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Chapter 696  Family Meeting

"Is this supposed to be a bad joke or what?" Bryan asked incredulously.

"Please don\'t tell me you believed that crap! Grandfather would never do something like that. Never!" Jade said as she rose, feeling really annoyed.

"First she claimed the kid was Tom\'s, and now all of a sudden because grandfather is no more she claims the kid is his? This is ridiculous!" Bryan said with a shake of his head.

Tom said nothing as his siblings expressed their annoyance, while Evelyn on the other hand remained mute, and soon everyone noticed.

"Why aren\'t you saying anything?" Desmond asked his wife, and she sighed.

"What is there to say? As ridiculous as it sounds, we will have to carry out a DNA test. You all saw the kid. There is no denying that she does look like a Hank. And you did say Henry told you about it before she arrived. He wouldn\'t have mentioned it if Lawrence did not tell him about it," she said quietly, still reeling from the shock of both the old man\'s death and the news of his illegitimate child.

"This is annoyingly ridiculous! I can\'t believe that grandfather could have been that careless and irresponsible. There is just no way he could have slept with someone as young as that. Especially not the daughter of his best friend. That is so disgusting! Absolutely shameful!" Jade said in a slightly raised voice as she paced around the study while the others were seated.

"Keep your voice down!" Evelyn cautioned, not wanting anyone else to overhear their discussion.

Because it was strictly family business, Sonia and Lucy were not in the study with them and were instead having dinner at the dining, so they had no idea what was going on, especially since they had come downstairs shortly after Kimberly left and the Hanks went into the study.

They had met the cook who led them to the dining on Evelyn\'s instruction, telling them the family were having a meeting.

As far as Sonia and Lucy knew, the meeting was about Lawrence\'s death and funeral, so while they waited for the family to finish up their discussion, Sonia and Lucy talked about Rebekah\'s interview which Sonia had missed.

"Well, that\'s not all she said," Desmond said after everyone was silent and they looked at him.

"What? There is more to this ridiculous tale?" Jade asked, and Evelyn glared at her, silently asking her to keep shut and let her father speak.

"She asked that Tom claim to be the child\'s father," Desmond said and Evelyn raised a hand to head which was already throbbing and Jade looked at her father slack-jawed while Bryan raised a brow.

"That\'s sick! Totally sick and shameless! Simply because she had both grandfather and grandson doesn\'t mean she can just spring up shit like that," Bryan said with disgust.

"Please don\'t tell me you\'re considering it, Tom! Tell me you\'re not even thinking about it," Jade interrupted Bryan in annoyance.

"Can you both keep shut and let your father give us the whole details?" Evelyn hissed impatiently and they all turned to Desmond who sighed.

Desmond went on to explain to them all that Kimberly had said about her relationship with Lawrence and how she had kept the pregnancy away from him and her family, and how her family had uncovered the truth about her child not being from artificial insemination as she had claimed.

"... She is worried about what this might do to Lawrence\'s reputation..."

"No, I don\'t think so. She is worried about what it might do to her own reputation if it gets out! Grandfather is dead, and if anyone should be talking about his reputation it should be us worrying about that not her!" Jade cut in, and Desmond sighed.

"Christ! This is all so crazy!" Bryan exclaimed as he slumped against his seat.

It was as though the day kept moving from one level of crazy to another and he was stressed out already.

All day he had been in a state of turmoil. He woke up to find Sonia feeling ill and had been worried about her, and then the news of his grandfather\'s death came, and now this. He wished the day could end already, or maybe he could open his eyes and found himself sleeping on his bed in Tom\'s house and realize it had all been an unpleasant dream.

"So, what are we going to do if we carry out a DNA paternity test and find out she is actually Lawrence\'s daughter?" Evelyn asked the one question that everyone seemed to be avoiding.

"Tom, you carried out a DNA test, didn\'t you? What was the DNA percentage?" Jade asked curiously and Tom who had been silent the whole time frowned.

"I didn\'t take note of that. It didn\'t occur to me to do so. All I checked for was the statement part that said she was not my daughter," Tom said simply.

"But you still have the result, right? Maybe we can check it now and put ourselves out of the misery. That way we can come to a decision on how to handle this now. The earlier the better," Evelyn said and they all agreed with her.

"Give me a moment," Tom said as he took out his phone and scrolled through his emails for the eCopy result which had been sent to his email account.

Too impatient to wait, Jade went to sit beside him, and once he found it and clicked on it, Jade\'s gaze went right down to the part were the probability of paternity was written.

It was twelve point five percent.

"I think she might be telling the truth. Tom shares DNA with the kid even if he is not the father," Jade announced as she rose again.

"We will still carry out a proper DNA test. The last I want is for her to come for me or dad next, claiming the child is ours," Bryan said dryly, and despite the seriousness of the situation Jade giggled.

"It would have been easier to believe had she said the child was yours," Jade said and Bryan scowled.

