Heartwishes

"Sure," Tris said, but he had his head down and he made no motion to move.

Gemma looked at him. "Is there something you want to tell me? Or ask me?"

"Heartwishes," he said. "Have you found out anything more about that?"

"No, and I"ve been searching. Did Colin tell you about it?"

"Yes." He looked at her. "Mind if I tell you a story?"

"I would love to hear anything that takes my mind off my own problems."

"Colin and I had breakfast the day he left for the fire and he told me about the Heartwishes Stone. We laughed about it. That night I told my sister and niece. I meant it as entertainment, but Nell believed every word I said, and she got quite upset. She said that she"s part Frazier and the wish from her heart was that her father would come home and that they"d get to stay in Edilean. She had Addy and me stand up, and repeat her wish three times. She said she wanted to make sure the Heartwishes Stone heard us."

When he was silent, Gemma waited. He seemed to have more to say.

"Last night Addy got a call that her husband had been shot in Iraq and-"

"Oh!"

"No, it"s okay. He"s all right, or will be. He"s been flown to a hospital in Miami. My parents live in Sarasota, and they drove down there immediately. Jake will be fine, but his injury is bad enough that he"ll be discharged from the army. He"ll be home for good in about a month."

"That"s wonderful," Gemma said.

"There"s more. Before Jake signed up, he was a top car mechanic, and he had a good job in Detroit. The owner of the garage where he worked said that when Jake returned, the job would be waiting for him." Tris looked at Gemma. "The morning after Nell made her wish, we heard that the place where Jake was supposed to go back to work blew up. It was at night and no one was hurt, but now Jake has no job to return to."

Gemma leaned back in her chair and looked at him. "What else?"

"On the same day we heard about the explosion in Detroit, Mr. Frazier"s head mechanic at his service center just outside of Edilean gave notice that in four months he"s moving to California to be near his wife"s relatives. Mr. Frazier called me to say that Jake had the job if he wanted it. That was a few days ago, then last night the call about Jake"s injury came in. It"s as though Nell"s wish came true, in less than a week, and all of it happened after she made her wish."

"You do know that it"s all coincidence, don"t you?" Gemma said.

"I"m sure it is, but then today . . ." He looked hard at her.

"You mean me?"

Tris nodded. "Yes. Rachel told me-"

Gemma drew in her breath. "That Mrs. Frazier made her husband wish for grandchildren."

"Right."

Gemma swallowed. "But wouldn"t they come from Jean?"

"Colin won"t tell me what"s going on with her, but what if they did stay together?" There was anger in his voice. "Will she commute back and forth to Richmond?"

"I saw a law office here in town. Maybe she could-"

"Infiltrate MAW-the law firm of McDowell, Aldredge and Welsch? My cousin is one of the partners, and I can tell you that they"d never let an outsider in."

"But she"d be Colin"s wife. She"d belong," Gemma said, even though the words stuck in her throat.

"It won"t happen," Tris said firmly.

Gemma ran her finger over her plate to get the last bit of chocolate, and put it in her mouth. "How long have you disliked Jean?"

"Since she ran her hand up my thigh at a party."

"Did you tell Colin?"

"I tried to, but he wouldn"t listen."

Gemma thought about what he"d told her. "Look, I"m sure this Heartwishes thing is just a family myth. If it were true, the Fraziers would have been granted wishes for centuries, but I can"t see that they have. Or have they?"

Tris gave a bit of a grin. "No. If it had been up to Mrs. Frazier, her daughter would never have attended medical school. Her wish would have made Ariel stay in Edilean, get married, and she"d have six kids by now. And if Mr. Frazier had his way, all of his children would be crazy about cars and want to take over the family business."

"It"s a good thing there is nothing that does grant wishes, isn"t it?" Gemma said. "Everyone"s wish would conflict with everyone else"s."

"Not to mention people getting angry and wishing ill on others," Tris said.

Gemma looked at him. "And what about you?" she asked. "If Nell is part Frazier, so are you. If you did have a wish, what would it be?"

"I . . ." He leaned back in his chair and didn"t seem inclined to say any more.

"I told you about my stupidity with Colin, so you can tell me your secrets."

"Yeah, but I"m a doctor. I"m used to people"s secrets."

"And I"m an historian. I"m used to two-hundred-year-old secrets."

He smiled. "All right. I"m looking for her."

"Who?"

"The one they write all the songs and novels about. My sister says I"m too romantic, but I feel that I"ll know her when I see her." He took a breath. "And I want her to like me for more than what I do or what I look like." He looked down at his plate for a moment, then back at Gemma. "Maybe the Heartwishes Stone works for my sister, but it"s not working for me."

"It"s not possible, of course, but I wonder what could have activated the Stone now after all these years."

"You. Maybe you opened something in those papers. Maybe the Stone is in there but you haven"t seen it."

"Not possible," Gemma said. "I"ve been through all the boxes. There was only paper in them and a few sentimental things."

"Such as?"

"Ribbons, lockets full of strands of hair, the usual Victorian sentimentality."

Tris just stared at her.

"I really don"t believe in magic," she said. "And I"d think that you, as a man of science, wouldn"t either."

"I wouldn"t usually, but in the time since Nell put on her little drama and made her wish, everything has turned upside down. I didn"t get to bed last night, and I"m taking Nell and Addy to the airport today." He ran his hand over his face. "I went to the office early this morning to write some prescriptions for patients before I left. My head was full of Jake"s return, then you showed up with your story about Colin, and . . ." He raised his eyebrows. "I think I need some sleep."

