One Last Chance (31 page)

He lay next to her as h
e watched her, her chest would slowly rise and fell, almost in time with the machines. He took in every inch of her beautiful face. God he loved her so much.

As he lay there watching her, his mind wander
ed back to the day in the apartment. As he stepped through the door, followed closely by Nathan and Nick, the smell of iron hung in the air. Cole knew this was not a good thing.

When he stepped into the living room, he could see dirty dishes lying around the place. But there was still no sign of Ally.

Then he heard the sound of tiny sobs coming from the bedroom. He rushed to the door and the first thing he saw was Jason spread out on the floor, eyes fixed towards the ceiling and an ever increasing pool of blood around his head.

Mov
ement on the bed caught his eye. He turned and saw Ally curled in a ball in the center of the bed. A pool of blood beneath her also.

“Ally!” Cole exclaimed as he rushed to the bed.

“Cole,” Ally sobbed weakly. She was deathly pale and Cole knew he needed to get her to a hospital immediately. He turned back to Nathan and told him to get an ambulance.

“I’
m here my gorgeous girl,” he said with a smile as he climbed up on to her bed next to her. He slipped his arm under her and pulled her to him. “Help is on the way.”

“I’m sorry,” s
he said her voice was barely a whisper. I tried, I swear I tried.”

“You
have nothing to be sorry for,” he replied with a smile then kissed her on the forehead. He was trying his hardest to remain calm but he knew they were running out of time.

“I feel
so tired,” she said as her eyes appeared to grow heavy.

“No,
Ally Thomas,” Cole demanded firmly. “You do not go to sleep. You stay awake, do you hear me?”

“I tried to fight,” she
whispered. “I really tried. I’m sorry.” She began to drift off.

“No
, don’t you dare,” Cole said shaking her to wake her back up. “Don’t you dare leave me! You stay with me, you hear me Ally Thomas, you stay with me!”

“ALLY!” Cole cried out as he woke with a jolt. It took him a moment before he remembered where he was.
He sighed as he realised he was not just having a bad dream. He had lived his nightmare.

He turned over
in the bed to face Ally and was greeted with the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. Two beautiful blue eyes staring back at him.

“Hey, gorgeous girl,” h
e said brightly, unable to hide his relief and joy he was feeling. “God I have missed you.”

“Hey, yourself,” she croaked
and tried her hardest to smile. “Where am I?”

“You’
re in the hospital,” Cole told her and kissed her forehead as her hand immediately went to what remained of her bump.

“What about…”she asked as panic washed over her.

“She’s fine,” Cole said reassuringly taking hold of Ally’s hand. “And she is very beautiful, just like her mommy. But she misses you so much
.
She is five days old now. So we need to get you better, for our little girl. And also for a little man that misses his mommy more than anything in the world.”

“Cole,” s
he said with a tired smile. “I want to see my babies.”

“I will see what I can do, my gorgeous girl
,” Cole said as he kissed her, then got up off the bed and went to look for a nurse. When the nurse came back to the room, she asked Cole to wait outside while she got Ally sorted.

A
reluctant and sulking Cole stepped out of the room and promised Ally he would see about her getting to see the baby.

When he stepped outside the
room, he called his mom. He wanted to let her, his dad and Nan know Ally had finally woken up. Then headed back down to the nursery and told a very happy Pop that Ally was awake.

He asked the nurse about taking the baby up to Ally and she assured him once Ally was checked o
ver, moved out of the ICU and into her own room, she would arrange it.

He also rang Caitlin and Nathan, who had Ben, and asked them to bring him to the hospital as Ally desperately wanted to see him too.

It was a couple of hours later before Ally had been moved into her own room. She was tired but happy to be there with her family. When Nathan and Caitlin arrived with Ben, along with Hannah and Sid, Ben squealed with excitement the moment he saw his mommy.

Ally held him to her tightly and couldn’t hold back the tears of joy to have her baby back in her arms.

A short while later, there was a soft tap on the door and a nurse popped her head in around it.

“I have a little visitor here that wants to see her
mommy,” she said then walked into the room carrying the most perfect little bundle Ally had ever seen.

The nurse placed the baby into Ally’s arms a
s Cole moved closer with Ben.

“We meet at last,” Ally said
to her daughter, as she blinked back tears of happiness. “And I love you so much, my Little Bean.”

“
So does this little woman have a name yet?” Sid asked the question everyone else was thinking.

Ally looked up at
Cole and he smiled back at her and gave her a quick nod to go ahead and tell them.

“Okay,” Ally smiled and she looked up directly
at Nathan and smiled bright. “I would like you all to meet, Abby Rachel Thomas.”

Nathan
’s eyes instantly filled with tears of joy when he heard the name.

“Thank you,” he mouthed to Ally and she smiled brighter knowing he approved of their choice.

She looked down at their little girl and then up at her husband with their little boy in his arms and she had never felt happier.

Finally
, her life was complete.

Ally woke up early and found Cole sitting in the bed staring at her with the biggest smile on his face.

“
Happy Christmas, Mrs. Thomas,” Cole said brightly and Ally couldn’t help but smile back at him. He was like an excitable little boy.

“Happy Christmas
, Mr. Thomas.” Ally giggled back. “What has you awake at such an early hour.”

“Oh
, I am just excited to spend my first proper Christmas with the woman of my dreams,” Cole said with a big grin. “Plus, we have a little boy who is one today and a five month old who is about to scream blue murder for her morning feed.”

As if on cue, Abby’s cry echoed through the house.