"I don\'t dig ladies who are older than me," Bryan said and before Jade could respond Evelyn shot her a look.

"Let\'s focus on the issue at hand," Evelyn said, and all eyes turned to her.

"There is no issue to focus on. Kimberly has to handle her business with her family and leave is out of it. The child is not mine and I\'m not going to claim otherwise. It\'s as simple as that. Since the child is possibly grandfather\'s, she is part of the family whether or not we like it, and so we will take responsibility for her as a family..."

"That child might be our aunt," Jade cut in when it suddenly clicked, and Bryan chuckled.

"Mom, how do you feel about having a kid for a sister-in-law?" Bryan joked, and Jade giggled while Evelyn glared at them.

"This is hardly anything to joke about!" She hissed at them.

"Well, it\'s either we cry or we laugh right now. I can\'t believe I went from mourning my sweet old grandfather to laughing about the possibility of a three years old kid being my half aunt. This is all so wild," Jade said with a sigh.

Desmond cleared his throat to get their attention, "I stand with Tom on this. As much as I have no interest whatsoever in associating with the child as my father\'s kid, the responsible thing to do will be to care for her as she is part of the family. Her business with her family is hers and has nothing to do with us. I\'m going to have dinner," Desmond said as he rose, ready to leave.

"I agree with you both," Bryan said and Jade nodded.

"I support it as well," Jade said, ready for the meeting to come to an end so she could go upstairs to her bedroom to give Harry a call since she was het to speak with him since she arrived.

Evelyn stopped Desmond and Tom before they could leave, "Des? Tom? I would like to speak with you both privately," Evelyn said and Bryan and Jade took that as their cue to leave even though they didn\'t like being left out of the discussions.

They hoped she wasn\'t planning on convincing Tom to do what Kimberly wanted seeing as she was the only one who had not stated that she was in support of Tom\'s decision.

They knew just how close she had been to their grandfather and wouldn\'t put it past her to want to consider saving his face even in his death.

Tom raised a brow as he watched his mother and waited for her to speak.

Desmond also couldn\'t help wondering what she wanted to talk to them about.

After gathering her thoughts, Evelyn cleared her throat, "Initially I was going to address the whole family, including Sonia and Lucy, since you\'re all here. But I decided to speak with you both directly first before talking to the others," Evelyn said, looking from Tom to her husband.

"What is this about?" Tom asked, and Evelyn\'s brows pulled together.

"About the prank and everything else that followed last night," Evelyn said simply.

"Not now, mom," Tom said, thinking it was all wrong timing.

"I want us to get that out of the way so we can focus on everything else. I know you are both mad at me and probably only talking to me right now because of the situation of things. You all have expressed your disappointment in various ways..."

"Mom, I\'m not mad at you. Let\'s forget about it. It\'s all in the past now," Tom said, and she shook her head.

"No, it\'s not. You might no longer be mad because of all that has happened, but I\'m mad. And I\'m disappointed in all of you, and I have to tell you exactly how I feel," Evelyn said, and Tom frowned.

"What?" Desmond asked in disbelief, and Evelyn nodded.

"Yes. You heard me right. I admit that I was wrong to have put the blame on Lucy the way I did. And I admit that I said things I shouldn\'t have said. I also admit that maybe I should have listened when you asked me to let the issue ago, instead of probing further. For all of that I am sorry," Evelyn said and Tom nodded.

"Then what are you mad about when you know you are wrong?" Desmond asked, and she took in a deep breath.

"I am mad because you both made me feel like an unreasonable person. Last night I was willing to do anything for peace to reign because I hate not being on good terms with you, but that doesn\'t mean I agreed with all you said, Desmond. During dinner with Lawrence last week, Tom made a statement about not wanting to get married, and I expressed my worries to you. Did you at any point in that discussion tell me the reason Tom made such a statement even though you were aware of it already?" Evelyn asked, and Desmond said nothing.

"Go on. Answer the question," Evelyn urged him.

"No, I didn\'t."

"I\'m glad you admit that you didn\'t. You made me believe you were fine with his decision and tried to make me think it wasn\'t a big deal and I shouldn\'t worry about it. You didn\'t even want us to talk about it. I AM HIS MOTHER! If there is anyone who is allowed to meddle in his business, I believe I have every right to be..."

"Mom..."

"Let me finish," she said, raising a finger to stop him from speaking.

"You might not have been on good terms with your father, Desmond, but I was. I always have been even before you met me. Lawrence has always been like a father to me. I see nothing wrong in sharing my concerns with him when I know he cares about Tom as well..."

"But I asked you to let it go, didn\'t I? Couldn\'t you have trusted me and taken my word for it?" Desmond asked and Evelyn shook her head.

"No, I couldn\'t. Not when you acted like it didn\'t matter to you. I know all my kids and I know Tom had always wanted to get married. I believed something was wrong and I needed to fix it whether or not you were interested in fixing it. If you had told me what the issue was, I never would have gone to Lawrence! How could you withhold information from me, dismiss my concerns casually and expect me not to act on my own?" Evelyn asked hotly.

