The Grand Duel (The Grand Men #4)

Chapter 53

FIFTY-THREE

Lissie

One week later …

Good morning, Lissie girl.

I love you.

Placing down the folded piece of card, I reach for the breakfast tray, lifting the lid that covers the food. I bite down on my bottom lip in an attempt to tame my smile.

He made me pancakes.

Closing my eyes, I inhale a deep breath, revelling in the way just knowing that he’s here in this house again feels.

It’s been a week since the ball, and he’s still sleeping in the spare room each night. I hate that fact, but I’m trying to be smart. With a love like ours, something I’m certain isn’t common, I don’t think falling right back into the way we were is right.

I’m almost certain that Charlie doesn’t agree with me. And that if I let him, he’d be eating these pancakes in bed with me right now.

“Go back, Lu,” I tell her, pushing her snout away from the plate. “Lie down.”

I reach for the fork and take a bite, the pancake still warm.

“Lis,” Charlie says, mumbling, pushing against the bedroom door. “You’re awake.”

I smile at him, my eyes dropping down his body. “Morning.”

He walks into the room with a toothbrush in his mouth, his work trousers on but his shirt missing.

I don’t know if it’s intentional on his part, but my body reacts, flushing hot.

He smiles. “You’re beautiful,” he tells me, pulling the brush from his mouth. “But you have twenty minutes before I have to leave. Come in with me today. Please.”

I slept in? Crap . I nod to Charlie.

Pushing back the covers, I take one more mouthful of the pancakes and then stand from the bed, knowing I need a shower before we leave.

As I go to pass him, he steps back a step, blocking me, his hand grasping my waist to steady me.

I place my hands on his torso, pressing a kiss to his chest before twisting away. I miss his touch immediately. “I’m late.”

I hear him sigh, and my heart jars.

Still, I keep on walking towards the bathroom.

“It’s sold already?”

“Yep. They plan to leave for Australia once the sale is complete and they have their visas.”

I look across at Charlie, my eyes dropping to his shirt button and the way he’s left it open, his tie stuffed in the centre console of the car.

“How do you feel about it?”

I contemplate his question, knowing it’s futile. I’ve spent the past twenty-four hours since Jovie called me contemplating it. How am I supposed to feel about my parents selling my childhood home and moving to the other side of the world?

“I don’t know. Disappointed, maybe.” Like they’ll never put their pride aside and face the truth of what they did.

“You and Jovie are okay?”

“Of course we are,” I tell him. “She’s excited to have them there with her. Willow can’t wait.”

I can feel his eyes on me, but I don’t look up at him, knowing he’ll see the pain in my eyes and want to fix everything.

“It’s okay to feel how you’re feeling, Lis.” He reaches over the car, linking our fingers. “It’s normal.”

Peering up at him, I take in his face, the way his focus is on the road.

“And…” He frowns as if being reminded of something. “It’s okay if you’re upset about them selling the house and leaving.”

I pull my bottom lip between my teeth as I watch him, this time to tame the ache in my throat. “I think I am,” I mutter. “Upset that they’re leaving.”

He looks between me and the road, nodding.

“Like, even though we don’t communicate, and I’ve not lived in that house for years, knowing they’ll be gone feels terrifying. Like that little girl I once was all over again. Alone when I know I’m not. I know I have you.”

His hand tightens in mine, jaw rigid.

“I just wish it wasn’t this way between us. That we were a normal family, and all the bad stuff never happened.”

“Me too.” His thumb dusts over my hand. “And if I could change it?—”

“I know you would,” I tell him, cutting him off, quietly admiring the man at my side.

I love you so much, Charlie Aldridge.

“Can I put in a request today?”

“What’s that?” I ask, already staring at him.

His blue eyes meet mine. “Can I take you to lunch? Or will you at least come to my office and eat your lunch there. I don’t like that you keep avoiding me all day. I’m doing my best at home, but…” He rolls his lips.

“But what?”

His face softens as he glances my way. “I miss you, baby.”

My head tilts. “You want to take me to lunch? Like a date?”

He frowns. “You’re my girlfriend, Lissie.”

I smile.

“But yes, like a date .”

“Will there be ice cream?”

He huffs a laugh. “If it’s what will get you there.”

I nod. “It’s what will get me there.”

“Then there will be ice cream.”

“Okay then.” I cup his hand between mine, rubbing over his knuckles. “You can take me to lunch.”

Charlie

We had to take a late lunch. I arrived back from my meeting at half past two and told Lissie to pack up for the day, knowing we wouldn’t want to come back to the office after our meal.

The restaurant I’d booked couldn’t accommodate a later slot, and so we ended up eating at the winery on the outskirts of our village, opting to make the most of the dry weather and sitting outside in the courtyard.

