He looks, in short, like a man who has been on guard duty for fifteen years and has finally, finally been told he can rest.
“I’m sure,” he says quietly. “It’s time for me to go.” He looks down at the baby and strokes the back of her head with one knuckle, light as a feather. “There is nothing here for me to do anymore. Lukas has released me from my service. My nephew has a wife and a daughter and a life I do not need to be inserting myself in the middle of. The city… The city was never mine. It was just a place where I owed a debt.”
“And the Catskills are yours?” I ask.
He nods. “As of tomorrow, they will be. I bought a little place last week. A small cabin outside Phoenicia. I’m told there is a creek nearby.” His mouth twists upward. “I plan to do absolutely f**k-all for a year.”
“You
