‘Go ahead.’
‘Vince. Hi.’ He watched as her face creased into a frown of perplexity, then he rose to go and open some wine, returned with two glasses. ‘She wants to do what? Can she do that?’ She listened some more and then, ‘Thank you for letting me know.’
She dropped the phone on the floor and shook her head. He could see a gamut of emotions chase across her face. Disbelief, anger and a weariness that made his heart ache.
‘What’s happened?’
‘It turns out that Mum has decided to try and overturn the will herself—she wants to oust us all and try and get control of Dolci for herself.’
‘Do you want to go and see her? Now? Talk to her?’
Ava shook her head and he could see tears glistening in her eyes. ‘There’s no point. There’s nothing I can do to stop this and I’m not even sure I want to any more. Perhaps I should just hand her my share and leave them all to it.’ She placed one hand on her tummy and quickly dashed her other hand against her eyes. ‘I am not going to cry.’
For a moment panic threatened to engulf him as his comfort zone was cut from beneath his feet to leave him over an abyss. He didn’t know how to deal with situations like this—never had, never would. But then, from somewhere, instinct came to his rescue with the inherent visceral knowledge that he had to do something to ease her pain.
Rising, he moved over, dropped down next to her. ‘It’s OK to cry. Come here.’ It was so natural to pull her into his arms, breathe in the scent of her shampoo and offer what comfort and understanding he could. He heard the small hiccough and then the tears did come, gentle at first and then a torrent. He rubbed her back, made soothing sounds, held her close until finally she pulled away, swiped at her eyes.
‘I’m sorry.’ She opened her bag and pulled out a packet of tissues, blew her nose. ‘I can only imagine what I look like. I doubt even my waterproof mascara can hold up to that.’
‘You look beautiful.’ The words were out before he could stop them and she shook her head.
‘I look a blotchy, splotchy mess. But I do feel better. Even though I still have no idea what to do about it.’
‘Maybe talk to your mum, tell her that this will be worse for Dolci. I very much doubt she stands a chance legally, but it could take years for it to go through the courts.’
‘It won’t make a difference. As you said—she is obsessed. She was obsessed when Dad was alive and she is still obsessed now.’ Ava’s voice was weary. ‘All her life she’s been terrified Dad would leave her. Leave us. Go back to his first wife, his first family. All her life she strove to be the perfect wife, to hold and bind him to her.’ She shook her head, sipped her wine as she stared into the distance.
‘And all your life you tried to be the perfect daughter.’
‘Yes. We were an alliance, I guess. I can remember Mum telling me how dangerous Luca and Jodi were. I used to picture them lurking round every corner. I worried they’d kidnap my dad. Then I started to worry that I wouldn’t be enough to keep him.’
Liam tried to imagine the burden of anxiety, could almost picture a wide-eyed child Ava, small hands clenched into determined fists, as so many things became clear to him. Her perfect smile, the way Ava always looked flawless, knew how to act whatever part was required of her, the way she still wanted to try and please everyone. The immense pressure she put on herself to do what was right. ‘That should never have felt like your responsibility.’
‘No.’ She looked at him. ‘But life doesn’t always work like that, does it? It should never have felt your responsibility to try to get your father back on track. Your mother’s happiness was never your weight to bear.’
‘That’s different. My mother had a chance of happiness that she gave up because of my actions and my existence.’
Ava shook her head. ‘No, your parents’ marriage and how it worked out was not down to you. They chose to have a child and actually it’s OK for a parent to put their child first, to be responsible for their happiness. Your mum did the right thing and I am sure it is a decision she would make again.’
‘Whereas your mum didn’t put your happiness first.’ The idea and its ramifications, the possibility that his mum had done what any mother would do, edged into his consciousness, only to be rebutted as he focused on Ava.
Ava shook her head. ‘Nothing is as clear-cut as that. My father was her everything, and she believed I should feel the same way, that my happiness was also bound to him. She only had a child because she thought it would ensure my dad stayed.’
Liam shifted closer to her and draped his arm over her shoulders, as if he could belatedly shield her from the machinations of her parents. He loathed the idea that Ava had been a pawn in some obsessive game even as he struggled to understand it. ‘But I thought your parents’ marriage was a fairy tale.’
Ava shook his head. ‘I told you my mother was the Queen of Spin. I believe the real story is he left his first family because my mother had the wealth and connections that would enable him to start Dolci.’
‘He could have got a bank loan.’
‘He took the easy option. I think my mother dazzled him. She told me it was love at first sight, that once she saw him she had to have him. And after that she had to keep him.’
As if he were some sort of prize specimen. ‘Do you think he loved her?’
‘I don’t know.’ Ava lifted her slim shoulders. ‘Define love. Perhaps he thought the pay-off was worth it—he gained celebrity, wealth, his business, a beautiful wife who worshipped the ground he walked on. But he lived in a gilded cage with a replacement family. And I don’t think we truly lived up to the original, however much he tried to convince himself we did.’
His heart tore as he listened to her, imagined how it must have felt to always feel second best to one parent and a tool to the other. ‘But he did love you.’
‘Yes, he did. I helped him atone for his past.’