We walk home just as the sun is going down, Lissie tucked under my arm, visibly more relaxed than she has been all week.

“Today has been a beautiful day,” she says. “I feel bad that we didn’t go and get the dogs before we left.”

“I had Scar stop in on her way home. She’s fed and walked them.”

She looks up at me with a wide grin, chuckling, and my heart flips. Fuck, I missed this.

“What?” I ask.

“The way they all love them as much as we do.”

I huff a laugh. “They do. It’s like they’re our…” Shit. I was going to say?—

“Children. They are my children, Charles.”

The smile in her voice smothers my guilt. “I wasn’t thinking, Lis.”

She stops and turns, her hands setting on my stomach. “Good. I don’t want you to think before you speak to me.” She frowns. “You okay?”

My eyes drop to her mouth, desperately wanting to kiss her. “Today has been a really good day. I just don’t want to spoil it by saying something stupid now.”

Her lips twist up. “Do you look at the girls as our children, Charles?”

“I probably treat them like it.”

“You do,” she confirms. “And I don’t think that will ever change. Regardless of actual human children.” Her hand smooths over my chest. “You changed the subject at dinner when I mentioned Emily. Has it been on your mind at all? She doesn’t have long left now.”

I swallow, fighting against the urge to close the conversation down.

If I’m being honest, I’ve not been able to stop thinking about the baby and what will happen if it’s mine.

“She doesn’t. A couple weeks.” I search her eyes for any trace of her sadness. “It doesn’t feel real.”

“It doesn’t,” she agrees. “You haven’t talked about it at all since coming home.”

I haven’t. I’m too afraid too. “Until we know if it’s mine, I’m not sure what there is to say.”

“Well, have you booked any time off for after?”

I frown. “You think I should?”

“I think you’ll be needed. Depending on how everything pans out, of course.”

My heart thuds under her palm, and she rubs over the spot, her smile reassuring.

“We don’t have to talk about this,” she tells me, her eyes fluttering shut. “But I’m here if you need me.”

She steps back to my side, wrapping her arm around my waist as we continue walking home.

My throat seems to grow tighter and tighter the further we walk in silence.

When I left Lissie, it was to protect her from all of this. All the things that could possibly hurt her. I couldn’t— can’t stand the idea of it being our reality.

But she asked to be a part of it.

It’s where I went wrong.

My biggest mistake.

She should be a part of it because she is a part of me.

“Will you come with me, Lissie?” I look down at her when she lifts her head, stopping at the front gate. “Emily has an appointment on Friday at the hospital, and I want you there with me. If that’s something you want.”

Her eyes sparkle with emotion, and I know I’ve caught her off guard, that she’s trying to be strong for me again.

And I let her.

I have to let her.

“Of course I’ll come. If that’s okay with Emily.”

“It’ll have to be,” I tell her, shaking my head as I stare at her in awe. “I don’t want to do it without you.”

A tear slips from the corner of her eye, and I wipe it away, my nostrils flaring.

“I’m scared, Lis,” I tell her honestly, going against everything inside of me. “I’m terrified, actually.”

“I know you are,” she whispers. “I am, too.” She smooths her hands over my face, bringing us nose to nose. “But no matter what, we’re always going to come home, okay? We’ll always have each other.”

“I don’t know if I can be a dad to someone else’s child,” I admit.

She leans up on her toes and kisses me.

And it’s as if she breathes life back into me.

Her lips dust over mine. “It’s going to work out, Charles. You’ll be a wonderful dad. And I’m going to be right here, every step of the way.”

My heart squeezes at the promise. At the fact this beautiful woman is mine.

I chase her mouth for another kiss, wrapping my arms around her back, pulling her as tight to my body as I can get her.

Lissie

We walk into the cottage a little while later. Charles is at my back, his hands not leaving my body as he closes the front door behind him. “I’m sorry we never got to have ice cream.”

My mouth curls up as he peels my coat off, his lips dipping to kiss my shoulder. “It’s okay.”

Luna and Daisy come barrelling down the stairs, and I step away from Charles to fuss over them.

“Do you want me to open this bottle of wine?” Charlie asks, walking through the archway.

“I’ll have another glass if you are.” I smile at Luna as she wags her tail, lowering my voice. “He’s trying, Lu.”

He listened to me, and he’s trying.

I’ve been worried about him and the Emily situation all week, always feeling like it’s the elephant in the room and that nothing had really changed when it came to him talking about it. I hoped it was a time thing. That he was too busy focusing on putting us right to take care of everything going on in his head.

Never did I imagine he’d ask me to go with him to an appointment.

