“Rowan?” He tilted his head and peered into the empty bathroom, his excitement fading a bit.
The room looked normal other than the laptop sitting on the bed. Rowan usually made sure the computer was tucked away tight before doing anything else. She was almost militant about it.
Out of curiosity, he flipped open the laptop, knitting his eyebrows as he leaned closer and read the open email on the screen. He realized quickly it was from Fred … and that Rowan must have read it, too. Once he got into the nitty-gritty details, he was flabbergasted.
This couldn’t be right. There was no way this was real. And yet … it seemed to make sense. It explained why Nick was so interested in Rowan, and not in a sexual way. It explained the long stares and constant surveillance.
All of Quinn’s earlier excitement dissipated as he realized the ramifications of the discovery. Fury took over, and Quinn was practically vibrating with anger when he straightened.
“Son of a … .”
15
Fifteen
Quinn was relieved when he found Rowan at the tiki bar. The feeling only lasted until he saw who was sitting with her.
He stormed in their direction, his agitation bubbling free, and grabbed Nick by the front of his shirt as he hauled the stunned man to his feet.
“What game are you playing?”
“I’m not playing a game,” Nick sputtered. “I … unhand me.”
“Quinn!” Rowan grabbed at her boyfriend’s hand in an attempt to get him to loosen his grip. “Let him go.”
Quinn slowly turned his attention to Rowan, frustration evident. “You know who he is, right?”
Rowan nodded. “I saw the email. I’m sorry. I should’ve logged out of your account when I realized it was still up, but I couldn’t stop myself from looking.”
“Don’t apologize.” Quinn reluctantly released Nick and ran a hand over his short hair as he fought to calm himself. “I’m not angry about that. I don’t blame you for looking. We asked Fred to do the search for your benefit in the first place.”
“Yes, well, he came through.” Rowan offered up a faux smile that did nothing to brighten her features. “Nick and I have been talking a bit and … it’s complicated.”
Quinn’s eyebrows winged up. “It’s complicated?”
Rowan nodded. “It’s all kinds of complicated.”
She sank back into her chair. “He’s definitely my uncle.”
“Well, great.” Quinn planted his hands on his narrow hips and glared at Nick. “Welcome to the family. Do you want to explain where you’ve been for the past ten years?”
Instead of reacting out of fear or anger, Nick merely chuckled. “I like you.”
“The feeling isn’t mutual.”
Nick held up his hand to still Quinn. “You’re forceful and brave. You also have strong feelings for my niece. She deserves someone who is willing to fight for her.”
“You obviously didn’t.”
“No, and I’m sorry about that.” Nick kept one eye on Quinn as he reclaimed his chair. “We’ve been discussing my shortcomings as an uncle at length. I’m sure you’ll be able to jump right in without a recap.”
“You’re a funny guy.” Quinn took the chair between Rowan and Nick, rubbing his sweaty palms against the front of his shorts as he tried to get comfortable. “Were you this funny when you left Rowan on her own when she was a kid?”
Nick swallowed hard. “I am very sorry for what I did.”
“We’ve talked about it, Quinn.” Rowan’s voice was low. “He knows he did a bad thing. He had a falling out with my father before then. It’s awkward all around.”
“That doesn’t mean you should simply forgive him.”
“No, but … I don’t know.” Rowan threw her hands in the air and focused on the string of flamingo lights above the table. “I feel … overwhelmed.”
Quinn’s desire to comfort Rowan outweighed his need to slap back Nick further. “Baby … .” Quinn wasn’t a talkative man by nature, but he’d never found himself at a complete loss for words.
“I was thinking that perhaps we could all have dinner tonight,” Nick suggested. “I want to get to know Quinn and I would like to reacquaint myself with Rowan now that she’s an adult.”
“Did you know her as a kid?” Quinn asked the question to buy time. His initial instinct was to snap Nick’s neck … or at least tell him to find another niece whose spirit needed crushing. He wasn’t sure that was the right thing for Rowan, though, and he was certain that him taking control of the situation was a bad idea.
“I saw her relatively frequently before she turned ten. After that … well … I turned into the world’s worst uncle.”
“It’s hard for us to insult you when you always beat us to the punch,” Rowan noted. “As for dinner … .” She broke off and chewed on her bottom lip as she slid Quinn a sidelong look. “Can you go up and get us refills at the bar, Nick? I would like to talk to Quinn for a few moments in private.”
Nick almost looked relieved at the reprieve. “Absolutely. Take your time.”
Quinn watched the man scurry toward the bar with a mixture of hatred and disgust. “I can’t believe you went through this without me.”
Rowan pursed her lips, surprised. “I survived.”
“You always do. I should’ve been here.”
“You were dealing with your own adventure. How was the dive, by the way?”
“We’ll talk about that later.” Quinn was firm. “Right now, I want to talk about this. Do you really want to have dinner with this man? He abandoned you, Ro. He left you alone after you lost both of your parents.”
“I know and I don’t think what he did was right. More importantly, he doesn’t think what he did was right. He’s ashamed of how he reacted. He even admitted to watching me in my driveway a few months after my dad disappeared and being too ashamed to get out of the car and talk to me.”
