She took a deep breath, trying to regain her professional demeanor. Clearing her throat, she picked up her pen and pulled her notebook closer.
“Shall we begin?”
Claire finally turned to her, as if realizing for the first time Melody was in the room with them. Her eyes traveled over Melody’s clothes, lingering on her necklace and watch. When her gaze finally met Melody’s, there was fear and something else, something akin to jealousy. Melody wasn’t quite sure what she was seeing in the girl’s eyes, but she didn’t trust her.
“I’d like to begin by saying while this is an informal meeting, you are under oath, and I would caution that you should tell the truth…”
“I have no reason to lie.” Claire’s voice was brittle, high-pitched.
“I’m not implying that you are, or that you will. I’m simply stating that the truth is the best path.”
Claire turned large eyes to Logan. “You believe me, don’t you, Logan? About it…about your baby? It is yours…”
“Claire, I don’t ken what to believe.” Logan leaned forward, his face an emotionless mask. “Ye did sleep with my best friend, ye ken. And I dinna ken, or care, if it was the first time, or the last.”
Melody watched as Claire’s face slowly dissolved into tears. She glanced at Logan, caught his bewildered look and looked back to Claire.
“Claire, I know this is hard for you…” Melody began, but realized Claire wasn’t listening to her.
Claire was shaking her head, her eyes still fixed on Logan. “But Logan, ye wanted this. You’ve wanted children, said so, since I’ve known you. And ye have one now, a son…what ye wanted.” She leaned forward, her eyes searching Logan’s face.
Logan closed his eyes, drawing in a sharp breath. “Claire. Not like this.” He shook his head. When he opened his eyes, they were cold. “This is not how I wanted to start my family, not with betrayal and deceit.”
“But…this is what you want.” A stubborn tone had crept into Claire’s voice and she repeated her plea. “Ye want this. How could ye not?”
“I want children, more than anything. But how can I trust you, Claire. Ye slept with another man, in our bed. What am I to think?”
“Ye can think that I was scared, that ye ran out on me, left me there. Because I was. I dinna ken what to do.”
“And ye don’t care how I felt in this? How ye tore out my heart, broke any trust I had with ye? How am I to make that right here?” He thumped his closed fist against his chest.
“No…I mean, yes, I care. Of course I care. I loved you…” Her voice had taken on a petulant tone and her bottom lip slid out in the beginning of a pout.
Logan held up his hand, cutting her off. “Do not say that. I don’t want to hear it.”
“Excuse me.” Melody rapped her knuckle on the table, her eyes a blazing swirl of emotion. “I think we’re straying off topic here. It’s very easy to determine if Logan is the father or not. And that’s all we really need to do…you produce the child for a blood test and…”
Claire’s face blanched white, the pout replaced by a look of wide-eyed shock.
“No! It’s not…that’s not how this goes…he said…all I had to do was say it’s yours.” Claire began crying, her cheeks turning pink, her nose beginning to run. She sniffled and Melody reached behind her, grabbing a box of tissues from the bookcase, sliding it across the table toward Claire. The girl took one, blowing her nose loudly.
“What do you mean, this isn’t how it goes?” Melody kept her voice neutral, watching intently for any reaction from Claire.
“And who is ‘he’?”
Claire’s eyes darted between Logan and Melody, looking for all the world like a scared rabbit. Albeit a rabbit that was lying.
As much as she wanted to dislike her, Melody could see the girl was terrified of something…or someone. And Melody didn’t think it was either her or Logan.
“If I tell you, you can’t say I told.”
Melody nodded.
Claire took a deep breath, the fight for control of her emotions clearly evident on her face.
“It was Mr. Ashton.”
* * *
Claire’s words seemed to hang in the air. In the silence that followed her statement, Melody looked at Logan. His face was no longer emotionless; his eyes had darkened with anger, his mouth a tight straight line. She could see a muscle twitch in his jaw.
“What did Ashton tell you to say?” Logan’s voice was cold, his words clipped.
Claire’s words came in a rush, between lessening sobs. “He called me, said I should tell you I have your baby. That you’d do anything to avoid the publicity…because of the lawsuit.”
Melody frowned. “You do have a baby?”
Claire nodded, turning to Melody. “Aye. I do.” She glanced at Logan before lowering her head. “It’s not yours, Logan…Mr. Ashton told me to say that. But it’s not true.”
“Whose baby is it, Claire?” Logan’s voice had lost its hard edge, but he was still visibly angry, his words coming slowly, deliberately.
The reply was almost inaudible. “It’s Danny’s.” Claire twisted a tissue into a knotted rope, shredded bits falling on the table.
Logan rose abruptly, shoving his chair away from the table. He strode to the window, looking down onto the street. Melody could hear his fingers tapping on the windowsill.
