Heartwishes (16 page)

“That’s what he tells me, but it’s really odd that when I can’t figure out something, he knows how to do it. The truth is, he thinks that by flattering me I’ll do anything that requires a person to sit in a chair for longer than fifteen minutes.”

“Does it work?”

“Perfectly,” Roy said, smiling. “He and I have an unspoken agreement. I let him dump the paperwork on me, and he lets me bring my son to the office when the sitter flakes out on me.”

Gemma, ever curious, said, “Your husband . . .”

“Single mother. He wanted me
and
his old girlfriend. I said no.”

“Imagine that.”

The two women smiled at each other.

“What have you heard about the fire?” Gemma asked.

“It’s under control. The family should be back today. Except Mr. Frazier might stay awhile. If any vehicle breaks down, he can fix it.”

“Oh?” Gemma said and knew her expression was giving too much away. She had really missed Colin. “I’m just concerned, is all. Colin said there was no cell phone service there.”

It was Roy’s turn to look surprised. “He called you from the fire?”

“Just once. I haven’t heard anything in a while.”

Roy’s smile broadened. “I heard you’re going out with Dr. Tris.”

“It’s just to a barbecue,” Gemma said, her mind on Colin. “How bad is the fire?”

“We’ve had worse.” Roy was watching Gemma. “You’re all Colin has talked about since he met you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” Roy was looking at Gemma in speculation. “He likes you.”

Gemma willed the blood not to rush to her face and give her away. “We’re becoming buddies.”

“That’s not what the town is saying.”

Gemma didn’t think she should reply to that statement. “I better go. I just wanted to introduce myself.”

“Stop by any time. And if you have any problems about anything, give us a call.”

“Okay.” She had her hand on the doorknob but turned back. “What happened about Tara and her flower bed? She said someone was trampling it.”

“Sleepwalking.”

“What?”

Roy smiled. “Colin figured it out, but then he usually does. He’s good at mysteries. He had her put up cameras to make sure. They showed Tara walking through her flowers, wearing her husband’s shoes, and sound asleep. Dr. Tris gave her some pills to help her sleep and told Tara’s husband to get a job that let him stay at home more.” She paused. “I wouldn’t usually tell anyone about a case, but this one is all over town anyway. Poor Tara says she wants to hide.”

“I don’t blame her.” Gemma hesitated. “I need to ask you a question and I don’t know how to say it.”

Roy’s face changed from smiling to serious. “If anyone is bothering you—”

“No, not that. Where’s a grocery store that’s, well, cheaper than the organic one?”

Roy’s eyes lit up as she smiled. “Go there. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by the final total. Colin didn’t say so, but it’s my guess that
he took you there to show Ellie that you’re now an honorary Frazier. She’ll give you the family discount.”

“Even though I’m a temporary resident?”

“If you’re with Colin, that’s enough for all of us.”

“I’d think that privilege would be reserved for Jean.”

Roy took a while to answer. “Doesn’t she wear the most beautiful high heels you’ve ever seen? Two years ago she broke a heel off on our brick sidewalks and I haven’t seen her in Edilean since.”

Gemma could only blink at Roy as an understanding passed between them. She wasn’t in favor of Colin and Jean being together. Smiling, Gemma said good-bye and left the office.

Instead of returning to the guesthouse, she decided to walk around the square at the shops. Each one was pretty and well kept. At the end of the block from Colin’s office was a large building with locked doors and shades over the windows. Paint had been scraped off the glass doors but she could see that it used to read E
DILEAN
F
ASHIONS
. This was probably the gym Colin had told her about. If her side wasn’t so sore she would have knocked on the door, but she didn’t.

After she’d circled the block, not going into any store, she got in her car and drove out McTern Road to Ellie’s store. A couple of people waved hello, but no one stopped her. As before, Ellie was in the back behind the deli counter.

“I hear you’re going to my daughter’s barbecue with Tristan,” Ellie said.

Gemma wanted to get away from that subject. “Is it true that Mike scares people in the gym?”

