Since August went off to ‘Pleasure Island’ for 10 years – I’m not thinking he and Neal were working closely together. But do think Neal was working behind the scenes somehow. And might be involved with putting the book in Mary Margaret’s apartment. He is a sneaky thief! Could see him doing it undetected.
I think the quote, “she’s going to be very surprised what she learns who the father is…” is probably more related to him being Rumple’s son. Finding out that the son she loves and has raised is Rumpelstiltskin’s grandson – I’m actually going to love seeing Regina’s reaction to this! 😆
If Neal did any combination of writing/dropping off the book in Storybrooke – It’s really no wonder he knew to give it to MM. I bet the moment he saw her, he realized this was Emma’s mother. But, I guess this brings up the question of did he know about Henry?
Really hoping he didn’t, that heading into Storybrooke was just to satisfy some curiosity or impatience. Then maybe he saw Henry and felt some kind of spark, followed him around – and Regina confronts him and tells him to back off (wouldn’t be amazed if that was all to the encounter).
The writers/creators did say at some point we’ll see what life was like in Storybrooke before Emma came to town: this could be an epic Bae-centered episode. Maybe he even had a run-in with Gold before he got his memories back. I’m sure Gold was a complete charmer 🙄 so that may explain why Neal didn’t come to town when the curse was broken and decided to go down the fire escape…