“I don’t remember Ben ever being this loud,” Cole said with a laugh as he climbed up off the bed. “Must be a girl thing.”

He ducked from the pillow Ally threw at him before he
headed out of the bedroom still laughing his ass off.

“He came back with a very unhappy Abby
, who was only worried about her bottle, in his arms. And walking a little wobbly next to him, holding his hand tightly was a smiling Ben, who giggled with excitement the moment he saw Ally. Ben was such a mommy’s boy whereas Abby was all about her Daddy.

“Happy Birthday little man,” Ally said as she jumped up out of bed and scooped Ben up in her arms. “Have you got a big kiss for you
r mommy?”

“Mommy,” Ben said in his own funny little way. Ally leaned over and kissed a very tearful Abby.
“Morning Princess.”

“I think little madam just wants her bottle,” Cole
laughed as Abby cried harder.

They both headed back towards the bed and Ally placed Ben in
to the bed as she took Abby from Cole. He reached into his pyjama bottom pockets and pulled out two bottles. One for Ben, who happily flopped back in the bed and began drinking his bottle, and one for Abby who guzzled it down happily.

Cole left his little family in the bed and headed out of the room and arrived back
a few moments later with a big box, wrapped in colourful wrapping paper.

“Happy Birthday buddy,” Cole exclaimed as he placed the box down in fron
t of Ben. The little boy squealed and dropped his bottle before he launched himself at the box. Ally laughed hard as Cole helped Ben rip the wrapping off.

When they were finished opening the present
s and both babies had their bottles, Cole and Ally each took a baby and headed down into the sitting room, to where Ella, James, Nan and Pop were all waiting for Cole and Ally to arrive downstairs with the babies.

“Happy Christmas,”
they all cheered in unison as Cole and Ally walked into the living room.

“Happy Christmas,” Cole said and Ben just squealed once again.

“Happy Christmas everyone,” Ally chirped happily.

After they done Santa Claus
with the children, they all exchanged gifts and took a lot of pictures of both babies. It was the picture perfect Christmas morning. And as Ally looked around the room, she saw she was surrounded by some of the most important people in her life and she felt truly happy. Life was pretty perfect.

At midday, the rest of the guests
began to arrive, Caitlin and Nathan were the first to arrive. Sid and newly pregnant Hannah arrived a short time later. The next to arrive were Gus, Laura and Ally’s sisters. Ally’s two uncles and their families were the last to arrive.

Rosie and Nick a
lso joined them but this time, they were guests too. Cole had hired caterers for the day.

One of the waitresses arrived with a tray of champagne and passed out a glass to everyone.

Cole tapped the side of his glass to get everyone’s attention.

“
Firstly, on behalf of myself and Ally,” Cole began. “I would like to thank you all for coming and helping us celebrate this very special Christmas. Our first Christmas as a family. It’s been a tough year, we have had some wonderful highs and some pretty bad lows. But through it all, one thing never failed us. And that was family. You are all our family. We are so blessed to have each one of you in our lives. And on behalf of Ally, Ben, Abby and myself, I would like to say thank you all, and wish you all a very Happy Christmas.”

“
Happy Christmas,” they all replied as they raised their glasses.

“OH MY GOD!” Ally exclaimed as she grabbed hold of Caitlin’s hand. “You got engaged!”

“Nathan surprised me this morning,” Caitlin beamed with happiness. Ally threw her arms around her friend’s neck and hugged her tightly.

“I am so happy for you,” Ally said, then she turned and hugged Nathan too. “You take care of my woman.”

“I will,” Nathan replied. “You have my word.”

Cole hugged Nathan and then Caitlin and wished them all the best
.

Sid and Hannah joined the
m as Cole asked the waitress to bring them more champagne and an orange juice for Hannah.

When they all had their glasses of champagne,
and an orange juice for Hannah, Cole toasted the happy couple.

A short time later,
dinner was served, they all took their seats and got stuck into the most delicious meal. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time.

After dinner
, they all gathered around the fire in the sitting room. James carried a big birthday cake into the living room and everyone sang happy birthday to Ben, who was happily sitting on his granddad Gus’s lap.

Gus was everything Ally could have dreamed of as father and more importantly, a grandfather. He and Laura visited Ally and Cole regularly. Ben adored him. Gus would play for hours with Ben and it reminded of how he would always make an effort to spend time with her when she was little. She loved him so much and
was happy to have him and Laura play such a big role in her life now.

The day was a great success. Ally was never happier in her life. Her life was perfect. Jason was now just a distant memory. She and Cole had a whole future in fro
nt of them.

A little after nine,
some of their guests thanked them for a wonderful day and said good night. Nan and Pop, who were staying over, said goodnight and headed to bed, as did Ella and James.

When Gus, Laura and the girl’s left, Ally promised she would make it to the party in their home for New Year’s Eve.

Cole and Ally got the babies settled for the night, before they returned downstairs to where the last of their guests, Nathan, Caitlin, Sid and Hannah, were waiting.

The six friend
s sat, talking and laughing until the small hours of the morning.

When Cole and Ally
saw their friends to the door, they wished them a good night and a safe journey home then watched as they headed out into the night.

“Alone at last,” Cole s
aid as he closed the front door, turned and gave Ally a hungry look.

“Mr. Thomas,” Ally exclaimed as she batted her eyelids and giggled. “Whatever have you got planned for me.”

“Oh Mrs. Thomas,” Cole said as he walked towards her, like a predator stalking his prey. “I’m going to do very rude things to you.”