Epilogue
SIX MONTHS LATER
Kenzie and her sisters meandered through the park in the center of Driftwood, Virginia. The oaks overhead were enormous, and the shops ringing the square looked like something out of a movie set, bright awnings and hand-painted signs and window boxes spilling over with late-summer color.
Jaz was making a life for himself in Shadow Cove—working, fixing up a house he’d bought, and getting to know her family.
During one of their long walks that summer, he’d told her all about his hometown and how, now that he and Noah were rebuilding their relationship, he could see all its charms again.
Looking around, Kenzie understood why Jaz missed Driftwood—and why Delaney had fallen in love with it.
Kenzie and her family had flown in the day before. Jaz and the guys—Callan, Forbes, and Asher, along with a bunch of Noah’s friends—were off doing bachelor-party things, “Christian-style,” Jaz had assured her. Fishing, football, paintball, and lots of food.
Meanwhile, Kenzie and her sisters had plans for themselves.
Tonight, they were going to dinner and a play.
The spa in Virginia Beach was supposed to be the first stop of the bachelorette-party extravaganza.
Unfortunately, they’d been at the spa exactly fifteen minutes before a staff member appeared in the waiting room looking apologetic.
A water line had broken, she’d explained. They had to close.
Alyssa had been frustrated. Brooklynn had been quick to reassure the woman that they understood. Cici had started looking for other options.
But Kenzie waited to see what Delaney wanted to do. She hadn’t seemed all that excited about manicures and massages. “What do you think, sis?”
“Let’s just go back to town,” Delaney had said. “I’ll ask Mom to join us.”
Their mother had begged off the trip to Virginia Beach to let the sisters have some time alone, but Kenzie figured she’d jump at the chance to join them for lunch.
By the time they reached the restaurant Delaney had chosen, the lunch crowd must’ve thinned out because the dining room was mostly empty. Kenzie’s eyes were still adjusting to the low light when the hostess approached.
“Five today?”
“Um, yeah…” Delaney walked right past her.
Kenzie scanned the quiet dining room to see what had caught her sister’s eye. A friend, maybe, or…
Oh. It was Dad, seated at a corner table with a man she didn’t recognize.
Kenzie and her sisters followed Delaney, weaving among the empty tables toward the back wall.
The man was in his late twenties, maybe thirty, with dark hair and an open expression that made her think he smiled a lot. He was leaning in, looking very interested in whatever Dad was saying.
“Who is that?” Alyssa whispered behind Kenzie.
“No idea.” Cici seemed as flummoxed as Kenzie felt. “Never seen him before.”
Ahead, Delaney stopped at their table. “Ethan?”
Both the stranger and Dad startled at her voice. Her father stood abruptly, and in the split second before he schooled his face, Kenzie saw the expression of someone who’d been caught.
“How do you two know each other?” Delaney sounded confused as she looked from the stranger to Dad and back.
“What happened to the spa?” Dad seemed to be going for a conversational tone, but Kenzie didn’t buy it.
Delaney must not have, either, because she didn’t answer.
The other man—Ethan—stood, his smile gone. He glanced at Delaney, then took in the rest of them. “I’ll just—I should go, let y’all visit.” He reached for his wallet on the table, flipped it open, then seemed to change his mind and snapped it shut before tucking it into his pocket.
“Wait.” Delaney spoke to Ethan. “Is this why you were in Shadow Cove in the spring? To see my dad?”
Kenzie’s mind flashed back to a conversation from the night she and Jaz had flown in. Delaney had come home from the store and told them she’d run into someone from Driftwood. His name had been Ethan.
And then Noah had asked Delaney, “You mean Dr. Wright?”
So this was Ethan…Wright?
“How do you two know each other?” Delaney’s gaze bounced between the two men, the hurt in her voice unmistakable.
“I’m sorry. I’ll just go.” Ethan took a step, but Dad’s hand clamped down on his shoulder, and he froze.
There was something about this stranger, about the way he held himself—shoulders back, weight on the balls of his feet. The shape of his jaw. The way he’d flipped open his wallet.
