Annie was confused. Money? What money? Did Donna give money to Annie’s birth father? She’d told Annie she hadn’t had any money back then. So why would she have given him any? Had it been some kind of payoff? Annie had used blackmail as a theme in two of her books, but only when it had involved murder.

“I gave Kevin the money,” Donna added. “And Earl.”

Kevin and Earl? What did they have to do with Annie’s birth father?

“I don’t understand,” Annie said. “Why did you give them money?”

Donna sighed. “For the Inn. I gave them the money to buy the Littlefield property. The place where we’re sitting right now.”

Now Annie really was confused. “What?”

“Did you not hear me?”

“I assumed Kevin sold a couple of his condos. I thought Earl . . . Well, I don’t know what I thought about where his share came from.”

“As far as Kevin goes, his condos are tied up because they’re in his business’s name. His wife’s still listed as an officer. Vice president, I think.”

“But Meghan is . . . incapacitated.”

“Well . . .” Donna sighed. “In any event, these things take time to unravel. And he has to be willing to do so.”

“Wait. I thought he sold his business to pay for her long-term care?”

“He did. But he only sold his customer list. Not the corporation. Or the personal assets. It’s complicated. Which I think is why he hasn’t wanted to address it. And partly why he still isn’t divorced. It’s too damn painful for him.”

Annie knew the kinds of things that emotional pain could do to an otherwise reasonably intelligent person.

“I put up Earl’s share of the money, too,” Donna continued. “That wonderful man has a house, some land, and a big heart, but he doesn’t have squat in the bank.”

“What?”

Donna shrugged, then huddled further down into the quilt. “You didn’t have a place to live, Annie. Kevin wasn’t faring much better. Oh, sure, he had condos. And an income from the rents. But he was depressed. Very depressed. So when he and Earl came to talk to me one day . . .”

“Wait. Earl and Kevin went to Boston?”

“Late last summer. Just for a day. I believe you were busy helping Claire. Anyway, their proposition made sense to me. So the money for the Inn wasn’t Earl and Kevin’s. It was mine.”

Annie thought she must be dreaming. She must still be in bed, lying next to John, and dreaming. Had he asked her to marry him?

She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Donna. This is all too much. . . .”