by Joss Wood
“And?” she asked. “What was your biological father like?”
Liam shrugged. “He was...nice. He looks like me or I look like him.”
“Was he happy to meet you? Did he know about you? Why didn’t he contact you?”
Liam explained the circumstances of Catherine’s infidelity, and John’s reasoning around letting him be raised as a Christopher. Her eyes welled up when he mentioned the scrapbooks. His Teresa, under her capable attitude, had a very tender heart.
“Are you going to meet him again?” Teresa asked.
Liam lifted both shoulders to his ears. “I don’t know. I left in a mood.”
Teresa’s eyes sharpened and the fingers clasping her knee tightened. “A mood?”
“I was pissed off.”
“Because he didn’t try to find you? Because your sisters had what sounded to be a great childhood and you didn’t? Because of your mother’s I-can-judge-but-don’t-judge-me view of life?”
All of those, he supposed. “I was most pissed off about what I heard about your dad.”
“My dad? How did the subject of my father come up?” Teresa asked, genuinely confused.
Liam sat his cup down and rested his forearms on his knees. “John, my biological dad, filled in a missing puzzle piece, something I couldn’t work out.”
“Which is?”
“The real reason Linus left those shares to you,” Liam said. Oh, her shoulders were already tensing, her mouth tightening. They were wandering into stormy weather here.
Liam lifted his hand. “Just hear me out, please?”
“I thought we’d moved past this,” Teresa muttered.
“Look, as much as Linus liked you, and I do believe he liked you and appreciated your fine mind, he was not the type of man who would leave his shares, worth millions, to someone outside the family, no matter how fond he was of that person. He lived for Christopher Corporation. And if you didn’t sleep with him—” Teresa growled and Liam ignored the sound, pushing on “—and I believe that you didn’t, then why would he bequeath you those shares?”
Teresa threw up her hands, obviously irritated. “I don’t know, Liam. If I knew, I’d tell you.”
“But I do know, Teresa.”
Teresa frowned, stared at him, and her frown deepened. “Okay, you know. So are you going to share?”
Liam felt like a free diver, standing on a ninety-foot cliff, unsure whether there were rocks below in the water or not. He had no option but to dive.
“Your father, Nigel, worked for my father when he was an intern. He developed code for super-secure web-based encryption and that discovery catapulted our company into the big leagues. From there we were able to hire some of the best minds in the world and we have diversified into artificial intelligence. But that code, that was how we got our start.”
Liam pulled on his earlobe. “Your father created that code, and the policy at the time was that any developments made at Christopher Corporation remained our intellectual property. When we listed on Wall Street your father must have deduced that our growth was being built on his work. He was right.”
Teresa placed her fingers over her mouth, her eyes wide with shock.
Liam plowed on. “According to my investigator, your father started some sort of legal proceedings against the company, demanding a profit share. My investigator couldn’t find any trace of proceedings reaching court so the legal proceedings didn’t get very far, because your father ran into trouble with Immigration.”
Teresa nodded. “He got deported back to the UK. It happened so fast. I was only six, but I remember. One minute he was there, then gone.”
Liam swallowed, hoping he’d be able to get these next words over his tongue. “I think your dad got into trouble with Immigration because my parents put him on their radar. To Dutton and me, it sounds like something someone like him, a Fixer, would do. Your father was trying to sue and they dug into his life and probably found out that his visa was expired or that he was here illegally and they got him hustled out of the country. It’s difficult waging a court case in a foreign country when you’re not in the country or a citizen of that country. Your credibility is also diminished when you’ve been deported from said country. It was an easy solution to a very expensive, in their eyes, problem. Dutton also thinks a note in your dad’s personnel file at the company was planted. It said he’d taken a leave of absence for a family issue. No one ever questions those so no one asked when he was coming back.
“Did your mom ever talk about your dad?” Liam asked.
