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Robert wanted to scream, he knew it and this is what he wanted at one point but to have the hard evidence in his hands is something completely off the scale. He stormed out of Keepers Cottage with the aim of going towards the field behind the cricket pavilion where no-one would hear him scream. As he neared the village hall he saw the Home Farm car driving towards the village.
Well no time like the present, might as well get this over once and for all, Robert thought as he started back towards the village. The car was parked to the side of the pub. At least an audience would mean there wouldn’t be any second guessing when it all came out if he had done this in private. Robert took a few seconds to compose himself before entering the pub; going in all guns blazing was not the method here.
Robert noticed Aaron first, no surprises there, sitting at the end of the bar with Vic, Chas and Adam. He moved away from the door meaning to go towards them before he heard her.
“Look, Daddy’s here, maybe he can stop all of your silly grizzling.” Rebecca had the car seat in front of her on the table and she was looking up towards Robert, all he could do was stare back at her. Now was a good a time as any, this type of dramatic confrontation wasn’t usually his thing but the situation seemed fitting given the way her pregnancy was announced the village.
“What were you waiting for me for then?” Robert said, straight to the point.
“What?” Rebecca looked wide eyed towards him as the rest of the pub seemed to go quiet.
“It was always your word that he was mine, did you really think I would just mindlessly follow your word and believe what you would say?”
“Where is this coming from, you’ve been here all this time supporting her, why are you questioning it now?” Lawrence stood up from his chair, his wide eyes looked just as ridiculous as Rebecca’s.
Robert huffed as he turned back towards Rebecca. “I couldn’t say before he was born could I, and I couldn’t ask for a test after; how would I know I was getting the right result back? So I’ve done it now, do I need to give you a minute to figure out what I found out” Robert said spitefully.
The whole pub had gone silent so Lawrence’s spluttering could be clearly heard, “You can’t do that, that’s outrageous.”
“Yeah well what are you going to do about it now then?” Robert’s cold retort silencing him, “How long were you going to keep this up Rebecca, or were you never planning on telling me? Or how about we go with the classic excuse of ‘you didn’t know’?”
Lawrence and Chrissie looked towards Rebecca waiting for her to break the silence but all she could do was stare back at Robert; the rest of the pub splitting their glances between the two.
“I didn’t just send my DNA off though, I had to make sure I was right before I completely changed someone else life.” Robert turned to his right, towards Ross in the corner, “Next time you fancy throwing punches Ross make sure you’re not bleeding everywhere; you never know what will happen.”
Ross got up and moved towards Robert, “You what?” A scowl latched on to Ross’s face as he spoke.
“Well I didn’t think you would participate willingly. I wasn’t even planning on having you tested; but the opportunity presented itself so I took it.” Robert answered smoothly.
“Well what did it say then?” He said; a nervous sincerity present in his voice.
“I really like how you have question me,” Robert laughed, the smirk ever present on his face, “turns out it's not you either.”
Murmuring around the pub started as Ross whipped his head around to look at Rebecca; her silence remained as she briefly looked at him before returning to looking at Robert. Lawrence and Chrissie remained speechless as they looked at her, willing her to say something.
“You want to know the best thing though Ross, you’re results did show something interesting.” Robert said causing silence to fall on the pub again.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Ross questioned.
“You and the baby have some shared DNA. So I sent of another test”
Ross turned around as all eyes looked towards his brother Pete, an ‘oh my god again’ could be heard from Leyla at the bar.
“Sorry, not Pete.” Robert turned suddenly and slammed the letter in his hand on the bar. “Turns out you can be dad,” Robert said coolly as she stared down at Adam next to him; daring him to say something.
The harsh look he was giving Adam disappeared as he went to lift his eyes to his sister, “Vic, I’m so sorry. I really am,” his heart breaking for her. Without looking at anybody else in the pub, he turned and went straight out of the front door leaving the stunned silence behind him.