How Many Chances (14 page)

When the interview was finished she stood and shook Coles hand before she turned to Ally.

“It was really lovely to meet you Ally,” Jules said taking Ally by the hand. “And for what it’s worth I read the interview Sean Fitzmaurice gave about you and I think you are far better not having that asshole in your life. I wish you every happiness in the future.”

“Thank you Jules,” Ally replied truly grateful for the young woman’s comments.
She really liked this girl.

“
Although something tells me,” Jules added nodding towards Cole. “The way he looks at you, I think you will be just fine. Hope when I fall in love, he loves me even half as much as Mr Thomas very clearly loves you.”

Ally smiled at Jules, and thanked her again.
Then Nick appeared and escorted Jules and the photographer out.

Ally turned to Cole and smiled happily at him as Jules’s word ran around her head.

“So what now,” Ally said Cole once they were alone.

“Well,” Cole said, nervously. “If I am honest, t
here is just one more thing I would really love.”

“Name it,” Ally replied brightly.
There was nothing she wouldn’t do for him.

“I want you to meet Ben,” Cole said looking at Ally hopefully.

“This really means a lot to you, doesn’t it,” Ally said looking into Coles eyes.

“This means everything to me,” Cole admitted with a
half-smile. “You two are the most important people in this world to me. I don’t want to feel I have to keep you in separate parts of my life.”

He was almost holding his breath wait
ing for her to respond. Praying she would finally agree to meet his son.

“Okay,” Ally agreed and meant it,
she wanted to make him happy. And this was the one thing he truly wanted.

“Tomorrow then?” he asked unable to keep the look of relief from his face.

“Tomorrow,” she smiled and kissed him.

Ally’s stomach was doing somersaults as she sat in the car next to Cole. They had discussed going to meet Ben and his mother the night before and she told him very honestly, she was really nervous about meeting Steph. And that she really didn’t feel comfortable with going back to the house.

She told him walking in to her
home, which he had bought for her and their child just felt wrong. He said he understood and so he arranged for them all to meet up in The Dorchester Hotel for lunch.

When they reached
the hotel, Nick pulled up to the curb and the doorman from the hotel, immediately walked to the car and opened up Cole’s door. Cole stepped out from the car then turned and took Ally’s hand as she stepped out after him.

“Welcome to the Dorchester.” the doorman said with a friendly smile. Cole and Ally both smiled at him before Cole still hold Ally’s hand, walke
d towards the revolving doors of the hotel and into the warmth, away from the biting January breeze.

“Mr Thomas,” a middle aged man, dressed in a
well fitted suit, with a huge smile said, as he hurried towards Cole and Ally. “Lovely to have you at the Dorchester once again sir. It has been far too long.”

“Thank you Stephen,” Cole said taking the man’s out
stretched hand. “And I would like to introduce you to this wonderful young lady. This is my fiancée Ally Brody.”

“A pleasure, Ms Brody,” he said
, shaking Ally’s hand. “Welcome to the Dorchester.”

“Thank you,” Ally said with a smile she really didn’t feel. Her heart was hammering hard in her chest
and she thought she was going to be sick. She had no idea why she was so nervous about meeting Steph. Yes she gave Cole his first child but it was her he wanted, not Steph. She had only ever been a one night stand. But because of that one stupid night she would be connected to Cole and in a way part of their lives for ever.

She thought about Ben, he was barely two weeks old, but if she was truly honest she resented him an
d that didn’t sit right with Ally. She knew her father’s mistress hated her and it had destroyed her already then strained relationship with her father.

She was afraid she would see this little, innocent baby and she would hate him, making her no better than the tart that had ruined her life when she was fifteen.

“Ally,” Cole said looking at her anxiously. She looked up at him and smiled. “You were miles away, are you okay?”

“I am fine,” she lied and gave him the biggest smile she could.

“You don’t have to do this,” he said as he took her by the hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. He didn’t fully believe the smile. He knew her too well by now and he knew she was panicking and out of her comfort zone.

“No, I want to,” she re
assured him and smiled once again.

“Thank you
,” he said quietly and kissed her tenderly on the lips.

They both turned to Stephen who was standing waiting on them patiently
, trying to look everywhere except at them.

