“Why did you leave Bricklebury?” Leelo asked him.

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.”