Tess Cartieri has called Port Kenneth, TN home for her entire life. An architect specializing in urban renewal, she's long dreamed of renovating an old sports field at her alma mater, Kenilworth University. But without the funding, the field sits, forgotten-until the day she's hired to take on this project at last. The money is coming from, of all people, the man Tess set free after college, Emerson Mackenzie. He had shared this dream with Tess but had turned his back on her and Port Kenneth when the family business needed him. But now Mack is back in Tess' life, still reeling from the recent loss of his wife and hoping this project will help him heal. There's something about Port Kenneth, though, something more than how normal and natural it feels to be with Tess again, that calls to him and he begins investigating what it would take to move his company to the city. Old family secrets come out of hiding and as Mack and Tess face them together and discover the legacy of the Mackenzie Treasure, they cement their commitment to each other and begin to understand how the past will affect their futures. Maybe The Bird Will Rise is a story of the search for answers, the hope that adventures brings, and a second chance at love.
