The Grand Duel (The Grand Men #4)

Chapter 43

FORTY-THREE

Lissie

I ’m learning that Charlie’s friends aren’t just chaotic, they are the chaos. It’s not something I think they are fully aware of because they all seem to exist and thrive within it.

Lowerwick Estate is a beautiful property. Maybe a little bigger than anything I could ever live on and manage, but with Mason and Scarlet sharing the home and the sentimental attachments they have to the house, I can understand why they’d choose to stay here. That and the fact it’s set on one of the most breathtaking landscapes I’ve ever seen.

“Stunning, isn’t it?” Lucy says.

I stand next to her on the beautiful new boat that was delivered over the past weekend, Lucy’s arms bundled up with Ellis as he points across the lake.

“Nanna Frey and Pappa house,” he says, pointing.

“Elliot’s parents,” Lucy explains. “With Mason’s parents not being around to see the children grow up, they sort of took on the role.”

I smile. “It’s so nice that they live so close.” My eyes make out the house set back on the other side of the lake. “This is…incredible, honestly.”

“I remember the first time Mason brought us all out here. Our jaws were on the floor.”

“It’s so peaceful.”

“I think it’s the privacy that makes it so special.”

“I special, Luce?” Ellis asks.

She chuckles. “The most special, Ellis.” She kisses his head. “I actually have something to ask you.”

He stares up at her with his full attention.

“Ell,” she calls, cocking her head for him to come over.

He leaves his conversation with Mason and Nina and walks to where we’re standing, wrapping his arm around his fiancée and Ellis. He catches my eye and gives me a wink. “Yes, princess?”

“I thought you’d like to be the one to ask Ellis…”

“Oh,” he says, easing back playfully as if what he has to say is super important. “Well, Auntie Luce and I were thinking about who we’d have as our ring bearer at the wedding, and after hours and hours and hours of talking, we decided there’s no better man for the job than you.” He smooths the hair back from Ellis’s forehead. “What do you say? Will you be our ring bearer, Ellis?”

Ellis looks towards me, his eyes widening.

I frown despite my smile.

He looks back to Elliot and nods his head, and then wiggles in Lucy’s arms to get free.

We watch as he runs to his dad.

Mason lifts him, listening as Ellis speaks into his ear.

Elliot catches Mason’s eye and holds his hands out.

“He thought you were going to ask him to steer the boat home.” Mason grins. “And he’s scared of bears.”

An arm slips around my middle from behind as laughter leaves me. I place my hand over his, smoothing up his arm.

“He’s three, Montgomery. You need to explain it,” Charlie says, his body warming me. “Break it down like we do with you.”

Elliot’s eyes narrow on the man at my back. “Don’t get all Billy big balls on me now because you went throwing haymakers last night.”

“Ell!” Lucy scolds, thwacking his chest.

“What?” he says. “He asked me if my granny bought me this jumper when he first got here.”

Lucy turns on us. “I bought him that jumper, Charles.”

Charlie’s chest rumbles against my back, and my eyes drift closed at the feeling. “You were collateral damage, Luce. Don’t take it personal.”

“Luce takes the weather personal,” Nina says from her perch beside Mason.

“She does,” Elliot confirms.

“I’m sorry, Luce. No hard feelings.”

Lucy smiles at him. “Apology accepted.” She turns to her fiancé. “I think you look very handsome, Ell. Ignore them.”

He grins and smooths his hands over her waist. “I can promise you, Mrs Montgomery-to-be, my attention is a million miles from Rocky over there.”

I snort a laugh, and Charlie squeezes my waist, nuzzling my cheek. “Don’t fuel him.”

“They make a good couple.” I look over at Nina and Mason, finding Mason’s eyes fixed on his wife as she looks over at us. “You have good friends.”

“They’re alright.”

I peer up at him, catching his eyes and instantly wanting to kiss him.

