Page 100 of Silent Partner (Pine Falls 3)

He stared out into the low burning fire. “I didn’t handle it well at first. I didn’t handle it at all,” he amended. “I was a bastard, if I’m being honest. The way I treated your sister—my wife,” he said so reverently, “isn’t something I’m proud of.”

I absentmindedly scratched Oscar’s head, not knowing what to say, just waiting for Brock to say what he felt like he needed to.

“I was cruel,” he whispered. “I made her sleep in a separate room and withheld affection from her. I didn’t want her to talk about the baby. I watched her bravely soldier on, sicker than she’s ever been, yet I did nothing to comfort her.” He had to swallow down his emotion.

My eyes welled with tears. How awful. No wonder Dani had come to sleep at the loft so often. But here I was, not offering my sister any comfort, all while knowing she was in great pain.

“I was angry that she and Brant had betrayed me that way.”

Yes, yes, I was angry too. I nodded.

“But”—he turned toward me—“when your sister almost died because I’d made her feel so uncomfortable that she couldn’t tell me she was miscarrying, I realized how wrong I had been. That nothing on earth mattered more than her, and here I had pushed her away when none of it would have happened if I had been man enough to marry her in the first place when I’d had the chance to.”

I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling like I was about to hear some truths I probably didn’t want to hear.

“Kinsley, they didn’t betray me. They didn’t betray you.”

“But you were dead.” I felt like I still had some room to feel like I had been betrayed.

He gave me a small smile. “True. But even if I wasn’t, I had no claim to Dani, just like you had no claim on my brother.”

My cheeks flushed a furious red—or so I assumed based on how hot they felt. It was true, but they both had known how I felt.

“I don’t say that to hurt you. I say you didn’t have a claim on my brother, but I should add that you had claimed his heart. It was apparent.”

“It was? To whom?”

Brock leaned back and let out a heavy sigh. “You have to understand the world Brant was involved in. What was expected of him. Hell, even I told him to stay away from you from time to time, knowing nothing could ever come of it. I could tell he was attracted to you and vice versa, and I didn’t want him to hurt you.”

“Too late,” I whispered.

He gave me a sympathetic nod. “I know. It seems as if we were destined to hurt the Kramer sisters. You don’t know how grateful I am that Dani has taken me back and forgiven me.”

“But she hurt you.” I was still trying to hold on to anything that pointed the blame at Dani and Brant.

“No, Kinsley. What she did was hurtful, but she didn’t set out to hurt me. Like you said, I was dead, and even while I was alive, I had done my best to keep her at arm’s length. She owed me nothing.”

“What about me?” my voice shook.

“She didn’t set out to hurt you either, but she knows she has and she’s inconsolable. I left her curled up in bed with Gemma, unable to sleep. And she’s hardly been eating.”

I rubbed my chest, feeling awful. I didn’t want her to punish herself like that.

“She wanted to tell you a long time ago, but she couldn’t because my own father was blackmailing her.” His fists clenched. “She was afraid her baby would be taken away from her. And then after she lost the baby, she was afraid of what the Copelands would do to Brant if they knew the truth. And Brant didn’t want to hurt you for no reason. You were dating Tristan, and you seemed happy. Brant thought he’d lost you forever, but then a door opened, and you don’t know how badly he wanted to walk through it, even knowing he would have to own up to the truth. My brother loves you. My wife loves you. This has killed both of them, knowing what it has done to you.”

I looked up to the ceiling; the tears wouldn’t be held back.

“Kinsley.” He took my hand. “I don’t tell you these things to make you feel guilty. You have every right to be hurt. And you should take all the time you need to come to terms with this. All I’m saying is take a look down the road. Where are you going to find the most happiness? Or should I say, who are you going to find the most happiness with? And ask yourself, is that worth the cost of forgiveness?”

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