[This post is from Marin’s point of view.]
I sank down next to him, hugging one knee against my chest—as much as I could with my slowly growing belly. I wouldn’t be able to do that much longer. I scooted close to Phelan, close enough our shoulders touched. He closed his eyes, bowing his head.
“Sometimes I think that’s what siblings do,” I murmured, leaning against him. “But like you said, you love her, and she wouldn’t be so damn angry if she didn’t love you, too.”
“I know she does,” Phelan said softly. “It’s not easy, that’s all. Dealing with it—with her—being judged. Usually I’m long gone—or at the very least on my way out—before that starts happening.”
“But,” I prompted. Phelan smiled.
“That’s not an option this time,” he said, then slid an arm around me. “But it’s not going to make dealing with Aoife any easier.”
“We’ll help. I have a lot of experience in dealing with siblings, especially ones that don’t necessarily agree with your decisions.”
“I do seem to recall Matt having some issues with you and Thom being you and Thom.”
“That would be the big one, yes.”
“He got over it.”
“Mostly because we talked,” I said. “Matt and I talked and he and Thom talked. There was something thawing between them before you ever got here. I’m still not entirely clear on what it was. Maybe you just need someone—maybe Jac—to sit down and have a heart-to-heart with her.”
“Jac,” Phelan breathed. “I’m going to marry her, leánnan. Soon, as soon as we can, as soon as it feels safe to do it. I love her. She…it’s like she’s a missing piece.”
“I know how that feels.” I smiled and reached up to tousle his hair. He’d been letting it grow again, though I couldn’t decide whether it was affectation or if he simply hadn’t bothered to have one of us trim it for him. “But you know that.”
He nodded slowly. “I do. It’s strange, though. You and Thom are soul-linked across space and time. For me, it’s like she came out of nowhere.”
“You’re the one that’s always saying that fate works in mysterious ways.”
“True.” He smiled faintly. The rain had eased, shifting to a cool mist that left us more damp than soaked. Phelan squeezed me gently before he let go. “Go on back to Thom. I won’t be much longer out here.”
“I’ll stay until Jac comes for you,” I told him. “No reason you should be alone.”
“I don’t want you to catch your death out here.”
I smiled crookedly. “Somehow, I don’t think this is what kills me, Phelan.”
He got a haunted look for a moment, but he smiled weakly anyway. “I guess not,” he said, then took my hand and squeezed. I squeezed it back.
“You’re going to be stuck with me for a while longer,” I told him. “One way or another.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way, leánnan. Trust me on that. We’d miss you too much if you went away.”
“You’re not going to miss me for a long time.” I leaned my shoulder against his and sat there, staring out through the mist at ink-black trees and the last fading remnants of winter, listening to the faint sounds nature and our camp and letting the stress of the day begin to ebb.
It was one last quiet moment before my world got tipped on its side again.
You like suspense, don’t you.
Maybe a little.
This was also the end of the chapter–I ended up writing Wednesday’s update on the bus heading downtown on Sunday morning. For a second I thought you were talking about that ending until I remembered it’s not up yet.
Just waiting for the shoe to drop (them finding out about Matt).