Worth the Risk(54)

‘Your sister?’ He shook his head slightly as if to clear it. Obviously he was also suffering from the total lack of sleep. ‘The one who died?’

Ally nodded. ‘She was madly in love with Rob, even though she knew he didn’t care that much about her.’

‘Hold on, let me get this straight.’ He rubbed his temples with those long, strong fingers and took a deep breath. ‘Rob was her boyfriend, not yours?’

‘That’s right.’

‘And she got pregnant?’

‘It was an accident.’ Ally stared out of the window, not seeing the outline of the fells that she loved so much. All she could see was her sister’s face. ‘She rang me and told me and she was so thrilled—you can’t imagine.’

Sean’s voice was rough. ‘Even knowing that Rob was a louse?’

‘Even knowing that.’ Ally’s tone was soft and wistful and she glanced down at her fingers, surprised to find them tangling in her jacket. ‘Needless to say, Rob didn’t hang around.’

‘But she carried on with the pregnancy?’ He sounded surprised and Ally rounded on him, her eyes challenging.

‘Of course she carried on with it!’ Her blue eyes blazed. ‘We’re like that in our family, you see. We love babies and children. We believe totally in marriage and commitment, and if something does go wrong we all stick together. No way would Fay have had a termination. She knew we’d all rally round and help out.’

‘So what happened?’ The hard edge had gone from his voice and Ally closed her eyes and shook her head.

‘The crazy thing is, I don’t even really know—it was so quick. One day we were shopping together for baby things and she was telling me how well she was and how excited, the next we had a call from the consultant at the hospital, whom I knew vaguely, telling me that she’d been admitted and was in a critical state.’

Sean frowned. ‘With what?’

‘Pre-eclampsia.’ Ally stared at her fingernails. ‘Seems daft, doesn’t it? People still dying of pre-eclampsia in this day and age, but that was what happened. Her blood pressure shot up, her liver enzymes were all over the place, she went into massive liver failure and died. It was so quick.’

Sean hesitated. ‘I’m sorry.’

Ally shrugged and blinked away the tears. ‘Yes, well, they delivered the baby, obviously, hoping that it would improve her condition, but it made no difference.’

‘So you were left with a tiny baby with no mother or father.’

Ally’s jaw clenched. ‘Not exactly. Rob appeared on the scene once he found out what had happened.’

‘He wanted the baby?’ Sean sounded surprised and Ally’s laugh was bitter.

‘No.’ Her fingers curled into her jacket as she fought to control her anger. ‘He wanted money. And plenty of it.’

‘Money?’ Sean’s eyes narrowed. ‘What for?’

‘For letting us keep the baby.’

There was a long silence and then the breath hissed through his teeth. ‘Let me get this straight. The guy wanted you to pay him for leaving you alone—is that right?’

‘In a nutshell.’

Sean gave her an odd look. ‘And knowing you, I’ll bet you gave it to him.’

She held his gaze defiantly. ‘Of course I did. What choice did I have? She was Fay’s baby. I couldn’t let him take her. He was threatening to have her adopted.’

For a moment he was silent, his expression unreadable. ‘So what did you do?’

‘What do you think?’ Ally turned her head away from his and stared back out of the window. ‘I paid him every penny he asked for.’

Sean shook his head slowly, disbelief written all over his features. ‘And your parents agreed?’

‘They didn’t know.’ Ally’s expression was blank. ‘They still don’t. They were so devastated by Fay’s death, the last thing they needed was to battle for Charlie as well. I used all the savings I had and—well, Will helped me. I just wanted that rat away from my family.’

There was a long silence. ‘So you gave him all your money and borrowed more?’

Ally nodded. ‘You probably think I’m stupid, but I couldn’t see any other way out at the time.’

‘And that’s why you still struggle financially?’

‘Yes.’ Ally gave a small smile. ‘It’s getting easier. I’ve paid Will back. I just don’t have much to throw around.’

‘You did all that for a little girl who wasn’t even yours?’ Sean was looking at her strangely. ‘And that’s why you left the mountain rescue team?’