Teresa shook her head. “My mom didn’t like to deal with anything hard, or inconvenient. If dad was having problems, I doubt he would’ve shared them with my mom, especially since she was pregnant with Josh at the time.” Teresa grimaced. “My mom doesn’t handle stress well and he would’ve tried to protect her.”
Liam waited, and watched, as Teresa digested this latest revelation. He watched her beautiful and much-loved face as she stared past him to the sea beyond, her eyes full of sadness. His heart nearly shattered when her eyes glistened with tears.
“I thought he didn’t come back because he didn’t want to.”
“No, he didn’t come back because I think they were actively trying to keep him out and then he died in a freak accident.” Liam rubbed his forehead with his fingertips. “I am so sorry, Teresa. I am ashamed and mortified and horrified at what they did.”
Teresa nodded and didn’t say anything and Liam felt cold fingers gripping his heart, about to start that agonizing rip.
“But I’m convinced that’s why Linus left you the shares, why he took an interest in you. I think he knew that it was wrong, that he should’ve treated your father better. He, in his ham-fisted way, tried to right a wrong. And it also explains my mother’s antipathy toward you.”
Teresa dropped her head to stare at her bare feet and Liam knew that, for as long as he lived, he’d remembered her like this, blond head bowed and her arms wrapped around her waist to comfort herself. He wanted to wrap his arms around her, to hold her as she made sense of this new information, but he didn’t think she’d appreciate his touch.
“I don’t know what else to say, to tell you how sorry I am,” Liam said, hearing the desperation in his voice. “Again.”
Teresa sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and when she released it, he saw the impression they’d left there. Straightening, she lifted her head and Liam couldn’t identify all the emotions swimming in and out of her eyes. “I would never have known this if you didn’t tell me.”
Liam could only nod.
“You know how I feel about you and we could’ve carried on, had a relationship, and you could’ve swept this under the carpet, treated it as something that never happened. I wouldn’t have had a clue. You had to know that telling me this would put what we have at risk...”
He knew that. God, he was living it! Liam just held her steady gaze and waited for her to continue. It was her turn to speak and his to wait for her verdict.
“Why did you tell me?” Teresa demanded.
Liam knitted his fingers together and squeezed. “Because I didn’t want there to be any lies between us. Our pasts, my parents, caused so much trouble, for you—”
“And you.”
“They lied and they manipulated and they used and they lied some more,” Liam said, his voice rough. “I don’t want there to be any more lies between us. And withholding truth is just another form of lying. I’m done with it and I’m done with them and what I thought was normal. Normal is not a cold marriage between two people who were more concerned about money and power and status than the people who worked for them and, to an extent, me. Normal is not a cold, quiet house with no affection and no laughter. Normal is not keeping everything bottled up to the point you think your head might explode. I want normal, Teresa. I want normal so much it hurts.”
&
nbsp; “And how do you define normal, Liam?” Teresa softly asked.
He had to say this before she walked away, before those fingers tugging on his heart ripped it apart. “Normal is you, with me. Normal would be you and I married, both working at our separate careers, supporting and loving and learning from each other. Normal would be calling you to ask you for input when I have a problem, and vice versa. It’s doing the best we can for ourselves, our kids and, I know this sounds corny, the world.” He lifted one shoulder, his throat tightening and his eyes burning. “There is nobody I trust more than you, and that now feels normal. Finally, normal is me loving you for as long as I live. But I know that’s a long shot.”
“Sometimes long shots pay off,” Teresa softly said. Liam frowned at her, not sure of her meaning.
“I don’t understand.”
A small smile tipped her sexy mouth up. “Okay then, what if I just said yes?”
It had been a tough morning, he got that, but he was losing track of this conversation. “Yes to what?”
Teresa touched her tongue to her top lip and Liam’s heart stopped at the brilliant blue of her eyes. “Yes to everything. You, me, the work thing, the kids thing. The marriage thing that has absolutely nothing to do with shares and everything to do with us.”
“Uh—”
Teresa leaned forward and placed her hands on his knees. “Are you with me, Liam?” she asked.
