Chapter Sixteen

Saturday 7th December - Two weeks ago - late arvo

Elly was in line to order a tea at Harold's Cafe when her phone rang. After digging it out from her handbag, Elly answered, "Hey, Suze!"

"Elly, just checking what time you'll be home as Shaun has arrived and thought you would've planned on being here when he landed?" Elly's Aunt Susan explained.

"Ah I guess I'll be hour or so, just at Harold's getting a tea and was planning on having it here. It's not like I forgot Shaun was arriving back today but I never said I'd be waiting around to greet him at the door or anything," Elly rolled her eyes.

"Okay, do you want to talk to Shaun?" Susan asked.

Elly raised her eyebrows, "Why would I do that? I'll see him in an hour."

I really don't care for Shaun. He might be the baby-daddy and he'll be here for the birth and first month or so of our child's life but then he'll be going back to Switzerland. Suppose I'll need to sit down with Shaun in the next week or so to work out just how often he plans on visiting to be involved in our child's life. Shaun's the one with the money, I don't really plan on going out of my way to travel to him more than once every year or two.

I've got enough to deal with accepting that I'm in love with Chloe and that I have zero chance of being with her.

Susan grimaced a little at her nieces tone and slight disregard for Shaun, holding her hand over the phone, she whispered to Shaun who sat across the room from her, "Elly's just waiting in line to order at Harold's, she'll be here to catch up with you soon," before returning to Elly, "Finn and Bea are cooking up a storm for a welcome home dinner for Shaun. Bea bumped into Hendrix today at the tram and invited him along as Chloe and Pierce have plans tonight."

Welcome home? It's not Shaun's home! Ugh of course Chloe and Pierce have plans and are ditching Hendrix for them! Just another bloody reminder that I'll never stand a chance whilst Pierce is in Chloe's life.

"Has anyone told Pierce that Hendrix will be at our place tonight? Cause he went off his brains at me the last time Hendrix was at our place and hadn't told Pierce or Chloe and I'd only just rocked up a minute before Pierce did. Like it was all my fault," Elly reminded her Aunt.

"Pierce should never have blamed you for that," Susan agreed.

"Pierce just wanted any excuse to tear into me. He hates that Hendrix has struck up a friendship with Bea and spends time with us as he thinks all I'll do is use it to try and spend time with Chloe. I'm already keeping my distance from my friend as it is," Elly groaned in frustration.

"I know, Elly. It's a good idea, I'll give Pierce a call and let him know Hendrix will be at our place tonight," Susan decided.

Elly shrugged, "Y'know what, I need to talk to Pierce about Hendrix's English exam as he just scrapped in on a pass mark by 1 point and I really think he needs some tutoring before he struggles with Year 12 next year. I'm 2 minutes from Pierce's office at the hotel. I'll swing by and let him know. If he's not there then you can give him a call about Hendrix been at our place for dinner tonight and I'll sort out another time to talk to Pierce about the exam result."

"Are you sure, Elly?" Susan asked, knowing her niece had a disdain for her ex's boyfriend.

"It's fine, Suze, I have no problems with Pierce even though he seemingly has one with me, if he's not there I'll let you know," Elly decided.

Twenty minutes later, Elly had been directed by Ned at the front desk as to the whereabouts of Pierce's office at the hotel complex and was headed down the hallway on her own to see the businessman.

As Elly approached the slightly ajar office door she frowned as she overheard Pierce's voice wafting down the hallway until she was close enough to make out what he was saying.

"Chloe, you're my equal. I feel like you are so brave whenever you're around me. I love your smile and the way you smell. I love that you freak out but don't hate me for leaving hair balls in the bathroom...and there was something else...but I forgot what it was...so I'll just say this...I love you. Chloe Brennan, will you marry me?"

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Elly threw herself down the few meters of hallway between her and Pierce's office, throwing the door open, "Chloe, don't-"

Elly stopped short when she surveyed the scene in front of her.

Elly blinked wildly as her heart was pounding in her chest.

Elly stood there at the door of Pierce's office staring at the scene laid out for nearly a full minute in complete awkward silence.

Elly eventually cleared her throat enough to utter the only two words she could muster, "Where's Chloe?"

Pierce stared at Elly, narrowing his eyes at the brunette as they both felt the awkwardness of the situation, but he couldn't seem to respond to Chloe's ex-girlfriend.

After what felt like another moment of silence between them, Elly finally broke the silence once more, "Could you please stand up because you are really weirding me out kneeling in front of me on one knee, holding out the most ridiculously huge engagement I've ever seen, Pierce?"