"I asked him to keep it to himself," Tom said in his father\'s defense.

"That doesn\'t change anything. I had already spoken to Lawrence about it before Tom told me Lucy was the one who didn\'t want to get married. You can call Lucy in here and ask her what I told her after that," Evelyn said, forgetting that she had promised Tom not to talk to Lucy about it.

"You talked to Lucy about it?" Tom asked with a frown.

"Yes, I did. I spoke with her about it because I needed to understand her. I won\'t apologize to you for doing that. I am allowed to worry about you. It is my duty as a mother. Worrying about my kids is what I do best and I will continue to do so until the day I draw my last breath. You can\'t ask me not to interested or interfere in your life. I was not wrong to worry about you enough to ask for Lawrence\'s help. I admit that he went about it the wrong way, and I was surprised since all I actually expected him to do was talk to you. So, on behalf of Lawrence I apologize to the both of you for the prank. I called you both here to apologize and also to express my displeasure," Evelyn said and then paused.

"Also, I see no reason why you couldn\'t handle this yourself and had to involve Lucy..."

Tom shook his head, "No. Don\'t bring Lucy into this. She did nothing wrong. The prank affected her too. She is my girlfriend. And maybe if they didn\'t take it further by contacting her as well, I wouldn\'t have let her get involved," Tom stated.

"Lucy did the right thing," Desmond stated flatly.

"Tom could have done that. Lucy has no relationship with Lawrence. It was disrespectful to have your girlfriend treat your grandfather that way," Evelyn said and Tom sighed.

"Alright. I apologize for that. I should have handled things myself. Listen, mom, I understand that you can\'t help worrying about me and interfering in my life but I\'m an adult..."

"Let me ask you a question. Why did you send Harry to Jade when she was having a hard time with her last criminal case?" Evelyn asked, and Tom frowned, not understanding where that was coming from.

"Why else? She was in danger and needed to be taken care of," Tom said simply and she nodded.

"Good. Now tell me, how was it your business? I mean, Jade is an adult and fully capable of taking care of herself so why did you have to step in when she didn\'t ask you to?" Evelyn asked and Tom raised a brow.

"She is my younger sister and I have to look out for her whether or not she asks for my help. That was how you raised us." As the words left his lips he understood where she was headed.

"Good. In like manner, whether or not you are an adult, you are my son and I have to be involved in your business and do whatever I can to make sure you are happy, whether or not you ask for my help," Evelyn said and Tom sighed.

"How would you feel if Lucy\'s parents chose to meddle in our relationship?" Tom asked, and Evelyn shook her head.

"I knew all this was about Lucy. Tom, every family is unique in their own way. Her parents can decide not to meddle in her affairs, that is their style but it\'s not ours. I didn\'t raise any of you to mind your business. I raised you to mind each other\'s business and be there for each other. Family is allowed to meddle. I agree that there is a limit to meddling, and that\'s why I chose to respect your decision about sticking with Lucy. But what I\'m saying right here and right now is that I won\'t stop being interested in you or your affairs. You are free to live however you want or do whatever you want after I\'m no more," Evelyn concluded as she rose and both Desmond and Tom nodded before heading for the door.

Tom sighed as they rose too.

"I\'ve heard you," Tom said as he rose.

"I will be addressing everyone tomorrow, including Lucy and Sonia. So, you can let her know what I said before then," Evelyn said and Tom nodded before heading for the door.

"I demand an apology from you Desmond. I accept that I was wrong, but you were wrong too. We agreed not to keep things concerning the kids from each other and you did that," Evelyn said as she held her husband\'s gaze.

"I just lost my dad..."

"And I just lost my father-in-law," Evelyn said with a scowl, letting him know she wasn\'t letting him off the hook.

"Alright. I\'m sorry I didn\'t tell you about it. But that doesn\'t mean I\'m okay with your actions either. You don\'t listen and I\'m beginning to find it increasingly annoying," Desmond said and she nodded.

"I\'m sorry. I will do my best not to go against you anymore," Evelyn said, and Desmond held out his hand to her and she embraced him.

"I won\'t forgive you for sleeping in the guest room," Evelyn said with her head on his chest.

"I needed to make a statement you would understand," Desmond said and she scowled.

"Yeah. Well, that was a very loud statement. I got it. So, don\'t do that next time. We should always talk things through," she said and Desmond sighed as he rubbed her back.

"It will be best if you don\'t things we have to fight over."

"Were you able to sleep last night? Did you enjoy sleeping without me?" Evelyn asked, and Desmond chuckled as he broke the embrace.

"Yeah. For the first time in a long time I was able to rest my arms without any weight resting on it," Desmond said as he took her hand and headed for the door, and Evelyn scowled as she followed him.