“Who is Danny?” Melody asked. She thought she knew the answer, and as much as she knew it would hurt Logan to hear, she needed Claire to tell her. But it wasn’t Claire that answered. From across the room Logan’s voice reached her, the pain so evident Melody felt tears well up in her eyes.
“Danny was my best friend. Danny…” Claire’s face had gone even paler, the copper freckles on her nose standing out in sharp contrast, as Logan went on. “Danny was the man I found her in bed with.”
He was still facing the window, his back to Claire and Melody.
“Is that true, Claire?” Melody asked.
Claire nodded. There was a beat of silence and then Logan turned sharply.
“Say it…admit it, Claire. Tell her…tell me…whose baby it really is.” Logan’s voice was rough with emotion and the anguish on his face made Melody’s heart clench.
“Logan…” Melody shook her head slightly.
“No. She needs to say it. I need to hear her say it. I think she owes me that bit of truth.”
“It’s not yours.” Claire’s voice was dull, her head down, the words mumbled.
He walked back to the table, dropping heavily into his chair, leaning toward Claire.
“And the truth of our relationship? Did ye ever intend to marry me, Claire?”
Claire’s head came up. “How could you doubt that? I love you, Logan. I always have…”
“Ye loved me enough to sleep with my best friend? How does that show ye loved me?” The pain in Logan’s face had settled in his eyes. Melody longed to reach out to him, but clasped her hands in her lap to keep from doing just that.
But it was Claire’s hand that shot out, covering Logan’s hand where it lay on the table. Melody felt a palpable jolt in her stomach at the sight of Claire’s slender hand touching Logan’s. He didn’t pull away from her touch but he didn’t return the gesture.
“You were gone…with the band, on the road all the time. I was lonely. Danny would come round, just like he did when you were home. We just…it wasn’t planned. It just happened.”
“And the baby? Was that planned?”
Claire shook her head. “No. It wasn’t. Ye have to believe me, Logan.”
Logan pulled his hand away from Claire, running it through his hair.
“Ye could have told me you weren’t happy, Claire. Anything but finding ye in the arms of my best friend. Anything but that.”
Melody leaned forward, clearing her throat. She was losing control, of the interview and her own emotions. She wanted this to end, for Logan’s sake, and her own, but there was still questions that needed to be answered.
“Claire. Danny is the father?”
“Aye. Danny is the father.”
“And Jack Ashton told you to call Logan, to tell him the baby was his.”
“Aye.”
Melody tapped her pen on her notepad. “Why? What was the reason for this?”
“It was to…he said it would discredit Logan, make him look bad. He said I should go to the papers then, tell them that Logan had denied the baby.”
“But the baby has nothing to do with the suit.” Logan turned to Melody. “What sense does that make?”
Claire shook her head. “Not discredit you with the courts. With your fans. It would be all over the papers. He said even if you won the case, you’d have no fans left. They’d all leave you.”
“And insisting on meeting in public? That was Ashton’s idea as well?” Logan’s tone was incredulous.
Claire nodded. “He said he’d have someone taking photos, of us. Those would be in the papers too. I was supposed to cry, make a scene.”
“My God, the man will stop at nothing to see me ruined.” Logan turned to Melody. “He had to know it would be easy enough to prove I’m not the father.”
Melody sat back, blowing out a breath. “Logan…you know how the tabloids are. They’d only print that you’d abandoned your child, with a picture of the crying mother beneath the headline. No one would care that it wasn’t yours. You’d be tried in the public’s eye well before anything ever went to court.” Melody turned back to Claire.
“Miss Blackwood, I appreciate your honesty. I know this had been hard…for you.”
“Am I in trouble?” Her eyes darted between Logan and Melody.
“I don’t think Mr. MacKenzie is interested in pursuing this any further.” Melody caught Logan’s eye and he shook his head.
“No, I’m not wanting to make this any more of a mess than it already is.”
Relief washed across Claire’s features. She reached for Logan’s hand again, but this time he pulled it away.
“But, Claire, I will require you to sign a statement…a document that states the facts as you’ve given them today, taken under oath…that states Mr. MacKenzie is not the father of your child. And that Mr. Ashton coerced you into making a false claim of paternity.”
“I’m not sure…is that necessary? I…I won’t say it again, to anyone.” The confusion on Claire’s face was clear. She looked at Logan again, her eyes questioning him.
“Yes. It’s necessary. It protects you and Mr. MacKenzie. This would be a very complicated matter if we don’t make it clear, now, what the facts are. It’s for everyone’s best interest.”
“Claire, just do as she says. I don’t want this coming back to bite me in the arse in the future.”
Melody rose, collecting her notes. “I’ll have this typed and bring you something to sign in just a few minutes.”