“See, that doesn’t make me feel better about him. You needed someone … and he was the only one who could help you. He didn’t lift a finger.”
“No, but he kept tabs on me. He followed my progress at school and when I started at the newspaper.”
“Is that a good thing?”
Rowan shrugged, helplessness and uncertainty ripping through her. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“I want you to tell me what you want. I want to know what will make you happy and then I’ll make it happen.”
“I don’t think that ‘happy’ is going to play into this. I have to decide if I want to give him another chance and then we’ll move forward from there. I don’t think anyone is going to be happy simply because I make a decision. It’s going to take work either way.”
“Not if you shut him out,” Quinn countered. “If you turn your back on him like he did with you then you can wash your hands of him.”
“Can I?” Rowan wasn’t so sure. “Now that I know he’s out there and he’s been keeping tabs on me, can I just forget and move forward?”
Quinn pressed the tip of his tongue against the back of his teeth. He didn’t have an answer.
“Can we at least have dinner with him?” Rowan was embarrassed to ask the question, but she did it all the same. “Can we at least have a meal with him before I decide?”
Quinn nodded without hesitation. He was determined to refrain from making things more difficult for her. “Absolutely. I think that sounds like a good idea. We’ll have dinner … and I have a few questions to ask him.”
The way he phrased it caused Rowan to chuckle. “I’ll be glad to have you with me this time. I felt as if my brain wasn’t working correctly and I can’t even remember what I asked the first go around.”
“He answered, though, right?”
Rowan nodded. “He was open and flogged himself appropriately.”
“Then I’m looking forward to more of that.” Quinn grabbed Rowan’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “We’re going to get through this. We’re going to figure thi
ngs out. I’m sorry you had to do it alone, though. I mean … what are the odds?”
“I don’t know. Part of me is glad I was alone because it forced me to be strong. The other part is so ridiculously thrilled that you’ll be with me for the next leg of questions that I feel a little pathetic.”
Quinn leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers, the action intimate and soft. “You’re not pathetic. I want to be with you. We’ll get through this.”
“I know. I think we can get through anything as long we’re together. Wait … did that sound too schmaltzy?”
Quinn grinned as he offered up a quick kiss. “Just schmaltzy enough.”
ULTIMATELY THEY SETTLED on a quiet bistro far away from the hustle and bustle of the dock. Quinn was determined to keep things private – for Rowan’s sake more than Nick’s – and he was relieved to find the restaurant they chose full of locals rather than tourists.
Rowan was so nervous about the meal she changed her outfit four times and took her hair up and down three times before settling on a loose bun. Under different circumstances, Quinn would have found her reaction adorable. Now he could do nothing but share in her anxiety.
They ordered, the two men opting for steak and Rowan going with her seafood standby, before sipping drinks and eyeing each other across the table.
“So, tell me how you two met.” Nick’s expression was hard to read as he played with the straw wrapper from his drink.
“It was on the ship,” Quinn replied. “I ran her background, of course, but we didn’t meet in person until she joined the crew.”
“Love at first sight?”
Rowan shifted uncomfortably on her chair. “We’ve only been dating a few weeks.”
“Ah, well, you’re still close. I like it.”
“How about you?” Quinn challenged. “Why did you change your name?”
Rowan knew the meal wouldn’t be easy, but she almost choked at the abrupt question as she sipped her cocktail.
“Honestly? I felt guilty,” Nick replied. “I felt guilty for walking away from my brother and not being there when his wife was sick and dying. Then I felt even more guilty because I thought I was going to help Rowan, but I ran away a second time. I wanted a fresh start.”
“No, you wanted to make it so she couldn’t track you down,” Quinn corrected. “You were afraid she would find you one day and call you on your crap.”
“Quinn.” Rowan’s voice was low and full of warning. “Please don’t do … that.”
Quinn spared her a glance. “Ro, I feel the need to ask him direct questions. You’re my primary concern. That means he’s now a big concern, only of a different kind.”
“He has a right to ask the question,” Nick said, waving off Rowan’s protests. “I don’t blame him. I’m not the good guy in your story. I’ll never be the hero who swooped in and saved you from difficulty.”
Rowan scratched at her cheek. “Really? Because I was thinking about something when I was getting ready for dinner and I have a question to ask you.”
“I told you to ask any questions you want.”
“Okay.” Rowan licked her lips. “When I was a senior in college, I almost ran out of money to complete my course load before graduation. I worked hard and kept my nose to the grindstone, but there was a time when I thought I would have to drop out because classes were more expensive than I envisioned.
“I was upset because I knew I would never have the chance to go back,” she continued. “My mother always wanted me to go to college because she never got the chance. Part of me was desperate to live up to what I thought she wanted.
“Out of nowhere, like two days before my final semester, I got word that I earned a scholarship I never applied for,” she said. “I remember thinking it was a miracle. That somehow my mother did something from Heaven to save me.
“Now, I don’t know why, but while I was showering, the name of the company that gave me that scholarship popped into my mind.” Rowan’s gaze was steady on Nick. “It was the Green Technology Group. I sent a thank-you note to the address listed on the paperwork but never heard anything else from them.”
