To Dan's great annoyance when he arrived home he found several reporters camped out in front of his and Leah's home.
"As if things weren't bad enough for us without these vultures hanging around. I bet Colleen Smart was the one who tipped them off"
As soon as he got out of his car a young lady reporter came up to him.
"Mr Baker have you any comments about what happened earlier today between your brother and your nephew?"
"No I haven't so kindly clear off!" said Dan trying hard to control his anger.
"Surely you must have know that your brother was sleeping with his son's fiancee!" said a cocky young male journalist.
At this Dan's temper finally exploded. The arrogance and insensitivity of this guy was breathtaking!
"You lot can all **** off before I do something that will put me in jail along with my nephew!" he snapped.
Thankfully the reporters decided it was probably safer to leave the premises!
"B***** parasites!" Dan muttered to himself as he entered his house. He knew if Leah was here she would lay into him about losing his temper but today had been a hard day for all of his family and the last thing he needed was some know-it-all gutter journalist sniffing around and making accusations.He poured himself a stiff drink to calm himself down and sat on the couch trying to think of nothing in particular but his thoughts kept returning to the aborted wedding and the horrifying aftermath. An hour or so later Leah came home.
"Dan are you ok?" she asked as she hugged her husband and kissed him on the cheek.
"Actually I'm blissfully happy" snapped Dan "my brother is lying in a hospital bed and my nephew is in jail! Plus there were some reporters sniffing around when I got home so the story will probably be plastered all over the front of every gutter rag in Australia tomorrow! How could I be anything else?!"
He hated himself for talking to Leah like this as he loved her so much but he couldn't seem to help himself.
"I wish Drew had never set eyes on Belle Taylor" he continued "I knew she was trouble the first time I clapped eyes on her. She is just like her mother - a manipulative little slag who gets off on destroying people's lives!"
"I don't think that's the case" said Leah "I think she really loves Peter!"
"Oh please Leah" said Dan hardly able to believe his ears "the only person Belle Taylor loves is herself!"
"Look I'm not condoning what they did to Drew but you have to look at the bigger picture. We both know there were problems between Drew and Belle long before Peter came back to the bay. They were just wrong for each other, you said that yourself more than once".
"I can't believe you are siding with her and Peter. Between them they have ruined Drew's life with their little hole-in-the-corner affair!"
"Look I'm not condoning the way they went about things. They should have been honest with everyone right from the start but they obviously tried to fight their feelings as they did not want to hurt Drew".
Of course Dan did not want to hear this and stormed out of the house in a rage leaving Leah in tears
"Me and my big mouth" she thought to herself as she finished off the glass of whisky her husband had left on the living room table.
