Daughter on his Doorstep (HC #2)

10: Mutt Secret Cabin

They walked for a long while, negotiating tall trees and prickly bushes in companionable silence. It was interrupted only by the occasional whine from Mutt. Every so often the flora would thin into patches of sparse growth or clearings, and here the going was easier. The first clearing they stumbled into looked awfully familiar. Vincent pressed his way across it, not intending to pause, and it was Thomas who slowed, turning in one slow circle.

"The last time I was here Henry rearranged my face," he commented softly, without any of the acidity one might expect to accompany the memory.

Indeed he was correct. They were standing in the middle of the same clearing the Thornes had lured them to only a year previously; if his family had had their way, neither the Humphreys or David or he would have been alive to tell the tale. And yet somehow the beating he'd taken was not the most painful part of that memory. Instead, it was the questions that followed after.

"You're the only one who never asked what the secret was," Thomas commented suddenly, his hands set deeply in the pockets of his coat. "Even Beth had me in her crosshairs at one point, though it was kindly meant."

Vincent's head tilted back and forth; that wasn't strictly true. "The... If... Just because I never asked you doesn't mean I never asked."

Thomas huffed a small laugh. "Then who did yo-" His smile froze. "Matt." He took a moment, bending down under the pretence of scratching Mutt's chin to hide his expression. When he straightened, he was the very picture of equanimity. "Did he reveal anything like you'd hoped?"

"No." Vincent wasn't aware how bitter he remained about that until he felt his teeth grind. "He seems to have taken your side in the matter."

Although his gaze was fixed on the grass between them, he could feel Thomas' gaze burning into the top of his head.

"I'm sorry," he offered after a long moment.

The apology surprised Vincent, and he looked up. Thomas was still watching him, but there was a softness around his dark eyes that hadn't been there before.

"I know how close you are. It must be," he thought for a moment, "difficult to have him keep something from you."

Vincent's heart thumped once in agreement. "It's not pleasant," he admitted. He and Matt had shared everything since the moment the younger was born. Mistakes, victories, adventures, tragedies... there had not been a secret between them in twenty years. And now one stood between them by the name of Thomas. "But his support of you has value. I know that whatever your secret, it cannot be all that bad."

If Vincent was persuaded to look into his heart of hearts, he might admit that Thomas did not need Matthew's support for him to be sure his secret was conscionable; the man already had Vincent's.

Thomas seemed to absorb that slowly, his dark face marred by a frown. "If you guessed it, I'd own to it," he said quickly, before he could think better of it.

Brushing his hair back out of his face, Vincent shrugged one shoulder. "I'm afraid I have no good guesses. I have thought of nothing that could insult the duke, garner Matt's support and reconcile with... you. Unless..." he frowned, but the curve of the lips gave away humour. It was most... un-Vincent-like. "If you'd had an affair with a person your father viewed as unsuitable, perhaps fathered a bastard? You would be supporting them, no doubt, but perhaps your father objects to you legally claiming the child? I'm not sure where Matt would come into it though... The woman might be an acquaintance of his?" His eyebrow raised slightly. "Have I hit the nail on the head?"

Thomas was grinning. "Funnily enough, no."

Vincent shrugged. "Perhaps next time."

The other man narrowed the distance between them. "You're a very confusing man, Daniel Vincent Humphrey. Each time I think I've accurately sized you up, you do something to surprise me."