Chapter 10

A couple of weeks went by since Mike had told Audrey about the baby and he hadn't heard a word from her. Not a visit or a phone call. He took it as her way of telling him she wanted nothing to do with her Grandchild or Dolly which he hadn't really been all that suprised by. Julia walked into the kitchen at around 2am to get herself a glass of water when she noticed Dolly sitting at the table.

"Dolly it's 2am. What are you doing up. Are you okay."

"I'm okay love."

"Liar. Have you been crying." Julia asked, noticing her tear stained face.

"Just the hormones. I'm fine, really."

"Dolly, don't. Don't lie to me. Is something wrong with the baby. Are you in any pain."

"The baby's fine Julia."

"Then what is it. If you don't tell me then I'm getting Mike."

Julia was about to walk away when Dolly grabbed her hand.

"It's all this Audrey business. I just can't believe she hates me this much that she'd not want contact with her Grandchild."

"Dolly she lost her only Daughter."

"I know that. I do but I didn't kill her. Shirley made her own decision to come on that diamond raid with us. She wanted those diamonds as much as the rest of us. I'm not the one who pulled the trigger."

"She was with you that day and that's all Audrey can see."

"I just can't take much more of this. I'm not an evil woman Julia. I know I've made mistakes in my past. Things I'm not proud off. Do I wish things had turned out differently, ofcourse but things are the way they are and I can't change them."

"No you can't. Look, you can't force Audrey into this. If this baby doesn't know it's Grandmother then fine. It'll have plenty of surrogate Auntie's instead."

Dolly looked at Julia and burst out laughing. Only Julia could make her feel better at 2am.

"Go to bed Julia. I'll be alright now."

"Okay. Come on."

"What."

"If I'm going then so are you. What you need is rest. You both do, come on."

Dolly let Julia help her up from the chair and the pair walked back upstairs. Before Dolly went into her room she turned back to Julia.

"You won't tell Mike about my little cry down there, will you."

"No. Just so long as you promise me that you'll stop worrying about Audrey and just concentrate on Mike and the baby because that's all that matters now. It's the 3 of you now."

"I promise love and thank you. I'll see you in the morning."

"Night Dolly." Julia smiled, as she walked away.

The next morning Julia got up fairly early and decided to to help Dolly and Mike out. She walked downstairs and grabbed her coat and was just headed to the door when Gloria appeared.

"Hey, where the hell are you off too at this time of the morning."

"Keep your bloody voice down Gloria."

"Yeah alright, keep your pants on. So, where are you going."

"I'm going to pay Audrey a visit."

"Dolly won't thank you for it."

"Well someone needs to knock some sense into that bloody woman. Dolly's in a right state because of her."

"Is she." Gloria asked, totally clueless.

"Don't you dare tell her I told you."

"How the hell are you gonna convince Audrey to forgive Dolly. It'll never happen."

"Well I have to at least try. If I don't then Dolly's just gonna get more worked up and that's the last thing she needs."

"Yeah you're right. I'm coming with you."

"No you're not."

"Hey, Dolly's my friend too and beside two heads are better than one. Isn't that what Dolly says."

"Fine but just follow my lead. Don't go saying anything that will make things worse. Got it."

"Yeah, I got it Doc, come on. Let's go."

To Be Continued…