Page 95 of The Poison Season

He glanced down at her with dark, kind eyes. “I raise wolfhounds now, in the countryside. There’s more room for the hounds to run. Besides, the hunting here wasn’t good anymore. The forest was changing.”

She raised her eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“It wasn’t like Endla,” he said quickly. “I don’t mean that. It just...it didn’t feel safe anymore.”

“Do you have a family?” It was probably none of her business, but she wanted to know if he still cared for her mother the way Fiona clearly did for him. If maybe her mother still had the chance for a happy ending after all these years.

“No,” he said. “I never married.” Leelo had the sense he wanted to say something about Fiona, but he must have been feeling shy as well, because he didn’t speak anymore.

At the market, Leelo walked with Jaren, one eye on all the goods for sale and the other on Nigel. She knew her mother had trusted him, but she’d only known him for a few months, and that had been years ago. She would let Tate make his own decisions, but not before she’d had a chance to study him.

After he’d finished catching up with the townspeople, Nigel bought three sandwiches and invited Tate and Leelo to have lunch with him while the Rebanes and Kasks did their shopping.

“Do you want me to come with you?” Jaren asked, his arm still wound tightly through Leelo’s.

“It’s okay,” she said, kissing him on the cheek. “I think this is something we need to do alone.”

They walked to the bank of a small creek and settled on the grass, where Nigel passed out the sandwiches. “So tell me, Tate, how are you liking life on the mainland?”

“It’s all right,” Tate mumbled around his food. Leelo was tempted to tell him to be more polite, but Nigel wasn’t her father, and they would have to find their own footing together.

“Are you enjoying beekeeping?”

“I didn’t like the bees at first. But I’m used to them now. I got stung a few times at the beginning, but once I learned how to be still around them, they stopped.”

Nigel nodded. “That’s a little like me with the dogs. At first, they were big and intimidating. But once you get used to them, you realize they would never hurt you on purpose.”

Leelo glanced at Nigel. She suspected he was talking about more than just wolfhounds.

“It must have been difficult,” Nigel continued. “Leaving the only home you’ve ever known. And it must have broken your mother’s heart to let you go.”

Tate glanced at Leelo. She didn’t want to interfere in their relationship, but she could see that her brother was uncomfortable with these kinds of questions. If she was ever going to get to know him, she needed to talk to Nigel alone.

“Tate, why don’t you go and get us some of that fresh lemonade I saw on sale,” Leelo said, handing him a few coins that Jaren had given her. “Take your time.”

He nodded, looking relieved, and hurried away.

“I’m sorry,” Nigel said almost immediately after he was gone. “I shouldn’t have brought up your mother.”

Leelo tossed some of the crust of her sandwich to a pair of ducks swimming in the creek. “It’s all right. I haven’t told Tate everything yet. There are things I’m not sure he’s ready to know.” Things she wasn’t ready to talk about.

“Does your father know?” he asked after a long silence.

Saints, he thought Kellan was still alive. Why wouldn’t he? The last thing he knew, Fiona was married with one young daughter. “My father died,” Leelo said. “When Tate was just a baby.”

All the color drained from Nigel’s face. “How? When?”

Leelo explained about her father and Uncle Hugo, stressing again that Tate didn’t know any of this and she wasn’t ready to tell him. He had been through enough already.

When she was finished, Nigel blinked and cleared his throat. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea. Your poor mother. She must have had a very difficult time after your father passed, raising two children on her own.”

“She did. She’s had a hard life.”

“I hate to think I made it harder.”

Leelo swallowed down the lump rising in her throat. “She misses you.”

Nigel looked up at her in surprise. “She spoke about me?”

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