If Marc De Santo is Max’s biological father then he has more rights to his son that you do”

Kelly’s look of shock and fear driving him to add in a more kindly voice

“But he has to prove he is the biological father first”

Kelly had grabbed onto this small glimmer of hope

“Yes. yes….maybe he isn’t Max's father after all” she had said hopefully. However, in her mind she had once more seen the picture of Marc standing beside Max’s picture and in her heart of hearts she knew that he was.

Placing the untouched tea back on the desk she had put her head into her hands and whispered tremulously “Please Mr Grace, Max is all I have. There must be something I can do. He hasn’t supported Max - he didn’t even care about him until Trudy died”

Mr Grace had spoken gently

“Are you so sure that he knew Kelly” he had asked softly

Kelly had remained silent. Trudy had told her that Marc didn’t want to know, but in just that one meeting with the man she had had this belief shaken. Had he known she felt sure that he would have demanded that he kept his son, not allowing him to grow up in such a place as they were living. Kelly had once more grown angry at the way he had put down her home, the house that she and Danny had so lovingly restored, before…. She had pushed the memories to the side with a bitter twist of her mouth. How dare he insult her lovely home, not everybody could afford to live in penthouse suites or designer villas, her mouth setting angrily. If there was one thing that Max had always known then it was love. Her home was full of love and Max had never known anything else, something she doubted that Marc De Santo was capable of.