A Forbidden Love Ch. 09

Two weeks after our friends moved in, on a Sunday afternoon, I’d gathered with Alec to discuss with him a new project. It was a wish since Rene and I were kids, one our parents never would give in to, to have a pool. With a lot of money sitting unused in the bank, we’d felt it time to indulge, before summer ended and no one would do the work. So, sitting in the kitchen planning out a grand deck after we’d gotten the plans on the pool, Alec and I drew up some plans, as Rene came into the kitchen.

“Ally’s gonna be in town soon. Think we can manage a nice dinner for her soon?” She held herself nicely, but she’d finally begun to show, though only slightly. It was looking like our little girl would be a dainty thing from the start.

“Sure, we can whip up the barbeque, get everyone together with her-” I stopped on my words, raising an eyebrow as I realized what she’d said. “Ben coming with her?”

Something caught in her throat, then I saw a tear roll down her cheek. It took both of us guys a second to realize something was wrong, but husbandly instinct took over as I got to my feet and pulled her trembling body into me. Weakly, she put her arms around me as she sobbed something I couldn’t make out, the words muffled against my chest.

A little rocking helped her to speak, but she only tilted her head away from my chest, laying her cheek against me. “She called just now. A training accident, they said. He got shot in a damned training accident...”

The words took a long time to sink in, though they were clear enough. But, they didn’t want to sink in, or rather, my brain didn’t want to accept them. I heard Alec get up quickly, knowing he’d be running down to the other house. It made sense, since Ben had been as close to Elisa as the three of us. He’d been sorta the big brother to us all in our youth, as the oldest one, but hearing he’d been killed, it just didn’t take full effect at first. I went numb, only keeping enough strength to keep comforting my wife.

A few days passed before his body was brought home to be buried, a grieving Ally and infant Beth close behind. The funeral was short, thankfully. The gang had gathered together and stuck around Ally, trying to console our friend in her darkest hour. It certainly helped us all to know we wouldn’t forget Ben and would help each other through it.

The night of the funeral, we gathered at the house, ready to celebrate the passing of our friend in the only way we knew he’d have liked. He never thought much about death, but we all remember him saying how boring and depressing funerals were. He’d wanted to be celebrated, to know we’d go on living. It was taboo for anyone to wear black, excepting a small black armband or black ribbon as a sign of respect. With a banquet of food straight from the grill, we laughed and reminisced about our friend, talking. The party helped to cheer up Ally, but her loss was a loss we all felt to some degree, making us, including Rene and me, thankful of what we had.

Rene insisted on having Ally stay with us that night, while everyone went home. I set up a bed for Ally and Beth, then returned to the master bedroom to hold my wife. We both just held each other, feeling no desire to disturb the woman in the bedroom next door and add to her grief by flaunting our love. A subdued atmosphere between us didn’t diminish our feelings, only held them at bay during that time out of respect.

A couple days later, the house was ours again, when Ally went back home to pack up. She’d made arrangements to take advantage of a scholarship to Yale, with a lot of help from family and especially friends. We all pitched in to help her in some way. Her parents bought a nearby house with a large yard and let her rent it, deciding it was better than her living in an apartment in the city. They let her stay there rent-free, agreeing to pay for her living expenses four years.

Amidst the chaotic start of our first year of school, the whole gang gathered for one last time, for one last party a couple days before. All of us ended up going to nearby schools, easily, maybe a couple hours away from our home town at most, but it was the last time for awhile we’d all be so close. Whether staying at home, getting an apartment, or living in a dorm, we all got together for one more night. Everyone brought something and there was more than enough food and drink to go around, even as we talked though the early evening hours. The pool contractor had begun so we’d set up a large canopy in the field with enough chairs and blankets for everyone. Though showing more now, we laid out on a quilt throughout. I was more than happy to get up and grab things for her, as much as I loved her.

During one of these little trips, I went inside to grab some ice cream for Rene, finding Ally in the kitchen. When I entered, feeling suddenly out of place, she looked up, wiping her eyes quickly and managing a weak smile. Standing there while looking at her, she looked down at the table. “Sorry, I just needed some time alone,” she apologized.

“Really, you don’t have to explain. It’s been a hard month on you, I know.” I decided to sit and talk to her. None of us knew the secret pain she hid, braving forward like a trooper and putting on a mask. “You wanna talk about it?”

Ally rested her hands together before her, never letting her eyes up. “I’d hoped by now I could move on, but without Ben, it’s still hard, you know. But I’ve been trying to take care of Beth and settle everything, there hasn’t been much time for me to think much of what his death will mean later on. Not so much for me, I know I’ll move on eventually, but he was the only father Beth knew.”

“Ben might’ve claimed her as his own,” I heard behind me, turning to see Rene as she walked up to me, “but Rick wanted to be her father. If you want, Ally, he could be her father, like he wanted to.”

My eyes turned up, searching her eyes. For whatever reason, I knew Rene meant every word. It helped Ally, and I nodded in agreement. Sitting down, we all talked a little while longer about the arrangement. It meant telling a lot of people who Beth’s biological father was, with a blood test to prove it. With all the help she already got from her parents and the money from Ben’s military life insurance, she didn’t want any money, only for me to care for the little girl as she was to me, my daughter. It meant sharing custody, having her some weekends and one or two holidays a year, but we all agreed to it.

It also meant Rene became a stepmother, but instead of some envy, as she’d had when Ally first told us about the pregnancy, I could see she didn’t harbor the feeling anymore. Perhaps being my first meant more to her now, or the fact I chose her over Ally without question, after all the temptation. Maybe the way I’d devoted myself to her and the baby held the reason, but no matter what the cause, she urged me on.

A few weeks passed while all the arrangements were made. To say Ally’s parents were upset is a major understatement, but Ben’s took the news very well. In the end, Ally had to convince them not to disown her, not that they would ever do something that drastic, but they couldn’t understand why she didn’t want child support, eventually chalking it up to their only daughter’s steadfast independence.