Bridge to Home (Wynn Harbor Inn #1)

Prologue

Harlow Wynn stared wide-eyed, unblinking at Wynn Harbor Inn’s majestic lodge, or what was left of it. The acrid smell of smoldering timbers singed her nostrils.

Her stomach churned, and she desperately needed to cough…to clear the burning in her lungs. Instead, she stood frozen, ramrod straight and unable to look away.

Firefighters worked in unison, dragging their hoses to the section of the structure that housed the lodge’s small apartment. Dodging the workers, Harlow saw her father not once, but twice, trying to enter the burning structure only to be stopped by the fire captain .

She clenched her fists, praying for a miracle that her mother had somehow escaped the raging inferno.

Harlow wasn’t sure how long she stood there. All she knew was that she would stay…stay and pray, believing Gwendolyn Wynn was still alive and had somehow miraculously survived.

Time moved in slow motion. The fire died down. The wall of flames turned to embers. A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. David Wynn, Harlow’s father, with a look of utter defeat, exhaustion and shock etched on his face, trudged toward her. He didn’t have to tell her. Harlow knew her mother had perished in the fiery inferno.

“She’s…gone.” Harlow, her throat parched from the heat and smoke, choked out the words. “Mom died in the fire.”

“I’m sorry, Harlow. She…” David Wynn reached for his daughter’s arm .

Something deep inside her snapped. An anger as hot as the fire erupted. Harlow’s whole body shook as she jabbed her finger at him. “This is all your fault!”

“You know that isn’t true. I was in the cottage when the fire broke out. I loved your mother.”

“Did you? Then why was she living in the manager’s apartment instead of at home?” Harlow spun on her heel.

Her father reached out to stop her.

She jerked her arm from his grasp, seething with rage. “You might not have set the fire, but it’s your fault Mom is dead.”

“How can you say that?” David’s voice cracked. “Please, Harlow. You’re not thinking straight.”

“You’re wrong. I am thinking straight. Crystal clear, in fact. I’m leaving Mackinac Island. Your precious Wynn Harbor Inn is all yours because I can promise you one thing. After I leave here, I’m never coming back.”