I follow him into the kitchen, pulling myself up onto the kitchen island as I watch him uncork the bottle of wine.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asks, his eyes on me.

“Like what?” I chuckle, my cheeks flushing.

“Lis,” he accuses, although it almost sounds like a plea.

“What?”

He shakes his head and pours the wine into the glasses, handing me one.

“I did something today,” he tells me, coming to stand between my legs. His eyes search mine and my stomach flutters. “I’m not sure what you’ll make of it.”

“Well…what did you do?”

He blinks once. “I went to see your mum and dad.”

My face drops. That is the last thing I thought he’d say.

“I asked them if they’d sell Elton House to me instead of the current buyers.” He takes my face in his large palm, tilting his head as he regards me. “They refused my offer.”

My stomach falls.

Why am I not surprised.

Charlie dips his hand into his pocket. “Said that if you want it, then it’s yours.”

I look from the keys in his hand to his face. “What?” I mutter in disbelief. “They said that?”

He nods. “You can sell it, rent it out, let it sit empty.” His lips turn down. “You can attempt to have us move, but you’d be wasting your time.”

I smile despite the adrenaline rushing through me.

“You didn’t seem sure that it being sold was something you wanted this morning. You can do whatever you want with it now, Lis. It’s yours.”

I blink over and over, staring at his chest. “I can’t believe they said that. That my dad would just…give it to me.”

He reaches up and tucks my hair behind my ear. “He did the right thing.”

I’m not sure my dad has ever done the right thing by Jovie and me.

Ever.

“They want to see you before they leave. If that’s something you want.”

Panic makes my heart kickstart to the point I can feel the beat in my chest. I shake my head. “I…I don’t think I can…I don’t want to…”

“Okay, good.” He kisses my temple, wrapping me in his arms. “Because I told them they can go to hell.”

I let out a sigh of relief. “You did? You told them that?”

He pulls back, his hand in my hair. “I want to make something abundantly clear right now. Should your mum and dad ever apologise to you and attempt to put things right, if in time you decide to forgive them for what they did, I will not.” His jaw tics. “I cannot, under any circumstance, forgive them, Lis. There’s no way.”

“I don’t think I can either,” I rasp.

“But it’s okay if you do. You know that, too, don’t you?”

I nod. Because I do know that. That if one day my stubbornness loses out to the inherent need to have my parents in my life, if I let them talk, maybe even apologise…

My eyes drift closed.

It would never be the same. It’s impossible. And I can’t see there ever being a time that I’d try.

I just can’t.

“I don’t know what I’ll do with the house. I don’t want to live there, but knowing it’s not going to go anywhere, or change, is a relief.”

“Then keep it that way. Keep it empty.”

“That’s awful. No, there are people sleeping on the streets.”

“Mason has two homes.”

“And it’s terrible,” I repeat, my lips curling. “Don’t tell him I said that.”

“I won’t.” He chuckles, leaning in to kiss me. “Take your time. There’s no rush to do anything with it, okay?”

I nod, my face flushing as I run my hands over his shoulders and up his neck. “Okay.”

He eyes me knowingly. “I have something else for you.”

He steps away from me before I can thank him for the first thing, my childhood home, and crosses to the fridge. He bends to pull open the top drawer in the fridge freezer.

When he walks back over to me, he has a pot of Macca’s ice cream in his hand.

“How long has that been in there?” I ask, frowning.

“Days.”

My mouth drops open. “Days?”

He smiles. “I’ve been saving it.”

“Saving it for what?”

He opens the lid and dips his finger into the ice cream, holding it out to me. “Do you want some?”

An offering.

Of peace .

And maybe something a little more.

I go to pull his hand to my mouth, but he quickly snatches it away, putting it behind his back as his face inches closer to mine. “Lissie girl,” he rasps, and I know exactly what he’s going to say.

I search his eyes. “I love you, too,” I tell him, beating him to it.

His eyes spark.

“More,” I add.

His lips part as he lifts his hand to my mouth, letting me lick the ice cream off.

“That,” he tells me. “I was saving it for that.”

He pulls me to the edge of the counter by my hips, putting my body flush with his as his hands rove up my neck and into my hair. His mouth takes my lips in a deep kiss, his tongue tangling with mine the second I let him in.

He groans into my mouth, and I grasp his forearms, his shoulders, in my need. Needing more. Needing all of him. I start on his buttons, not being able to get them undone quick enough with our lips fused.

My wineglass falls to the countertop, smashing.

“Shit.” He smiles against my lips.

“Charles,” I rasp, his cock hard and rubbing against me perfectly.

“I know, baby.” He rolls his hips, flicking his tongue through my mouth when it drops open. “I’ve got you, Lissie girl.”