Having my ex-girlfriend's current boyfriend on bended knee holding out a ring that is not for me might just be the most ridiculous thing I never thought I've ever have to experience.

"You're not exactly the woman I planned to go down on one knee for, Elly," Pierce finally uttered as he stood up from the position he'd held in the middle of his office.

"Where's Chloe?" Elly repeated.

Pierce stared around the office as if to say "Duh" but eventually answered, "Chloe's not here."

"What the hell was that all about then?" Elly asked quietly.

"I was practicing," Pierce explained.

Thank God I didn't walk in on the real thing.

"Practicing?" Elly was surprised, "With smell and hair balls...treating Chloe like an equal after what you did to her last year...?"

"My speech is a work in progress...I need to workshop it a bit...a lot more," Pierce claimed.

Ya think!

"Hmm," Elly grunted, still feeling the effects of throwing her heavily pregnant body down the hallway in an attempt to stop what could've been the worst moment of her life.

"What are you doing here, Elly?" Pierce asked.

Elly shook her head, still trying to come to terms with the fact Pierce was set to propose to the woman she loved, "Susan called me to let me know Hendrix has been invited over to our place tonight for dinner and after your arrogance last time I thought it best to let you know since I was only over at Harold's. Besides I needed to talk to you about Hendrix's exa-"

"Are you going to tell Chloe that I'm proposing to her?" Pierce suddenly interrupted.

"Why would I do that?" Elly replied quietly.

"To spoil the fact that I'm about to propose to my girlfriend who is your ex," Pierce pointed out.

"I'm not going to spoil it for you, Pierce, I'm not that petty," Elly shot back, before unable to resist asking, "What makes you think Chloe's ready to marry you? You've only been together a couple months."

Pierce puffed out his chest, as he closed the engagement ring box and put in in his pocket, "Because I can give Chloe the future that she deserves and I know how I feel about Chloe...you never did."

I have, I just figured it out way too late and now Chloe might decide to marry Pierce and I'll have no chance to ever tell her how I feel...

"How do you mean?" Elly whispered, cursing herself for even broaching the topic of her feelings for Chloe.

Pierce smirked, "I know that I'm in love with Chloe and can give her the best future she will ever have. You, Elly, have been messing her about for a year now and you still haven't figured out how you feel about Chloe. You don't want to be attracted to Chloe. You probably aren't even attracted to Chloe at all. You just like the attention Chloe paid you. Why you even slept with Chloe and got her hopes up there was something between you I'll never understand. You don't want her to call you her girlfriend, you'd never want to hold her hand or kiss her in public when there's people around. You only like the idea of Chloe because she clung to you and you're struggling to deal with your situation that you're about to become a single mum to your baby with your baby daddy residing overseas and you are going to have no one to rely on who will care for you the way Chloe and I care about each other."

Can I even argue with any of that? I know I love Chloe, I am attracted to Chloe, I want to show her all the love I have whenever I want...but Pierce is right, I messed Chloe about for a year...it's too late to ever have a chance with her...

"You don't know what you're talking about," is all Elly could manage to reply with.

"Keep telling yourself that, Elly. You're never gonna figure out your feelings for Chloe as you're too-" Pierce started before stopping to think back, "Wait, back up...when you threw yourself into my office after hearing my practice proposal speech from the hallway...were you about to say...'Chloe, don't'?"

Crap! Chloe don't marry him, I love you, too...yeah...that's what I was about to say...before I realized Chloe wasn't here...

"Well, I...I mean I was...Chloe don't...you think Pierce's office is hardly the most romantic place to get engaged speaking as someone who did so in a parking lot..." Elly stumbled before finishing lamely.

Pierce narrowed his eyes at the brunette in front of him, "Did you want to try and stop Chloe from agreeing to marry me?"

Yes!

Elly placed her hand over her baby bump, struggling to come up with a reason to leave this conversation with Pierce, "It's not my business what Chloe does. You've made it perfectly clear you don't want Chloe and I spending time together. Look I'm gonna head-"

"I don't want you spending time with Chloe and messing her about," Pierce interrupted as he insisted to Elly firmly, "Whatever your feelings might be for Chloe…you're forgetting what I told you a month back…you're not good enough for Chloe."

Elly swallowed hard but was unable to respond to Pierce.

"Why would you even think you have a chance with Chloe, Elly? You're about to have a baby any week now. You won't have time to ever give to Chloe. You think she'd ever want to waste her time with you when you've got more important things to deal with raising your baby. You can't give her anything like what I can. You can come to terms with whatever your feelings are for Chloe all you want…you're nothing to Chloe."

