The Ultimate Chance-Chapter 149

"Avery?" Julie’s voice brought her back to her senses, and she realized she had blanked out.

"I’m so sorry." She placed her hand on Julie’s shoulder. "Is this what you meant that night on the video call?"

Julie nodded but didn’t say anything else. Guessing she no longer wanted to talk about it, Avery was glad when the children returned with their ice cream cones in their hands, so they no longer had to discuss the unfortunate twist of events.

"Are you ready to go?" She asked Angel, who shook his head to indicate he still wanted to play. It took a ton of coaxing before he finally agreed to go home. She hugged Aubrey and smiled at Julie. "You can drop her off in the morning."

"Thank you."

______

"Shirley has IPF." Avery started as soon as Damon showed up. She had called him over to tell him they needed to talk. He had thought about every possibility on his way but that was the last thing he would ever consider.

"What?"

"She showed me her medical records." She added.

Damon froze. "That’s..."

"Unfortunate? Yes. Confusing? Maybe. Julie has IPF too."

Damon’s jaw ticked. "Isn’t that supposed to be a super rare lung condition? How come two women we know have it at the same time? We must be a pair of jinxes on legs."

He was insinuating something, and she immediately understood it because that was exactly what she thought.

"Julie has nothing to gain from lying, especially about such a matter. Shirley, on the other hand, would lie about anything. Hell, she would even write a will and fake her death and then appear at her wake in disguise."

She knew he was exaggerating it but it was not impossible considering this was Shirley they were talking about.

"I’m starting to doubt Gemma too." She revealed.

"You finally believe me." He sounded annoyed.

She placed a hand on his arm. "Damon, can we not fight? Angel is home." He was in his room, taking a nap, but it was best not to let him wake up to his parents yelling at each other.

"I have never wanted to fight. But how can we not fight if your trust for me can snap faster than a blade of grass?" He wrapped his arm around her. "There is no in-between when it comes to trust. You either trust me or you don’t."

"I did." Until she realized he had lied by omission, but she didn’t need to mention that if this was to end without escalating into an argument. "Anyway, Shirley is hiding something."

"A lot of things. For starters, Gemma’s birth is suspicious." He pulled her to a couch and sat opposite her instead of beside her like he usually would. Oblivious to the storm he had accidentally set off, he fired off all the inconsistencies he had noticed.

"We stayed together for a while after that night and I did not notice any sign of pregnancy on her. She claims to have moved out because she found out she was pregnant but that too, is a lie. I kicked her out because I found out she was a fraud. And even if she was telling the truth and she moved out because she could no longer hide the bump, there is no record of her being in any maternity hospital."

She pushed back her emotions and thought about his theory. "Not everyone gives birth in a hospital. Ever heard of pool births?"

"I thought so. So I dug into Gemma and oddly, there are no pictures of when she was a baby. Mothers do not hide pictures of their babies, do they?"

She tapped her chin. "I don’t think so. But if Shirley didn’t have her, there would be something about Gemma’s past."

"What do you think?" He asked, realizing she already had a theory.

"One of two things is happening." She counted off with her pointer finger. "Either Shirley and her lackeys are excellent in erasing backgrounds." She added her middle finger. "Or she did have Gemma and hid her away as she claims she did."

He didn’t want to believe it but they were back where they had started.

She rested her head against the backrest helplessly. "If only we could do a DNA test of Shirley and Gemma. If she is her daughter, we will have a different battle to fight from the one we would need to fight if she is neither yours nor hers."

"Only one DNA test is needed. If Gemma is my daughter, she can only either be yours or hers."

She wanted to brush him off, then his words sunk in and her eyes widened. "Are you saying you have only ever slept with two women all your life?"

"Unprotected, yes." He answered. "If Shirley counts."

What about protected? She suddenly didn’t want to know. Who cared about his past anyway?

"Do you think you can call her over?" She suggested. "Tell her you would like to get to know Gemma."

"I hate to do this to an innocent little girl." He dragged his hand through his hair. There was no other way around it. "Yes, I can tell her that. I can also suggest we only introduce me to Gemma as her friend and tell her the truth when she is old enough. This way, Gemma will not be confused when it is revealed that I’m not her father."

Though now that they were talking about it, he couldn’t help wondering who the girl’s father was. Why was there such a striking resemblance between them?

He made the call and to their relief, Shirley agreed to bring Gemma over to play on Saturday.

______

After picking Aubrey up from Julie’s house on Saturday, Avery drove to the bakery nearest to her villa and the girl was thrilled.

"Aunt Avery, are we getting cookies?" She asked excitedly, her big eyes filled with hope.

"Yes we are. A little friend is coming over to play with us. I’m getting her cookies to make her happy." She explained as she parked the car and unfastened Aubrey’s seat belt.

The girl nodded excitedly. "Can I have some too? I like the big cookie."

"Of course." Avery picked her up and entered the bakery. While on the queue, she secretly sent a text message to Damon.

[Did Shirley come over?"]

She waited anxiously and as soon as her phone chimed with his response, checked it.

[Damon: She did. She brought Gemma.] 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

She let out a breath in relief. It was time for the second phase of the plan. When it was her turn, she ordered three big cookies, one for each child, and miraculously managed to convince Aubrey that it would be tastier if she ate hers at the same time as the others.

As soon as the car stopped, Aubrey wanted to jump out of the car and would have done so if her safety belt was not fastened. She pouted at the resistance and tried to fumble with it. Avery chuckled and freed her, letting her run all the way into the house. She followed her and caught up just as the girl threw herself into Angel’s arms.

For the first time ever since the kids met, Angel was not very excited to meet her friend. Instead, he was trying to teach Gemma how to hold a paint brush. It turned out, he had a soft spot for girls.

Meanwhile, Damon was watching them with a gentle smile on his face and it didn’t take a genius to know what he was thinking. It wouldn’t have been a bad thing if Angel and Gemma were actual siblings. They would have loved each other. Except, they were not, and Shirley was using her to ruin his relationship.

When Avery brought their cookies, Angel helped Gemma unwrap hers and put it in her small hand, making Aubrey whimper.

"Aunt Avery, I don’t like Gemma." She whined.

While Gemma was oblivious to what Aubrey had said, Avery was puzzled. "Why not, sweetie?"

She knew the answer without waiting for Aubrey’s answer. The girl was jealous. Sure enough, Aubrey complained about Gemma taking away all of Angel’s attention.

She picked up a sketchbook to get all the kids’ attention and pulled them all into her arms. "Let’s all play together, shall we? We can take turns for everyone to be happy. Gemma and Aubrey go first, then Gemma and Angel." She paired each of them with Gemma, who she knew was too young to know anything about patience and waiting for the other to play their turn. As expected, the kids were soon so focused on their game that the house could collapse around them and they would not take notice of it.

"You would be a good mother." A female voice spoke up behind Avery as she made a fruit salad for the kids. She knew it was Shirley without having to turn.

"Where were you when I came in?" She asked without turning.

"I needed a breather." Shirley inched closer. "And by saying you would be a good mother, I don’t mean you are not good enough. You are, but I know I wouldn’t need to worry about Gemma after I’m gone. Thank you for giving my Gemma a chance."

Avery knew she was bullshitting but she played along. "You don’t need to thank me. Gemma is lovely and besides, I know you would do the same if the roles were reversed."

She pulled Shirley into her arms and hugged her tightly, muttering something about letting go of the past. As she pulled back, she plucked several strands of Shirley’s hair and discreetly tucked them into the pockets of her pants. The latter was too focused on their sudden hug to notice the sting at the back of her head.