Of course she remembered that. Liam sighed. ‘She asked to meet with me in London, when I was working on a project there. Turned out she’d followed my progress, my life, from a distance.’
‘What did she want?’ Alice asked, eyes wide. She was probably hoping for more signs of the Rose she’d known, he imagined.
‘First, she wanted to offer me money,’ Liam said.
‘Nothing so bad about that.’
‘And then she wanted me to sign away any claim to Thornwood, or the family title.’ He could still feel the rage she’d awakened now. Sitting having polite conversation, sipping tea at the Ritz, and wanting nothing more than to tear down all that civility and history and privilege.
That he hadn’t was a testament to the self-restraint he’d learned over the years. He made himself calm, relaxed, because he knew otherwise he’d hit out, hit back, cause trouble. And he wasn’t that boy any more.
‘What did you say?’ Alice asked, her face troubled.
‘I told her I didn’t need her money, and I sure as hell didn’t want her castle or her fancy title. And then I walked out.’ And straight into the nearest pub.
Alice frowned. ‘But I don’t get it. Why did she leave you Thornwood in the end, then?’
‘Because her other great-nephew—the legitimate one—died in a car accident seven years later.’ Rose wasn’t the only one who could keep track of family. ‘Bet she was glad I hadn’t taken her money then, when I was the only one left.’
‘I think she changed, you know,’ Alice said softly. ‘The Rose I knew... I think she regretted the person she’d been in the past. She tried to make amends.’
‘By opening Thornwood up to anyone who needed it.’
‘By leaving you Thornwood.’
Liam looked away. He didn’t want to think about that. Standing up, he began to clear the table. ‘Dr Helene will be here soon,’ he said. ‘Along with an astounding number of random women, I imagine.’
‘So we’d better get cleared up and ready for the day,’ she agreed, handing him Jamie. ‘Come on, then. Let’s see how long it takes us to get him dressed today.’
* * *
‘Well, you all seem to have survived the night well enough.’ Was it Alice’s imagination, or was Helene smirking as she said that? The last thing she needed was her friend getting any ideas about her and Liam.
‘He wasn’t too difficult in the night,’ Alice said. Liam shot her an incredulous glance. She frowned. What exactly had he been doing with Jamie since he’d taken over, before he’d started breakfast? Whatever it was, it wasn’t sleep, not if the bags under his eyes were anything to judge by. ‘We took turns looking after him.’
‘And you did a great job.’ Helene looked up from her examination of Jamie. ‘He seems to be thriving.’
‘I take it the mother hasn’t spontaneously come forward overnight. Any luck tracking her down?’ Liam asked Iona, who was making her own notes.
‘None yet, I’m afraid.’ Iona shook her head sadly.
Helene handed Jamie back to him and began packing up. ‘Basically, all the pregnant women who’ve been through my surgery lately are accounted for; I suspect she’s either from out of town or she’s been without prenatal care.’
‘It’s a miracle Jamie’s as healthy as he is,’ Alice murmured, watching Liam rock him gently.
‘Women have been having babies for thousands of years without modern medicine,’ Iona pointed out. ‘But, yes, we were all lucky that it must have been a straightforward pregnancy and birth.’
‘So now what do we do?’ Alice asked, trying to ignore the way her heart beat a little faster. Just because they hadn’t found Jamie’s mother didn’t change the fact that eventually he would have to go to a new family. However much she wanted to avoid thinking about that, she couldn’t afford to. She had to keep that knowledge front and centre—and keep her heart safe.
‘Give me another day or so,’ Iona said. ‘I want to check in with a few more places—colleagues, refuges. But if we haven’t found her by the end of next week...’
‘We’re going to have to call the police,’ Liam finished for her.
‘And start putting the proper procedures into motion, before everything gets more difficult over the Christmas holidays,’ Iona said.
‘So he’ll be taken into care.’ Was it Alice’s imagination, or did Liam hold Jamie a little closer as he said that?
