Later that evening, Melissa was relaxing in the six foot round tub. She'd had an indulgent afternoon, after a meal served to the room, she'd been pampered in the spa. A massage, facial, manicure and pedicure, then some sort of seaweed treatment that was meant to feed the skin. Hence the bath. She wanted to phone Liam now. He said he'd be away for a few days, but she oudln't imagine repeating this day tomorrow. She wanted to see him, talk to him, and then decide what their future held.
When the phone rang, disturbing her train of thought, she snapped back to the here and now. Expecting it to be Liam, she grabbed the cordless phone ready to beg him to return she could no more turn down his proposal as she could imagine a life without him in it. She didn’t just want him and miss him, she needed him.
"Hello?" she was almost breathless in her rush to speak to him.
"What the hell are you doing?" It was neither the tone, nor the voice she expected.
"Lettie? I thought you were in Paris!" She was always glad to speak to her friend, but today she sounded angry.
She heard her friend laugh, "I was, but after putting my foot in it, you seemed so sad. So I flew back to London and headed to ‘chez Hart’ ready to draw blood!"
"Ah!" She'd seen him, probably shouted at him, torn more than a strip off him.
"Yes! Ah! I turned up there, all anger and indignation, all set to chastise him for abandoning you.....but you haven’t told him! He didn’t know and he still wanted to marry you. And you turn him down!"
Melissa was quiet, trying to fight back tears, "I was shocked, I didn’t know how to deal with things Lettie."
Suddenly Lettie's voice calmed, "You love him Liss, you want to be with him, for God’s sake you’re having the man’s baby. The answer you’re looking for is ‘yes’, ‘yes Liam love of my life and father of the child you know nothing about, yes I will marry you’."
Melissa tried to fight back the tears, "I’ll consider myself told. But I..."
Lettie laughed, cutting her off, "keep thinking of those excuses cos there’s a very angry man winding his way back to you as we speak."
Her heart seemed to stop, "he knows?"
Lettie sighed, "I didn’t intend to tell him, I just thought that he was rejecting a pregnant woman, so I lashed out.There was me ranting and raving like a banshee, and the poor man looked like he’d been hit by a sledge hammer!"
Despite the warm water of the bath, Melissa started to shake, she was SO unprepared to deal with him and the discussion she knew she’d have to have.
"I’m going to phone you in an hour or so, just to check how things are, ok?"
"Thanks Lettie, I do love you!" Melissa was almost begging her friend to believe her.
"You can say it so easily to me, hey?"
Now it was panic stations. Telling Liam that she was pregnant was something she'd never visualised in her head. Saying that she had no intention of making him feel guilty, obligated. She'd decided when she found out that she came as a person, he had to want her, not just the baby. And after their dreadful parting back in New York, she never thought their paths would cross again. Instead, here she was a sitting duck, waiting for him to return.
Climbing out of the bath, she dried herself and then wrapped up in a hotel robe. Then spent the vacuum of time waiting trying to think of the words to explain how this had all happened.
She was curled on the sofa, her hair still damp, eyes fixed on the door when it suddenly flew open, and eyes blazing, face flushed, Liam stood there.
He closed the door still watching her. He’d driven all the way down expecting to scream, shout and argue with her. But she looked so vulnerable, so small, and as terrified as he felt huddled on the sofa, that all animosity disappeared. She was everything he wanted.
"Why didn’t you tell me?" his voice broke as he spoke.
She shrugged, "I was going to, but you rushed off."
He shook his head, "I wanted you to choose me, not be bullied into anything."
"I wanted the same, you are the most moralistic man I know. I didn’t want you to just do the right thing for our baby."
He flinched in shock at the words, nothing had really sunk in until that moment, "we weren’t exactly careful were we?"
She smiled, "other than the shower, the sofa, several encounters against walls.....we were very careful!"
He sat next to her and took her hand, "I need to tell you a few things, I need you to know why I’ve behaved like I have."
It was music to Melissa's ears, finally hearing more about him, getting to see the real Liam Hart. But she also knew they had a life time for that, there was no way she was letting him leave her tonight...or forever for that matter. "You don’t owe me anything Liam."
He shook his head, "but I do." He touched her cheek with his other hand. "I owe you more than I can ever give you. My brother confirmed all that you hinted at, I’ve taken baggage around with me all my life. You represented the sort of person who I’d always resented, born into wealth, greedy, and uncaring of whoever they trampled on. It proves how judgemental and bitter I've become. You know about my family?"
