One Last Chance (17 page)

“Oh my God,” Ally exclaimed as the tears instantly pooled in her eyes. “
Little Bean is a girl.”

“We are having a daughter,” an equally teary eyed Cole said before he bent down and kissed Ally on the lips. “Thank you my gorgeous girl, thank you so much.”

“You are very welcome,” Ally laughed through her tears.

The nurse printed of
f some more picture of their daughter and soon they were on their way back to Nan’s to collect Ben.

Cole smiled the whole way back to the house and Ally couldn’t
help but love him a tiny little bit more for it.

When they reached the door, they could hear Ben howling fro
m inside the house and when the door was opened, they were greeted by a frazzled looking Pops.

Ally hurried into the living room and found Nan pacing up and down with a very upset Ben.

“Oh Ally love,” Nan said when she turned to Ally as Ally reached out her arms to take Ben. Nan passed him over to Ally. She cradled him to her chest and he seemed to settle down a little bit, as soon as he was in her arms. “I tried to get him to sleep but he wouldn’t settle. Now he is just over tired. I am so sorry.”

“It’s my fault Nan,” Ally said as she rocked back and forth with Ben. “He only sleeps with his little grey elephant.
I should have told you that before we left. Cole bought it for him when he was born. It’s the only thing that seems to settle him down.

“That would be because of all the upheaval in his life,” Nan said knowingly. “For a little mite, he has been through so much already.
The elephant is his one constant.”

“Well
, there will be no upheaval anymore,” Cole said as he walked up to Ally and Ben as he slipped the little plush toy into his arms and softly kissed him on the forehead. Ben immediately clutched it tightly and brought the elephant to his face. In no time he was fast asleep in his Mommy’s arms.

“So,”
Pop asked excitedly, when they all took a seat and Ben was out for the count. “How did it go?”

“It went really well,” Cole said but couldn’t hide the big grin on his face. “We have a little news.”

“Oh?” Nan said, looking from Cole to Ally and back to Cole again. “Is everything okay?”

“It’s more than okay,” Cole
replied with a huge grin.  “It would seem my gorgeous girl here, well, she is having our own gorgeous girl. The baby is a little girl.”

“Ah
, sure that’s just marvellous.” Pop exclaimed as he shook Cole’s hands vigorously. “A little girl is such a blessing. And sure now you will have one of each, what more could you want?”

“Oh a little girl,” Nan gushed. “Finishes everything off perfectly for you both. And I hope she is just like her mother. You were such a
beautiful and sweet little thing Ally. A real pleasure to have.”

When Ally showed
them the newer pics of the baby, Pop was amazed and asked could he keep one to show everyone his new great grand-daughter. He then slipped it into his wallet next to the picture of Ben, his great-grandson.

Nan
then headed to the kitchen to make everyone a bit of lunch, which Cole insisted on helping her with.

When it was ready, Ally settle
d Ben into his buggy before she followed Pop into the kitchen to join Nan and Cole for lunch.

“You will never guess who I bumped into in the supermarket yesterday,” Nan said as they sat at the table eating their lunch.

“Who?” Ally asked absentmindedly a
s she devoured her chicken pasta salad. Since the morning sickness passed, her appetite had returned with a vengeance.

“Jason,” Nan said as she reached for her glass of water and quickly took a sip.

Ally froze at the mere mention of his name. She could feel her stomach heave and suddenly her appetite was non-existent. But Nan, unaware of the effect her words had on her granddaughter, just continued.

“I haven’t seen him since before you too split up,” she added as she continued to pick at her food. “And if I am truly honest, I never really care
d for him. Too controlling and possessive for my liking. I think he thought he was too good for us. But there he was large as life in the supermarket. Full of chat, he was.”

“What did he say?” Ally manage
d to force the words out as she glanced down at Cole. Her stomach heaved again when she saw the murderous expression on his face.

“Oh
, nothing much really,” Nan said still completely unaware there was any problem. “He was asking how your granddad and I were keeping. And he was asking after you of course. He seem delighted to hear you were married and having a baby. Seemed really interested in the baby. Then the biggest shock, he offered to drive me home.”

“Did you let him?” Cole asked, unable to keep quiet any longer.

“Well I said no,” Nan said looking up at Cole as finally she sensed something wasn’t quite right. “But he insisted, which I found a little odd. He never seemed to have any time for myself or your granddad when you dated him. But before I knew it, my bags where in the car and I was being ushered into the passenger seat.”

“Nan,
if you meet him again,” Ally said as she pushed her lunch away from in front of her, her appetite completely gone. “I don’t want you to talk to him, and I really don’t want you in his car. In fact, I don’t want you anywhere near him.”

“Ally sweetheart,”
Pop finally spoke up. He had been sitting taking in the interaction between his wife and his granddaughter and he knew something was very wrong. “What has happened? And don’t tell me it’s nothing. The moment Nan mentioned his name, the blood drained from your face. I want to know what this lad has done.”

Ally stared at
Pop for a few moments, the tears welling in her eyes. She couldn’t bring herself to say the words out loud to her grandparents. She turned to Cole, who was watching her intently.

“I can’t,” she whispered as she shook her head and the tears trickled down her face. She stood up and hurried out of the kitchen, heading straight to her old room, her own little safe haven.

She sank down on to the bed and gave over to her tears.

About five minutes later, there was a soft tap on the door. Ally looked up at the door and wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand.

“Ally, pet,” Nan’s voice came through the door. “Can I come in sweetheart?”

“Come in,” Ally replied as she took a deep steadying breath.

Nan opened the door and came in, closing the door behind her. She walked over to Ally and sat down on the bed next to her and instantly reached for her hand.

