One Last Chance (20 page)

“This was my fault,” she shouted back. “I forgot my purse and
I convinced Nick I would be fine. For God sakes, I was standing in the middle of a shop full of people while he ran the whole hundred yards back to the coffee shop.”

“He should have never left you alone,” Cole snapped back.

“Oh for god sakes Cole, listen to yourself,” Ally cried. “You tell me to not let him win, but you don’t let me breathe because of him. I was in a shop. A shop full of people. I thought I would be safe. I know now I was wrong but that is not Nicks fault.”

“ENOUGH!” Nick shouted suddenly. “Ally, I am very grateful for what you are trying to do, but Mr. Thomas is right. I should have never left you
alone. I knew it was wrong, but I was stupid. You and Ben could have been hurt because of my stupidity.”

Ally stared at Nick as the hot salty tears stung her eyes. She tried to blink them back but it was no use. The
y burst free and trickled down her face.

“Mr. Thomas,” Nick continued
, turning his focus back to Cole. “I take full responsibility for what has happened today. I have no excuse. I will gather my things and will leave your home within the hour.”

“WHAT!” Ally exclaimed. “
NO! Cole say something.” But Cole said nothing. He just stood glued to the spot staring at Ally.

“Cole
, you fix this now!” Ally demanded.

“Ally, enoug
h!” Cole replied abruptly.

“Like hell it’s enough,”
Ally shot back at him quickly. “Cole, you fix this now, or so help me God. I will leave too.”

“Ally no,” Nick said stopping at the door and turning back.

“You’ll leave me,” Cole asked in complete disbelief.

“Yes,” she replied defiantly.
“You let him walk out that door, you are not the man I thought you were. You know this is wrong. Don’t make a mistake because you are angry. This is not his fault. This is all Jason’s doing. And you know it.”

“Ally,” Nick said walking back into the room. “This is stupid. This is my mistake. Please don’t do this.”

Ally didn’t reply, instead she just stared at Cole and waited for his response.

“She is right,” Cole finally said
, never taking his eyes off Ally. “I don’t want you to leave Nick. That was never my intentions.”

“Mr. Thomas, I…” Nick began to protest but Cole stopped him.

“Nick,” Cole said finally looking at him. “Today was a learning experience for us all. We have under estimated that lowlife and the level he will sink to. I know you won’t underestimate him again, as I hope Ally won’t either.”

“It will never happen again, Mr. Thomas,” Nick assured Cole.

“Good,” Cole said with a tight-lipped smile. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have some calls I need to make.”

Without looking at Ally again, Cole turned and headed into his office.

“Ally, you didn’t have to do that,” Nick said once they were left alone.

“Yes I did,” Ally said sadly.
She looked up at Nick, trying her best to smile. “I needed him to see how ridiculous he was being. Nick we need you. I need you. I was never more scared in my whole life, than I was standing in that shop today. Nick he had my baby. I trust you and I know after today neither of us will make that mistake again. I just needed Cole to see that too.”

“Thank you, Ally,” he said from the heart. “I truly mean that. And I promise you I will never let what happened today, happen again.
You have my word on that one.”

“I know you won’t,”
Ally said as she kissed him on the cheek. “Now, I need to go and talk to Cole. I know I hurt him, so I need to put it right.”

She walked to the door of Cole’s office and softly tapped on it.

“Come,” she heard him call out. Taking a deep breath, she slowly opened the door. He was on the phone when she opened stepped inside. He looked up at her and, as she nervously stood by the door, he motioned with his finger for her to come in.

Slowly she edged her way closer to his desk. She walked around to his side of it and perched her backside on the edge of the desk
, peering down at Cole through her long thick lashes.

His eyes never left hers as he finished his conversation on the phone. Ally could feel her face burn as he held her eyes with his.

Finally, the phone call ended and Cole sat back in his chair, he continued to stare up at Ally.

“So,” he finally said. “You were going to leave me.”

“I was never going to leave you,” Ally sighed as she slipped down on to his lap. “I just needed you to see how ridiculous it was to let Nick quit. You know what happened today was no one’s fault. No one except Jason’s. For Nick to lose his job would have been just wrong.”

“Ally, all I want is for you to be safe,” Cole sighed.

“I know.” Ally replied as she rested her head against his forehead.

“Today when Nick told me w
hat had happened,” Cole said, his voice barely a whisper. “I was so scared. Ally I couldn’t go on if something ever happened to you. You are my world. You mean everything to me”

“I promise from now on,” Ally said honestly. “I will do whatever you ask
me to do. I will take no more chances.”

“Thank you my gorgeous girl,” Cole smil
ed as he leaned up and brushed his lips to hers briefly. “That makes me so happy.”

Then
once again he claimed her mouth.

Ally kept her promise to Cole. She never went anywhere alone anymore. She was more careful about what she did and where she went.

Even when she met up with her girls, Nick was never far away.

“Ally, this has to be wearing you down,” Caitlin said as they sat in Coopers one afternoon, where they had met for lunch.

“I just wish he would leave us alone,” Ally sighed sadly as she sipped her water. “This is supposed to be the happiest time of our life. We are newlyweds for God sake. We have Ben, and
Little Bean is on the way. I just wish we could live a normal life.”

“Oh sweetie,” Hannah sighed reaching out and takin
g Ally by the hand. “What does Cole say about everything?”

“He wants us to go back to London,”
Ally shrugged. “He thinks that the further away from Jason the better.”

“I don’t think that would be a bad idea,” Caitlin replied sipping her white wine.
“It would probably be for the best, you wouldn’t have to deal with Jason anymore.”

