At least he hoped she still wanted him.
It had taken a full day of red tape to get a contract drawn up and signed by all necessary parties. He hadn’t spoken with Henry in that time, nor had Henry called. If Liam had meant that little to him, this was a move he should have done years ago. Why had he persisted in working at Upper Crust, still trying to desperately earn Henry’s approval? He was still the young boy at boarding school earning the best grades, being the best sportsman, winning at everything he did just to get a word of acknowledgement from his father. Until recently he was still that young boy, hoping for approval. All the while Henry had never been interested.
He grabbed the Chinese he’d bought, paid the taxi and walked to Clover’s door. He wasn’t sure if she’d be in, or if she was, if she’d open the door and let him in. Trust was a brittle thing. Even more when you weren’t a person who gave it easily.
The house sounded hollow beyond the door. Even as he finished knocking he knew no-one was home. He sat on the front step and put the take-away next to him. He rested his elbows on his knees, looking out onto the front garden. There was a mess of weeds in the garden that grew along the inside fence, but it didn’t hide the beauty of the original garden. Probably planted years ago by the hands of both Clover and her father. Lack of time had let it decline into a mess. But even this mess had more heart in it than the manicured lawns of his father’s house.
Henry had never got his hands on his own garden. It was all taken care of by gardeners and other employees. It was nice, and it was only now Liam knew what it had missed. Personality. He looked at the bunch of plants that grew side by side. His father would say that none matched, that there was no style, or forethought put into the various bushes. But it was prettier than anything he could remember. It was the hands that had put them there with care and love that made it special.
He’d never spent any time at all like that with his father. Henry was always off somewhere, doing something else. He spent very little time with either Liam or Connor, except when they were called into his office when Henry read through their reports. All the work he put into getting those reports, and not once had Henry acknowledged it. Looking back at it, Henry probably thought of a good report as a Return on Investment. How hollow it all was. How very empty.
His childhood wasn’t a place he delved in for long, but he forced himself to stay there, sifting through various memories, facing the fact that his father wasn’t really a father. They weren’t close. Not like Clover and Gloria. Hell, Clover was giving up her life for her mother. She hadn’t complained about it once. Had only wanted to work so hard to care for her mother.
That was something to strive for. That was a relationship upon which all should be measured. That was the one relationship that made his father look like the man he was. Selfish. Self-centred and unable to love. His childhood was such a cold place to be, and here, sitting in the dusk on the steps of a run-down house, watching the weeds between beautiful bushes, was more home to him than anywhere else. He would happily stay here, if only Clover would accept him. If she did accept him, he knew it would be because she wanted him. Not his money, nor his position or his business. It meant all that much more, because he knew that those things meant nothing to her.
Knowing the difference now pointed out how lonely he’d always been. He wanted Clover. She filled whatever space that had needed to be filled within him. She made him feel complete. There was no other way to think about it. He could only hope she would forgive his father’s deception and not tar him with the same brush.
He could only wait and hope.
A movement at the gate pulled him from his reverie. It was Clover. He stood, heart racing. She looked totally worn out. His chest constricted. He had the overwhelming urge to stride down the path and lift her off her feet, but he knew she wouldn’t take well to that. Prickly, argumentative Clover he would deal with. Disappointed Clover was much more difficult.
As the gate shut, she saw him. She stopped short, her face working from tiredness to wariness. He swallowed hard, fighting to stay where he was.
‘You went back to Sydney.’
‘I did.’
‘You didn’t tell me.’
‘No.’
A frown creased her forehead. ‘I thought you’d gone. Finished.’
‘I never leave business unfinished.’
‘You shouldn’t have come back. You can’t be here. Not now.’ She held the tray to her chest, like a shield. Her eyes were large. Luminous. The pain she wore there was burnt into the fine lines around the edges of her eyes. She was too young to have lines like that, but she’d lived more in her years than most people should.
He’d hurt her. Badly. Through making love to her and then treating her like a gold-digger. He needed to straighten things out.