Ellie smiled. “If people sit around on the benches and talk too much, he can be
very
scary. So are you going with Tris?”

“Yes,” Gemma said.

There were three other women waiting their turn, and all of
them stared at Gemma as though to ask how she’d finagled that date.

Ellie’s eyes twinkled. “Give everyone kisses from me, especially Tris and Colin.”

At the mention of the second man, the women’s mouths fell open. It seemed that Tris and Colin were the town’s prize catches.

“Here you are,” Ellie said as she handed Gemma a white package. “Lots of sliced turkey. Be sure and get some brown mustard. Colin likes it, but then you probably already know that.”

Smiling, Gemma turned away, but Ellie’s voice made her look back. “And Tris loves pickles. Better get at least four kinds. Now, ladies, what can I do for you?”

Gemma had to suppress her laugher as she went in search of mustard and pickles.

10

T
HE NEXT MORNING
, Colin called again. The connection wasn’t any better than the first time. “Mom and the others left,” he said. “They’ll check on you soon.”

“What about you?” she shouted into the phone. “When do you get back?”

“I don’t know. Days. I’m helping with the cleanup. Miss me?”

“Yes,” she said.

There was what sounded like a crash and it was a minute before Colin got back on the line. “I have to go, but I wanted to tell you that no one’s been hurt. I’ll see you when I get back.”

Gemma hung up and held the phone to her for a moment. That he’d called even when he was so very busy made her feel good.

By that afternoon, she was well into her research. As she dug deeper, she had to remind herself that she was doing a family history. She didn’t have to be as precise as she usually would be. This was for fun, to please a family—or, more precisely, Mrs. Frazier.

The truth was, she was rationalizing. She didn’t want to delve
into medieval history but to stay in the nineteenth century. She wanted to know about the piece of letter she’d read. Who was Julian? Who was “that woman” who’d not cared about his death?

She’d been through Jocelyn’s genealogy charts and had even exchanged a few e-mails with her, but they could find no one named Julian.

However, there were two Tamsens. One was an Aldredge, the other a Frazier. If the war mentioned in the letter was the Civil War, then the writer had to be Tamsen Frazier, as the Aldredge woman died before the war began. But the names made Gemma think there was a connection.

She e-mailed Jocelyn and asked what she knew about the Tamsens, but Joce said she’d only found dates. She didn’t know if either woman had married or produced children. “The Aldredges tend toward fatherless children,” Joce wrote. “We all tease Tris about that. And the Fraziers and Aldredges have been friends and have intermarried all the way back to the settling of the town.”

“The friendship doesn’t seem to have changed,” Gemma wrote back.

“Nothing changes in this town,” Joce responded. “I named my daughter Edilean.”

A few more exchanges resulted in Joce saying that she and her family would be at the barbecue. “Everyone in town wants to meet you. Even Roy praised what you did to save that little boy, and she thinks most women are victims waiting to happen. My best friends, Sara and Tess, will be there. They’re both pregnant and have contests to see who can eat the most. So far, Tess is winning.”

Smiling, Gemma wrote that she looked forward to meeting all of them, then went back to work. Mrs. Frazier came by the guesthouse, driving a red utility vehicle that had a crown painted in gold on the hood.

“My son Lanny’s idea of a joke,” she said, but she didn’t seem to be
displeased. She was fascinated by every word Gemma told her, especially about the Heartwishes. “Do you have to be a Frazier by blood? Must you be
born
into the family to get your wish?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Gemma said, taken aback by the woman’s vehemence. She started to say that the story of the Stone’s magical powers was just a family myth, but she didn’t. It looked as though Mrs. Frazier had a wish she wanted to come true. What the woman could possibly want that she didn’t already have was beyond Gemma’s imagination.

“Keep working, dear,” Mrs. Frazier said as she handed Gemma a credit card. “It’s the same one Rachel uses to buy for the household. Get whatever you need for the job.”

“What’s happened with the fire?” she asked before the woman ran off.

“Not too bad,” Mrs. Frazier said. “A lot of damage, but no one’s been hurt. Better yet, it’s under control.”

