**The Last Chance**
Emily lay curled up on the sofa, clutching her stomach. Everything ached, throbbed, a cruel reminder of what awaited her. The same ordeal, every timesharp pain, bleeding, the ambulance, the hospital, and that hollow emptiness inside. Another miscarriage. No doubt about it. The third in two yearsafter the stillbirth, after the abortion. That abortion, the one shed been paying for ever since, the reason she couldnt become a mother.
She reached for her phone and dialled emergency services. Half an hour later, she was loaded into the ambulance, and as they drove, she called Edward to tell him she wouldnt be home for dinner.
“Again?” he asked. Emily didnt answer. Tears streamed down her facetears of despair, of disappointment in herself. How many times could this happen? Why did it always end the same? Or maybe she knew the reason. If only she hadnt gone under the knife of that shady doctor back then, everything wouldve been fine. She and Edward couldve had a five-year-old by now. But there was no child, and now, it seemed, there never would be.
“It hurts so much,” she gasped. The doctor adjusted her IV and gave her a detached glance.
Two days in the hospital dragged on unbearably. Then came the discharge, Edward waiting with flowersall of it playing out like a script.
“God, youre pale,” he murmured. Emily managed a weak smile. There was no joy left. She couldnt give him a child. That much was obvious.
On the drive home, clutching the bouquet of roses, she turned to him and said, “I dont want to try anymore. I cant give you a baby.”
“Dont say that,” Edward insisted. “Itll happen.”
“Do you even believe that?” she scoffed. “Five years down the drain. Im nearly thirty, youre thirty-five. Enough pretending. The doctors say theres no chancemaybe its time we listened.”
“Emily, well have children,” Edward argued. “Remember what Professor Harrison said? Theres still hope if we follow his advice.”
“And wheres your professor now?” she snapped. “Dead and gone. His advice died with him. Im done, Edward. I wont put youor myselfthrough this anymore.”
“What are you saying?” He frowned, keeping his eyes on the road.
She took a deep breath and turned away. “Lets end this. Find someone who can give you a child. You deserve that. I dont deserve your patience, your kindness. Im empty. Life cant even hold inside me. Im worthless.”
Her voice broke. Edward took her hand, pressed it to his lips. “Dont talk nonsense. Well get through this. Plenty of people live happily without children. Its not about that.”
“Then whats it about?” she whispered. “Enough, Edward. Dont let me steal fatherhood from you.”
“Dont let me lose my family,” he cut in.
That was Edwardmadly in love, enduring her moods, willing to endure anything as long as she stayed. Hed fought for her, pushed past rivals, and when she became his wife, hed decided nothing else could make him happier. Except maybe a little bundle of joybut fate kept denying them that.
He knew Emilys past. Knew about her first marriage, forced on her by a controlling father. Knew about the botched abortion that left her like this. Nothing could change it now. Emily had long since cut ties with her father, barely even knew her younger sister anymore.
“Wouldnt surprise me if he forces her into some awful marriage next,” she muttered.
Her sister, Charlotte, was twenty-twobeautiful, clever, but still bending to their fathers will. Hed raised them alone, keeping his ex-wives away, ruling his children like puppets, pulling strings for his own gain.
Emily had escaped at twenty-four, met Edward, and severed all ties. But then Charlotte showed up on her doorstep, unexpected and trembling.
“What happened?” Emily asked, only then noticing the swell of her sisters stomach.
“I ran,” Charlotte sobbed, throwing herself into Emilys arms. It had only been a week since the hospital, and now this.
“What did he want?”
“An abortion,” Charlotte whispered. “He saideither I do it, or hed drag me to a clinic himself.”
Emily held her sister tight, heart breaking. Charlotte was so fragile, so trapped. After five years apart, shed blossomedbut their father still had his claws in her.
Edward took it all in stride. He never opposed Emilys choices, loving her too much to argue.
A week later, Charlotte grew restless. “I cant do this to him. I have to go back.”
“No!” Emily grabbed her wrists. “You think hell stop at just hurting you? Think about the baby!”
“Its too late for an abortion now,” Charlotte said. “No doctor would touch me at twenty-one weeks.”
“But they could induce labour!” Emily cried. “You wouldnt even know until it was too late. You dont understandbut I do!”
Her tears swayed Charlotte. She stayedbut guilt still gnawed at her.
By July, Charlotte gave birthand immediately wanted to leave. Emily clutched the baby. “I wont let you take him to that monster! You think Father would raise him to be anything but cruel? Go if you mustbut Oliver stays with me.”
Charlotte shrugged. “Fine. Father only wanted me back, not the baby. And youre dead to him anyway. Keep the screaming little thing.”
Emily knew it was postpartum depression. In time, Charlotte would return. But holding Oliverhis warmth, his tiny breathsfilled a void shed thought permanent.
“Shell come back,” Edward warned gently. “One day.”
“I know,” Emily whispered, her heart tearing in two.
Then came the call. Her fathers voice roared through the phone, threatening violence if she didnt return his grandson. Fear coiled in her gutbut Edward stood firm.
The confrontation never came. Instead, tragedy struck. Charlotte and their father died in a car crash. Oliver was hers now.
The paperwork dragged on, but finally, Oliver was legally hers. Then came the shockher missed period wasnt just stress.
“Youre pregnant,” the doctor said. “Twelve weeks. Youve never made it this far before.”
Emily stared at the ultrasound, tears streaming. A healthy baby girl, growing inside her.
She spent two months on bed rest, then emergedpregnant, hopeful. Edward waited outside the hospital, flowers in hand, Oliver giggling in his pushchair.
She smiled, touched her belly, hugged her husband, then her son. Inside her, their daughter stirreda last chance, a miracle, a dream realised.