“I was going to ask you later, but I think Nina was going to corner you about the hen party, and I wanted to beat her to it.”

I frown.

“Will you come to the wedding with me? I have a plus-one…” He trails off when my face transforms. “What?”

I reach into my coat pocket and pull out the invitation. “She gave it to me the second I walked into the kitchen.”

I open it and show him.

Lissie and Charles.

“Of course she did. They can’t help their meddling.”

I purse my lips. “I’m glad you asked me. I wasn’t sure you’d want me to go with you, so the confirmation is nice.”

He shakes his head. “Silly, silly, Lissie girl.”

For some reason, I blush.

“The only concern I have is you outshining the bride. As beautiful as she is, she doesn’t hold a torch to you.”

“Stop. That,” I warn, my cheeks aflame. “If she hears you.”

“She won’t. She’s too wrapped up in whatever it is she sees in Montgomery,” he says playfully, his nose dusting my ear. “Seriously, though, Lis. I’m already the luckiest man in the world to get to call you my girlfriend. To have you on my arm so that I can show you off to a roomful of people will be the greatest honour.”

“Uncle Charlie has a girlfriend!”

Charlie sniggers as all eyes turn to us. “Little shit understood that just fine,” he mutters, making me chuckle.

“Officially?” Nina asks, her smile growing.

I nod at her.

“Ahh!” She stands. “This is it.”

“It’s happening,” Lucy says, joining her friend’s excitement.

They come to us and pull me first into their arms and then Charlie. Elliot beams down at me before wrapping me in one of his bear hugs, and then Mason is before me.

He has a knowing look on his face, a smile there too, but it holds more than Elliot’s did. He steps in to hug me, and I match his light hold. “You’re good for him. We couldn’t ask for better.”

I pull back when he does, my throat burning, watching as he steps around me and pulls his friend in for a hug.

“This feels like an engagement,” Lucy blurts, placing her hand on her chest with watering eyes.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Luce,” Charlie warns, his cheeks tinged pink. “You’ll scare her off in a minute.”

Impossible.

I’ll tell him that later. I’ll tell him that it’s impossible to scare me off because I’m well and truly infatuated with him. With his friends and this life they’ve built for themselves.

“You okay, Lissie?” Nina asks, coming to stand beside me.

I nod, a little overwhelmed but in the best way. “I never knew it could be like this.”

“A relationship?” She smiles.

“No.” I frown. “A family.”

Her eyes flash with something. A memory or thought or something else, but then she looks over at Elliot, Mason, and Charlie, who are teasing Ellis about something.

“They’ll be the best family you’ll ever find.” She puts her arm over my shoulder, pulling me into her side. “I’m so happy for you guys.”

I smile, feeling like for the first time in a long time, maybe ever, I feel utterly surrounded.

Utterly loved.

Charlie

Sometimes I hate my friends for being so full on, but today, watching Lissie get wrapped up in their arms, in their love, I can’t help but appreciate the hell out of them—bad bits and all.

Scarlet was informed the second we got back from the lake that Lissie and I are in a relationship.

I watched her face light up and then searched it for any sign the reaction was disingenuous. A ruse to hide how she’s really doing.

I found only light in her eyes.

She was in the middle of a session with her therapist when we arrived, Ave choosing to stay with her instead of coming out with us on the lake. Normally, or on many occasions, she’s not shown her face again after a session, but since around three months ago, she’s started to come away from them a little more upbeat, a little stronger than when she walked in.

The fact she can be happy for me today, when I know she’s been through hell and back these last few years, only makes me proud of how far she’s come.

“Let me take her,” I tell her, reaching over the sofa and picking up a fussing Ave. I lean in and let my nose run over her hairline, smelling her shampoo. “Hey, you.”

She stops her sniffling and drops her head to my shoulder.

“She needs a nap,” Scarlet tells me.

“Can I take her up?”

She smiles and nods.

I pick up her favourite bunny rabbit from the sofa and turn, seeking out Lissie.

