Chapter Eight

His ten seconds were up and still he was nowhere near to even comprehending the words that had just come out of her mouth.

'Don't worry. I've had three weeks to get used to the idea and I'm still nowhere near gettin' my head round it.'

He barely heard her. The world had ceased to exist, apart from her beautiful face, locked onto his, softly speaking those words. He looked around, saw the familiar face of Mrs Thatcher, the village gossip, talking among her friends and eyeing their table with interest. He couldn't do this here.

'Come to my house. We need to talk properly, and we can't do it here.'

He made a swift exit, desperate to get some air, to talk properly, to get some answers to the hundreds of questions that he had right now.

He was up and out of his chair so fast, that if it hadn't been for the sentence before it she'd have been anxious. She grabbed her jacket and hurried after him. He led the way up to his cottage, still not speaking. She'd forgotten how long his legs were, and she had to half jog to keep up.

They entered his house. His domain. It was quite interesting really. A lot tidier than her place. Everything to hand. Minimalistic. Bit like being at Simon's.

'Tea?'

'No thanks.' This conversation was going to be the most difficult and now that she'd set the ball rolling, she wanted to get down to it.

Entering the living room, they sat on opposite ends of the sofa and observed one another. She saw Carl's eyes dropping to look at her stomach every now and then. She was getting tired of the silence and scrutiny.

'Y' gonna say something, then?' He seemed to jerk out of a reverie, and cast wildly around for words.

'You're really...?'

She nodded.

'And is it really...?'

'Yours? Yeah.'

'So is – is –is it – is it good news? Bad news? What do you want to do?' His familiar nervous stammer gave away to Ally the fact that he was completely knocked for six.

'It's just... unexpected. Absolutely out of the blue. And I haven't thought that bit through yet. All I knew was I 'ad to get down here and tell you before I bottled it. While I was still in the right frame of mind. And then in the cafe I said all that stuff which y' weren't meant to hear yet, because I hadn't even sorted it out in my own head. But I was improvising, because I couldn't know what would be going on with you when I got here.'

'I'm glad you said it.' He smiled tentatively - seemingly surprised at the way it felt on his face before carrying on. He reached for her hand. 'And you need to know, Ally, that whatever the circumstances were, or are, I'll always stand by you.'

'God, that sounded so cheesy. You better not talk like that all the time.'

He laughed, relieving some of the tension in the room.

'I suppose it did a bit. I don't know, it was the only way I could think of expressing it.' Still the same wit, he thought. Whatever happened to her, you could guarantee she'd have a blunt observation to apply to the situation. She told it straight. Just one of the reasons why he was inexplicably in love with her.

'I knew you'd do the right thing, but - I don't know. I just needed to know, you know – before I told you – that it'd be what you actually wanted and not just what you knew you should want because you got me up the spout.' She saw his face grow solemn.

'I'm sorry. I really should have - '

'Listen. What's done is done. It's not the end of the world. We just need to make it work.' He remembered too late that she hated it when he started apologising profusely after the event.

'Mm.' He still couldn't really take it all in. He had to say it, to test the words on his tongue.

'You're having a baby.' As he spoke, Ally was amused and warmed by the smile that now radiated the room. It's really happening, he told himself. He'd always imagined having kids one day. And now it had become a reality. Ally Minshull was having his baby.

'You don't look very pregnant, you know.' He was still eyeing her slim waist, wondering how on earth an entire baby was planning on fitting inside her.

'Yeah, well. Give it another month or two. It's there, I can feel it already, y' just can't see it under me clothes.'

'How many months is it now?'

'Four. I didn't realise till dead late, the thought never occurred to me. Here. Picture for y', I've got two.'

Four... four months. So that's five left. Five months until he'd be a father. He gazed in awe at the little image, his child. His child that was growing inside her as they spoke.

'I know it looks a bit deformed at the moment, but - '

'It doesn't. It's perfect.' She could see that he meant every word.

'When's the next one?'

'Umm... beginning of January, I think.'

'I'm coming.'

'Really? It's not that interesting. Mostly it's just them prodding me and taking me blood pressure.'

'I'm coming.'

Ally couldn't really think of anything to say now. It had gone brilliantly, better than she could have ever hoped, but there was still so much left unanswered. The silence this time was less pressing, less terrifying. Their friendship had been reinstated – and taken to a whole new level. But she hadn't come all this way to just sit there. Luckily, this time he broke it.

'How long are you staying?'

'I have to be back Monday evening.'

'Stay with me until then, please. We've got a lot to talk about.'

Ally smiled. This was all so unreal – but it felt so right.

'I'll need to head back to the B and B to get me stuff though. Speaking of, I should head back now. When do you have to be at work?'

'Not till tomorrow evening. We could go now, where are you staying?'

'Place in Truro, bloody miles away. I didn't want to drive all the way down so I took the train, don't half miss my car though.'

On the way there they discussed pleasantries, enjoying each other's company, not yet ready to have to make big decisions. On discovering that Ally now worked as a mechanic, Carl laughed out loud.

'What's so funny? Pays the bills, doesn't it?'

'No, no, nothing. It's so perfect, that's all. Half the time I've known you you've been flat out under a truck. How's TA without Polson then?'

'Good, apparently. I stopped goin' just after he left, medical orders. Didn't announce it officially or anything but the gang all know so no doubt it's all over the drill hall.'

'Do they know...?'

'Nope. Well, Simon and Dawn do. And Hodge, because he's the one convinced me to come down, cos of his daughter, see. He made me see that we're fine now. I'm not married, we've not got officers or slimy little Polson's on our back all the time. It's all legit.' She smiled.

Even so, their first evening together was awkward.

Ally allowed Carl to cook, mainly because she was completely knackered, but partly because she knew he'd do a better job of it. That evening after several awkward hours had been wasted talking about nothing in particular, he turned to where she was sitting beside him on the sofa.

'You know... we really should start talking about practicalities... the bigger picture, what we're going to do...'

'Sod that for tonight. I'm too tired. Tonight I just want you to hold me.'

'Now who's being cheesy?' He was rewarded with a soft slap on the arm. 'We'd better go to bed. Bedroom's the one directly at the top of the stairs.'

Ally headed up and used the bathroom. When she emerged in her pyjamas, she discovered him hauling sheets and pillows about.

'Carl? What are you doing?'

'Taking these down.'

'Yer not sleeping downstairs, you daft pillock. Look, if this is gonna work...'

'Ally...'

'I'm way too tired to get into this debate right now. Come on, in. That cheesy line wasn't for nothin', you know.'

Curling herself up deep into the folds of the duvet, Ally soon drifted off into a sound sleep, feeling the protective arms of the stocky Lieutenant wrapped securely around her.

Carl on the other hand barely slept. If anyone had told him just twenty four hours ago that he'd be entwined in bed with Ally Minshull... his heart beat fast as he reminded himself of the purpose of her visit. As he lay he stroked his fingers through her loose blonde curls, watched the steady rhythm of her chest rising and falling with each breath. Then he reached an arm round to rest his hand on her abdomen – slightly swollen as she had said. He felt a strong surge of love for his child, her child, their child lying peacefully within her, and felt her hands instinctively join his as he hugged her closer to him and finally closed his eyes.