Unexpected Entanglement (Echo #3)

2. Chapter 2

two

The Bright Head Farm & Inn, Vinalhaven Island, Maine—June, eight months later

Rowan gazed out the large windows of the inn’s library, but she wasn’t seeing the beautiful view in front of her. She was numb with disbelief.

She’d been filling up the library’s new built-in shelves with an extensive selection of books when she answered the estate lawyer’s phone call. She’d imagined the future guests of the Bright Head Farm & Inn borrowing the popular cozy mysteries or thrillers she’d selected. Or, if they preferred, there were also a healthy number of romance novels from the sweet to the spicier kind. There were many reading and entertainment options for children and teenagers of all ages, including board and card games. She’d thought of everything guests might need in case indoor recreation was called for.

Though the future of the inn might be in jeopardy as she listened to the lawyer on the phone.

“Do you understand what I have explained, Miss Kelly?” Miss Clark asked.

Rowan finally found her voice, though what came out sounded more like a croak. “No, Miss Clark. I’ve allocated most of the funds for the staff I’m supposed to hire and the final preparations for the inn. We are already behind schedule as it is. Now you’re telling me I can’t access the funds my father left us unless all trustees consent to the fund appropriation? I don’t know how we can continue to the next phase.”

“My advice is to postpone the next phase until we can resolve the issue with the third trustee,” Miss Clark stated.

The next phase was the soft opening of the inn for the rest of the high season. But first, she had to prepare for her cousin Meredith’s wedding in two weeks. So Miss Clark’s informing Rowan that she and Kieran couldn’t withdraw money from the Bright Head trust fund threw a wrench in her plan.

“And when can we resolve this?” Rowan almost screeched in her frustration.

“We are doing our best to reach Miss Allen,” Miss Clark replied.

It had been months since the reading of her father’s will. The passing of the Bright Head estate’s ownership to his children had been expected, but when the lawyer had read the third name—Rae Allen—Kieran had stood up and left the room without a word, while Rowan had sat there and prevented the lawyer from calling Kieran back.

Her father’s last words had echoed in her head: “Find Rae.”

It’d taken Kieran and her some time to digest the new reality, but they’d eventually accepted it, albeit, in Kieran’s case, somewhat begrudgingly.

“She hasn’t responded to the letters?” Rowan asked. “Can’t you call her?”

“We are doing everything we can. Given the nature of Miss Allen’s profession, it is possible she isn’t in the country and hasn’t received her mail yet.”

“Then be more creative. This is the twenty-first century, Miss Clark. There are other ways to reach a person besides the mail and telephone,” Rowan rebuked.

“We’ll try different avenues. I’ll update you as soon as I hear from Miss Allen,” Miss Clark assured, then said goodbye.

Rowan looked at the cellphone in her hand in utter disbelief. She heaved a long sigh and shook her head, willing the headache to disappear. She had a full day ahead of her. She couldn’t let the call plague the rest of her day.

She was adding “research Rae’s sites” to her already long to-do list when she heard the front door open. She left the library and found Kieran taking space in the lobby. She’d always envied his six-foot-five-inch frame. Not that she wanted to be that tall, but if he could share some of his height, she would take a few inches to add to her five-foot-five.

“Hey,” Rowan greeted.

Kieran handed her a pile of envelopes. “I brought your mail.”

“Thanks.” She started skimming through them.

“You look stressed.”

Rowan forgot the mail. “Is it that obvious? Just got off the phone with the lawyer.”

“What’s the news?”

“No answer yet.” Rowan shook her head.

The lines around Kieran’s eyes deepened as he frowned. “What the hell?”

“Either she’s currently out of reach, or she doesn’t want to have anything to do with us,” Rowan said. “But that’s not the bad news. We can’t withdraw any funds from the account unless all trustees consent. So until Rae is on board, we’re shit out of luck. Just the news I need when I have this wedding in two weeks.”

Kieran’s lips flattened into a slash of line on his disturbed face. Rowan was aware of Kieran’s disapproval of her decision not to cancel the wedding when the inn’s reopening project had been delayed after their father’s passing. But she thought it was important to respect their commitment. Besides, Meredith was family. Though, they were second cousins, they had always been close.

“I have enough for the wedding in the inn’s account since Meredith and Sam paid upfront, so I won’t need to back out of the deal I’m finalizing with Bobbie on the cleaning staff, but I’ll have to dip into your human resources.” Rowan’s brain spun to find ways out of her predicament.

“The farm is well-staffed and running smoothly, especially with the new upgrades we invested in the equipment. I think you can spare me some staff for a few days during the wedding weekend,” she concluded.

“My people are farmers.”

“Not just farmers. We can ask if anyone has a restaurant or wait-staff background. Almost everyone has worked in a restaurant or some kind of service sometime in their lives,” Rowan reasoned. “And Alex can train them. Oh, what time is it?”

Kieran glanced at the antique wall clock behind Rowan. “It’s ten-twenty-ish. ”

“Shit. I gotta get into town. I have a quick meeting with Bobbie, then I gotta pick up Alex and her friend at the 11:45 ferry.” Rowan dropped the pile of mail on the receptionist’s desk, fixed her messy hair into her hat, and grabbed her keys.

