"Don't be so maudlin," he chastised tiredly. "It's bloody awful, true enough, but this needn't be your entire life."

Aldous knew, even if his brother did not consciously recognize it, why Reuben had thought telling him would be useful: it always had been. Even when Aldous had been at the end of his tether where Ben was concerned, he had always come through, had sorted things out. This, though, might prove too difficult a knot for him to untie, but—if not entirely enthusiastic—he was resolved to try.