Chapter Forty

The phone ringing disturbed them, it was Oscar's mobile, and he grimaced as he moved across the room to retrieve it.

"I would ignore it..." but he was waiting to speak to his lawyer, and that was urgent. Offering an apologetic smile, he took the call.

He was looking at being recognised as Nate's father, he had a lawyer looking into that for him, he needed to speak to Lizzie about it, that was once he knew what the whole process entailed.

Max, the lawyer he'd been recommended, was an expert, according to his sources, and he'd offered to take on the case. This call was to outline what he needed to do. But instead of over the phone, the lawyer wanted to meet him face to face for coffee. He didn't want to leave the house, not when they were at such an important cross roads, but he had to make things right, starting with Nate, and then a job. Once he had that, then he would be in the right place to prove to Lizzie that he was all that he promised he would be.

Lizzie watched him, talking earnestly into the phone and slumped onto the sofa, this was more difficult than anything she'd ever had to work through before. She liked him; she more than liked him, even though she'd only known him a couple of months. But this disagreement of sorts, this falling-out, only reinforced her fears in the whole situation. They needed to keep things separate, her and Oscar were a different subject to their role as co parents, because that's what they were, and she couldn't stress enough that it was the most important thing.

She was supposed to be visiting work, testing the waters, planning her return. She didn't feel like that now, and in honesty Oscar had given her food for thought. She did dislike her work; if she was truthful she had only gone into corporate law in an attempt to impress her parents. She didn't want to slog long hours, she wanted to live, be creative, maybe write. She'd been great in school, creative.

He's offering you that chance, a voice reminded her. And she sighed, watching as Oscar hung up the phone and avoided eye contact moving into the kitchen. She gave him a few minutes before following him.

"Something important?"

He shrugged, "I need to go in to town...a meeting. You still going into work?"

She shook her head, "no. I'm not in the mood for that now. I'll go another day."

Reaching for her hand, he gave it a squeeze, "I meant what I said earlier, I just want you to be happy, to enjoy things." He ran his free hand over his face, then sighed, "believe that part at least, you've been everything for everyone. I really want you to put you first."

She offered him a half smile, "I believe that. And I am sorry that I jumped in and thought the worst."

"And the rest?"

Lizzie shrugged, "I'm not used to trusting people. It's hard for me, ok?"

He sighed, "as long as you promise me you'll try?"

She nodded, "I can do that."

Max was a confident Aussie, lounging in the window seat of the café near Oscar's work. He was probably the same age as him, but Oscar knew he himself looked older; the lawyer had an air of serenity about him. He was the most chilled out man that he'd ever met. He offered a hand as he approached, not standing to greet him as usual protocol would dictate. Not that Oscar cared. Requesting a coffee from the barista, he sat opposite him.

"So you've got news?"

Max reached into his bag and pulled out a file, opening it and rifling through some papers, "well I've located the current legal representative for your son. And obviously I've started the process of parental recognition. That may involve a DNA test, are you on the birth certificate?"

Was he? He hadn't seen a copy of that, in fact he wasn't sure of so many things. Shrugging he offered, "I'm not sure."

Max nodded and noted something down then looked back up, "then we need parental responsibility. Who's officially his guardian at the moment?"

Again he had no idea, had that been passed to Lizzie? He wasn't sure, she'd probably have told him if that had happened. Again he shrugged, "not sure. Maybe no one. I mean his Aunty called me back here, she wants me involved..."

Max paused, then added, "there must be someone or he'd be a ward of the court."

"I honestly don't know, Lizzie hasn't mentioned anything, so I presume not."

"So there's no one about to block you petitioning for that. Good. The last thing we want is a war. But that leaves us with custody. We need to work that out, a workable relationship."

Oscar chuckled, "that's no problem. I'm living with them..." There was no resistance to that, she'd already told him that on several occasions.

Max's eyes widened, "until you fall out. You have to get something written in stone, enforceable. It's vital. If you are recognised as his father, we should be able to defeat whoever is the legal guardian, and ultimately you'll get full custody and full parental control and rights."

Grimacing, Oscar was glad for the arrival of his coffee, to lighten the mood. This was never going to be easy, but he also knew that every step of the process was going to upset and probably devastate Lizzie. He had to tread carefully. She would be devastated at the mere thought of seeing less of Nate, of losing her role as parent. And he wouldn't take that from her. But he needed to get things square, let the world know that he was Nate's father. Then start of working on the future.

