Unexpected Entanglement (Echo #3)

1. Chapter 1

one

Vinalhaven Island, Maine—October

It ’ ll be beautiful .

Rowan Kelly stood and admired her handiwork in the bathroom of one of the newly built honeymoon cottages. The brass fixtures shone brightly against the cool gray tiles of the en-suite, adding a touch of warmth and elegance to the space. She envisioned the room with fluffy white towels, complimentary toiletries in glass bottles and jars, and fresh flowers from the farm in a quirky vase created by the island’s local potter, creating a cozy, inviting atmosphere.

She gathered broken-down boxes under one arm, picked up the toolbox with the other, and walked outside into the dimming daylight. She dumped the lot into the cargo bay on the back of her utility cart.

After sliding behind the steering wheel, she paused to study the cottage. It was one of four cottages they’d added to the property—three one-bedroom honeymoon cottages and one family cottage with four bedrooms. The exterior design echoed the classic New England look of the main house with its gray cedar-shingle siding and black roof, but everything inside was all about clean and modern design.

It ’ s all coming together .

Rowan wore a big smile of pride as she drove to the main house standing in the middle of over two hundred acres of land. It was a massive undertaking to overhaul the abandoned family property into a working farm and inn again. It proved to be the project that brought her family back together.

Between her and Dad’s work in Freeport and Kieran’s ambition to restart the farm on their late grandparents’ property on this island, they’d hardly spent time together as a family after Mom passed three years ago.

The main house slowly materialized as she drove up the little hill from the water’s edge. Seeing it now, standing large and dignified again, it was hard to believe that it’d almost been completely ruined by years of abandonment and sea weathering.

Rowan spotted a man standing at the top of a tall ladder leaning on the side of the house. Her brows knitted together over the bridge of her nose. “What the hell is he doing up there?”

She stepped on the gas pedal harder.

Skidding to a stop by the stone walkway leading up to the front of the house, she jumped out and skipped the stones two at a time. When she got to the ladder’s base, she looked up and found her dad grinning.

“I told you I would change those floodlight bulbs,” Rowan scolded her almost sixty-year-old father. “I don’t want you climbing too high without anyone spotting you.”

“It’s done!” Neal dismissed Rowan’s concern and climbed down the rungs. “I’ve climbed more ladders than you ever have, missy.”

“It’s not the climbing I’m worried about, Dad,” she retorted. “It’s safety. I wouldn’t go that high without someone spotting this old wooden ladder, either. We should get a new one.”

Neal stepped off the last rung and faced his daughter. “By all means, get a new one, but this one stays. This ladder has been a part of this place since your grandfather’s time. It should take part in its revival.”

Rowan smiled indulgently at her father. He’d been reminiscing about the past lately. “Fine, but let’s only use it for interior work, nothing so high that we need to use the extension.”

She helped him pull the top extension down and carried it inside to be used the next day. They had contractors do most of the extensive construction work, but they, as a family, had decided to tackle the interior cosmetics themselves. She’d never seen her dad happier than when he was doing woodwork.

As one of the top executives at Maine’s largest outdoor clothing and recreational equipment retail company, Neal Kelly hadn’t had the chance to do much carpentry in the past few decades.

“Let’s call it a day. The sun is setting.” Rowan unbuckled her tool bet and set it down on the makeshift workbench in the middle of the large room that would become the lobby and sitting area. The walls were now fitted with large windows, letting the gorgeous outside views in.

“Ayuh,” Neal agreed in his Mainer drawl. “There’s a nip in the air, finally. A good night for a big bowl of chowdah.”

Rowan grinned. “You can take a Mainuh out of Maine, but you can’t take Maine out of a Mainuh .”

Neal had spent most of his younger days traveling the country, establishing branches in different states when the company had gone national. She remembered the times when he’d been gone for months. But he’d always come home to them. Maine was always in his blood.

They locked up the main door and walked down the stone pathway. But when Rowan headed to her utility vehicle, Neal turned toward the water.

“There’s still light. Let’s take a little walk,” Neal suggested. “I find my limbs a little stiff today.”

She studied her father. “Are you feeling okay?”

Neal nodded as he started walking across the lawn. “Just not used to all this physical work anymore, you know.”

Rowan stepped next to him and rolled down her flannel shirtsleeves. He was right: There was a touch of chill in the air. The temperature probably had dipped to the low fifties now that it was October. She loved it.

“How did you do at the cottages?” Neal asked.

“I finished installing the fixtures. They’re ready for the final inspection.” Rowan jammed her hands into her jeans’ pockets. “We’ll get this place ready for operation and Meredith’s wedding next summer.”

He flashed her a proud smile, reminding Rowan that her father was one handsome man. She bet he’d turned many girls’ heads when he was young. But he’d only committed to one woman, her mother, which reminded her of something: her parents’ wedding anniversary.

“Are you thinking about Mom? You would’ve been married for thirty-five years,” Rowan mentioned.

“That we would’ve.” The smile faded from her father’s lips, and he averted his eyes toward the water. “Say, when is that Dick going to pop the question, huh?”

