The Reunion Read Online Free PDF Page A

in the spring. A couple weeks after I arrived, Jenny came up and visited me. The weather was beautiful, and she asked if I would like to walk up the Nine Mile River with her. I love the outdoors and liked her right away, so I agreed. I had no idea Jenny’s brother was fishing there, but when we reached the Stillwater, he walked around the corner with his fishing rod and tackle box, and we saw each other for the first time.”
    “What did you think of him?”
    “Love at first sight,” she said with a frown.
    Rebecca lifted her eyebrows. “He is very good-looking.”
    “He is, but I found out he had a rough reputation. He was drinking and brawling.”
    “So what did you say when you saw him face-to-face?”
    “I just wanted to be friendly, but something clicked right from the beginning. He called me the next day. Before I knew it, we were seeing each other on a regular basis. Then he started giving me a ride to the university.”
    “He was a student, too?”
    “He was in his senior year of architecture. His professor told me he was the most brilliant student he ever had and that he could work wherever he wanted to. He has a tremendous gift, you know.” She paused. “But instead of using his talent to express beauty, he smothered his abilities with drunkenness and troublemaking.”
    Rebecca nodded for Ebony to continue.
    “Things started to change,” Ebony continued, “after we became friends. He toned down and devoted himself to his studies with a new enthusiasm.”
    “Did he fall in love with you?”
    “No!” she declared, offended by the suggestion. “He never loved me.”
    “He was your friend, though?”
    “So I thought. But he destroyed my trust forever. He was no better than my mother and father.”
    “Your mother and father?”
    “My mother and father didn’t want me. They left me on the back pew of a church not long after I was born with a note saying they were leaving. I’ve never met either one of them, never got so much as a birthday card. They deserted me. I was in and out of foster homes my whole life.”
    Rebecca slowly sipped from her cup of tea.
    “I talk too much,” Ebony upbraided herself, only then realizing she had acted out of character.
    “So, Ethan wasn’t all bad?”
    “No, he wasn’t,” she reluctantly admitted. “When I met him, he was a very sad and lonely man. His parents were killed in Shad Bay a year before I moved here.”
    “How?”
    “Head-on collision with a drunk driver not two hundred yards from their house. Ethan and Jenny were standing at the wharf, and they saw the whole thing. By the time they got to the car, their parents were dead.”
    “That’s awful,” Rebecca said, furrowing her brow.
    “Ethan and Jenny were left alone, and they had to manage the Harrington holdings.”
    “What happened?”
    “They were both in a funk and eventually sold all the Harrington companies except for Harrington Construction.”
    “I know Jenny has money,” Rebecca said, looking embarrassed at having mentioned it.
    “They’re both multimillionaires,” Ebony said matter-of-factly, stating something everyone in the area knew. “She was left the house by the bridge that you’ll be renting, another one by the school, an apartment building in the city, and millions of dollars. He owns the Harrington house, the cottage on the big island, and has millions in cash. They jointly own Harrington Construction. Both of them have everything you could ever need, but Ethan turned tail and ran.”
    “Why did he run away?”
    Ebony looked at Rebecca and saw the older sister she never had. Maybe she was relaxed because Rebecca was new to Shad Bay and carried no preconceived judgments. Maybe she was so full of emotion that she just needed to talk. Whatever the reason, Ebony felt a cleansing relief in relating her past. “He…” She stopped, thought for a short time longer, then decided to bare her soul. “I’ll tell you the whole truth.”
    Rebecca leaned forward in