He Doesn't Remember

Ch 17

Not edited.

"Seth. You're an idiot." Donna shook her head with a small grin.

Seth looked at her with a lopsided smile.

"What? I couldn't help being angry..."

"Yeh but did you really need to take it out on your flat?"

"Well" he ran his hand across the back of neck and coyishly answered "I... well it was there and I needed to let off steam."

Donna put her hands on her hips and feigned being cross.

"Well who's going to look after Brenton for me when I got to my appointment tomorrow? I had planned on asking you but now..."

"I'll look after him" Seth said quickly. Hell he'd do whatever she needed him to do.

"How? It takes more than one hand to look after a baby Seth."

"Well... I'll take him to the house. I'm sure Maggie would love the chance to spoil him for a while if I need help."

Donna looked skeptical and spoke with a sigh.

"I don't know Seth.. people I dont know..."

"They're my family Donna. More so than..." he broke off not wanting to say his name.

"Trey will always be your family Seth. I get that."

Seth shook his head and frowned.

"Nope. Can't condone a man stepping outside his marriage for any reason. The fact that he's my cousin makes no difference about how I feel about that."

"Just" Donna searched for the words she wanted to say "just don't lose your family because of me Seth. Family..."

"Family are the people who you choose them to be. Blood doesn't make a family Donna. I'll always be grateful for the way my aunt and uncle took me and Jonah in but it'll never change the fact that when push came to shove Trey was always the golden haired boy. I don't ever remember them siding with us over Trey. That's one of the reasons Jonah left when he did. He'd had enough of being blamed for pathetic crap."

"I never knew that!" Donna looked surprised. "You never said..."

"What was there to say? He was theirs. We weren't. Oh don't get me wrong. They treated us well but..."

"But Trey always came first" Donna said dryly.

"Yep" Seth answered with a nod, unsure of where this conversation was leading.

Donna moved from behind the kitchen counter where she'd been making them both coffee to pick it up and take it to the table.

"I saw that for myself the night of his accident. They just let Elizabeth..."  she shook her head and frowned then looked him in the eyes "how could someone to that to their sons wife?"

"Who knows what they were thinking? Who knows for sure what Elizabeth said..."

"She told the hospital that I was stalking her... them because I was fixated on Trey."

Seth's mouth dropped open.

"You're joking?!" He wasn't sure if his words were a statement or a question.

"I wish I was." She shook her head slowly as pain ripped through her heart with the memory of that night and walking away knowing it was the end of her marriage.

"How the hell did you find out that? I'm pretty sure Elizabeth wouldn't own up to something as bad as that."

"I have statements from the people who were working that night. My solicitor got them because I wasn't allowed to go anywhere near them."

Seth wanted nothing more than to go and hurt Trey. How dare they make Donna suffer like this?

Fúcking ársehole!

He reached out with his hood hand and took hers gently.

"I'm so sorry honey. I wish I were there to sort it out."

Donna shook her head as she revelled in the warmth of Seth's touch

"There has been a plus to them doing that."

"Oh?" his eyebrows raised.

"Yep. I haven't had to worry about taking Brenton to see Trey. I'm not allowed in!"

Seth grinned.

"Always a silved lining! But Donna.. have you worked out what you want to do about that."

She pulled her hand from his and looked down at the table, missing the brief sadness in Seth's eyes as she looked away. Slumped back in her chair she answered him.

"I have to give Trey a chance to be a Dad. I have to believe that he'll do the right thing by him. Brenton deserves to have both parents."

"I agree with you honey... but I won't let him hurt Brenton. While ever he does the right thing I won't step in."

Donna looked at him as if she were studying every feature of his face. In some ways he felt vulnerable to be out in the open like this but being Donna he pushed aside those feelings.

"You're a good man Seth Jones. If only things hadn't been the way they were."