“Okay, Stephen,” Cole said with a sm
ile and nodded. “We are ready, after you.”

“Very good, Mr Thomas,” Stephen smiled at them both and turned and continued to le
ad the way. “I have reserved the most discreet area of the Promenade Lounge as you requested. Although it is very quiet in there today.”

“Thank you, Stephen,” Cole replied and stole a sidewards glance at Ally, who looked like a rabbit ca
ught in the head lights of a car.

“Your other guests have arrived,” Stephen continued completely unaware of the impact his words
just had on Ally, whose heart was hammering so hard in her chest now she could barely breathe. Suddenly her feet were like ton weights and each step she took became harder and harder to take.

“Guests?” Ally finally found the words inside her. “You mean she isn’t alone?”

“She insisted on bringing her sister Becca,” Cole replied wishing now he had told her this piece of information sooner. But honestly it hadn’t occurred to him to do so.

“I see,” was all she replied.
They reached the doors to The Promenade Lounge and Ally stopped dead in her tracks. She thought she was going to be sick.

“Ally,” Cole said turn
ing to her and looked at her with concern because of the look of complete terror on her face. “Sweetheart, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she lied once again. It took every ounce of strength she had to keep calm and act as normal as sh
e possibly could. “I actually just need to use the ladies room. I will follow you in, I promise.”

“I can go with you,” Cole said, and Ally knew he was afraid she was going to run.
So she reassured him the only way she knew how. She leaned up and kissed him softly on the lips.

“I promise I will be right back,” Ally smiled. “
Please don’t worry.”

She knew Cole was still watching her when she turned and made her way to the
bathroom she spotted at the far end of the corridor. She fought hard the urge she had to run to the toilet and throw her guts up. She walked at a steady calm pace and tried to breathe through the nausea.

When she reached the ladies she was relieve
d to find it was empty. She grabbed some paper towels from the dispenser and ran them under the cold water and wrung it out before she carefully pressed it against her forehead.

She looked at her reflection in the mirror and what she seen on the outside didn’t match what she was feeling inside.

Ally had spent a long time picking out something to wear for meeting this woman. She want to look just perfect and had chosen a simple Black woollen dress and her black Louboutins. She left her blonde hair down in soft curls that fell to her shoulder. She looks elegant and classy. But her whole insides felt like it was on a spin cycle.

“
What the hell is wrong with you?” she asked her reflection in the bathroom mirror as she gripped the edge of the vanity unit. “You need to stop this!”

Suddenly she could hold back no more, running to t
he toilet she bent over and threw up violently.

When
her stomach was empty and she couldn’t throw up any more, she could fight the tears no longer.

She closed the door of the cubical, put the toilet seat down, sat down pulling her knees up to her chest and buried her face in her hands and cried.

She knew she was being totally irrational, this was so not like her. There was a time she would have marched in there and shown this girl exactly who was the boss. But she was such an emotional mess lately and she had no idea why.

She knew she couldn’t go in and face them now with puffy, red eyes.
Ally pulled her phone from her hand bag and called up her contact list. She scrolled down until she found Coles name and was about to press call but she didn’t. She scrolled down further until she came to Nick’s name.

She bit her lip and thought if she should call him. He could come get her and have her back at Coles in no time. She knew she was being a coward but she could
n’t face Cole right now. She felt awful for bailing on him once again even though she had promised him she would never run again.

But it wasn’t running as such. She was only going as far as his apartment. She was not leaving for good.

She was just about to press the call button when she heard the door to the ladies open. She froze half excepting to hear Cole call her name. She quietly reached down and picked her bag up from the floor and tucked her legs as tightly to her body as she could and kept perfectly still.

“
Steph,” she heard a girl voice chirp excitedly. Ally froze. Could it be the same Steph? “You are a fucking genius.”

“Shush,” the other girl scolded her friend. Ally looked down and could see two hands on the ground. Whoever it was, was checking they were alone. Ally held her breath.

“She isn’t in here,” the second girl, who apparently was Steph said as she stood back up. “He is completely clueless.”

“I can’t believe you pulled this off,” the first girl laughed.
Ally tried to remember the name of the girl Cole said Steph was bringing with her but she was completely blank.