Barely. He was pretty sure that joy had just drowned out his ability to speak so he just nodded. But because there was still a kernel of doubt—this was too damn easy!—Liam forced himself to construct a sentence. “Say that again?”
Teresa rubbed his thighs with her thumbs. “I love you, darling. I want to spend every minute of my life with you.”
“Are you sure? Did you hear what I said about what my parents did to your dad?”
Teresa nodded. “Yeah, I did. I’m still going to need some time to process that and I will probably never have a relationship with your mother—”
“Completely understandable,” Liam jumped in.
“But what they did has nothing to do with us. What they did, what your dad did to try and make amends, brought us together. We triumphed, despite having everything but the kitchen sink thrown at us. I’d be a fool to walk away from a love that stubborn, that persistent.”
Liam’s fingers touched her cheek. “You really do love me.”
“I really do,” Teresa said, her lips curving under the pressure of his thumb.
“I love you so much, Teresa,” Liam said as she lifted her chin to receive his kiss. He wanted to dive into her, to lose himself in her and her warmth and beauty and love but there were one or two issues that still needed to be cleared up. “Going forward, can we agree on a couple of things?”
Teresa lifted her eyebrows. “What things?”
“First, can we remove the contact numbers for any and all Fixers from our phones? From now on, we live exceptionally boring lives that don’t require the dubious talents of men with connections to pave the way for us.”
Teresa nodded, her eyes sparkling. “That’s a great idea. What else?”
“Will you marry me, as soon as possible?” Liam asked. “Like within the month?”
Teresa looked at him as she considered his question. “Liam, you know how long it takes to organize a wedding. Yeah, I managed to do Brooks and Nic’s in record time but it nearly killed me.”
Dammit, he was going to have to wait. But it was a long shot anyway. “Okay, two months? Three?”
Teresa smiled. “How about three days, on a beach at sunset? That’ll give our friends enough time to get here. We won’t invite Catherine but we will invite your biological dad and his family. How does that sound?”
Liam knew that he was doing his best goldfish look. “But you are a wedding planner. I thought you’d want a fairy-tale wedding.”
Teresa’s mouth was soft against his. “Liam, you are my fairy tale. I don’t need anything else.” She kissed him again and pulled back to hold his face. “Shall I meet you on the beach in three days’ time?”
“Anywhere you are is where I want to be,” Liam said, hauling her into his arms.
Epilogue
Teresa rather liked the way that Liam’s eyes kept returning to her leg and she deliberately toyed with the ruffle that ended very high up on her left thigh. She knew that, with the smallest hint, his hand would be under the asymmetrical folds of her ball gown and heading north.
She rather liked his hand there and welcomed his touch day or night but they were on their way to the first of what they hoped would be a yearly event—the Christopher Ball—and she’d spent a fortune on this hand-beaded gown.
Liam squinted at her as their limousine moved slowly through the traffic to the red carpet. “Is it just me being romantic or does that gown look a little wedding-y?”
Teresa wasn’t surprised he’d noticed. Her husband was ridiculously astute.
On hearing that she was to marry at such short notice, Corinne, brilliant friend and personal assistant that she was, found her a rose-patterned lace dress, with spaghetti straps and a fitted bodice. It was a perfect dress for a perfect beach ceremony witnessed by Matt and Nadia, Liam’s fantastic new family, Joshua and a handful of friends who could rearrange their schedule on short notice. As wonderful as the ceremony and the joyous dinner afterward was, she’d still yearned for a one-off designer gown, something utterly extravagant. This ball that she and Nic conceived was the perfect opportunity to have something designed that was utterly unique and breathtaking.
Her off-the-shoulder, backless dress with its hand-beaded bodice and frilled skirt bordered on the edges of being bridal but Teresa didn’t care. As the wife of Seattle’s most influential man, hell, as Teresa St. Claire-Christopher, she didn’t give a hoot. Liam loved it and that was all that mattered.
