The Courage To Love (Love On The North Shore) (28 page)

“I’d prefer coffee.”

Olivia walked away from him. She felt tempted to just serve tea but decided against it. Moving around the old kitchen, Olivia mindlessly went through the motions of preparing coffee. But her thoughts kept coming back to Fionn. Being close to him, she couldn’t think. It was almost as if he overwhelmed her, causing her heartbeat to accelerate and every thought to leave her head. He was polished and darkly handsome. His hair, eyes, clothing, everything.

She reminded herself not to let him bully her. She was now of age and could make her own decisions. No one could make her pay her respects for a man who clearly wanted nothing to do with her.

She lifted the heavy kettle and poured the boiling water over the ground coffee while her mind tried to make sense of the situation. She felt his presence in the doorway and glanced up.

“How do you take your coffee?”

“Black.” Olivia wasn’t surprised. Nothing about him was soft or muted.

Olivia handed him the rich coffee without looking at him. The aroma felt satisfying for a brief moment until her mind began toying with the idea of attending the funeral.

Fionn broke the silence first, “You are named as his heir. You can longer fade into the background. Are you interested in seeing your face plastered over countless news stories with all sorts of conjecture about your parents’ affair?”

Olivia smoothed her dress over her thighs while she contemplated her options. She didn’t want to risk attending the funeral but the media would persecute her for not showing respect for her estranged father.

Olivia’s mind was rapidly exploring all of the possible outcomes. “I don’t know what the right thing to do is.”

“I’ve already arranged your trip to London.” Fionn placed his cup on the table. “Trust me, this is in your best interest.”

“They will reject me.” Olivia felt the tightness of her body and began to recognize the underlying fear of having to face his family. It would be a nightmare.

Fionn stepped forward and grasped her arm, pulling her toward him. “I know this is hard for you. But there isn’t much time and you need to do what is right regardless of how you have been treated.”

Olivia could feel his words penetrate her fear and knew he was right.

She could see Fionn was tempted to say something further but he resisted. Olivia could feel warmth spreading up her arm from where his long fingers held her captive.

“Your brother won’t reject you. He is only seventeen and he is now without his father.”

Olivia felt like the floor had dropped out from beneath her and she was free falling into unknown terrain. William didn’t seem to seek the limelight but Olivia had found his photograph online in the pages of some New York gossip magazine. And with the coverage of his father’s unexpected death, her brother had been photographed several times in the last day.

“It seems so odd to have a brother.”

“Blood ties can be strong. You two are quite alike.” Fionn stayed completely still as he explained, “William is in shock. He is young to deal with this. When he was told about you, it sparked his curiosity. The best course of action is to embrace the family openly and move forward.”

She pulled away from Fionn as her mind struggled to make sense of the new information. Until this morning, she had thought she was alone in the world. It was how she always pictured herself. She couldn’t take in that she had a brother. The concept seemed so foreign to her.

She asked him, “What is he like?”

Fionn looked away as he said, “William? He’s a lot like Oliver. He goes to the same boarding school in London that your father went to. He is an excellent student, has a wide social network and is a good athlete.”

Olivia simply nodded and looked out the window into the back garden.

Fionn continued, “The media will assume Oliver kept you in the background to protect your privacy.”

Olivia knew that he held all of the cards. She felt an interest tugging at her heart to meet her brother.

“But you know the truth.” Olivia had the sense that Fionn Lynch knew much more than he let on.

“I traveled with Oliver to Ireland when I was seventeen and he was trying to make sure that you were being cared for properly. Your mother had just died. I had the sense that he wanted you to have a good life but for whatever reason couldn’t be part of it. But I didn’t know the terms of the trust. He had just turned sixty and no one expected him to die so suddenly.” Fionn explained.

Olivia felt as if shards of glass were being pushed into her heart. Her father left her to be cared for by a guardian while he was happily married with a son in New York. The last thing she wanted was an emotional meeting at his funeral.

“I meant you knew that he abandoned me to live with a guardian all of these years.” Olivia said while carefully keeping any emotion out of her voice. “That he chose to have no relationship with me whatsoever.”

For some reason Olivia couldn’t define, she wanted him to acknowledge the truth to her.

“It’s getting late. You should pack a bag and come with me tonight to London and then to New York for a period of time.” Fionn placed his hands in his pockets, moving aside his well-tailored suit jacket.

“I’m not willing to abandon my life for the foreseeable future for a father who couldn’t be troubled to form any sort of relationship with me.”

Olivia waited for Fionn to acknowledge the truth of what she said and with each passing second she could feel her heartbeat accelerating more. 

“You can work from anywhere.” He said impatiently. ”I’ll settle your business debts so you are free to go abroad for a time.” His knowledge of her financial problems made her feel at a disadvantage.

“I can’t let you do that.” Olivia felt his eyes on her.

Fionn plowed on as if he didn’t hear her, “I’ll speak with your guardian this evening and sever the relationship. She can pack your belongings and have them shipped to New York or put in storage.”

Her heart beat erratically as she said, “Agnes is all I have in this world. If you hurt her in any way then I’ll not help you. In fact, I’ll go out of my way to tarnish the Bolles reputation.” Olivia could feel anger spreading throughout her body. How dare he threaten her guardian?

“You live in a room rented by your father. Now that he is dead, other arrangements will need to be made.” Fionn remained firm.

“Agnes counts on the income. She needs it to pay her bills.” Olivia knew her health hadn’t been great the last couple of years and Agnes had turned down offers of work to help Olivia start her business.

Fionn’s gaze pierced her as he said, “Come with me tonight and I’ll see to it that the stipend continues for the foreseeable future. As I’ve told you, you will need to come to New York after the funeral to help sort out the issues with the stock you now own in the company.”  

“And if I refuse?” Olivia watched in fascination as Fionn held himself in check. She could tell he was beyond angry by the tiny muscle flickering near his jaw.

He didn’t reveal any of his emotions as he said, “If you refuse, your guardian will suffer a significant loss of income, your brother will feel betrayed by you at a very difficult time, and your life will be bandied about in different media outlets while the stock you own plummets.”

Fear skittered down her spine. She didn’t want others to suffer but she knew that it could happen regardless of how hard she would try to pretend grief for a father she never knew. The media could decide to out her.   

“Is that all?” Olivia said quietly.

Numbness infiltrated her body as she listened to his instructions about meeting him at the airport. She didn’t watch him leave instead she fled to her room to begin packing. She looked for her passport and then took a shower, dressed and methodically checked everything she packed for the trip. After calling Agnes and explaining the situation, Olivia walked into the foyer with her suitcases and noticed the car waiting outside. The driver came to the door and helped her with her suitcases and placed them into the back of the Land Rover.

Her anxiety around rejection became heightened as she contemplated leaving her orderly life to throw herself into Fionn’s elite world in New York. How would she know who was an enemy or who would welcome her? It doesn’t matter if they reject you, she told herself. She was now old enough to create a life for herself.

Walking down the pathway, Olivia glanced back at the boarding house and felt as if her heart was breaking. She didn’t want to leave the safety of the life she created with Agnes. Was she making the right decision?