Page 87 of Enchanted Heir
“Why? What’s going on?”
Owen sighed. “Look, there are times he needs me. When he’s pissed or plotting or needs something to hit. But there are times he needs you. Like now. When he needs to be reminded of the good in the world.”
“You’re scaring me,” I said quietly.
He lightly nudged me toward the veranda doors. “Just go talk to him. Ask him why he sits in the rain on occasion.”
I let out a sigh. “Okay.”
“If you need me, holler.”
I grabbed my coat before opening the door. A blast of cold still hit my face and every inch of my skin not covered with my coat stung with the cold as I made my way out on the veranda. It was not nice out at all.
“Krew?” I asked gently as I put the umbrella up and came toward him.
He didn’t turn back; he didn’t seem to hear me at all. He just kept sitting there on the bench in the freezing rain looking forward.
I walked to stand right in front of him, the umbrella the only thing keeping me from being drenched. “Krew,” I snapped. “What are you doing?”
His response was to look up at the sky. “Sitting in the rain.”
“Why?”
“I’m waiting for it to run out,” he responded, like it was the most obvious answer in the realm. Water was running off his eyelashes, his hair matted down, and he wasn’t even wearing a coat. His black tailcoat looked drenched enough to ring out.
“You’re scaring me. Come back inside.”
He shook his head and put a sound barrier around us. “Eventually, the rain runs out, love.”
I sat next to him, holding the umbrella over us both, not knowing how else to help or what was going on. Or how to get him back inside.
“It’s Warrick’s birthday today.”
Oh. Oh no.Today was the day he lost Cessa and also the day Warrick was born.
I reached for his hand and squeezed.
“Eventually, the rain runs out,” he repeated. “It might take an hour. A day. But eventually, the rain always runs out.”
Hearing the anguish in his voice had my eyes filling with tears. This man had lost so much on this day.
He looked down at our hands, his cold fingers intertwined with mine. “I’ve been waiting my entire life for his reign to run out. When I sit out here and the last droplets run dry, it reminds me it’s still a possibility after all. Even the hardest rains eventually run out.”
“I’m sorry, Krew.”
Water droplets were still pouring down his face from his wet hair as he turned to look me in the eyes for the first time since I’d been out here. “I didn’t wish to make you sad.”
I smiled at him. “I can handle it, I’m just sorry for all that you’ve been through. And though Warrick is alive and well thanks to you, your father still took him from you.”
“I’ve hated him a long time, but I hate him even more for every birthday and major holiday I miss.”
What could I possibly say or do that would help him feel better? “I’m so sorry. May I at least sit with you?”
He nodded. “I’d like that.”
And so we sat under the umbrella, me in a coat and holding onto his freezing hand, waiting for the rain to run out.
Countless minutes later, as the rain turned to sleet, I began to shiver.