Rowan laughed. “Richard, Dad. You know he doesn’t like being called Dick.”

Neal innocently shrugged. “Is he planning to make an honest woman out of you?”

She scoffed at his term.

“You’ve been together for five years. What are you waiting for?” he asked.

“We’ve talked about it. It’s just not the right time yet.”

“When is the right time?”

“Richard wants to reach his goal of being a regional VP before he turns thirty-five.” She and Richard worked in the same company where her father was chief of operations. While she was in merchandising, Richard was a few levels directly below her father.

“That’s the only thing stopping you from getting married?” Rowan could feel her dad’s probing eyes on her as she pretended to inspect her well-worn work boots as they strolled.

She couldn’t tell her father she didn’t know if she wanted to marry Richard. But as if he could read her mind, Neal threw an arm around her shoulders.

“Why are you staying with a man you don’t love, sweetheart?” he asked gently.

Rowan’s gaze flew to his face. “Who says I don’t love him?”

He gave her a knowing smile. “Your silence says enough. Even if you love him, you don’t love him enough to marry him. Trust me, don’t commit yourself to someone because you feel you have to. If five years haven’t convinced you to marry him, cut your losses.”

“What do you mean?” Rowan frowned. “Richard is a good man. He has a lot of potential—”

“But does he excite you?” Neal asked. “Does he light the fire within you?”

“Are you asking about our sex life?” Her eyes widened. “Because that’d be weird. ”

Her father burst into laughter. “Physical passion is definitely important, but I’m talking about the fire within us. It burns bright when we’re the happiest, and it’s usually fueled by people who love us the most—people we love the most.”

He squeezed her shoulders. “You should find that person. Don’t settle.”

“Where is this coming from? I’ve never heard you talk like this before.” Rowan eyed her father with a questioning smirk. “Are you talking from experience, Dad? Did Mom light your fire?”

The brightness in her father’s blue eyes dulled at the mention of her mother. With a sigh, he slowly pulled his arms back to his sides and jammed his hands into his work pants’ pockets.

“Dad?” Rowan’s brows turned down in puzzlement.

Neal kept walking and stopped at the edge of the rocky cliff where the family cottage stood on one side. He studied the building with its cozy porch facing the water and smiled again. Though regret seemed to cloak his face.

Out of nowhere, Rowan had a foreboding sense that whatever her father was about to tell her would tilt her world.

In seconds, Neal Kelly had aged a decade. The lines on his face deepened as he pursed his lips.

“Dad, what is it?” Rowan rubbed his arm, hoping to allay whatever suddenly plagued him.

Neal looked into the distance, beyond the cove. “I have so many regrets, Rowan. I don’t want you to make the same mistakes I did.”

“What do you mean?” Rowan probed. “What regrets?”

He glanced back at the main house. “I let your grandparents down by letting this place rot, for one.”

“But look what you’ve done now. We’re making it even better than before.”

“But we had to give up eighty acres of wild land to add to the funds of this project. This land had been in our family for decades. It was—”

“Necessary, Dad,” she reminded. “I think Grandpa would understand. He’d be proud to see what we’ve done with the house and the additions. And Grandma would be happy to see what Kieran has done with the farm.”

“You’re right.” Neal smiled at her. “Your brother has worked hard these past two years reestablishing the farm. He actually turned a profit last summer. I’m proud of him.

“I’m so proud of both of you.” He took Rowan’s hand in his large hand and squeezed it. “That’s why it is so hard to say what I need to tell you.”

She chuckled. “Dad, you’re making me nervous.”

Her father studied her face and murmured, “You look so much alike.”

Rowan tilted her head with a puzzled smile. “Who? I don’t look like Mom or Kieran. I take after you.” Her hair was a lighter red than his, but her eyes were the same clear blue. Nobody would miss that she came from him.

Her father swallowed as if he was nervous, and beads of perspiration appeared on his forehead, making Rowan more uneasy.

What is he talking about?

“Your sister.” A breeze ruffled the trees and shed the little remainder of their leaves as he spoke, masking his words.

“I’m sorry. My what?” Rowan blinked, not sure if she’d heard him right.

Neal looked away to the sea, avoiding her eyes, before repeating, “You have a sister, Rowan. A half-sister.”

Recoiling from the news, she snatched her hand away from his. “I have a what?”

“I’ve been holding this shame my whole life.” He spoke as if to himself. “Keeping her a secret is my biggest regret.”

Rowan stared at her father, who still wouldn’t meet her eyes.

This must be a prank.

“This a joke, right? Did Kieran put you up to this?” She laughed and looked for her big brother, thinking he’d jump out from behind a tree. The fact that Kieran hadn’t pulled a prank on her since they’d been teenagers didn’t stop her from hanging on the theory.

“I know this is difficult to process, but this isn’t a joke.” Neal turned to Rowan. If his words didn’t convince her, his face did. It screamed guilt .

The remainder of Rowan’s laughter froze with the rest of her limbs. But her brain picked up speed. A million questions raced through her head, but none she uttered.