She shook her head, "no, I know nothing about you Liam."
He paused for a moment just looking into her face, her deep eyes, "I aim to rectify that. I promise. Well my father worked hard and struggled to keep us all, and when the company he worked for was bought out, he was sacked. It was the recession of the 80’s. There was no work. Within a year he’d killed himself."
She squeezed his hand, "and you don’t want that to ever happen again. No wonder you’ve got a reputation for being a caring entrepreneur!"
He half smiled, "life was harder after he’d gone, my mother couldn’t cope alone. It was ugly. I resented the people who had what I didn’t, then made it my business to change things, for me and my family. Through hatred and animosity I wanted to prove I was better than everyone else. That I could do it to."
"You’ve done that!"
He nodded, "but not before another kick in the teeth. I took on my first business, and invested well at the right time, just as I started to be able to look after everyone, I met Elizabeth. I was besotted with her, but I didn’t see the signs......"
Dropping her hand, Liam stood and paced the room for a minute, and Melissa sat in silence knowing he needed time.
"......she announced she was pregnant, and I knew I’d marry her. I was too young, and had too much still left to do. But I wanted any child of mine to have what I didn’t have..." he looked at her ".....a father!"
She gulped but he silenced her by raising a hand. "I found her in bed with my best friend, two weeks before we were due to get married, then it turned out the baby was his."
"Oh Liam!" she rushed to his side and wrapped her arms around him. "Poor you! No wonder you thought I was the devil incarnate......a woman, of the worst type!"
He laughed into her neck, "God Liss, how ridiculous have I been?"
She leaned back and looked into his eyes, "We’ve both been stupid. I should have been honest with you from the beginning......I should have accepted your help when you first offered!" She kissed him on the lips, "You warned me about Ryan Porter....." she paused as his eyes darkened. Suddenly the penny dropped "Was he the friend?" His silence spoke volumes. "Oh my God!"
She sat down in shock.
"Hey," he touched her leg, "it’s all over. He’s spent a long time trying to get back at me, this was the final chance." He looked at his watch, "in about ten minutes I have three police men arresting him on fraud charges. You may not get your cash back, but at least he’ll never hurt anyone else, not for a long time!"
She looked up at him, her face white, "was this all part of his plan? Was I just a means to an end, a chance to get back at you?"
He shrugged, "he knew I was interested in the business, but him seducing you was purely because you’re stunning. He’s never been able to resist a beautiful face!"
She shook her head, trying to find some semblance of sanity from the chaos, he reached out and cupped her cheek with his hand, instantly the flash of attraction was there, Melissa could barely concentrate over the pounding of her heart.
"I was going to tell you about the baby, I really was."
He nodded, "I know, you did all this for your surrogate family, there’s no way you’d keep him, or her, a secret."
She nodded in agreement, "And I definitely didn’t plan it."
He wiped away the tears that managed to escape her forlorn eyes with his thumbs. "Don’t cry. This is a great day, and great news. Don’t you see that?"
She nodded, "are you really pleased?"
"About the baby? Yes, about being here with you? Oh so Yes!"
She smiled, "I’ve missed you so much!"
He pulled her close, "I have more than missed you Melissa Wharton. I have not slept," he punctuated the words with brief yet passionate kisses to her lips. ".....eaten......you...... have NO idea how much chaos letting you get away..........has caused!"
She felt woozy, her heart still pounding, the blood surging around her body. She stared into his eyes, "really?"
He nodded, stroking her face with the most tender of touches, "Mike my brother finally made me see sense, made me analyse things. I love you Melissa, you have taken over my every thought and I want to marry you, be happy and watch our baby grow!" He looked at her intently, his hand protectively over her stomach. Her face was a contortion of emotions. "Don’t cry, not again. I’ll date you, and woo you if that’s what it takes. But I want a decision now, here, today!"
She smiled through tears and snot as she started to cry, "it’s my hormones sorry!" She threw her arms around him, her lips finding his as she devoured him, tearing at his clothes, pulling him in to her.
Laughing, he held her at arm’s length.
"Is that a yes?"
She smiled, "Of course it’s a yes! I love you dummy. More than I thought possible."
"Thank the Lord!" he raised his eyes to the ceiling before lifting her into his arms and in a caveman like manner deposited her on the bed.