Dialogue with no tags

Here’s another scene from the Lisa and Paul story. Paul has discovered that she has a young son, but because he thought the boy was three years old, he assumed that Senator Ralph Gregory was the father. Now he’s just seen the boy for the first time and knows that the child is his son. He’s furious …

As Lisa followed him into the room, Paul spun round to face her, his eyes dark with anger. “So just when were you going to tell me? When he graduated college maybe?”
His sarcasm stung but she held her ground. “No, of course not.”
“No, you let me find out totally by chance. If I hadn’t seen him today, would you ever have told me?”
“I did try to tell you but you wouldn’t listen to me.”
“When?”
“Last week. When you’d convinced yourself that Nicky was Ralph’s.”
“What else was I supposed to think? Fiona told me he was three.”
“So you should have checked your facts before you start throwing out your accusations. But think about it now, Paul – what if I had told you that he’ll be five next week? What would you have thought?”
“Does it matter? The whole point is that you obviously didn’t think it was important enough to tell me.”
“The whole point is that it does matter! Surely you haven’t forgotten what you accused me of before you went to Peru? Because that’s the issue we have here. The fact that you didn’t trust me, you thought I’d cheated on you. And you still think I was having an affair with Ralph Gregory.”
“You go to the theatre with him, and today he had his arm around you – ”
“Oh, for God’s sake! Is there any way I can get through to you that Ralph is, and always has been, simply a friend? A very good and very supportive friend over the last five years.”
“And a father figure to Nicky? I assume that’s short for Nicholas? God!” He slammed one fist against his other hand. “I can’t believe that I have to ask what my son’s full name is.”
“His full name on his birth certificate is Nicholas Paul Hamilton, and you’re named on the certificate as his father.”
“Yeah, his father – a name on a piece of paper. Have you even bothered to tell him anything about me?”
“Yes, I have.”
“What then? That his father was a real bastard who walked out on you?”
“Now you’re being stupid. Even if that was what I felt, do you honestly think I’d tell that to a four-year-old who asks where his Daddy is? I told him that you were a famous scientist who was finding out more about volcanoes so that people didn’t get hurt or killed when the volcanoes erupt.”
“Okay.” Paul inclined his head slightly and Lisa wondered if his anger was starting to abate. But then his steely eyes met hers again. “If you’d let me meet him, I’d have known he was mine. He looks just like all the photos of me at that age.”
Anger flared inside her. “So I was supposed to parade Nicky in front of you to prove to you that he was your son? No, I don’t think so, Paul. Why should I have to prove to you that I hadn’t cheated on you? We’re talking about trust here. And you didn’t trust me.”
“Maybe we’re talking about honesty too. Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant?”
“If you’d known I was pregnant, would you have gone to Peru?”
“You know damn well I wouldn’t.”
“But you were desperate to go on that expedition. And I knew you wouldn’t go if I told you.”
“So that’s why you didn’t tell me”
“Yes.”
“How dare you?” She was startled by the vehemence in his voice. “How dare you make a decision like that for me?”
She remembered what Ralph had said. ‘You left something out of the equation … what Paul himself might have wanted.’
“I thought - ” She stopped and bit her lower lip.
“You thought? You didn’t bother to ask me what I thought? You didn’t think it was important to tell me you were pregnant with our child?”