“I’d just married your mother. She was pregnant with Kieran. I didn’t plan to be married at that time. I wanted to explore the world and resented being tied down,” Neal explained.

Rowan shook her head in disbelief. She’d known Kieran was the trigger of their parents’ marriage, but she’d always thought they’d married because of love.

“At the height of my resentment, I took a job that sent me away weeks at a time. I got to see the country just like I wanted, without giving a thought to your mother being home with a baby.” Neal scoffed at himself. “I was a selfish bastard.”

Hearing about this past version of her dad baffled Rowan, but her brain kept coming back to the half-sister she apparently had. It belatedly dawned on her that a half-sister meant there was another woman.

“You cheated on mom on one of those trips,” Rowan cut her father’s story short.

Her father shifted where he stood as she glared at him. He gave a short nod.

“When did this happen?” Rowan’s eyes burned with unshed tears as the father she knew transformed into a stranger right before her eyes.

“I met her not long after Kieran was born.”

“And you have a daughter with her?”

“She gave birth a year and a half later.”

Rowan did a quick calculation in her head. “Mom was pregnant with me.”

“She was.”

“My god.” She stumbled back, needing space from him.

Neal reached out an arm toward her. “Rowan, you have to understand. I was a different person—”

“I don’t have to understand anything!” She reeled from his touch. “Why are you telling me this now? Did mom know about this? Kieran?”

“Your mom figured it out eventually and made me choose. And I stayed—the only choice I thought I had at that time with your mom being diagnosed with her illness. It’s a decision that has haunted me since. ”

Her father, who’d appeared energized just ten minutes before, had lost his steam and now looked deflated. “I told you I have many regrets. Some mistakes I have to live with for the rest of my life, but I’d like to atone for some of my sins while I still can. First, by telling you and Kieran about—”

“By telling us what? That you resented us for tying you down?” Rowan spat. “I’m sorry we kept you from exploring the world, Dad. But we didn’t stop you from sowing your oats, did we? Are you sure you only have one illegitimate daughter out there?

“Who the fuck are you?” she ranted in near sobs. “I don’t even know who you really are anymore.”

“Rowan!” Her father’s voice rose in a warning at her vulgar accusations, but Rowan’s blood was boiling with his betrayal.

“You don’t get to claim moral high ground here.” Rowan pointed in anger.

“You’re right. I don’t.” Neal lifted his hands in a calming gesture. “Sweetheart, I’m still Dad. You and Kieran are my pride and joy. Being your father has been my privilege. My regret is that I had to abandon another child so I could stay with you.”

“So it’s our fault?”

“Don’t twist my words, Rowan. If you’d stop interrupting me, I’d explain to you.”

“No need for further explanation. I get the gist.” Rowan laughed with no humor. “You resented having to marry your girlfriend after you knocked her up. So you left her to take care of a baby solo while you went off to god knows where and knocked up another woman. And you have the gall to tell me thirty-something years later that Kieran and I have a secret half-sister? A child— your child—you abandoned for us. Do you expect me to be grateful that you chose us, Dad?”

“Rowan—”

“I can’t even look at you right now.” Rowan walked away from the father she’d worshipped all her life.

“Rowan!” Neal called out. “Rowan, don’t—”

Her father’s voice trailed off, followed by a deep groan and a thud. In her anger, Rowan didn’t stop.

“Row...an.”

The sudden strain in his voice made her glance back at him. In a flash, all anger evaporated as she ran to her dad.

“Dad!” Rowan found Neal sprawled on the grass, his eyes filled with pain, his limbs rigid. “Dad, what’s wrong? ”

She ran her hands over his chest, not sure what was happening. “Dad, tell me, what’s hurting? Breathe, breathe.”

“Rowan,” her father wheezed out her name.

“Don’t speak, Daddy. Just breathe.” Rowan fumbled with her phone and dialed 911. “This is Rowan Kelly over at Bright Head Farm & Inn. I need an ambulance at the inn side. I think my dad is having a heart attack.”

Rowan watched her father’s eyes close, and she dropped her phone. “No, Daddy. Stay with me.”

His lids lifted weakly. His lips were moving, but she couldn’t hear what he said. She bent forward to get closer to him.

“Find…” he whispered, “Rae.”

“What?” Rowan didn’t understand what he meant, and she couldn’t really think. “Daddy, you’re going to be fine. The ambulance is on the way. I’m sorry I yelled at you. I’m sorry!”

But his eyes closed, and he went limp.

“Dad!” Rowan checked his breath, then his pulse with trembling fingers. None. She quickly laid her father’s head back on the ground and tried remembering the steps of CPR she’d learned years ago.

Oh god, what am I supposed to do?

Rowan called out a command to her phone, “Call Kieran!”

As the phone rang, she tilted her father’s head back to open his airway. Pinching his nostrils shut, she gave him her breath.

Pick up, pick up, pick up!

The sound of a siren echoed over the soft surf hitting the rocks on the shore and the phone calling her brother. Rowan continued breathing for her father, hoping she bought him enough time until the EMT arrived.