Alexandra Freeman was Rowan’s oldest friend and a great Portland-based chef. Meredith, Alex, and she used to spend their summers on the island together. When Rowan had asked for her help with Meredith’s wedding weekend, Alex was in a hundred percent.

“How are you paying Alex? She must cost a good penny,” Kieran said as they walked out together.

“She’s taking a fraction of her usual fee. It works out for the best. Her boss finally lets her take vacation time—her first in three years—”

“And she’s spending it working for us?”

“Helping us.” Rowan made an air-quote gesture as they skipped down the stone path to the lot where her truck was parked. “Tell Frankie I’ll be back by one in time for our meeting.”

Frankie, aka Francesca Feldman, was Kieran’s right-hand person, who dealt with the farm’s business as much as Kieran did. But when it came to details, Frankie was the person Rowan wanted to work with. Kieran was more of a big-picture guy.

“What are you meeting her for?” Kieran made a face.

“Supplies, and now the staff sharing.”

Kieran nodded brusquely. “Just make sure it doesn’t affect the farm’s operation.”

“I will,” Rowan assured him. “This wedding will be pivotal to Bright Head, Kieran. I just know it.”

“How? It won’t bring us that much income since it’s family and we didn’t charge as much as we could because of Dad’s agreement with Aunt Caroline.”

“Maybe not, but the income from it will cover the expenses. It’ll be a beautiful wedding, and Meredith has agreed to let us use pictures from the wedding in our promotional materials. It’s a cost-saving effort. If not, we might be forced to sell some more land.”

Before their father’s death, they’d spent a good chunk of the funds their father had set up for the estate on upgrades for the farm. They’d added goat cheese production to their usual offerings of seasonal produce, wildflowers, and honey. They had been a good investment, and Rowan didn’t begrudge Kieran of that. The farm was the only part of the estate currently making income.

A new scowl appeared on Kieran’s face. “Connor Gibbes has been poking around again, hinting he might be willing to take a few more acres from us. As if we wanted to sell him the eighty acres in the first place.”

“I really don’t want to lose more land than we already did, Kieran,” Rowan said distractedly as something furry slid around her calves. She looked down, smiled, and picked up the little tiger making a guttural meowing sound at her.

“We can’t sell even if we’re willing. We don’t own all of this ourselves anymore.” Kieran sounded bitter and frowned at the creature in her arm. “You shouldn’t be babying the barn cats. They’re working animals.”

Rowan scoffed. “Like you don’t have a soft spot for your goats. I don’t think Felix here has the mentality of a barn cat. The others kind of bully him.”

Though having the striped markings of a tiger, Felix was smaller and much tamer than the other two barn cats—Charles and Naomi—who roamed around this side of the property. The farm side had its own set of barn cats territorial to their hunting ground.

“As long as he acts like a house cat, he’ll never get the respect of the other cats,” Kieran pointed out.

“Then maybe you should just stay with me, buddy. But you can’t come with me right now. Go,” Rowan said to the purring cat and put him back on the ground.

Returning her focus to her brother and their conversation, she heaved a deep sigh as they reached her truck. “I hope our sister will respond soon.”

“She’s not our sister. We don’t even know her.” Kieran crossed his arms across his chest and glared at her.

While Kieran had made his feelings about Rae obvious, in all honesty, Rowan wasn’t sure how she felt about having a long-lost sister. When her father had suddenly died, she’d been too distraught to even digest her father’s confession. But since then, she’d managed to dig around about Rae Allen, the daughter her father had abandoned. From what she’d learned, Rae had done pretty well for herself.

“Do you really think she hasn’t gotten the letters yet?” Her brother huffed. “Maybe she did and is just ignoring them. ”

“Maybe.” Rowan gave him a look. “I’d imagine it’d be a shocking letter to receive. I mean, Dad left her. Put yourself in her shoes. How would you feel if you were her?”

“I don’t care,” Kieran said stubbornly. “She tarnished our dad in our eyes.”

Rowan shook her head with a sad acceptance as she opened her truck’s door. “No, Kieran. Dad did that all by himself.”

Kieran couldn’t negate her statement because he knew she was right. Instead, he completely ignored it and changed the subject altogether.

“Can you tell your boyfriend to stop texting me?” he said grumpily.

Rowan paused in the middle of shutting the door and frowned at Kieran. “Who?”

“Richard! He barely acknowledged me as your brother while you were together. Now, he’s trying to worm his way back to you through me?” He scoffed.

“Just block him. That’s what I did.”

“You can do that?” Kieran fished his phone from his back pocket and looked at it like a time machine.

Rowan gestured for him to hand her the phone, looked through his texts, and found the one-sided text chain from Richard. She briefly read the messages and felt a punch of anxiety in her gut. She quickly tapped on the screen.

“Here. You tap on this and choose ‘block number.’” She showed Kieran. “You won’t get any messages or calls from him unless he uses a different number.”

“Thanks.” Kieran put away his phone and closed the truck door for her. “Tell Richard to back off.”

His voice softened when he said, “Unless you change your mind about being here full time for Bright Head and all.”

“No way. I’m here for good, Kieran.” Rowan fixed a determined gaze at her brother through the open truck window. “This is where I belong.”