Page 27 of Ashes of Us
“They looked like some responses were deleted.” Danica corrected him. “Like the conversations were all disjointed andhad context missing. He admitted in the texts that he slept with her.”
“And yet you don't believe he did.” Alex leaned forward, staring at her intently. “Come on Dani, you wouldn't be struggling with this so much if you thought he screwed her. You'd have walked away and washed your hands of the whole thing without a second thought. So why haven't you?”
“Because it's completely out of character for him.” Danica's response was immediate. “I don't care how mad he was at me. Yes, he might have if he thought he was getting back at me, but he admitted in therapy he never actually believed I was cheating with Alexander.” She took a deep breath, picked up her napkin and began to shred it. “He always hated my relationship with your family. He thought that your mom and dad saw me as a charity case or someone pathetic they pitied.” She mumbled, unable to meet his eyes.
“Well, that's just bullshit.” Alex folded his arms and shook his head. “Mom and Dad did what they did for you because they thought you were worth it, end of story.”
“I know they didn't see me that way,” Danica assured him. “I think it was a combination of insecurity and resentment that I had other people in my corner besides him. Like, if I left him, I would have a support system and wouldn't try to go back.” She paused, debating on telling him about Jasper's jealousy toward him and decided not to. “If you asked anyone in his family, they would tell you he loved me more than life itself. None of them believe he cheated, except for Emilia and Xavier. And maybe I want to be in the dark.” She shrugged, watching her fingers carefully shred the napkin into similarly sized pieces. “But I just can't wrap my head around him cheating on me.”
“Okay, but that just kind of backs up what I'm saying.” Alex insisted, reaching out and taking the napkin from her.” Yousaid he threw her off him when he woke up and saw her lying on him in her bra and panties?”
“And threw up.” Danica nodded. She thought she could see where he was going with everything now, but as much as she desperately wanted to latch onto the idea that Lucy was lying, she couldn't quite bring herself to hold onto that hope.
“Look, I'm just saying, if the baby was Jasper's, there are other ways she could have gotten pregnant that didn't involve them having sex, and all of them are sneaky and underhanded on her part.” Alex sat back in the seat, looking proud and a little smug that he had made a valid point.
“No, no. You're right.” Danica agreed, chuckling dryly. “She could have done what you think.” Danica shuddered; it was too gross to think about. “That doesn't change the fact that they were alone for a few hours and were both half-naked on the couch, cuddling.”
“No, it doesn't.” Alex acknowledged, his face falling as she pointed out the flaw in the argument. “Maybe it was hot?”
Danica started to laugh, the fact that Alex was so valiantly trying to defend her husband's fidelity tickling her funny bone. “Oh wow. If Jasper knew you'd be the one defending him, he wouldn't have been so adamant that I quit working as your executive assistant.”
Alex frowned, annoyance flashing on his face. “What did I ever do to him that he wanted you to quit? I barely spoke to him!”
Danica waved the question off, still giggling. “He's been after me to quit for a long time, but it came out in therapy that he thought I should have left after I got the inheritance and done courses to become a licensed mechanic.”
“But you said you didn't want to be a mechanic.”
“No, I never have.” She acknowledged, surprised Alex remembered that conversation. “But Jasper and I used to talk about opening our own restoration garage. I always thought it was just a fantasy, something we'd say we wished we could do, and never took it seriously. He did. His parents offered us their house and land a few months ago, and he asked me if we could do it.”
“And you agreed.” Alex's face had settled back into its usual impassive state. “That's why you were leaving.”
“No.” Danica shook her head, not willing to let him think the conversation with Craig at their parents' house hadn't had an impact. “I was leaving because I didn't want to work for someone who thought I would screw around with his father after everything his mother did for me. The clock I was waiting out was his parents moving into a senior’s village.”
“Right.” Alex was quiet for a long moment, looking at the table. “Do I need to apologize again?”
Danica shook her head, trying her best not to laugh again. “You really struggle with that, don't you?”
“I'm working on it.” He muttered, checking his watch. “We should probably head home. I have an early meeting with Kieran in the morning.”
Danica nodded, her heart sinking a little. It was almost eleven, and she knew she was going to have to go home at some point, but she really didn't want to. She began gathering her things, knowing the restaurant would charge their meals to the employee's account. She could feel Alex's eyes on her, but she didn't look up.
“Dani?” His voice was soft and gentle, and she looked up at him in surprise. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah.” She stood up, and they started walking out of the restaurant. “Sort of. I think I'm going to have to sell the house.” It was out, and she realized that while it was something she hadn't let herself think about, it had been sitting in the back of her brain since she saw Jasper lying in the hospital bed. “Everything about it reminds me of Jasper, and I'm starting to dread being there.”
“You could just renovate,” Alex suggested as they reached the elevator and pressed the call button. Danica scoffed, wrinkling her nose. The thought of going through a lengthy renovation process after she and Jasper spent all the time and money to make the house perfect for them made her feel weird. She didn't want to erase her life with him. She just wanted to step away from it.
“Nah, that just sounds like a hassle. I'd rather start fresh.”
Chapter Twenty-Two: Viability
Thursday morning, Danica was writing up the transcript from Alex's meeting with Kieran when her cell phone rang. Seeing it was David; she answered and listened as he told her they had to be back in court first thing in the morning since he had filed an emergency motion for“The Authorization to Retrieve and Preserve Genetic Material from Incapacitated Spouse Under M.G.L. c. 201D”so the judge and opposing counsel could hear their argument. “I also did some digging and found out something that no one mentioned, that will really bring them around to our side,”David told her, barely able to disguise his glee.‘But may also mean this is all for nothing anyway.”
“What are you talking about?” Danica leaned back in her chair, idly spinning from side to side while she looked out her window at the Boston skyline.
“There's a really good chance they won't be able to harvest any motile or non-degraded sperm. Basically, even though he's been kept alive by the machines, things start to degrade within seventy-two hours and since it's been over a week...”
Danica felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Even if the judge agreed to immediate collection, there was a chance they wouldn't harvest sperm that was able to fertilize anything. “Why wasn't this brought up? You'd think this would have been looked into, especially since they want the grandchild so badly.”