"I agree," Gemma said. She saw a customer wander by and knew the store had opened. "If you"re like Colin, you better get out of here before people start asking you to look at their warts."

They stood up, gathered their trash, and put it in a bin.

Tris put his hand on her shoulder. "Thanks, Gemma. You needed to talk to me, but I ended up doing all the talking."

"I enjoyed it. I miss my friends from school." She rubbed her arm. "And I especially miss working out with the boys."

"Oh, right. That"s what gave you the body the Internet is drooling over."

"Not quite," she said, laughing.

"You"ll meet Mike at the barbecue. He"s a major jock, so you two can . . . do whatever it is people do in a gym."

"I guess you were born with those pecs and you don"t know what a forty-five-pound plate looks like." They were walking toward the back of the store.

"I stop in now and then and do a bit," he said as they reached the back truck ramp. "I"m beginning to see what Colin finds so fascinating about you."

"Is that why he called me Jean?"

Tris didn"t laugh. "What are you going to do the next time you see him?"

"I"ll act like it was nothing. No big deal-and it wasn"t."

"I think that will be more difficult than you think," Tris said. "Listen, if you have any symptoms of, you know, tell me, will you?"

"I"ll be crying on your doorstep." They had reached his car. "Today I"m going to start some serious research on this Heartwishes thing."

"Let me know about that too," he said as he got into the car.

"Every word." She pulled her BlackBerry out of her handbag. "Let me have your e-mail address and I"ll tell you everything as I learn it."

Smiling, he told her-and he wrote her a prescription for birth control pills.

During the next week, Gemma had difficulty concentrating on her work. She"d read for an hour, make notes, and try to fit all that she was learning into what she knew. But at the end of the hour, she"d stare into s.p.a.ce and think about Colin. She kept going over every second of their time together, every word they"d exchanged, and especially their brief moments in bed. She rationalized his calling her Jean. Gemma had asked Rachel, and she said Colin and Jean had been together since he graduated from college. So of course he"d make a mistake, since they"d been together such a long time, and besides, he"d been very tired that morning.

For the first day, she thought about n.o.bly telling Colin that what had happened between them was "nothing" and that it wouldn"t happen again. She prepared her speech with the precision of a commencement address.

But Colin didn"t show up, so she couldn"t tell him anything. Nor did he call or text her. Was he feeling guilty? she wondered. Was he agonizing over how to tell her that he was sorry for what he did? Was he preparing what he was going to say as carefully as Gemma was gathering her defense?

Day after day, she imagined a new scenario, that he had confessed to Jean about what he"d done, how he hadn"t been faithful to her. Would they stay together? Break up?

Gemma worried constantly about her job, knowing that it could be taken from her. To lose the perfect job, and for what? To have a roll in the hay with a man who had a permanent girlfriend? It wasn"t worth it!

On the other hand, if Colin did break up with Jean . . .

By the time Tris was to pick her up for the barbecue, she had run through so many emotions that she honestly didn"t know how she was going to react when she saw Colin. Her hope was that he wouldn"t be there and she wouldn"t have to deal with him.

11.

TRIS PICKED GEMMA up at eleven. The first thing she asked him was if Colin would be there. She hoped not, but in case he did show up, she had her speech ready to explain why she had fallen into bed with him.

"I don"t think so," he said, "but if he does come, he might have Jean with him." He glanced at her as he drove. "Can we men look forward to a girl fight?"

"You wish! So how"s your brother-in-law?"

"Better," Tris said, smiling. "My dad"s a retired doctor and he said Jake"s injuries look good. They"re healing well and the prognosis is for a full recovery."

"What about Nell?"

"She"s the happiest child on earth. Addy said they had to pull her away from Jake last night. And how about you and Mrs. F"s wish?" He looked down at her flat stomach.

"I bet you still believe in the Easter Bunny. Is this Merlin"s Farm as good as it says on the Web site?"

"You"ll have to judge that for yourself. But talk to Sara. She knows a lot about the farm"s history."

"How many people am I going to meet today?"

"A dozen or so humans, and maybe Mr. Lang. He"s in a cla.s.s all to himself."

"Sounds interesting," she said. "I"d like to hear about when the FBI agents were here."

"We were overrun by them. And the Secret Service. Ask Mike. He"ll tell you all about it. On second thought, he probably won"t tell you anything. He"s a man who loves to keep secrets. Ask Sara."

Tris turned into a driveway and before them was what Gemma knew was a very old house. Only many years could cause walls and a roof to sag in that particular way. She"d often paid entrance fees to visit houses just like it. "Oooooh," she said, her eyes wide.

"You and Sara are going to be best friends," Tris said as he parked the car in front of the house and gave a quick burst of the horn.

The front door opened and a pretty young woman came out. "Tris, if you wake my babies, you"re dead meat," she said.

"Put some whiskey in their formula and they"ll go right back to sleep," he said as he went to his trunk and opened it.

"I"m going to tell the La Leche League you said that, then see if you"re laughing," the woman said as she turned to Gemma. "I"m Joce and I think I found Julian."

"That"s great," Gemma said. "Did you bring any data?"

"It"s only a few sentences and it"s all in my head." They started toward the house.

"Hey!" Tris called. "I have lots of stuff to carry in and I need help."

"After the horn and the whiskey crack, no woman is going to help you. Maybe I"ll send Luke out," Joce said as she opened the door.