“There’s nothing to worry about. I had the money from my business. I still have my apartment and the furnishings, but the trust that I mentioned to you earlier doesn’t exist. The funds all went into this place. And I recently sold my car. Which was the real reason I took the bus down to the ferry. I never made a fortune, and I tended to spend more than I should have, but selling the shop gave me a tidy sum. The only part that makes me sad is that it was your inheritance. And Kevin’s. Other than my apartment, I’m afraid nothing is left. But, like I said, Kevin still has his condos, so if he ever gets a move on with his divorce, and if everything else goes down with the ship—or should I say, the Inn—I’m sure he’ll find a way to help you out.”

Annie couldn’t speak for a long moment. Then she said, “Thank you,” because it seemed like the only thing to say. She could have told Donna that financially she was starting to do much better, now that she’d paid Mark’s debts and her books were selling well. But it seemed important to Donna to think that her son would take care of her daughter, that her little family would be together.

Then Donna announced that she supposed this had all come as a shock to Annie, which was an understatement, so she should take time to digest it. As for Donna, she needed a nap.

And as for Annie, she grabbed her laptop and went outside to the porch, glad to be in the fresh air, her head and her heart abuzz, her stomach spinning like a waterspout in tornado season. After a while, she got to work, outlining the rest of her novel, distraction being her best method of coping.

Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Late that afternoon, Jonas came back to the Vineyard. Annie found out when both she and Kevin had quit working for the day, and she’d coerced him into taking her seat on the porch in case Donna woke up. Then, without sharing that she knew about Donna’s investment in the Inn, Annie had taken a quick trip off Chappy, over to Edgartown not to see John, not to go shopping, not to drive up to Aquinnah to visit Winnie, but to sit at a picnic table on Memorial Wharf again and gaze at the current churning in the harbor, and finally mull over her talk with Donna.

It hadn’t been the right time for Annie to ask about her birth father. But would there be enough time left when other things were more pressing? Or was she destined to never know?