Nick pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead. “I still have the note you sent. For a time I told myself you sent it directly to me as an uncle, even though I knew better.”
“I knew it.” Rowan shook her head, dumbfounded. “You sent that money.”
“I did. I was in contact with the school at times to make sure you would be able to stay. I absorbed any additional dorm fees and as many classroom fees as I could. I believe you won free meals for life while at school through a raffle, too. I should point out that’s a raffle that doesn’t technically exist.”
Rowan’s mouth dropped open. “That was you, too?”
“I wanted to help and yet I was terrified of seeing you.” Nick’s guilt was palpable. “I was a weak man and it made me feel better to know that you were strong, that you would overcome. That’s the best legacy your parents could leave you with.”
“Oh, man.” Quinn slapped his hand to his forehead, disgusted.
“Too much?” Nick was genuinely amused.
“No. Now I simply can’t hate you as much as I wanted to hate you.” Quinn slung his arm over the back of Rowan’s chair. “If you were so afraid to see her, why did you come on this trip? You had to know Rowan was on The Bounding Storm.”
“I did know that,” Nick confirmed. “I didn’t have to come. I could’ve coordinated from the Florida office. That’s where I’m based now.”
“But?”
“But I couldn’t stop myself from taking the chance,” Nick replied. “She’s my only living relative. Er, well, I have some cousins scattered across the country, but they don’t count. Rowan is the last link I have to my brother.”
“And what did you think when you first saw her?” Quinn asked.
“That she looked like a beautiful mix of her parents.”
“After that.”
“That I couldn’t decide if I was happy or sad that she didn’t recognize me,” Nick answered truthfully. “Part of me wanted her to throw her arms around my neck and welcome me onboard. The other part was terrified she would slap me across the face and tell me never to bother her again.”
“I would’ve been all for the second one,” Quinn said dryly. “Still, you took a big chance. You took an even bigger one baiting her with the stuff you knew about her past.”
“Yes, well, it seems my wits ran for the hills as soon as I was face to face with her,” Nick noted. “I can’t explain it.”
“I can.” Quinn was matter-of-fact. “I think you wanted her to know who you were and your subconscious wouldn’t leave it alone. You kept pushing and pushing … ultimately recognizing that she would push back.”
“I guess that’s possible,” Nick hedged. “It makes me sound a bit diabolical, though.”
“I haven’t ruled out that possibility.” Quinn traced a lazy pattern of circles on the back of Rowan’s neck as she watched the exchange. “If you want to make things up to Rowan, I think you’re going to have a long road ahead of you. It’s not my place to say it – and yet I’m going to anyway. Don’t even start going down the road if you’re going to turn tail and run again. That will make things worse.”
“Is that what you think I’m going to do?”
“I don’t know,” Quinn replied. “I don’t want her hurt. If you hurt her, I’m going to hurt you.”
Instead of balking at the threat, Nick chuckled. “Son, I don’t want to hurt her. I don’t want to run any longer either. I’m too old for that. I’d like to find a happy middle … a place where we can all coexist.”
Quinn slid his eyes to Rowan and found her staring at her uncle with rapt attention. “Then we’ll figure it out.”
Nick’s smile was so grateful that Quinn had to force himself to remain edgy rather than softening.
“We’ll figure it out,” Rowan echoed, bobbing her head. “So … how do we start?”
“I believe we start with a simple conversation,” Nick said. “So, with that in mind … tell me about the dive today, Quinn. I haven’t had a chance to touch base with anyone on my team so your report is the first I’m hearing.”
This time the smile on Quinn’s face wasn’t purely for Rowan’s benefit. He leaned back in his chair, keeping his arm around Rowan, and launched into the tale of his afternoon. In the grand scheme of things, Rowan found it all a little boring. She would never say that to Quinn, though, because he clearly had the time of his life.
When he was done with the story, Quinn was more relaxed and Nick was intrigued.
“So they found a few coins?”
Quinn nodded. “They didn’t look like coins to me because there was so much other stuff attached to them, but the restoration team was excited and they took the relics straight back to the ship to treat.”
“Well, that’s something.” Nick rolled his neck. “This entire endeavor has been something of a leap of faith. I’m happy to see that it appears to be working out.”
“Didn’t you think it would?” Rowan asked. “I mean … isn’t this what you expected to find?”
“Yes and no,” Nick replied. “The Conqueror was thought lost at sea a long time ago. Technically, we haven’t confirmed that’s what we found. So far we only have a shipwreck that seems to date to Revolutionary War times.”
“But I thought it was confirmed,” Rowan countered, wrinkling her forehead.
“It’s been confirmed as much as possible,” Nick supplied. “It’s not as if we’re going to find the captain and confirm it. This find could be worth a great deal of money, though. That’s what concerns me most.”
“Isn’t the money good for you?”
“Yes, but there are a lot of different factions trying to lay claim to the money,” Nick explained. “We won the bid for the initial dive and restoration, but who knows how long that will last. Plus, well, whenever something like this occurs there seems to be a race to see who can profit first.”
Sunken Seas (A Rowan Gray Mystery Book 4) Page 14