“Colin said he was helping with the cleanup.”

Mrs. Frazier gave a little smile. “My son called you?”

“Just a couple of times,” Gemma said and wished she’d not told that. The Frazier family loved Jean.

“That’s lovely,” Mrs. Frazier said as she climbed into her little truck. She was still smiling as she drove away.

Gemma didn’t waste any time trying to understand the woman’s enigmatic little smile but went back to work.

Mr. Frazier stopped by to give her a paycheck. When Gemma offered to tell him about her research, he looked as though he might fall asleep. She said, “Morgan,” and he instantly came alive.

“Founded in 1909 by Henry Frederick Stanley Morgan in Malvern Link, Worcestershire. I bought two of them from his son Peter before he died a few years ago. I have an Aero SuperSport on order.”

Gemma’s eyes widened. “Don’t those cost—”

“Ssssh!” he said. “You tell Alea and I’ll make you drive it.”

“Heard about how much I loved driving Colin’s Jeep, did you?”

“What I heard is that you rode with him and didn’t scream.” He looked at her as though to say she’d done a good job. As he climbed into his little truck—black with red stripes on the hood—he said, “Oh yeah, Lanny saw the tape of you climbing on Colin and he says he’s in love with you.”

“Isla will be heartbroken,” Gemma replied, and Mr. Frazier laughed as he sped away.

Shamus visited twice. He was a quiet young man, saying hardly anything, but she had an idea that he saw a lot. On his first visit she started to tell him of the little she’d learned of his ancestors, but like his father, he didn’t seem interested.

If there was one thing she knew about big, athletic boys it was that they were always hungry. She told him to sit on the couch while she made him a sandwich. He had his ever-present drawing case with him and he began to sketch while she loaded bread high with meat and whatever she could find in the refrigerator. She didn’t have any potato chips so she sliced carrots. She set the plate and a quart of iced tea on the coffee table, then went back to work.

An hour later she looked up from where she was sitting on the floor, surrounded by books and papers, and Shamus had moved to the chair and was sketching. She went back to work, paying no attention to him. An hour or so later, he left, saying nothing, just raising his hand in farewell.

The next day he stopped by again. She opened the door to his knock but she’d been reading some letters and didn’t want to stop. Shamus seemed to understand, as he motioned for her to sit back down. He went to the kitchen and minutes later he put a tray with a sandwich and tea down beside her. She smiled up at him as he sat
down in the chair with his sandwich. The next time she looked up, he was drawing. She didn’t know when he left. That evening there were two huge floor cushions outside her door and she felt sure Shamus had been the person who’d obtained them. Gratefully, she put one on the library floor and another one against the shelves.

As for the rest of the family, Lanny and Pere, she didn’t see them. Rachel came by to pick up the bowls and to give her more “leftovers.” Since most of the dishes hadn’t been touched, Gemma knew Rachel had prepared them specially.

“Heartwishes, huh?” Rachel said without preamble.

“You’ve heard about it?”

“It’s all Mrs. F can talk about. She’s worried that it won’t work for her, so she made Mr. F say three times, ‘I wish for grandchildren.’ Any day now I expect Lanny to tell us he’s knocked up some girl.”

“Hope it’s not Isla,” Gemma said, and they laughed.

As Rachel climbed into her UTV—this one in green camouflage—Gemma said, “I haven’t heard from Colin in days. Nothing bad happened at the fire, did it?”

“We’ve not heard anything either,” Rachel said. “But Colin flies a helicopter, so they keep him pretty busy. Are you missing him?”

“It’s just that—” Breaking off, Gemma shook her head. “I just want to know that he’s okay.”

“How are you going to choose between Colin and Dr. Tris?”

“Tris is just a friend, that’s all. I hardly know him. Colin’s a friend too and I don’t know him very well either, but—” When Rachel started grinning, Gemma decided to shut up.

“Friendship is great, isn’t it?” Rachel said, then sped off toward the house.

Absolutely no one was helping her keep her distance from Colin!