Loving Liam (Cloverleaf #1) Read Free

door. Upon opening it, Liam saw Daniel on the floor in the living room with his niece and nephews piled on top of him. Liam watched the wrestling match, fully amused at seeing his younger brother pretend to be overtaken by two toddler boys and a six-year-old girl.
    Daniel met Liam’s eyes. “Help,” he cried playfully as he allowed himself to be pinned on the floor by the toddlers, Finn and Connor.
    The boys were Patrick’s children, and the cutest three-year-old twins ever, according to the entire O’Brien family. Each boy had the mischievous emerald O’Brien eyes but had inherited their mother’s wild blond curls.
    Melanie held a special place in Liam’s heart; she was the first to make him an uncle. She had a cherub face, bobbed hair the color of rust, and the O’Brien eyes, only hers had flecks of gold in the deep green.
    As soon as the children noticed Liam, they quickly scurried off Daniel.
    “Uncle Liam,” they shouted in unison.
    Crouching down low to give all three a hug, Liam said to Daniel, “I guess they love this uncle more.”
    “I see how it is.” Daniel laughed as he got up. He then tickled the children, causing them to scurry toward the kitchen, where their grandmother was preparing Sunday dinner.
    “Where’s Maggie at?” Liam asked as the two men went to go sit down in the living room.
    “She’s in the kitchen with Mom. She was acting kind of funny, though,” Daniel said. He was still trying to catch his breath from wrestling with his niece and nephews.
    “Funny how?” Liam questioned.
    “I don’t know really. I’m not good at figuring women out, but she wasn’t acting normal, you know what I mean?”
    “Well, not quite. Guess I will have to see for myself in a minute,” Liam said.
    “Don’t say I said anything. I don’t need to be getting into any trouble with her or Mom,” Daniel teased.
    “Where’s Patrick at? I see his little munchkins are here,” Liam said, smiling at the thought of his two nephews.
    “I think he is going over some business stuff with Dad and Grandpa Paddy,” Daniel replied as he stretched out on the soft leather couch, adjusting the pillows and settling into a comfortable position.
    “How’s work been?” Liam sat across from Daniel in a matching dark brown leather recliner. Patrick was much like their father, serious and always concerned about the business, particularly after his wife Beth had died in a car crash three years ago. She had been pregnant with their twin boys when the accident happened, leaving Patrick a devastated widow and a new father. Through the thickness of his grief, Patrick was raising his sons with the help of his family and Beth’s parents, who also lived in Birch Valley.
    Daniel interrupted his thoughts. “Work has been sort of slow, especially with the holidays coming up. But I sort of don’t mind because we’ll be busy as heck in the spring and summer.”
    “How’s Patrick been ?” Liam asked.
    “Eh, Patrick’s been Patrick. So nothing new there.” Daniel shrugged.
    Liam heard footsteps making their way down the hall just before Maggie appeared at the entryway of the living room.
    “Liam, Melanie said you were here. I didn’t hear you come in.” She leaned her slender figure against the wall with her arms crossed casually over her chest. Her soft, chestnut hair framed her heart-shaped face and fell just past her shoulders.
    “Glad you made it in with all this snow we’ve been getting. How was the drive over from Seattle?” Liam asked, trying to read his sister to see if she was acting strange as Daniel had suggested.
    Maggie yawned, covering her mouth and said, “It was okay. We got an early start this morning. The highway was pretty clear for the most part, and they weren’t requiring chains over the mountain pass.”
    “Well, that’s good. So Mom is making something good for dinner?” Liam asked, still not getting the feeling that anything was wrong with his sister.
    “She has a pot roast going.