A Great Mess III

My phone rings me awake. I reached for it, held the bright screen to my squinting face, and tried to figure out who was calling. It was a private number calling, as early as 8 a.m. on a Saturday. I hate mornings.

The phone rang out again, this time waking Craig, who was sleeping like a baby.

"Blair, get your phone. I need to sleep," he mumbled.

Before I could answer the phone, there was a loud bang on the door. We both jumped out of the bed, grabbed our robe and walked downstairs toward the door, to figure out what just happened.

"Are you expecting anyone?" Craig asked.

"Not at all. By this time?"

He reached for the door and it burst open hitting us to the ground. "What the hell?" Craig shouted.

"Good Morning to you too. Blair, I have been calling you, why didn't you pick my calls?"

"Hey! You do not speak to my wife in that manner! You just barged into my house!" Craig yelled. His temper was on a hair-trigger. The smallest thing would have him flying into a rage.

"Craig, do not touch me. I am not here for you, I am here for Blair," Sage yelled back at him. To describe him makes him sound like a tyrant. Maybe that's fair. He yelled with a voice that would make even a grown-up quake when they heard it. I bet when he was young he was a playground bully, he was certainly the bully when we dated. Whenever something didn't go his way, the entire neighborhood would hear about it, his yell echoed between the tiny terraced brick houses, creeping under doors and squeezing through keyholes, traveling through windows like they weren't even there.

"Mummy, what's going on?" Sally said behind us staring.

I walked up to her and held her hand. "Nothing sweetie, mummy and daddy are just talking to an old friend. Go back to bed and shut the door okay?" She nodded and walked back up to her room, closing the door behind her.

"Sage, can we go into the living room and let us have a mature and civilized conversation?"

As we walked into the sitting room, Craig dragged me away from Sage's earshot. " You both know each other?"

I pulled my hand out of his grip. "Let us hear him first before you start asking questions." We walked back to where Sage was and sat down.

"Blair, I have a question for you and I need you to be honest with, or else..."

"Or else what?" I cut him off. "You better get to it before I call the police."

"Is Sally my child?" He dropped the bomb.

"Is Sally your what?" Craig asked like he did not hear the question clearly. "You barge into my house, hit me with my own door, call my wife by her first name and you have the audacity to ask if my child is yours? How did you even find this place?"

"Craig, I am Sage Featherbird, I know everything." He said arrogantly. He has always been so self-centered and narcissistic, for him the world stopped at the tip of his nose. "Blair, you left me at the altar in June, got married to this man over here in July, had Sally in March. You do the math because I have." He slumped onto the sofa as if he had just made a valid point.

"Sage, she is not your child. I had her a month earlier than her due date." I was fearful. The fear sits on me like a pillow over my mouth and nose. Enough air gets by on it, allowing my body to keep functioning, but it's crippling all the same.

"I knew you would say that, so I am here with the DNA kit. You go get that swabbed, and we all go to see my doctor for the results. We are having a DNA test today. And if Sally is mine, you come back to me, if she is not, I reverse the contract back to husband and pay him double of what he asked for," He clapped his hands.

Craig stared at both of us with his mouth open. His brain formulated no thoughts other than to register that he was shocked. He closed his mouth, then looked at his toes before glancing back up to catch my eye. "I think I'll go change now, we have a DNA test to conduct." was all he could say. And he walked away.

"You better be ready, Sage," I snapped but in fear.

~*~

We all got into the car. Sage was driving with Craig sitting beside him in the passenger's seat, while Sally and I were behind. The whole drive to the hospital was so quiet.

We got to the parking lot and Sally started having a cough.

"What's wrong darling?" Craig asked as he tried to reach out to her.

"I do not know what happened, we were about to come down from the car, and she started coughing. Can you get some water for her please?" I replied. Sage and Craig quickly left the car to get water, while I tried to comfort her.

They both came back with bottles of water in my face. I took the one from Craig and gave it to Sally. Sage seemed to be searching for something in the car.

"Hey, Blair where are the DNA samples? I swear they were here before I left to get water for Sally." He kept on searching.

I held out the samples to him. "Here they are. I held on to them while you guys went to get her water."

"Why would you take them from where they were?" He looked at me like he was unsure. I could sense the doubt radiating from him like heat off a radiator.

"Enough of this let's just go in and get this over with," Craig interrupted.

THREE HOURS LATER...

"Mr. and Mrs. Crimson, Sage Featherbird?" I was pleased to see the doctor. He had a face like some guy you'd ask for directions in the street, non-threatening I suppose. If he were in a suit, he could be a news anchor - clean cut but with that lovable smile that was only ever removed from his features when he needed to be serious. His movements were unhurried, choreographed and deliberate.

"Yes that's us," Sage stood up to meet the doctor.

"These are the results for the DNA test. Would you want me to read it to you or you take it home?" The doctor asked.

Craig stopped pacing back and forth like a caged tiger. "Let us know right now, please."

As the doctor opened up the white envelope to reveal the truth, I became more anxious. My eyes take on a sheen of water and tension builds behind them. I need to shake it off. Now isn't the time or place for tears. My fingers wrap into Craig's hand, feeling how cold his fingers are. When he turns my way to smile, a gesture meant to reassure and give confidence, he gives away the worry he means to mask.

"Sage you are not the biological father of Sally." That was it and the doctor nodded and left us to wallow in what we just heard.

"You guys win," Sage glared at us. There was no softness in that gaze. It was a look that conveyed a bubbling hatred. Disgust, perhaps. He walked away.

I hugged Craig and Sally knowing that I made the right decision.

It was right to have switched the samples.

~*~