A Baby of Convenience by Lena Skye

help noticing that Cliff sat in George’s chair.
     
    “Wrong chair, Cliff,” Neal said bluntly.
     
    “I was just trying it out,” he replied, trying to make light of the situation.
     
    “A little premature though,” Neal said through gritted teeth.
     
    “There’s no need to get upset, my boy,” Cliff said, rising from his seat. “I didn’t think about it before I sat down.”
     
    “A little insensitive of you, don’t you think?” Neal countered, unwilling to let it go.
     
    Cliff put up his hands in surrender and moved to his usual seat.
     
    “This is a hard time for us all, I understand how you must be feeling.”
     
    “You have no idea how I’m feeling.” Neal spat.
     
    “We all loved George, Neal,” Cliff said with an infuriating calmness.
     
    “Is that right?” Neal asked, “Then why is it that this whole damn board is so eager to declare my brother dead?”
     
    “It’s procedure –"
     
    “Screw procedure,” Neal said with venom. “This is his company. My father built it up from nothing and my brother helped it grow. How is it right that it passes to you and a bunch of strangers?”
     
    “We’ve been here a long time Neal,” he said with exaggerated calm. “Some would argue that we've been here much longer than you.”
     
    Neal recoiled as though he had been struck. “Meaning I have no right to the company?”
     
    “You have no idea how to run this company,” Cliff said, his careful tone dropping. “It might as well pass to the board. We know how things are done, and I believe that George would have agreed with me.”
     
    “Don’t you dare say that,” Neal said forcefully. “You have no idea what my brother would have wanted.”
     
    “And you do?” Cliff challenged unfeelingly.
    “Yes, I do,” Neal replied with confidence he did not feel. “he would have wanted this company in the hands of family. He wanted me to be looked after, but more than me, he wanted Elena to be looked after.”
     
    Cliff’s eyebrows went up at the mention of Elena’s name.
     
    “Ah, yes,” he said suspiciously, “the girlfriend you claim that George had.”
     
    “Has,” Neal insisted, “and I’m not claiming anything. It’s the truth.”
     
    “He never mentioned he was seeing anyone.”
     
    “Did he make it a point to discuss his personal life with you?”
     
    Cliff’s silence was his answer.
     
    “I thought not,” Neal said with satisfaction.
     
    “I believe this woman was someone I hired?” Cliff said shrewdly.
     
    Neal reminded himself to be careful here.
     
    “She was the sculptor you hired a few months ago.”
     
    “I see… and in so short a time, George became utterly besotted with this woman. Enough to want her provided for?”
     
    “Stranger things have happened,” Neal said with a casual shrug.
     
    “I don’t doubt it,” Cliff said, his eyes searching.
     
    Neal turned and walked out of the room. He was finding it difficult to breathe and he could feel the panic begin to take control of his calm. He was sure now that Cliff suspected what was coming next. Clifford Stanley was a smart man, one who was difficult to fool, but if Neal could provide the tests that proved paternity, then despite Cliff’s suspicions, he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. Neal prayed hard that he was not walking himself, and Elena, straight into a brick wall.
     
       ***
     
    Elena walked back into Neal’s house, clutching a bag of her things. She felt strange walking into the house, knowing it was going to be her home for the next few days. She wasn’t sure where to set her things down. There didn’t seem to be a second bedroom in the place. She settled for leaving them conspicuously in the living room.
     
    She helped herself to some fruit from the sparsely stocked fridge and then settled in front of the television. She was watching a mindless reality show that she couldn’t concentrate on, when she heard Neal in the doorway.
     
    “Hello,” he