Ronan (The Casella Cousins Book 6) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Cast of Characters

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  Don’t Miss All of The Casella Cousins

  HALEY Excerpt

  About the Author

  RONAN

  The Casella Cousins

  Book 6

  Kathryn Shay

  Ronan

  Copyright © 2020 by Kathryn Shay

  All Rights Reserved

  Published by Ocean View Books

  Cover Design by Shelley Kay at Web Crafters

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the bookseller and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Cast of Characters

  * * *

  Cast of Main Characters:

  Ronan Casella (aka Ron Klein, aka Ronny Case)—the oldest Casella Cousin, director famous actor turned director for Off Broadway

  Eliza Ellington—prima ballerina, choreographer for Off Broadway, daughter Taylor

  Ronan’s Family:

  Finn Casella— Ronan’s brother, owns a bookstore in New York City, engaged to Millie Morrison

  Hayley Casella— Ronan’s sister, married to Paul, lawyers in new firm Covington, Casella Covitz, daughter Olivia

  Bridget Sullivan—Ronan’s mother

  Albert Casella—Ronan’s father

  Rafe Casella—Ronan’s cousin, married to Kate, children: Tomaso, Mellie

  Gideon Casella—Ronan’s cousin, fiancé Anabelle Sanders, children: Carina, Cory, Cassie

  Alessia Casella Benatti—Ronan’s cousin, married to FBI Agent Derek Davidson; sons: Petey, Matt and Mikey

  Seth Casella— Ronan’s cousin, Legal Aid Attorney, married to Julianne, son: Ford,

  Carmella Casella— Ronan’s aunt, married to Judd Lewis

  Other characters:

  Mitt Rankin—author of My Sweet Caroline

  Craig Preston—Eliza’s ex-husband

  Trish Keller—Ronan’s former girlfriend

  Lisel Loring Woodward—former ballerina, befriends Eliza

  Ian Woodward—firefighter, Lisel’s husband

  Noah Callahan—former fire chief

  Eve Woodward Callahan—Ian’s sister, Noah’s wife

  François Marcel—runs The Yoga Institute

  Dr. John Battaglia—heart surgeon, character in Bayview Heights Series

  Actors in play, My Sweet Caroline:

  Sabrina York

  Maryanne Truman

  Joe Johnson

  Mike Mason

  Carina Casella

  Tim Case

  Tyler Jones

  Brie Simons

  Prologue

  * * *

  February

  “Cut!” Ronan Casella ran his hand through his dark hair, already messy from the repeated gesture. “It’s not working.”

  “Of course, it’s not.” His choreographer shook her head. Next to him, she used her I-know-better-than-you tone.

  Ronan sighed. “Losing the leading man a month before opening can’t be fixed. Poor Art. He was so good in the role.”

  “You were devastated by his heart attack and so was I. But the issue with the play can be fixed, Ron,” she challenged him. “And you know how.”

  “Take ten,” he called out to the cast on stage then turned to her.

  Eliza Ellington had become his closest friend. She’d been with him for every single play he’d directed since he started on Off Broadway five years ago. She was a force to contend with, belying the vulnerability of her tall but slim build. Combined with her lovely auburn hair and green eyes, she was a beautiful woman.

  “Okay, smarty pants. How?”

  “You can fill in for him.”

  A feeling of dread crept through him. “Me? I’m not an actor.”

  “Don’t give me that crap. I’ve seen you act hundreds of times when you help someone on stage with his or her part or when you demonstrate what you’re after in a scene. You’re spell-binding. And you could recite this script all the way through, with all the parts, if you wanted to.”

  Because he had a photographic memory, which he’d never shared with anybody but her, even when he worked in Hollywood. Ronan Casella, aka Ronny Case, and now Ron Klein had a lot of secrets.

  “It’s out of the question. We’ll have to cancel the show. Art’s not coming back, and it’s too late to find anyone else.”

  “It’ll break their hearts. Especially when they…” she nodded to the stage “…find out it’s your last production in New York.” Ronan worked with small groups of actors in a theater in the Village.

  “I should have told them before.”

  She arched an insufferably arrogant brow.

  “All right, you suggested that, too. I didn’t listen.”

  Grasping his arm, she moved in close. “Ron, please, do it, just this once.”

  What she didn’t know, of course, was that he resisted acting because he didn’t want people to recognize him. Then again, it had been ten years since his last movie. And he looked a hell of a lot different: Ronny Case had long dark hair, scruff, and a swagger that went with his braggadocio persona. Besides, his identity would be revealed once he went back to Hidden Cove in a few months.

  Someone approached them. Chris, who was the understudy for the antihero of the play, Bludgeon. “I can’t be ready this quickly, Ron. I’m sorry. I won’t embarrass myself.”

  “I understand it’s not working.” In reality, Ronan wanted to throttle the man. He should have been up on the part.

