He'll come through

Chapter 14 - The cat's out of the bag

Chapter 14 

Lilah pushed his chest and he staggered back a little, surprised at her vehemence, “Shush or you’ll wake him!” She hissed from close range. Her instant question as to what he was doing upstairs in her house was quashed by his obvious confusion.

                “Who?” he asked in an equally terse hiss, “my son....MY SON? Shit!” He lowered his head to his hands and suddenly the anger was gone for a moment as realisation set in. “Can I see him?”

She nodded stepping out of his way and allowing him the first glance at his son, “I’ll wait for you downstairs.”

Lilah was pacing the lounge when she heard him come down the stairs, when he entered the room she looked up and his face was a mixture of so many emotions, and she could see the dampness under his eyes, knew he’d cried. And she felt so very very sorry for him. He’d changed from his suit into shorts, thick canvas combats and a dark t-shirt fitted and rather snug, his feet were slid into flip flops.

                “I’m sorry you didn’t know.” She offered and was almost relieved when she saw the spark of anger replace the pain in his eyes.

                “Were you ever going to tell me?” he was pacing now, his hands gripped into fists, anger evident in every inch of his body. “Don’t dignify that with a lie, don’t you dare!”

She sighed, slumping into a seat, “I had no intention of not telling you once you got off that train, but until today I honestly never thought I’d see you again. So it wasn’t something I’d ever planned for.”

                “You could’ve told me, at any time today, you were willing to let me sleep another night without knowing about him?” He knew this was an unreasonable comment, but he was struggling to cope with this news, Lilah looking so tired, so exhausted, he’d been worried when he’d seen her that she was ill, but it was the baby, he had a son! “Is this some sort of revenge because I didn’t come running after you when you left that restaurant? Is that what this is all about?”

Lilah shook her head, fighting tears all over again, “What do you take me for? Is your opinion of me that low?” Taking a deep breath she ventured her eyes back up to his, “I had nothing, no email, no phone, I had no idea how to get hold of you. I went to your mother’s I hoped she’d have something on you, but all I did was make her sad that she hasn’t seen you for months and months. So I made her worse, and still couldn’t find you. You have no idea how hard that was.”

Quinn knew that this was genuine, her sadness, her honesty, but he was hurt, he needed to lash out, needed to lessen the pain he’d felt at seeing his little boy upstairs.

                “You had the chance to tell me earlier, at the station. You kept quiet then, how do I know you wouldn’t do the same? Damn it Blondie, this isn’t a joke, some game!”

Jumping to her feet she grimaced at him, “joke? Oh I know it’s no bloody joke. You’ve no idea what I’ve been through the last year, so don’t stand there and accuse me of anything, because you are out of order, REALLY out of order. I have not deliberately kept anything from you. Last year I left that restaurant because you were treating me like a leper, blaming me for something that wasn’t my fault. And you didn’t make any attempt to follow me to explain things, or arrange a way of getting in touch in the future. So I walked away from you forever, and when I found out I was pregnant all I wanted was to see you, to tell you, and I couldn’t. So DO NOT stand there and preach at me when you abandoned me to who knew what fate!”

She made to storm past him but he stretched out a hand and restrained her. She flinched at the pressure of his touch, something she hadn’t expected.