Maybe he would need to vacate it.
It was certainly the first time Roan had found someone.It wouldn’t surprise him at all if they made a match of it.
But it meant Nathaniel would no longer have a home other than the orphanage.
Still, it was better to spend time with children than to be alone, so perhaps it was for the best.
He climbed the steps of the front door and reached to open it, the noise from beyond hitting him before he even did so.
If he wanted peace and quiet to read his letters, he should’ve known better than to think he could find it here.The moment the door opened, a crowd of children converged on him.
“Mr.Nathaniel,” they cried, jumping on him and throwing their arms around him.“Where were you yesterday?”
It had been quite some time since he’d gone more than a day without visiting or even staying over.Part of it was that they wanted a man around to protect the women and children, and part of it was that he had just been so lonely.
“I had to help Miss Thea at the café,” he said.“She was not feeling well yesterday.”
“We missed you,” one of the little ones said, wrapping her arms around his neck as he stood, clinging on for dear life.
“I missed you, too,” he said, tousling her hair as he returned the hug.“I need to go to my office for a little while.I have some papers to read, but then I will come and play with you—if I finish in time,” he added, as an afterthought.
If he turned into a cat, he wouldn’t be able to go and play with them.Not unless he wanted to have his tail pulled.
“But first, I think I need a snack.”
Better to have a full stomach in case of feline shenanigans happening.
“A snack?!”the children shrieked happily, towing him toward the kitchen.
He sneezed and froze, panic coursing through his body at the thought that he might turn into a cat in front of the children.
“Come on, Mr.Nathaniel,” Beth said, yanking on his hand.
“Out with you,” Agnes said, waving her wooden spoon at all the children as they entered the kitchen.“You know better than to all come crashing in here before it’s time to eat.”
“But Mr.Nathaniel said it was snack time,” a tiny voice protested, and Agnes’s eyes softened.Toward the child, not toward him.
“Of course he did,” she said, clicking her tongue at him.“I think Mr.Nathaniel is always hungry, don’t you?”
The children laughed and nodded their heads in agreement as the cook sighed.“Well, I suppose we can get him a snack,” she said.“And I don’t suppose any of you were hoping to join him, were you?”
The children exclaimed, and Nathaniel offered Agnes a grin as she sighed and began to set out bowls.
“Sorry,” he said.“I didn’t expect my urge for a snack to inconvenience you.”
“What did you expect when you brought half the children with you?”she said, but there was teasing in her voice.“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
“I should hope not,” he said.
Agnes, a widow who had needed an occupation, had been the perfect fit to help manage the orphanage.It didn’t hurt that she was also a fantastic cook.
“Thank you, Agnes,” Nathaniel said, dropping a kiss on her cheek before helping her scrape butter onto bread and put food in front of hungry children.
“What do we say?”he asked the children, who turned to Agnes and said in unison, “Thank you, Ms.Agnes.”
Nathaniel sat down on a stool, and immediately, tiny Beth squirmed her way onto his lap.“I was going to eat,” he protested, but she didn’t say anything and only settled into his arms.Nathaniel sighed and ate his bread, lifting his arm around her head.“You’re making this quite difficult, you know that?”
She giggled as she ate her own bread and butter, and Nathaniel smiled and rolled his eyes.