  When Chris left, Eliza said, “This is Off Broadway. It doesn’t attract the most talented of actors. Though you’ve worked miracles with them.”

  God, she could read his mind.

  “Off Broadway attracted you.” He tossed the words back at her.

  Her lovely face, unlined at forty-three, flashed with annoyance. “And you know why. I told you in confidence. Which is more than I can say for you. Get your chakras in line.” Head held high and with perfect posture, like the dancer-turned-yogi she was, Eliza walked away.

  Chakras be damned.

  But she was right. About everything. He stared at the stage. The cast was back. They were depending on him. He had investors, for Christ’s sake. Did he really have a choice?

  There’s always a choice. That mantra had gotten him out of the Hollywood lifestyle that would surely have killed him. So, he chose. He walked up the steps and faced them. “Somebody grab me a book.”

  A stagehand scrambled to get one.

  “Let’s start at the top.”

  Everybody clapped.

  “Now!” He tried to be gruff. But this particular cast was one of his favorites.

  Act 1 Scene 1

  (Contemporary set, bedroom in background, Roger Blakely sits on a stool, spotlighted. He holds a gun. Is looking down at it.)

  ROGER: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it. I said I was serious all those times before.

  (An uncomfortably long pause.)

  ROGER: What am I waiting for? Who the hell knows? Who the hell cares?

  (The stage goes dark. The scramble of re
setting. In minutes, a group of dancers fill the floor. And Roger Blakely is at the forefront.)

  Ronan hadn’t forgotten how to dance, though he’d had no lessons in ten years. He was rusty, but he managed the steps.

  At the end of the rehearsal, the cast circled around him. “You’re a great actor, Ron. You could be on Broadway.”

  “I’d rather be behind the camera.”

  “You’ll put us to shame.”

  “Don’t say that, Mark! You are all solid actors. With hard work and study, this entire cast could be on Forty-Second Street.”

  Nods and thanks.

  He peered out into the audience. “Eliza, do you have notes?”

  “Yes, sir, I do.”

  After which, the group exited and then Ronan and Eliza sat alone in the theater side-by-side in seats. She picked up his hand. “Who are you? And don’t give me any shit. I’ve respected your wishes for five years, but since this is our last play, I want answers now.”

  Should he tell this lovely person who was the best woman, outside of his family, he’d ever known in his life?

  * * *

  Since the time she’d met him five years ago, Eliza had been in the dark about Ron Klein’s past. They worked together better than she’d ever worked with a director. They’d become close outside of their careers. He’d been her colleague, her friend, her sounding board. And there had been an attraction there, on both sides, which they ignored in order to carry on a professional relationship and a friendship that neither wanted to risk. But she still knew so little about him. Every time she asked him directly, like tonight, he flatly refused to tell her anything about his past. She only wished she knew what he was hiding from.

  As she unlocked her apartment door on the fifth floor of a building in the financial district, a home she and Taylor had gotten in the divorce, she called out. “Taylor, are you here?”

  Her daughter exited her bedroom. Her long blond hair was down and back with clips. Her dark-as-night eyes brimmed with love and a smile bloomed on her face. Eliza was ever so thankful that Taylor, at seventeen, liked her, in addition to loving her as a parent. “Hello, Mother.” She used the proper term Craig had preferred, as a mockery of her father.

  She hadn’t forgiven him for finding another woman while he and Eliza were still married, and moving out to live with his young girlfriend, who’d eventually given him a son that he always wanted.

  “How was school today?”

  “I had great dance classes. Still struggling with AP Chem and English.”

  “English? You love your teacher.”

  “I do, but boy is she tough.” She took a bead on her mother. “You okay? You seem tired.”

  “Crises drain me.”

  Eliza dropped down on the white leather sofa, Taylor sat, too, and Eliza explained the issue of the leading man and Ron acting as his replacement.

  “Hmm. I always thought he had…stage presence, I guess.”

  “You should have seen him. He was electric. Too bad he never did it for a living.”

  “Maybe he did. He clams up whenever we ask him about his life before we met him.”

  “I guess. This is our last play together, so, it doesn’t matter much.”

  Gently, she touched Eliza’s arm. “Are you sad he’s going to Hidden Cove to live for a while?”

  “In some ways.” She scrunched her nose. “In other ways, I’m grateful for the time off.”

  “Don’t you have another job on deck?”

  “No. I’m planning to spend the spring and part of the summer with you, before you leave for Butler in August.” Her stomach clenched at the notion of her baby going to college. “I wish you’d chosen the number one dance school here in New York.”

  “Butler’s number three. Besides…” Taylor glanced away, then stared at her feet.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Honey, we don’t keep things from each other.”

  “The Company Ballet in Chicago contacted me. They offered me a student internship in their summer program.”

  “What does it entail?”

  “Dancing in the ensemble. They take one a year.”

  “That’s quite an honor.”

  “I have all my graduation credits, but I could get a tutor for the AP exams I need to take in May.”

