Page 51 of Unexpected Entanglement

“It’s a long story, but my dad had a daughter with another woman in his younger days.”

“What?” Her friend almost shrieked.

“Keep it down.” Though who would hear them in the middle of the large lawn?

“When did you find out about this?” Alex questioned. Flabbergasted concern replaced her display of hurt.

“When he died.”

“And you’re just telling me about it now?” The hurt returned and mingled with the disbelief in Alex’s voice.

Rowan felt guilty for keeping Alex in the dark all these months, but she just hadn’t been ready to share. “I didn’t know how to deal with that information, Alex. Neither did Kieran, so we didn’t talk about it. We simply ignored it until we couldn’t.”

“So you just buried it? All this time?”

“I didn’t want to believe it. It couldn’t be true if I didn’t, right?” Rowan laughed bitterly. “But she is real. She exists—a secret sister I never knew.”

“Wait. I don’t understand. Did your father know about her?”

“Oh, he did, and never once did we suspect he was harboring a secret so big.” Rowan felt tears pooling in her eyes. “But I suppose it became easy for him. Out of sight, out of mind.”

“What does that mean? You mean, he…” Alex stammered.

Rowan understood Alex’s confusion. This news, this betrayal, wasn’t what anyone would suspect from Neal Kelly, a devoted family man. Alex had considered Rowan’s father as her other dad. She had mourned him along with Rowan and Kieran.

“Before he died, he told me he had many regrets, and I think abandoning her was one of his biggest mistakes.”

“Whoa.” Alex doubled over as she absorbed the hard-to-swallow news.

Rowan squeezed her friend’s shoulder.

“Why would you keep something this big from me?” Alex said as she straightened and hugged Rowan tightly. “God, why did you shoulder this on your own? That explains why you’ve made all these drastic decisions after your father died—breaking up a five-year relationship, quitting your job, and moving to this island.”

Alex yanked Rowan away and held her back like she'd just had a revelation. “You ran away.”

“I did not run away,” Rowan denied with a vigorous shake of her head.

“What do you call this then, Ro?” Alex spread her arms and made a circle, gesturing to their surroundings. “Why would you drop everything and put your all into this place?”

“An epiphany,” Rowan answered. “My father’s confession and death made me realize life is too short to just cruise through. I won’t spend another minute in a relationship that suffocates me. I won’t work a job that simply pays me but doesn’t satisfy me. I am here for me.

“But I’m also here for my dad. This inn is the last thing Dad and I were working on. We had the best time. He was trying to fix his regrets, and abandoning this place was one of them. I’m going to make it happen for him and for myself.”

“I hear you, Ro.” Alex nodded with an I-get-it-grin. “But one thing I still don’t understand, what does Chris have to do with this place?”

“My dad left Bright Head to his children. All three of his children. Chris is my half-sister’s proxy.”

“Ooh.” Alex’s expression showed the progression of her understanding of the complications of her dad’s decision. “How do you feel about that? Kieran must be pissed.”

“He’s not happy about it.”

Learning about Rae and the will on top of her father’s death had driven Rowan up the wall that first weeks after her father’s death. It was weird how time had dulled some of her feelings. Though it still felt like an enormous boulder lodged in her chest, Rowan could find hilarity in the situation now.

“Why are you laughing?” Alex looked at her as if she’d grown another head.

Rowan didn’t realize she was actually laughing, but then she really let it all out in a full-belly laugh.

“Ro, are you okay?” Alex asked, looking concerned.

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