“
He is a decent guy,” Steph snorted, “He was always going to support a child he thought he’d fathered. Unlike that scumbag Damian.”

Ally’s
eyes widen with shock as her heart was pounding in her chest. What was this girl actually saying? Her stomach heaved and she quickly cover her mouth with her hand to stop herself from throwing up again.

“I can’t believe he didn’t insist on a DNA test,”
the first girl walking into the toilet next to Ally and closing the door. “I was sure that would have been how you would have gotten caught.”

“Cole might be a bastard in the boardroom,” Steph said, then paused as if she was applying lipstick.
“But once he saw Ben and I told him he looked just like him. He was on board.”

Ally could hardly believe her ears. This was like some sick joke. Her heart was racing faster and faster.
She could feel the bile rest inside her and she swallowed hard to push it back down.

“Still it’s a shame you never actually got to fuck his brains out,” girl number one laughed from the cubical next to Ally
and Ally’s stomach heaved again. ”I bet he is hot in the sack”.

Ally could barely breathe, she could feel tears prickle her eyes but she quickly blinked them away. She was not going to cry.
It was all she could do to stop herself from throwing up once again.

“I had to get him drunk enough to pass out,” Steph replied. “Cole T
homas might have shagged his share of woman, but one thing everyone knows is, he doesn’t ever go without a condom. Beside once I chase this Irish tart off, Cole will end up back here and I will finally get him to fuck my brains out then.”

Girl number on
e laughed hysterically and she began to move in the cubicle and the flush sounded. Ally wanted to scream and burst out and confront them. But she knew if she stood up she would throw up again. She closed her eyes and breathed slowly. She had to keep pushing the desire to throw up back down inside her.

The door opened and Ally listen as the water ran into the sink as
girl one washed her hand. Then the buzz of the hand dryer filled the restroom giving Ally the chance she needed to take a deep steadying breath.

“Are y
ou ready?” girl number one asked when the hand dryer stopped.

“Oh
hell yeah,” Steph said with a venom in her voice that made Ally realised this girl was a girl on a mission. “Let’s go scare this bitch off. So Cole and I can play happy families like we are supposed to.”

The two girls laughed.
Then the door to the bathroom opened and closed again. Ally sat for a moment in silence, making sure the pair of plotting bitches where gone.

When she as sure the coast was clear she dropped her feet to the ground. She felt cold and numb. Her mind was racing so fast she could
hardly think straight.

Ben wasn’t Cole’s. Ally wasn’t sure how she felt. She thought she would have felt relieved, happy even. But all she could think was how crushed Cole was going to be. He loved Ben. Ben was his son.

“Oh God!” she exclaimed as the realisation of what had just happened hit her. Ben wasn’t Cole’s son and she was the only one who could tell him the truth. And that meant she would have to be the one to break his heart.

Her stomach heaved once again this time she couldn’t hold it back. She jumped up and threw up violently.

Ally leaned her back against the door as she regained her composer after vomiting. She closed her eyes and pressed her head back against the door.

Ben is not Cole’s,
she thought to herself.
That bitch lied to him.

Suddenly she was filled with rage. She wanted to walk out and beat the crap out of Steph till she told Cole the truth. Nothing would have given her more pleasure
.

But she need to handle this right. She wanted Cole hurt a little as possible. She opened the toilet. And walked to the sinks and looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror.

She looked like hell. She was pale and her eyes were red from crying and throwing up. She needed to sort herself out. She quickly pulled her compact and lipstick from her handbag. And fixed herself up as best as she could. She then ran her brush through her hair and applied some perfume. Finally she searched her bag till she found a stick of gum and stuck it into her mouth to get rid of the taste of vomit.

She surveyed herself in the mirror once more before she took a deep breath and headed for the door.

She was just about to push open the door to The Promenade Lounge, when Cole appeared through the doors,

“There you are,” he said and a look of relief filtered across his face. “Are you okay?”

“Something I ate must not have agreed with me,” she lied. “I got sick so I went back outside for some air.”

“Sweetheart are you okay,” Cole asked with genuine concern.
“If you don’t feel up to this we can leave.”