‘I’ve come to apologise.’
‘That’s a little too late, Liam.’
He stepped onto the top step, and she back-stepped.
‘I went to Sydney to speak to Henry.’
‘And did he tell you what to do?’ She bit her lip and looked to the ground.
She was angry. He knew that, but it didn’t take the sting out of her words.
‘He tried. But I didn’t listen.’
‘That’s nice for you. Now, if you’d like to leave, I have to visit my mother in hospital.’
‘I have a business proposition for you.’
Clover’s frown deepened. ‘I’m stretched as far as I can be without breaking. I’m not interested.’
He stepped onto the next step. He watched as she stiffened, fighting to remain in the one place. He wanted to sweep her up in his arms, but he fought the urge, knowing she would run and then he’d never get the chance to speak to her.
‘I want your skills as a cook. I want to franchise Four-Leaf Clover. Use your recipes. New recipes and open your café in every strip shop around Australia.’
Clover’s mouth opened. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. How could…would that work?’
‘I’ve lived my entire professional life opening franchises. There’s little I don’t know and what I do know is that Four-Leaf Clover is a winning business. People love it. And more people will love it around Australia. I need you,’ in more ways than just this, Liam sighed. ‘Four-Leaf Clover is you. Your style, your taste, your recipes.’
‘You’ll need to put that idea to rest. I don’t have any money to buy into it.’ Clover looked so tired, so sad that his heart lurched.
‘I have something for you.’ Liam took an envelope from his jacket pocket.
‘You know I’m not going to take that.’
‘You might want to when I explain what it actually is. There’s another reason I went to Sydney.’
Clover slowly took the envelope and flicked the lip open to see a cheque. ‘I told you. I don’t want your money.’ She went to hand it back to him and he stopped her.
‘You earned it.’
Moments passed. ‘What do you mean?’
‘It’s payment for the muffin recipes my father stole from you. I went to the lawyers, had a contract drawn up ready for you to sign for the sale of them to Upper Crust. That is, if you want to sell them, of course.’
Clover read the amount, heart pounding, staring at it without meaning. Her hand shook so much that Liam took the cheque from her and put it back in the envelope. Her legs went weak and he sat her on the steps to the house. He clasped her hands in his, eyes finding contact with hers.
‘I’m not giving you anything. You earned every dollar of that cheque. I just went to fight for you.’
Her mind spun. ‘You did this…for me?’
Liam smiled and nodded. ‘You earned every cent of it.’
Clover sat, mind reeling. The figure was something she’d only dreamed of, but with this amount she could do so much. ‘I can pay for Mum…pay off Lenny…’
‘And fix the house.’
She turned to study the house behind her, her mind racing with the renovations that could be achieved. Then her eyes slid to Liam’s. ‘You went to Sydney, without telling me, to get me this cheque?’
Liam nodded.
She studied him, eyes gliding between his. ‘For me?
‘And by the way, Henry passed on the article in the paper without telling me.’
‘I knew you couldn’t have said those things. I’m sorry I accused you. I knew you wouldn’t have done that. I don’t know why I accused you. It was stupid of me.’
‘Not stupid. You were protecting yourself.’
‘How can you forgive me, just like that?’
Liam took her hand. She noticed how well their fingers entwined, his larger hand settling her smaller hand like it was always meant to be there.
‘Because you do that for me.’
Her throat closed as emotion stormed inside. Her eyes blurred and she blinked back the tears that threatened to spill. ‘How can I ever thank you? I can’t…I can’t find the words.’ A stray tear spilt on her cheek. He reached and brushed it away with his fingertip. Without thinking she bent her cheek to his touch. It felt so good. So right. ‘Thank you. For everything.’
‘I have something I need to ask from you.’
‘Name it.’
‘I need a job.’
Clover jerked upright. ‘What?’
‘I cleared other business in Sydney while I was there. We didn’t see eye to eye. In fact, we haven’t for a long time. So I quit.’
