They’d danced around the topic of what lay between him and Calder since she’d come to London. It seemed the time for dancing was now done.
“What happened to send you away from your home, Uncle Mungo?”
He looked at Polly to see how she was reacting to this conversation. She was looking at her cup, clearly as uncomfortable as he was. One of her hands was cradling her damaged cheek.
Mungo stomped down the anger. He could do nothing about it if the woman had no wish for him to.
“We’re just different people, Fenella. Let’s leave it there now,” he added as she opened her mouth. “It’s my hope the fog has cleared before you travel.”
“Aye, it’s my hope also,” she said, looking sad. “I’ll miss you, Uncle.”
He felt it again, that spike of heat in his chest at her words.
“I’ll miss you too, lass.” The words came out gruff.
They talked for a while longer, and he pretended to enjoy everything he ate, when the truth was, it tasted like dust now. He wouldn’t hear her sweet laugh, or have her tease him, again.
“Right, now we’ll call you a hackney, and you’ll head straight home, as you cannae see a hand in front of your face out there, niece. Your friend and her family will worry for you if you take too long.”
They rose together, and then Fenella gave him a final hug.
Slipping a hand into his inside pocket as he pulled back,Mungo took out the box he’d placed there earlier. He handed it to his niece.
“There are two things in there. One for you, and the other for your granny. Tell her I love her.” Mungo then bent and kissed her soft cheek one last time. He walked away before she could speak, turning at the door to see her watching him with tears running down her cheeks.
It almost broke his heart.
CHAPTER THREE
“Why is it you are here expecting to be fed when you have homes and families of your own?” Mungo said, lowering the tray onto the table with a snap.
It was early, the day not yet fully formed outside the misted-over windows. This was the parlor the family spent most of their time in. The room had recently been redecorated with cream walls dotted with red-and-gold patterns that made his eyes hurt if he studied them too hard. A thick red carpet, trimmed with the same swirling gold motifs, muffled every footstep. An oversized sofa, bought out of necessity, as the family continued to grow, was the only new furniture.
“Why are you more salty than normal?” Alex, the second eldest Nightingale brother asked.
It had been two weeks since he’d said goodbye to Fenella, and he was still feeling irritable—more so than usual. There was a stabbing pain in the region of his heart when he thought of her, and he wanted it to stop.
All the memories of his homeland he’d long ago buriedhad resurfaced after she’d left London. He was plagued by them night and day.
The heather-covered hills turning purple at dusk, a soft, rippling sea of violet on the moors that he’d loved. The taste of oatcakes, warm from cooking, crumbling and melting in his mouth at the kitchen table with his family.
“He loves us, really,” Alex added with a smirk that Mungo wanted to slap off his face.
“But you’re right. He is testier than normal,” Leo, Lord Seddon, eldest son, agreed.
Both lounged in a seat by the fire that blazed in the grate. The similarities were there when they were seated together. Leo was bigger and Alex cheekier, but there was no doubt they were related.
The day was a miserable one, for all there was no rain. The sun hadn’t found its way through the clouds, and the walls felt like they were closing in on Mungo.
Things he usually loved were annoying him now. Like the fact that Alex always kicked off his boots and rested his stocking-clad feet on the fire surround.
“I have to polish that!” he barked.
“It’s frigid out there, and my toes are numb,” Alex said, holding his hands out toward the flames and keeping his feet where they were.
Mungo had been part of the lives of the people in this room for many years and never regretted a single one, for all that he stated otherwise. They were his family now.
“There is definitely something off with him,” Bramstone Nightingale said from his position seated in a large wingback chair. “Care to share your worries, Mungo?”
