“We need to be there when that ship arrives,” Forrest said.
“Agreed. We will tell the others.”
…
They took a hackney. Zach had handed him a seaman’s coat and hat, so he would blend in.
“This smells,” Nathan said, sniffing his coat.
“Yes, well, whoever wore it before you possibly worked for a living,” Zach said, his words heavily laced with sarcasm.
Nathan leaned across closer to his little brother and stared at him. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Zach snarled.
“Oh, now that’s not true,” Gabe said. “I’ve known you since you were born, and you can be excessively annoying most of the time, but rarely are you angry and snarling.”
“What’s going on, Zach?”
Forrest looked at his hands.
“He knows and we don’t?” Michael snapped.
“How do you know I know?” Forrest looked at the others in the hackney.
“You look down when you’re uncomfortable,” Gabe said.
“No, I don’t.”
“You just did it again.” Nathan smirked.
Damn.
“It is not my story to tell.”
“No, we guessed that. It’s his.” Gabe nudged Zach with his boot. “So, tell it.”
“What if I don’t want to?” He sounded like a petulant child.
“We’ll sit on you until you do,” Nathan said.
“I said something about Mary, and she heard, and it upset her.”
Forrest rarely heard Zach speak in that serious tone.
“It was my fault. I asked him if the animosity between him and Mary came from something else. He refuted that, loudly. Mary was nearby,” Forrest added. He still felt guilty over provoking his cousin.
“You idiot.” Michael looked disgusted.
“What exactly did you say?” Gabe asked.
“That I could never be attracted to a woman like that, and had Forrest actually looked at her.” Zach’s voice was flat and cold.
“You idiot,” Gabe said. “What were you thinking, to speak that way? Your verbal sparring has never been personal before.”
“Mary is lovely. Intelligent, and nothing like her simpering sister,” Michael added.
“Her mother dresses her, Zach. She has no say in her clothes. Beth told me,” Nathan added.
