Wishes Read online

  “Does her family love her?”

  “They must. They put up with her. You saw her eat that cake. Disgusting. I wouldn’t live with someone like that.”

  “Even if that person cooked and cleaned for you and picked up your clothes?”

  “I see. This is all meant to make me feel sorry for the fat girl. No one opened her mouth and forced that food inside her. She ate that cake. She eats candy all day long. No one makes her.”

  “Mmm,” Pauline said.

  Berni got off the banquette. She was growing angry now. “You’re just like those bleeding hearts on earth, always talking about eating disorders and how people can’t help themselves. Do you think I stayed slim all my life because I’m naturally thin? I’m thin because I starved myself. I got on my scale every day, and if I was so much as a half pound heavy, I fasted that day. That’s how a person keeps from getting fat. Discipline!”

  “I don’t think Nellie is as strong as you. Some people, like you, can make it through life all by themselves, but people like Nellie need help.”

  “She has help. She has a family that puts up with her. There she is, a fat old maid, yet her father’s supporting her.”

  “He certainly seems to be getting his money’s worth.”

  Berni glared at Pauline. “You think you know this fatty, but you don’t. I know what fatsos like her are really like. She looks like she’s the model daughter, taking care of her father and sister, acting reluctant when a gorgeous man asks her out. She may look like the perfect angel, but underneath all the blubber beats a heart full of hatred. I know.”

  “You know Nellie that well?” Pauline asked softly.

  “I know women just like her. My sister is fat, and she hated me. She hated the way the boys asked me out, the way everyone looked at me and no one ever looked at her. I tell you, if you could see the true nature of this Nellie, you wouldn’t see some meek little earth mother, you’d see a demon.”

  “That’s difficult to believe.”

  “I know what I’m talking about. Every fat girl who ever saw me wanted to look like me. They all hated me because they were jealous—just as Nellie is jealous of that lovely Terel.”

  “You’re sure Nellie actually hates her sister?”

  “Positive. If Nellie were given what she really wants, Terel’s arms would probably drop off. She would…” Berni stopped. “What do I have to do to help this Nellie?”

  “It’s up to you. I told you, we supply the magic, and you supply the wisdom.”

  “Wisdom,” Berni said, smiling. “I don’t know who chooses these assignments, but they goofed this time. Nellie doesn’t need help, it’s Terel who needs the help. I could prove it if I could give Nellie what she really, truly wants.”

  “You can.”

  Berni thought about that. “All right, I’ll give her three wishes. Not dumb wishes like ‘I wish the dishes were washed’ but wishes for what Nellie genuinely wants. She doesn’t have to voice her wish, just want it, you know what I mean?”

  “I believe so. You think that what Nellie seems to want and what she really wants are at odds?”

  “Odds? Are you kidding? Little Miss Goody Two Shoes will wish that hunk belonged to her, and she’ll wish Terel into an early grave. You mark my words. I’ll return, and Terel will be scrubbing floors. She’ll probably wish her father into the poorhouse.”

  “Return?” Pauline asked. “You mean to give her three wishes and walk away? You don’t plan to stay and see what happens?”

  “I like that Terel; she reminds me of myself, and I can’t bear to stay and watch what her fat sister is going to do to her.”

  “You’re sure Nellie’s heart is full of hatred?”

  “Very sure. I know my fatties. Now, what do I have to do to give her her three wishes?”

  Pauline sighed. “Declare it, nothing more.”

  “Okay, fatso, you get three wishes for what you really want. Sorry, Terel.” Berni waved her hand in the direction of the screen. “Now,” she said to Pauline, “what other rooms are in this burg? How about the Luxury room?”

  Pauline gave a backward glance at the screen, sighed, then led Berni through the archway toward the hall.

  Chapter Three

  Chandler, Colorado

  1896

  Jace Montgomery dismounted his horse, threw the reins to the boy waiting outside the Taggert mansion, and went inside. The butler didn’t even rise from his chair but kept reading his paper, only glancing up to nod in Jace’s direction.

  “In his office?” Jace asked.

  The butler nodded again and kept reading.

  Jace knew the man didn’t consider him a guest. In the butler’s opinion there were guests and there were relatives, and Jace was a mere relative. As Jace walked through the big, mostly marble house the place rang with the sound of people, and the noise made him smile. The house sounded so much like his home in Maine.

  His father’s big, very old, sprawling house, set but feet from the ocean in Warbrooke, Maine, always echoed with the noise of his Montgomery and Taggert relatives, and in the background was the constant music made by his mother and her friends.

  After his wife died Jace couldn’t bear the happiness around him. He couldn’t stand to hear children laughing or see couples looking at each other with love. A month after he buried Julie and his three-day-old son he’d stepped on a train, and for four years he’d been traveling, just traveling, doing nothing else. He had met few people, not wanting ever again to care for another human being, and he’d kept to himself.

  But about six months ago he’d started to recover, started to be able to think of something besides his own grief. He went to California and visited his mother’s parents and spent some time with the old mountain men who lived on his grandfather’s ranch.

  It was while he was visiting Grandpa Jeff that his Aunt Ardis started writing him and nagging him to visit his Taggert cousins in Colorado. He gave in when he found out his cousin, Kane Taggert, and his wife were going to be in San Francisco. Jace took a train south and introduced himself. He found Kane to be as gruff-voiced and as generous-hearted as the Taggerts in Maine, and they became quick friends. Jace also fell half in love with Kane’s beautiful wife, Houston.

  The Taggerts had returned to Colorado, Jace had gone back north to spend a few more weeks with his grandparents, then he’d started the journey to Colorado.

  He’d taken his time traveling, and it was at one remote stop that he’d met Charles Grayson. During a sleepless night Jace had looked out the window to see a couple of thugs trying to rob a man. Jace was off the train in seconds, and a couple of well-placed fists easily dispersed the thieves.

  Charles had been very grateful, and once on the train he’d started saying he needed a man like Jace to work for him. Jace didn’t bother saying he didn’t need a job or want one; he just listened to Charles talk about himself and his beautiful daughter. When Jace found out Charles lived in Chandler, he decided to visit the Grayson family and so accepted a dinner invitation.

  Once in Chandler Jace had quite suddenly become very homesick, and, knowing Charles was at his freight office, he’d gone to the Grayson house an hour too early for dinner. He wanted to see this daughter Charles said was such a paragon of grace and beauty.

  Within ten minutes of meeting Nellie he agreed with everything Charles had to say about her. She was kind and warm and funny, and for the first time in four years he found himself talking about his wife’s death. It had been so pleasant to sit in the garden with her and break beans. She hadn’t been flirtatious like so many women were. Instead, she’d blushed like a schoolgirl, and that beautiful face of hers had made him feel better than he had in years.

  It was with disbelief and no little horror that he’d heard Charles Grayson cursing Nellie when they’d returned to the house. For a moment Jace had been too stunned to react. Charles had talked of nothing else on the train except his lovely daughter, yet here he was acting as though he were ashamed of her.