  “Isn’t this late to be asked? Aren’t they already rehearsing?”

  “Apparently, I didn’t make the first cut, but someone dropped out. They want me now and I’ll have to catch up.”

  “Did you apply to them?”

  “No, the recommendation has to come from a teacher.”

  “Oh, Taylor, I’d rather you finished high school here. And you have to go to college.”

  “This is only for four months. I’m going to college.”

  That’s what I thought, too.

  “I’m not you, Mom. I know you wish you’d done things differently.”

  “This isn’t about me.” She took Taylor’s hand. These were the hardest parenting moments. When you wanted your child to make one choice, yet you knew in your heart she’d make another. “What do you want?”

  “I want to go.”

  Eliza’s throat clogged. Already Taylor was setting herself up in a very cruel world of professional ballet in a big city. Just as she’d done. All those years ago, Eliza was asked to be part of a troupe for the summer, then was heading to NYU. But she’d gotten sucked in and the entire trajectory of her life changed.

  Chapter 1

  * * *

  Ronan stood outside The Hidden Cove Playhouse, which had been shuttered for five years. The April sun beamed down on his bare head. Man, it felt good to say goodbye to winter.

  “So, what do you think?” His cousin Gideon stood next to him dressed in his police uniform, which he wore these days with the young cops and recruits he taught. His hair was longer, though, and his eyes not haunted, like before.

  “I think it’s perfect.”

  “For what?”

  “A play. I’ve rented the place for a year. Starting this month.”

  “Wow, that was fast.” He punched Ronan in the arm. “You gonna star in this one, too? I couldn’t believe how good you were in Bludgeon. A complete one-eighty from Ronny Case.”

  Thank God. So far, no one who’d seen the limited-run show in a small theater had made the connection. “My last hurrah!”

  “You kidding? You were great.”

  “I’m a great director, too. It’s what I want to do.”

  “Can’t argue with that.”

  “You did the same.” He peered over at his cousin. He’d never seen Gideon so relaxed. So easy in his skin. “Happy?”

  “Getting there. I’m home regular hours and the kids are happy. I sneak out to see Anabelle a lot and she comes to family events, as Julianne’s friend.”

  “Too bad you have to do that.”

  A very male smile. “You’d think that, wouldn’t you? But actually, it’s…exciting.”

  “Clandestine love.”

  “I guess. We probably overestimated the length of time we have to be on the down-low. Carina’s asked some leading questions and the members of the task force are dropping hints to Anabelle.”

  “Hmm. How will the Chief react?”

  “By the time he hears about us? He’ll be fine.”

  “Glad everything’s working out for you.”

  “Ronan, is that you?”

  He turned to find a ghost from the past had come up to them. Open mouthed, he simply stared at her.

  Gideon covered for him. “Barbie Keller? I haven’t seen you in years.”

  She gave him a once-over. “I live out of town. I came back to help my mother pack.”

  “She’s moving out of the big house on the hill?” Gid asked.

  Barbie nodded. “She was never the same after Trish died.” She laser-focused on Ronan. “How are you?”

  “I’m fine, Barb.”

  “So, you came back after all these years?�
��

  “I did. I’m at the lake house.”

  Barb had changed. She used to be pretty. Now, though she was only in her mid-forties, her skin was pinched, her lips thinned. Horror came over her face. “How can you?”

  “You mean because your sister crashed her car on Lake Road?”

  “I mean exactly that!”

  “I’ve…healed from it all.”

  She harrumphed, like an old lady. “Lucky for you. Our family was destroyed by not having answers.”

  “I’m fortunate I was able to move on. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a meeting inside. Gid, see you soon, I hope.”

  Ronan walked into the playhouse, accompanied by the old feelings that resurrected when he confronted what happened to Trish Keller more than two decades ago.

  He managed to squelch them and headed to an office inside.

  You can always go back to New York, a little voice told him.

  Actually, he couldn’t. Ronan Casella was done running.

  * * *

  Eliza walked along the streets of New York headed for her yoga class. The practice, four times a week, had saved her sanity since Taylor left. She spoke to her daughter frequently, but the deep sadness in her heart caused by her absence hadn’t yet lifted. She missed her daughter passionately. A loud beep from one of the many horns from the traffic brought her back to the present.

  She also missed working on plays.

  And, all right, she missed Ron. He’d come to New York to say goodbye to Taylor. And when the girl left, she’d cried in his arms. As always, he was the best comforter in the world.

  Her cell phone rang, and she took it out as she walked. Speak of the devil. “Hello, Ron.”

  “I’m checking up on you.”

  “I’m surviving,” she said, ducking a few tourists. “On my way to yoga.”

  “That makes you happy.”

  “Are you going to any classes in Hidden Cove?”

  “Um, no. I lost my incentive. She’s in New York.” The man had reluctantly gone to some beginning classes at the studio Eliza attended, and found he liked it.