“Sorry for what? For disrespecting me and my husband by crawling into our daughter’s bedroom when you were both young?”
He winced. “Ah, yes.”
“Hmm.” She pivoted, leaning heavily on the cane. “Follow me.”
It wasn’t an invitation, but an order. Her cane was sinking into the ground, so he tried to walk closer to her, in case she fell, but she seemed fairly surefooted.
They rounded the house, and he took in the modest backyard. As unfair as Nicholas had found the takeover, he’d taken some comfort in knowing the money she’d received from it and the estate was enough for her to live comfortably for the rest of her life, with proper investment.
She led him to a well-built back porch where a larger woman dressed in a blue dress, tights, and a matching fleece sat on the white wicker furniture. The other woman raised an eyebrow at spotting him. “That walk you took came with a souvenir, I see, Tani.”
“I found him trying to break and enter.”
He nodded at Maile, his face heating again. “Hello, Ms. Maile.”
She settled back in her chair. “Boy.”
Mentally, he resigned himself to an awkward delay in finding Livvy.
Tani gestured to a seat to the left of Maile, and then took her own seat to the right once he sat down. He glanced back and forth at the two women he was sandwiched between. They stared at him, but their faces gave nothing away.
Finally Maile spoke. “So. You’re seeing Livvy again.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry you had to find out this way—”
“We knew before you almost broke my trellis.” Tani pursed her lips and poured a cup of coffee from the press in the center of the table.
Maile leaned to look around him. “How did you know?”
“Please. I know everything. Like I knew about this one sneaking into Livvy’s room years ago.”
Maile grinned. “I do like you, sister.”
“You never said anything then,” he said cautiously.
“If she’d been younger, I probably would have intervened. But the way you two looked at each other...” She shrugged. “I assumed if you weren’t sneaking into my home, you’d be sneaking off together somewhere. I kept it from Robert. Livvy’s father—” She cut herself off and cast him a wary glance.
He gestured for her to continue. “I’m fine. What about Robert?”
Her shoulders relaxed imperceptibly. “Robert would have killed you. Olivia was his baby girl.”
“Thanks for not letting me die. I’m sorry we did what we did.”
“Are you?”
“No,” he admitted, with brutal honesty. “I’m sorry you knew, though.”
Maile’s laugh was deep. “You always were an honest boy.”
He accepted the mug of coffee Tani shoved at him, though he didn’t want it. “Thank you.”
“That wasn’t necessarily a compliment. It would have been nice if you’d been a little less honest sometimes.”
The bite in the words didn’t startle Nicholas. He welcomed them. “I hurt Livvy back then. I know that.”
“One of the few things I remember about that time,” Tani said quietly, “was walking past Livvy’s bedroom and seeing Jackson holding her while she wailed on the floor. That was the day you ended your relationship, I believe.”
His heart shredded, imagining his Livvy sobbing after leaving him in those woods, with only her twin to comfort her.I don’t care what that idiot burned down. I will owe you forever for that, Jackson.“Tell me,” he managed.