She must sense my gaze and looks over at me.

I cock my head towards the door.

She stands, and I meet her on the threshold, letting her go first.

“Is she okay?” she asks, peering up at Ave who’s still resting on my shoulder.

“She’s tired. Do you want to take her for a nap with me?”

Her eyes meet mine, a knowing in them. She swallows. “Sure.”

“Ellis was a bugger for going to sleep for me when he was Ave’s age. But this one is an angel, aren’t you, Ave?”

She looks up at me with her big green eyes.

“She looks so much like Scarlet.”

“She does,” I say without looking at Lissie.

We walk to Ave’s bedroom and place her down in the nook that Scarlet and Nina built for her—although Ellis seems to use it more.

I climb in next to Ave and then turn to Lissie and hold out my hand, my smile challenging.

“This is a bit cool.”

“The coolest,” he tells me, helping me up. “Sometimes I’m tempted to come and hide away in here without the excuse of a child needing a nap.”

Ave snuggles down into the mattress, her eyes wide open and on me.

“As long as you’re not hiding away from me, I can get on board with it,” she whispers, lying on her side and looking over at me.

“Go to sleep, Ave,” I tell her gently, smoothing my hand up her back. I flick my eyes up. “Well, if I do, at least you know where to find me.”

Lissie smiles.

Ave twists her head, looking over at her. She pushes up onto her arms and drags her bunny across the bed, cozying into Lissie’s chest and closing her eyes.

Lissie looks down at her and then up at me, and I can tell she doesn’t know what to make of the little girl, but then I give her a soft nod, letting her know that it’s not as scary as it seems, and she lifts her hand from her side, placing it gently at the top of Ave’s back.

She bites her lip and peers up at me, as if telling me not to dare breathe in case I disturb the tiny human snuggling into her.

It’s probably too much. Probably not the right thing to do after she only just told me about her mum and dad and the reasons Jovie won’t come home. But out on the lake when my friends were moving at a million miles an hour, and I worried she would find it all too much, she embraced it. I watched her light up from the inside out.

And it’s that, her light, her shining eyes now, and her toes I’ve noticed she wiggles together whenever she’s on the brink of tears, that makes me want to let her experience this with Ave.

“She’s adorable. Are you sure Scarlet won’t find this a bit much?”

“I’ll speak to her.”

She peers down at Ave. I’m pretty sure she’s already asleep. “You’re so lucky, Charlie.”

“I’m very, very lucky.”

She reads my look perfectly, and her lips twist.

“I mean with your friends and family. I know I haven’t met your parents, but from what I do know, they’re incredible. Your friends and these children…” She sighs. “You make me feel like I’ve done life all wrong.”

I frown. “Don’t say that. You’re twenty-four, Lis.”

“True. And correction, I feel like I’ve done life wrong right up until the night I met you.”

My heart thuds. “You know, you rattled me that night. Years of thinking the club was my only way, and yet you knocked me sideways in an instant.”

“I’m sure you say that to all of the girls.”

“You know that I don’t,” I remind her. “I didn’t eat the next day. I ran out of that room before you could get a look at me, knowing I’d never experience another night like it again.”

“I thought it was normal. That the club was always that way for everyone.”

I shake my head as I stare at her. “I knew you were different from the second I walked through the door and saw you stood there. And I knew I was fucked the second I gave you my real name.”

“Don’t you think it’s crazy how I ended up as your assistant. It’s the sort of thing you see on TV.”

“It’s the sort of thing that they write about. In fact…” He leans across the mattress and kisses my forehead. “I’m pretty sure they call that fate.”

Her gaze doesn’t leave me as I back away. We lie like that for a while, just watching one another, Ave’s soft breathing the only sound.

When Lissie’s eyes start to drop, the late night and early morning catching up with her, I pull the blanket up over the two of them and let them sleep, not waking them up until Scarlet comes up the stairs an hour later.