“You look beautiful. I’m so lucky to have married you,” Liam murmured.
Teresa, not caring about her lipstick, leaned forward to receive his kiss. “Glad you like the dress.”
“I love it. But as always, it would look so much better on the floor,” Liam commented, making Teresa smile. Yeah, no. This was a twenty-thousand-dollar dress; the only place it was going was back in its plastic bag and back into her walk-in closet.
The limousine stopped. “We’re here.”
Teresa looked out the tinted windows and saw Nicolette standing on the red carpet, and behind her, and behind barriers, were the photographers, cameras already pointed their way. Nic looked fantastic in a long, red boho-inspired ball gown. She was talking to the camera, and Teresa wondered where Brooks was, knowing that he couldn’t be that far away. Nic lowered her mic, handed it off to someone and headed for their limo. Liam opened the door for her and Teresa scooted up so that Nic could sit down next to her. Kissing Teresa’s cheek, she took the bottle of Evian Liam handed her and took a grateful sip.
“Wow, this is hard work.”
Teresa cocked her head. Nic was looking a bit tired and pale. “Are you okay? I know how hard you’ve been working, helping me to arrange this ball—”
“It was the least I could do since it’s raising funds for our foundation.”
A couple of months after their wedding, Brooks and Nic set up a foundation to raise funds for the prevention of human trafficking and, on hearing about it, Teresa immediately wanted to arrange an event to raise funds for the cause very dear to Nic’s heart. Her film was also premiering tonight and Teresa knew she was as nervous as hell. Add that to her covering the event for her day job, Teresa understood that Nic was burning the candle at both ends.
“Where’s Brooks?”
“Inside. Raising money for us.” Nic softly smiled and when she touched her stomach Teresa knew exactly why she was so tired.
“Oh my God, when?” she cried, wrapping both her arms around Nic’s shou
lders.
“It’s new so not for a long time,” Nic said, grinning.
“What’s going on?” Liam asked, confused.
“Nic’s pregnant!” Teresa told him, ecstatic for her friend. She and Liam weren’t quite ready for kids but they were having a bunch of fun practicing how to make one. “What does Brooks think? Was it planned? Are you going to find out the sex?”
Nic laughed at her questions. “You and I are going to have a long lunch and we’ll discuss this to death but right now we need to get to work.”
“But this is so exciting!” Teresa said, clasping her hands. “You’re happy, all our friends are happy and I love that!”
“I just heard you’re planning Shane and Isabel’s wedding. Isabel told me that she loved your proposal and now that The Opulence is reopened, it seems perfect for their wedding,” Nicolette told her.
Teresa clapped her hands in delight. “Yay!” Then she mock-pouted. “I’m still a bit cross with Jessie and Gideon for eloping.”
“They both made huge donations to this event and Jessie is performing for free so you have to forgive them,” Liam reminded her, laughter in his gorgeous eyes.
Teresa winked at him. “Maybe. Okay, let’s get this done.”
Nic nodded and glanced at the discreet bangle watch on her wrist. “Give me a few minutes, and we’re going to live-feed your arrival. I’ll give the signal to your driver when we are live.”
Nic slipped out of the car and the door shut behind them. Teresa turned to Liam and her smile faded at his serious face. “What’s wrong? What’s the matter?” she demanded, placing her hand on his thigh.
Liam shook his head as he pulled a folded piece of paper out of his tuxedo jacket. “Do you know that six months has passed and in another six months you can divest yourself of your shares in Christopher Corporation?”
Time flew when you were happy. Teresa shrugged as she took the paper he held out. “I was thinking about keeping those shares for our kids.”
“I love that idea,” Liam told her. He nodded at the paper. “That was delivered by Linus’s lawyer this morning. It’s a letter from my...dad. Linus.” Teresa caught the look he sent toward the entrance of the venue and saw the guilt on his face. He and John had become exceptionally close these past few months and she knew that he battled with the idea that he’d never been close to Linus. “Read it...”