Edward and Grace did not remain long in their marriage truth be told, they never should have wed. Their union lasted but three years, during which they had a daughter, and then parted ways. Edward, endeavouring to act as a proper English gentleman and father, immediately began sending support for his daughter. He and Grace had agreed, quite civilly, that there was no need for official maintenance he would simply send a set sum each month, always punctual, always reliable. For a time, this arrangement suited them both.
Yet all of this unraveled when Edward received a most unexpected letter, delivered in the post one grey morning. In it, Grace was now demanding that Edward be stripped of his parental rights. How could that be? With the letter was enclosed a befuddling DNA report, stating that Edward was not, in fact, the girl’s father. The true father, it seemed, was a man Grace had been formerly married to, long before Edward entered the scene. The revelation struck like a winter chill: for two years, she had been seeing both men. All the while, Edward had faithfully sent his support for five solid years.
Of course, Edward was thoroughly crushed his pride and his heart wounded. Still, a sense of fairness took hold in him. He felt compelled to recover the money he had sent in good faith, since the child was never his to begin with.
As the law allows in such matters, when there is clear DNA evidence, Edward set about the necessary proceedings to retrieve the money he had spent pounds and pence carefully counted.
And so, Edward finds himself in the midst of a legal dispute. All these years later, one cannot help but wonder: is this truly the just path to take?
