Roan sighed and leaned back on his hands.He thought for a moment.
“I didn’t hate you,” he said quietly.“I was protecting you.And Mother.”
What did that mean?
“You know Father was not an easy man,” Roan said, the words seeming to stick in his throat.“He had little patience for anything, and that only grew worse the older he got.I kept him at the tavern as much as I could to keep him away from you and Mother when he was overly fond of his drink.”
His brother paused, moving his feet under the water for a moment before he continued.“When you left, I was afraid that Mother wouldn’t have you as an excuse, and she would have to spend more time with him.And then you came back, and all you could talk about was Thea, and I thought she was just another fling, like so many before, and I didn’t want you to leave Mother again.I know I made a lot of mistakes, but I was trying to protect the two of you.”
“And the café?”Nathaniel pressed.
His brother shrugged.“The tavern was losing money.I thought it would take away our only form of livelihood, and I didn’t know how I would be able to provide for us.I didn’t know what I would do if the tavern went under.”
“But not anymore?”Nathaniel asked.
Roan smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling in a way Nathaniel couldn’t ever remember seeing before.
“Abigail is fixing it.She said it’s been better since the café,” he admitted ruefully, “and she’s helping me fix the rest of it.”
“So the café wasn’t the end of your world?”Nathaniel asked, raising an eyebrow.
“It was not,” Roan admitted.“I’m sorry for all the pain that I’ve caused you and Thea.If I could go back and do it again, I would do things differently.But I don’t regret keeping Father’s attention away from you.I do regret all the years I spent being a beast to everyone—including you—and I wish that we could’ve found our way to being friends sooner.I hope that you will be willing to work on it with me.”
“Not just because Abigail told you to?”Nat asked.
Roan laughed.“Not just because Abigail told me to.”
“Though she does seem to be a good influence on you,” Nathaniel said.
“I believe so,” Roan said, a dreamy look in his eyes.“I will forever be grateful that I finally noticed her, even if it took a curse to make it happen.”
“A what?”Nathaniel asked, widening his eyes.“You were cursed too?”
Roan stared back at him.“You were cursed?”
“Mr.Nat!”a tiny voice shrieked, and Nathaniel turned to see Beth appear on the edge of the riverbank.“Mr.Nat, Miss Agnes said to tell you it’s dinnertime.”
Nathaniel waved his hand toward the child before turning back to his brother.
“We need to talk,” he said.If his brother had also been cursed…they needed to talk about it.
“I agree,” Roan said.“Perhaps you and Thea could meet us for dinner?”
“I would like that.At the tavern?”Nathaniel said with a smile, reaching out to shake his brother’s hand.
“At the tavern,” Roan responded with a smile, clasping his hand and pulling him into a hug.
Nathaniel returned the hug, holding on for a moment longer than felt normal for someone to hug another man—but this was his brother, and he couldn’t remember the last time he had given him a hug.It felt right.
“Mr.Nat, are you coming?”Beth yelled again.
Nathaniel sighed and got to his feet, offering a hand to pull Roan up.
Roan grunted as he took Nat’s hand and pulled himself to his feet.
“You know, I think you’re getting old,” Nathaniel said with a smile that came so easily—though it hadn’t been easy around Roan for a very long time.
“Don’t remind me, pipsqueak.”