Elly scoffed and was about to reply when Pierce came at her again.

"I've won alright, Elly! Chloe's mine, I'm going to ask her to marry me tonight and there's nothing you can do to stop it. There's no use you trying even if you wanted to. I'm going to give her everything she's always dreamed of. You'll never be able to offer her the same. So, how about you forget all about Chloe and concentrate on nothing more than the life you'll be providing for your baby on your own. I'm marrying Chloe!" Pierce announced confidently.

Pierce is marrying Chloe…if she says 'yes'…why wouldn't she? Pierce is everything I'm not. He's rich, he can care for Chloe through her Huntington's, he can give Chloe all the attention she deserves when I've got my baby to worry about…and he loves her…he's not afraid to tell the world…I am…

Elly didn't bother to reply to Pierce, he'd said enough to break her down and make her feel worthless when it came to Chloe. Elly turned away from Pierce, walking away from him down the hallway and away from his office as quickly as her body would allow her to.

Elly made her way out of the complex and walked through the lake area as she headed home. As she walked across the boardwalk over the lake, Elly burst into tears.

Elly felt like the last year of struggling to deal with her feelings for her best friend had finally came to a head. Right when she had finally accepted, she was in love with Chloe, she knew she was about to lose her for real to Pierce the second he proposed to her ex.

I'm not good enough for Chloe. I'll have to sit back and watch her plan this wedding, marry Pierce and God forbid start a family with him…Chloe won't have her own biological children with the risk of passing on the Huntington's gene…but it doesn't mean they won't be able to try another way.

I'll have to sit back and watch all this play out…and I won't be able to stop it…I'll spend the rest of my life in love with Chloe…and I'm not going to be able to tell her…

By the time Elly got home to the Kennedy's she was a mess, tears streaming down her face, her mascara and eyeliner liquid wet and botchy all around her eyes. She wanted nothing more than to collapse into bed, forget the rest of the day and the inevitable feeling she'd have to endure if Chloe agreed to marry Pierce.

As soon as she entered the house, Elly had hoped to be able to slip into the house unnoticed but cursed under her breath as she glanced sideways and spotted Bea and Finn standing in the kitchen. Elly groaned loudly as she then spotted Shaun, with a smile on his face, bounding over to her, not quite picking up her mood.

Before Shaun could even open his mouth to greet his baby-mumma, Elly dragged her hand through her hair as she glanced up at Shaun with the tears streaming down her cheeks, "Leave me alone, I don't want to talk to anyone at all for the rest of the day…or week…or forever. Whatever, just don't talk to me."

Shaun stood there in front of Elly awkwardly as she stormed off towards her bedroom, burying her tear covered face in her hands.

When Elly was out of sight and hearing, Shaun turned back to his older brother and his girlfriend, commenting to Finn and Bea, "I can rule out something I said."

Finn stared towards the hallway Elly had just gone down, unable to resist smirking to himself at the pleasure he felt for the pain Elly was in.

Bea didn't notice as she tried to reassure Shaun, "It's not about you, Shaun. Elly's just…going through something. I've heard her crying a few times in her room the past couple weeks. Elly won't talk to me about it. Whatever it is…I think you just need to give her some space for a day or so. I know you want to talk to her about what the arrangements are going to be between the pair of you once the baby is born but I think you may need to do that later in the week."

Shaun nodded, "It's all good. The baby's not due for another three weeks, we've got plenty of time to work out how often Elly is okay with me visiting and being involved raising our child together. Besides I was thinking maybe tomorrow Finn and I could go do something together. I know it might seem early but I think Elly and I are going to be busy sorting out all the baby preparation we need to make for the baby's arrival. Kind of a last hurrah as brothers before my life turns upside down."

Finn winked at Shaun, wondering how long he'd be able to hide his hatred for his younger brother since his memories had slowly been returning to him the past few days, "Sounds great, what do you want to do?"

Shaun smiled at his brother, "We love adventure. How about rock climbing or abseiling at a local mountain or cliff area?"

Finn grinned at the thought that Shaun was walking right into his plan to get rid of him, "I'm in. You look up where we can go and organize the equipment, we'll need from the local sporting store in the morning. We'll head out by lunch time for the arvo."

"Maybe by tomorrow night, Elly will be willing to talk to me," Shaun contemplated.

In her bedroom, Elly collapsed on her bed, curled up with her face buried in her pillow as her tears continued to fall.

I love Chloe so much…but I'll never have a chance with her now…I've lost Chloe to Pierce and it's no one's fault but my own for taking so long to accept I love her…