“It’s all right, lad. Yer safe enough now.”
There was a long silence after he left. Brodie went to the window at the door and glanced below, much like a...worried parent.
He turned then. “There are things we need to talk about.”
We sat across from each other at the desk, the way we had dozens of times. Only I sensed that this was different.
He had changed since that first inquiry case. There were faint flecks of grey among the thick dark hair that curled over the collar of his shirt. There seemed to be a permanent frown line at one corner of his mouth, and of course that cut above his left eye.
But there was something more…
“I wanted to tell ye, from the first of it but…” He shook his head, that dark gaze finally meeting mine.
“Everything happened quickly and he was in danger...Then ye were off on yer own…”
When I would have said something, he shook his head as he came out of the chair and paced across the office as I had seen dozens of times when something bothered him.
“The truth is…” he started to explain, then stopped.
When he seemed to be having some difficulty, I finished the thought. “Is he yours?”
He frowned. “I dinna know.”
The words seemed caught there. He shook his head again.
“I told ye that I found Ellie Sutton work at a public house all those years ago. From there she found work at the club where she met young Matthews. Things had been difficult for them. His father didna approve of her and she had returned...for a while.”
And she had returned to the one person who had helped her.
“We were together for a while, not long. Then Matthews sent word for her. It was obvious she had been hoping the whole time, though I tried to get her to understand how difficult it would be, the differences between them, the disapproval.
“Ye need to know that it wasna like what there is between us,” he added.
As he explained, I suppose I had suspected as much the moment I saw Rory—that dark gaze and the dark hair.
“When she returned over a year ago,” he continued. “I thought he might be mine at the time when I saw him,” he continued. “But she insisted that Matthews was the father. She hoped after all the time that had passed it might be possible for the lad to know his family. It was the reason she came back.”
It was a great deal to take in. Still, I was not naïve that he would have had relationships before. I had not considered that he might have a child. He continued to watch me with that intense gaze.
“I’ve spoken with Adelaide Matthews,” I added. “She believes that he is her grandson. She would like very much to see him.”
“Aye, in time,” he replied. “He’s come through a great deal.”
Something he understood very well, having lost his mother very near the same age.
“There is no way to know for certain if he is mine,” he said then. “But I intend to be part of his life.”
I understood, and would have expected no less.
“We will figure it out together.”
“It’s more than ye bargained for, and I dinna expect ye to be part of it,” he replied. “And there are other considerations. The lad needs to feel safe as he goes through this.”
What was he trying to say? When I would have asked, he stopped me.
“This case...the other night, what could have happened. I have given it a great deal of thought. Ye went to someone who was dangerous, and ye could have been killed.”
It was an old discussion, we’d had before. I thought we had at least reached an agreement about my involvement in our inquiry cases.