Even his voice had felt familiar, so like…
Dad cleared his throat, seemed to be working up to saying something.
Kenzie had seen a lot of expressions on her father’s face. Pride, disappointment, worry, amusement. She’d never seen what she saw there now.
Guilt.
And suddenly, she got it.
Maybe. If she wasn’t crazy, but something told her…
“Alyssa. Brooklynn. Cici. Delaney.” Kenzie said the names slowly, ticking them off in her head, solving a mystery that had eluded her all her life. A, B, C, D… “Ethan.”
The color drained from Dad’s face. He didn’t move his hand from the interloper’s shoulder, though now he looked like he needed the support. He blew out a breath she suspected he’d been holding for a very long time.
Ethan Wright had imagined this moment a hundred times. None of the versions had looked like this.
He’d traded an easy day shift in the ER for an overnight—twelve hours of whatever the crazy world would throw at him—just for a single meal with Gavin.
He’d told himself all he wanted from the man was information. Mei Lin’s parents were desperate for details about how she’d died, if she’d suffered. If nothing else, they wanted to know where her body was buried. A cemetery, even an unmarked grave. They needed a place to stand and say goodbye.
Ethan doubted the information would help him find any peace.
He should never have left her.
All he could do now was try to offer her parents some closure.
But Gavin hadn’t come with information. He’d come because he was in town for a “family thing”—he’d said the words almost apologetically—and he’d wanted to see him.
Ethan hated how much that meant to him. Sitting across from this man, lapping up his attention, he’d felt eight years old again.
Now, Gavin’s hand was clamped on his shoulder, and Ethan was telling himself to shrug it off, to walk away.
Staring at the five women he’d spent most of his life longing to meet, he couldn’t seem to make his feet move.
He knew their names. He’d found them all on social media, which was either completely reasonable or completely pathetic—his opinion depended on the day. Alyssa, the oldest. Brooklynn, Cici. Kenzie, the one who’d figured it out.
And Delaney.
He couldn’t quite meet her eyes. He’d befriended her, even joked that they were probably cousins, and all the while he’d known the truth. And then, when she’d caught him in Shadow Cove…
He’d lied.
What was he supposed to say? Oh, by the way, I forgot to tell you you’re actually my half-sister. Hilarious, right? I’m just here to do some stalking.
“I’m sorry.” Had he already said that? “I should go.” He’d said that too.
“No.” Gavin’s hand squeezed.
Ethan stayed, playing the part of an obedient puppy.
Movement behind the girls caught his eye. A woman—late fifties, fair-haired. An older version of Alyssa.
This was their mother, Gavin’s wife. Evelyn.
Ethan felt sick. He didn’t want this. He didn’t want to witness more heartbreak. He’d never wanted to cause her or his half-sisters pain. He wouldn’t have done it to his father, not even during his darkest, angriest days.
Evelyn paused behind her daughters, taking in the scene. Then, she skirted past Kenzie and approached. Her eyes met Ethan’s, and she attempted a smile. Didn’t quite manage it, but even so…
That attempt said a lot. A lot.
She passed Ethan, leaned toward her husband, and pressed a kiss to his cheek. Very quietly, she whispered, “It’s all right.”
Ethan let the words roll around in his head.
How long had she known about him? When had Gavin confessed?
Evelyn stood beside Gavin, and something shifted in the older man’s posture. Relief, maybe. Or resignation.
Gavin took his wife’s hand. Inhaled. Blew it out.
“Girls.” His voice was even. “I’d like you to meet Dr. Ethan Wright.” He paused, then added…
“My son.”
Ethan heard gasps. Low murmurs. A sob.
But he forced himself to focus on Delaney, the sister he’d met, the one he already loved.
Her palm covered her mouth. Her eyes filled with tears. They held his for a beat, then moved on to her father.
Gavin’s hand dropped.
Ethan stood in the middle of the wreckage of his father’s secret. He’d never admitted his dream—that someday, there might be a place for him in his father’s family.
Now, that dream imploded, leaving Ethan completely alone.
The End…