Her mouth fell open. She blinked. ‘What?’
‘If you want me to yell it in the middle of Main Street, I will. I no longer work at Upper Crust. I handed in my resignation in Sydney. I am currently unemployed, have no fortune and am looking for work. Do you have anything available?’
‘But Henry is your father.’
He ran both hands though his hair. ‘You…were right. When I walked into his office I saw everything you said would be there. So plainly. I can’t believe I never knew what he was doing to me. I just didn’t see it before’
‘That’s a hard thing to acknowledge.’
‘I never saw it until you told me. I thought my father had my best interests at heart. But I got it so wrong. Clover…I came here to tell you that…I love you. I want to be with you. You have been honest with me from the start and I messed up. Badly. Can you ever forgive me?’
Moments stretched. She could hardly dare breathe. She was bombarded with so much information it was hard to think, so she let her emotions take charge.
‘You…love me?
He bent forwards embracing her lips with his. Kissing her was far more effective than trying to find any words he might have. There was so much he wanted to say to her, so he said it with his hands that held her to him, his fingers that splayed in her hair, his mouth and his tongue that touched and stroked and hungered for more.
He would never tire of this. His thirst for Clover was unquenchable. She was in his blood, under his skin and immersed in his mind. She had become wonderfully, irretrievably, unquestioningly, a part of him. And he would live just to feel like he did now, for the rest of his life. If only she could see it.
But he wasn’t a wordsmith. All he could do was take her in his arms and kiss her and hope like hell she felt even a little bit as he did. A little would be great. But he hoped for so much more.
Then she melted in his arms, her body becoming fluid. She relaxed into their kiss, groaned into his mouth and wound her slim arms around his shoulders and pressed herself to him and much as he was holding her.
Their kiss deepened into something that could only be felt. Moved to a special place where just two souls could exist. Entwining. Combining. Finding meaning. Expressing the sum of who he was.
His heart pounded and he wondered…was love the right word? The right emotion to name? In an instant he answered his own question. The truth was infallible. He was in love with her, but was she…could she ever be…in love with him?
* * *
There could never be too much of this. The way he held her with such tenderness, such caring, of completed and utter connection. She felt so cherished, so…loved.
Something melted within, a block moved, tumbling to the side. Emotions swirled with the force of a dam unleashed. Crashing and churning inside until an emotion she could name crystallised and shone with multi-faceted meaning and she felt something she never had felt in her life. Never had been able to even begin to feel.
She hadn’t looked for it, but it had been staring her in the face from the moment she had laid eyes on him pacing the pavement across the street from her café. The impact took her breath away and made her heart hammer with its intensity.
She loved him.
With all her heart and soul she loved him. This wasn’t just fondness, or adoration. This held the kind of strength that lasted a lifetime. This was the love she’d dreamed of, but had written off as not being worthy to receive. Feeling that intensity, she could forgive herself, could forget the responsibilities of her life, could see past the obstacles that she had put there at her own hands.
Could see there was a future where she was strong enough to accept Liam. Wanted him there as a soul-mate.
She broke their kiss to look in his eyes. She inhaled deeply and it seemed as though every emotion filled her lungs more than the very air surrounding her. Clover looked into his eyes. This was what she could accept. The man who would fight for her, mind and body, equal, side by side. She threw her arms around his neck, crushing him to her.
She smiled, words seemed too little, but she managed to find a few. ‘Liam, I am so in love with you. I think from the moment you caught me when I fell off the ladder. I was too foolish to believe it could possibly be true. That someone like you would want someone like me.’
‘And here I was thinking the same thing.’
Liam took her in a deep kiss that had her mind spiralling out of control, until he broke the kiss. He went quiet, his face closed. ‘Actually, there is one more thing I want you to have. This is from me. And I want you to accept it. No protesting.’
He reached into his jacket pocket for the second time in a few minutes. He held a small box in trembling hands. He turned it and slowly opened the lid. ‘And this is one time you’re not going to pay.’