She didn’t blame him. Now she knew a little more about his background, and his own experiences of the foster system, she could understand him not wanting to put another child through that. He hadn’t spoken explicitly about the foster carers he’d had, but the fact he’d been passed around more than a few families spoke volumes.
Liam had grown up unwanted, without a home. Of course he didn’t want that for Jamie.
Alice wondered if he knew that, even if they protected Jamie from it now, it was perfectly possible to lose a family, a home, a future, as an adult.
She’d been twenty-four before she’d realised how little others valued her as a human being. And twenty-eight before Rose had helped her find that value again.
Now, she knew, she made a difference. She mattered.
Just not in the way she’d always dreamt of. She’d never be a mother.
Except for right now. These brief few days, this Christmas miracle of motherhood. That was all she had.
And she intended to make the most of every second of it.
On cue, Jamie started to fuss.
‘Let me take him,’ she said, holding out her arms to Liam. ‘He can feel your stress levels rising and it’s upsetting him.’
Liam raised his eyebrows, but handed the baby over. Heather, meanwhile, scoffed. ‘Stress levels? I don’t think he has any. Didn’t you say he was the most infuriatingly laid-back man you’d ever met?’
Alice blushed as her own words came back to haunt her. She didn’t want to explain to Heather that she knew better now—knew Liam better. In fact, she was beginning to suspect that his casual, laid-back nature was actually a deliberate shield or disguise against the rest of the world.
If he didn’t let on that he cared about anything, then he couldn’t be hurt when no one cared about him.
Alice identified with that more than she’d like to admit.
‘Well, since you’re all busy playing Weirdly Happy Families here, I suppose I’d better get on with running the place for the day,’ Heather said with a sigh. ‘I assume you have your hands too full to help,’ she said to Alice.
‘Literally, right now,’ Alice admitted. ‘But I’ll still be around; I can help out when he’s napping or whatever.’
Heather snorted. ‘Yeah, good luck with that. You focus on what you’re doing. I’ll take care of everything else.’
‘Thank you,’ Alice said, and meant it.
Thornwood Castle could manage without her for a couple of days. Right now, Jamie
couldn’t.
And it felt strangely wonderful to be needed again.
* * *
Initially, Alice seemed relieved to say goodbye to Dr Helene, Iona and Heather and retreat to his rooms with Jamie. But as spacious as Rose’s suite was for one, for three it grew quite cramped quite quickly—especially when Jamie grew fussy after his feed and wouldn’t settle to sleep.
‘We should get out of here,’ Liam said.
‘Sure, where were you thinking?’ Alice asked casually. ‘Paris or Tokyo?’
‘I was thinking a walk. You could show me the estate. I’ve done some exploring but I’ve barely scratched the surface of it this week.’ Mostly because he’d been going through legal documents and figuring out how to get his castle back without actually being a monster. And getting to know the castle itself, of course. A building of such size could take years to know properly, and longer to find every hidden nook and cranny. ‘Besides, I’d like to see it through your eyes.’
‘What about Jamie? We still don’t have a pram for him, and it’s freezing out there.’
Liam glanced out of the window; she was right. Never mind Jamie, the way the frost still sat on the fields around them told him definitively that he wasn’t in Oz any more.
‘The good doctor left us this.’ He reached into the bag Helene had handed him earlier and pulled out a tiny white snowsuit. It had a fluffy lining, integral gloves and feet, and ears on the top of its fur-lined hood. It was almost excruciatingly cute, and Liam was sure that almost every woman he’d ever met would have adored it.
Alice, meanwhile, looked pained at the sight of it. He was never going to understand her.
‘Don’t suppose she left a pram?’ she asked.
‘We have the baby carrier Heather found, remember?’ The contraption looked like a rucksack that was missing its middle, but the illustration on the box suggested it would sit on his chest, with Jamie tucked against him. ‘I’ll carry him.’
‘Then I guess I’m out of objections,’ Alice said.