“But I don’t want to leave Nan and Pop,” Ally said sadly. “We
asked them if they would like to come to London for a while, but Nan is adamant she won’t be run out of her home by Jason. If I went over there, I would feel like I was abandoning them. What if he went after them if he couldn’t get to me?”

“You can’t blame her
for not wanting to leave her home,” Hannah replied. “Ally, why not go to the police?”

“And what will I tell them?” Ally replied. “I can’t tell them about the night in my apartment because then they would know about Cole b
eating the snot out of him. And what else has he done. He called into my old place of work to say he was sorry he upset me in the pub. He bumped into Nan and gave her a lift.”

“What about the day in B
oots?” Caitlin asked.

“There
is no law against him being in Boots,” Ally sighed. “Sure he could even argue I asked him to lift Ben up. Jason isn’t stupid. He isn’t doing anything that he doesn’t have an innocent explanation for.”

“But you can’t keep living like this,” Hannah sighed
and glanced over to where Nick was sitting alone, drinking a coffee. “Having someone shadow you all the time, I don’t think I could cope to be honest.”

“Nick is a nice guy,” Ally replied, know
ing what Hannah was getting at. “We are friends. It’s not so bad.”

“How are Nan and
Pop dealing with all this,” Caitlin asked. She always had a soft spot for Ally’s grandparents.

“Nan is worr
ied sick,” Ally admitted sadly. “She is living on her nerves. That’s the hardest part of all this.”

“
If I ever get my hands on that lowlife fucker,” Caitlin growled angrily. “I will kill him myself.”

“I need to try and put him out of my head,”
Ally said. Then in the hope of changing the subject she added. “Besides I have a charity dinner to get ready for and I have no idea what I am gonna wear. Short of a tent that is.”

“You are not that big,” Caitlin argued
, rolling her eyes.

“Well
, I feel that big,” Ally grumbled.

“When’s the din
ner?” Hannah asked delighted to be talking about something girlie.

“It’s on this Saturday night,” Ally sighed. “So I have five days to get my
ass sorted out, find the perfect dress and look halfway presentable.”

“We can go shopping Friday,” Hannah said excitedly. “I love shopping.”

“Yeah, but this is shopping with Ally,” Caitlin groaned. “She is a nightmare at the best of times. Lord help us now she is pregnant.”

“I am not that bad,” Ally protested and the other two doubled up laughing. “I’m not.”

“Ally,” Caitlin managed to say through her laughter. “You once made a shop assistant cry and all you were buying was a tracksuit for the gym.”

“Okay
, so that one time,” Ally protested.

“You want me to remind you of others?” Hannah laughed.

“No,” Ally sighed. “Fine, okay I’ll admit it. I don’t like shopping. But I need to do this. I need to look halfway decent.”

“Don’t you worry Ally,” Hannah said with a big grin. “B
y the time we are done with you, you will be the bell of the ball.”

T
he girls kissed Ally goodbye an hour later and promised to meet her on Friday to help her find the perfect dress for the dinner.

When Friday came, A
lly really wasn’t in the mood for shopping. She wasn’t sleeping too well and she felt fat and awkward. She was now twenty one weeks pregnant, just over the halfway mark and her bump was really starting to show now.

When she met Hannah and Caitlin on Grafton Street, she felt tired and miserable. Hannah was full of beans as always and Ally was struggling to keep up.

They hit Brown Thomas first, Ally said she wanted something black and simple. However Hannah was picking everything but what Ally had asked for.

Caitlin was keeping an eye on Ally. She knew her friend seemed a little bit under the weather and she was a little concerned.

They tried a couple more boutiques but nothing grabbed Ally’s eye.

“Maybe I should
just let Cole go alone,” Ally sighed, feeling tired and in no mood to keep going.

“We can go back to Brown Thomas,” Caitlin suggested knowing Ally was struggling hard. “There was one black dress you like
d in there. Maybe that is the way to go.”

“I really don’t care,” Ally replied
, suddenly feeling a little light headed. She leaned against the wall to steady herself.

“Ally what’s wrong?”
Caitlin asked the minute she saw her friend slump against the wall. The urgent tone in her voice caught Nick’s attention and he was beside Ally immediately. He was walking behind the girls, giving the three friends a little space and privacy.

“Ally,” his tone was calm but firm. “Look at me, tell me what the problem is?”

Ally looked up at Nick and tried to focus but her vision was a little blurry. She could feel her legs give way, then two strong arms wrapping around her and lifting her up. Then there was just blackness.

*******************************

Cole was in a meeting with three very loud German men. They were arguing among themselves and seemed oblivious that Cole was even sitting there.

He glanced down at his laptop as his screen saver popped up. He had it set as a picture of Ally on their wedding day. He instantly smiled when he saw her smiling face beaming up at him.

He wondered how her shopping trip was going. He knew how much she hated shopping and that she really hadn’t been in the mood to go that morning.

Suddenly the intercom in the center of the conference desk sounded and
Cole’s heart immediately began to race. He had left instructions not to be interrupted unless it was something to do with Ally or Ben.

“Yes, Sally,” Cole said as he pressed down on the answer button.

“I am sorry for disturbing you, Mr. Thomas,” Sally’s gentle voice came through the intercom. “But I have Nick on the line. He says it’s urgent.”

“Put him straight through,” Cole said and a wave of fear washed over him. “Thanks Sally,”

Cole picked up the receiver of the phone and pressed the flashing button to accept the call.

“What’s wrong Nick?” Cole asked the minute the call was connected.

“It’s Ally,” Nick replied and the concern in his voice just made Cole worry more. “She took a bit of a turn. She blacked out. I am with her in the back of an ambulance. They are taking her to the nearest maternity hospital. The paramedic said Holles Street.”