“Ally sweetheart,” Nan said after a moment or two. “None of what happened was your fault.”

“I let him in to my apartment Nan,” Ally protested. “Cole had told me not to go back there, but I didn’t listen.”

“You went back to your home,” Nan replied. “He came to your home and he tricked his way into your apartment, and he did wrong. You didn’t ask for that nor did you deserve that.”

“Nan,” Ally sobbed. “I was so scared. He had me pinned to the bed and there was nothing I could do, and all I was thinking was Cole won’t want me anymore because I would be dirty and broken.”

“Ally,” Nan sighed and squeezed her hand tighter. “That boy loves you. He would never see you as anything but his gorgeous girl. Nothing that happened was your fault.”

“Nan,” Ally sobbed harder. “Why can’t he just leave me alone? He was the one who cheated on me. If I wasn’t enough for him then, why does he want me now? Why can’t he just let it go?”

“I think that boy’
s not right in the head Ally,” Nan replied honestly. “I think Cole is right, you need to be careful and make sure you are never left on your own.”

“I am scared Nan,” Ally admitted sadly.

“Why don’t you go to the police?” Nan asked.

“Because Cole beat the crap out of him,” Ally explained. “He would have killed him if it had not been for Nathan. I don’t want him in any trouble.”

“Oh dear,” Nan sighed. “This is quite a mess.”

“I guess all I can do is wait it out,” Ally shrugged. “Wait for him to get tired and move on.”

“Please be careful,” Nan pleaded. “I need to know you and my great-granddaughter are safe. I want to hold that little one in my arms.”

“I promise Nan,” Ally replied with a smile. She meant every word too. Cole
, Ben and her daughter were the most important things in her life. She was not going to do anything that could put any of them at risk. All she could do was pray Jason would eventually get the message and move on.

It was almost eight o’clock when they got home from Nan’s and Pop’s. Ally had been very quiet for the rest of the afternoon, even on the ride home she barely said two words.

When they reached the house
, she took Ben from Cole’s arms and said she was taking him up for a bath and changing him for bed, before she gave him his last bottle.

Cole watched her climb the stairs with Ben and his heart ached. Today she was supposed to be happy. Today they found out
Little Bean was a girl, they were having a daughter. But everything changed just at the mention of his name.

Cole’s blood boi
led at the thoughts of that lowlife scumbag. The memory of Ally curled in a ball in the corner of her bedroom filled his thoughts and just made him more angry.

He headed to his office and closed the door tightly behind him. Once he was behind his desk
, he picked up the phone and dialled Nathan’s number.

“Hey Man,” Nathan said brightly
in to the phone. “How did the scan go? What are we having?”

“It’s a girl,” Cole said trying to s
ound happy but failing miserably.

“What’s happened?” Nathan asked hearing the sadness in his friend’s voice. “Everything is okay with
Ally and the baby, isn’t it?”

“
Ally and the baby are both fine,” Cole replied but then thought about what he had said. He thought of Ally. She was far from fine. She was upset and scared. And he needed to make it right for her. “Well the baby is okay, I am not so sure about Ally.”

“Why?” Nathan said and Cole could hear the concern in his friend’s voice.

“Jason!” Cole growled, even saying his name made Cole’s blood boil. “Nathan he got to her grandmother, her fucking grandmother.”

“Buddy, we need to sort this asshole out once and for all.” Nathan blurted back angrily. “Nan is a sweet old girl. Did that fucker hurt her? I will kill him myself if he did.”

Cole told Nathan what happened with Nan and her encounter with Jason. He assured him that both Nan and Pop had been brought up to speed on the whole Jason issue and that they had been warned to have nothing more to do with him.

“You leave this with me,” Nathan insisted when Cole had told him all that had happened earlier that day. “Your wife is pregnant and she needs you there with her. I know you want to beat the life out of this scumbag, believe me I would feel exactly the same. But
we need to do this without you getting caught up in it. We need to do this when you are somewhere where there are plenty of witnesses that can prove you had nothing to do with this.”

“Nathan
, I want him dead,” Cole growled angrily.

“You just go take care of Ally,” Nathan said. “Leave the rest to me.”

“In just over two weeks’ time, we have that charity ball, I am guest speaker.” Cole told Nathan. “I want him taken care of that night.”

“Consider it done,” Nathan replied.

“Goodnight Nathan,” Cole said as relief washed over him. “And thank you.”

“Goodnight mate,” Nathan replied. “And congratulations on the little girl.”

“Thank you,” Cole replied and hung up the phone.

He switched off the lamp on his desk and headed up to
the bedroom looking for Ally.

It was just after nine and he found her asleep in the big cosy armchair in Ben’s
newly redecorated nursery, Ben fast asleep on her chest.

Cole carefully lifted Ben from Ally’s chest and placed him into his crib, settling him in. Then he checked the baby monitor
to see that it was switched on before he turned back to Ally. He carefully scooped her up into his arms and headed for their bedroom.

As he was carrying her,
she awoke. She turned her face into Cole’s chest and began to cry softly. All Cole could do was hold her closer to him.

When he reached the bedroom he lay her down
on the bed and climbed in next to her pulling her closer to him once again as she sobbed quietly into his chest.

“Please don’t cry gorgeous girl,” Cole whispered softly as the tears kept coming from Ally. “I am going to make everything okay.
He will never hurt you again.”

“I just want us to be happy,” Ally sobbed. “Just me you and our babies. Why can’t he just leave us alone?”

“I promise you,” Cole said as he closed his eyes, refusing to let the tears free. “We will be happy
, just the four of us and Jason will be nothing more than a bad memory. I promise you Ally.”