Page 72 of Nathan

“Of course,” Millie says, the first to react.

She nestles the little girl in Nate’s arms, and he stares down at her, his face a mixture of surprise and wonderment. A warm feeling spreads through my chest. He looks so at peace.

After a couple minutes humming to the baby, she falls asleep.

“You’ve got the gift,” Millie says, grinning as Nate carefully places Aimee back into her mother’s arms. “I might call on you for babysitting duties.”

“I’d like that,” he says quietly.

Declan’s eyes sparkle with what I guess is joy. He confirms it when he says, “I’ve finally gotten my brother back.”

Nate rolls his eyes, his trademark cocky attitude making a comeback. “All right. No need to go all maudlin on me.”

Callum laughs. “There’s the dick we all know. I suppose this means we’ll be seeing your ugly mug around here more often now.”

“You might,” Nate says. “If only to piss you off.”

Callum laughs again. “Bring it.”

I sneak a glance at Nate. Happiness shines from every pore as he banters back and forth with Callum. I’d been right to push him to do this, even if it hadn’t gone as smoothly as I’d have liked.

“Feel up to talking now?” Declan asks.

Nate nods. “Sure.”

“Okay, maybe you can start at the beginning,” Declan says. “Do you still have the letter?”

“No. I put it back where I found it. It was in that old shoebox you kept at the house that was full of cards and pictures we drew for Mom when we were kids.”

“Damn,” Declan says, crestfallen. “I put that in storage a few years ago with the rest of Mom and Dad’s things when we moved into the hotel. Never mind. We’ll go to the lockup tomorrow.” He casts a look at Nate. “If you don’t mind me tagging along, that is?”

Nate shrugs. “Fine by me.”

“Do you know who your dad is?” Laurella asks.

I briefly wonder if she’d drawn the short straw on that particular question, but with her silky-smooth European accent, it somehow sounds better coming from her.

“Not a clue.” Nate’s lips thin. “And I don’t fucking want to know.”

“Don’t you?” I ask. “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” he bites out.

“Even if you did, I’m not sure we’d know where to start,” Declan says. “Twenty-eight years is a long time.”

“Good thing I don’t give a shit, then.”

Callum chuckles. “You’re our brother, all right. Full of attitude.”

Nate flashes a quick grin, then the room falls silent, as if no one knows what else to say. Nate gives me a nudge and cocks his head toward his bedroom. “Two seconds, Titch.”

I frown as he takes my hand and leads me away from his family, then opens the door to the guestroom and motions for me to step inside.

“I’m sorry,” he says the second he shuts the door behind us.

My eyes widen. “For what?”

His chin drops to his chest, and he stuffs his hands deep into his pockets. “For yelling at you when you only had my best interests at heart. For storming out and leaving you here to deal with the fallout. For worrying you.” He blows out a slow breath, his head gradually lifting. When he meets my gaze, he reaches up to trace his fingertips over my cheek. “Do you forgive me?”

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