“Yeah, we. Rhys. Reik. Me. We all know PR isn’t really for you. At least not with McCaim.”
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “But you never said anything.”
“What were we supposed to say? ‘Hey, how about you get a job somewhere else?’ As if you wouldn’t have taken that the wrong way.”
Kind of like the way he’d reacted when his mom had talked to him about it. Ian had jumped to the conclusion that she didn’t have confidence in him. But really, he didn’t have confidence in himself.
“You could have, I don’t know, played guidance counselor or something. Asked a few questions. Maybe hinted that you wouldn’t be pissed if I wanted to do something else.”
“The only guidance counselor in our family disappeared five years ago. The rest of us schmucks have been on autopilot ever since. It’s what made the company so successful.”
“Made?”
Grey sighed. “We’ve got to do things a bit differently from now on. If we’d slowed down a bit, we might have realized Dad was onto something. We might have listened.”
“About time travel?”
The bell for vespers sounded. Mass, the meal—all of it would have to wait. He and his brother were having a come-to-Jesus moment, and no one was more surprised than Ian at this particular turn of events.
“I mean, maybe?”
Ian didn’t think so. After all, it wastime travel. But his brother had a point.
“Ian, why were you so worried to say something? I mean, we figured you couldn’t hate it that much since you never said a word.”
He knew what Grey meant. Ian was usually the sociable one. The extrovert. The baby brother without a care in the world. Except he did have one. More than one. And being left out of the “club” was probably his biggest fear. He never said so aloud, but Ian was desperate to feel he belonged. He wanted to be one of the McCaim boys more than all three of his brothers put together.
“I . . .” He wasn’t sure how to put all of that into words. “I don’t know.”
Grey looked at him. And then pulled him in close. Two hugs in as many weeks. His mother would be so proud of them.
Ian clung to his brother, fighting back tears. He should have said all of that sooner. But he’d been so afraid of what they might say, how they might interpret it.
“I don’t want to lose you guys, again.”
Grey tightened his grip. “I don’t want to lose you either. But whatever you decide, whether it’s to stay here or come back and make your own way—” He pushed Ian back, looking into his eyes. And this time, Grey didn’t turn away. “—I love you.Welove you. Nothing will change that, brother. Ever.”
Ian couldn’t answer him. But he did look away first, giving Grey his first-ever staring contest victory. His brother’s laughter was a clear cover-up for an emotion that made them both uncomfortable. But one they’d gotten plenty of practice with over the last year.
But soon, he hoped to God, it would all be over. The question was, how exactly would this nightmare turned adventure of a lifetime end?
28
“You’ve not been hiding it.”
Ian ran his finger along her cheek. Màiri stretched out on the bed, content to breathe in the scent of him. To wonder which part of her he would explore next. Though they’d been married, truly married, Ian did not seem inclined to cease his explorations, for which she was grateful.
But now he looked at her cheek. This gesture was, in some ways, more intimate than some of the others. Ones Màiri doubted she could ever speak about to anyone, even Marian. He might claim it was natural, nothing about which to be ashamed, but Màiri could feel her cheeks pinken at the thought of it.
“Nay, I don’t try to hide it anymore,” she countered, turning on her side to face him. She pulled the coverlet with her, but Ian pushed it back down.
“And definitely don’t hide those.”
She swatted his hand playfully. “You said my body is mine and mine alone.”
Ian’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe we should have skipped those discussions on women’s rights. I should have never brought it up.”
She knew Ian was not serious. But she pulled the coverlet back up anyway just to torment him.