"Can we just take things slowly? I need to pave the way, so they know I'm not trying to break up this family unit."

Max gave a little shrug, "not sure. These things tend to snowball and each stage runs into the next. Don't be fooled or have the wool pulled over your eyes. You need to sort out

The conversation carried on for a little longer, small print, fees...the sense of unease was still there, he didn't want to hurt Lizzie, but he needed to know that he was an equal, that he wouldn't lose his son again. He thought of the previous two years when he'd hidden the devastation at losing the little boy that he'd only recently met. He'd immediately fallen in love with Nate. At first sight. Yet after just a couple of short trips to visit him, he'd disappeared. He could never let that happen. He needed to know that if he fell out with Lizzie, if she panicked...that she couldn't take him away. Because it would break him if he lost him again.

An hour later, he'd parted with a deposit, and signed his name to enough forms that he never wanted to see another. He wasn't sure that it would all be as smooth as Max insisted, but it was a start, a plan. He just needed to steady the waters whilst the process began.

As he left the coffee shop, his phone rang, and pulling it from his pocket, he couldn't hide a smile. Mike, his old boss was calling. He hadn't heard from him in a while, and a little distraction was just what he needed.

"Mike! It's been too long. How's San Francisco?"

He had left the East coast to take a step up the ladder based on the West coast.

"Sun and fun, Oscar. You know how it is...but I've been in London, and I heard that you were in the same country...so I made an impromptu visit to Manchester, thought I' could persuade you to join me for a few beers a little later. Tell me all about your somewhat disruptive trip across the pond."

Oscar groaned, he knew that his newer boss, the replacement of Mike wasn't happy that he'd abandoned ship so abruptly. "Nick's been complaining."

Mike laughed, "not at all...well not much."

"So you're in Manchester now?"

"No, but I will be in roughly two hours. Are you free tonight? I presume you're staying at the hotel."

Whilst he was based at the Manchester version of the chain they both worked for, he obviously hadn't stayed there.

"No, but I can maybe tonight...I've a few things to do, can we meet for dinner?"

Mike guffawed, "dinner? I cannot wait to hear what's been going on, to make the beer swilling Oscar Wicker talk about dinner!"

He had changed; Oscar knew that as he drove across town, rushing to be in time to pick up Nate from school. It was bad timing Mike arriving, but he really needed a break, some time away from the traumas of their home life. Hopefully, a little time apart for the right reasons would help.

Nate's eyes were wide when he spotted Oscar's large sleek car, skipping out, his lunch bag in one hand, his book bag in the other.

"Hey Dad!"

Would he ever get bored of hearing that word on his lips? He wasn't sure that he would. Smiling at his son, he laughed as the boy asked, "so were driving home in YOUR car?"

He nodded, "sure are Buddy."

Back at the house, he could sense Lizzie's apprehension long before she turned to smile nervously at him.

"Hi guys. How was your day?"

Nate took over, filling the silence with stories about all that he'd done in school. It was a welcome respite for a few moments.

When he eased off, suddenly distracted, Oscar smiled at Lizzie, "an old friend is coming to the hotel, and he's stopping for the night..."

She grinned, suddenly the tension dissolving, "and you want to go meet him, have a catch up?"

He knew that he was smirking like a kid, "I haven't seen him in ages, he's my old boss and a good friend."

"You don't have to justify things to me...or ask permission."

Oscar smiled, "on the contrary, families...it's what you do. Check. Work things out."

She nodded genially, "Ok, Oscar Wicker, I give you permission to go out and have fun."

"I should work on things here, with you."

Lizzie shrugged, "really, it's fine. We're not going anywhere. Have fun."

"I'm going to stay...at the hotel..."

She nodded again, "that's a good idea. We can catch up sometime tomorrow."

Staring at her, he spotted the relief, she was scared.

"We will have that talk. We will get past this."

Lizzie curled up with Nate in his bed, reading him a chapter of Roald Dahl. He books were all a little bleak, dark...so she was trying Charlie and the Chocolate Factory...and Nate was smitten and it was only chapter five. Kissing him on the head, she slipped out of the room once he was almost asleep, and then had time to think over all that Oscar had said. From their arguments earlier in the day, he'd promised her that they could work things out. She was still unsure, but he seemed sure enough for them both. She only hoped that when the time came, she could relax enough to listen to him, to try to make things work.

Back downstairs, she turned on a movie, checked her facebook, emails...and it was still only an hour past. So she called Vicky, in the hope that she could take up some of her time with idle chatter.