Heartwishes Read online

  “Every woman in town has tried for that man. I can’t imagine that our studious little Gemma will be able to win him. Even gorgeous Jean doesn’t turn Dr. Tris’s head.”

  In college, Peregrine had dated many women who were much prettier and certainly more glamorous than Alea, but he’d known she was the one for him the moment he saw her stride across the gym floor. It had been during a basketball match, and as he watched her, the ball had hit his head and bounced off. The whole school burst into laughter. Four months later, she was pregnant and two months afterward, they were married.

  He kissed his wife’s cheek. “I hope you’re right, dear, and that you get what you want. Just don’t do anything drastic, will you?”

  “Explain the meaning of drastic.”

  Peregrine didn’t want to think about what could happen. “How about if I grill some steaks tonight?”

  “Lovely. I’ll have Rachel get them today. Have a good time today, dearest. Tell Dr. Henry hello for me.”

  5

  GEMMA WENT UPSTAIRS to get her bag and when she got outside, Colin was standing by his Jeep, talking on his cell. He didn’t look happy. When he saw Gemma, he gave a curt good-bye, clicked off the phone, and put it in his pocket.

  She got into the car beside him, and he was silent as he maneuvered out of the driveway around the other vehicles. “Did something bad happen?” she asked.

  “No, nothing. Everything is fine. Do you know what kind of car you want?”

  “I told your dad a Duesenberg.” When this elicited no response from him, she said, “How about if we do this later? When you’re in a better mood?”

  As they reached the highway, Colin stepped on the clutch, shoved the car into third, and she was thrown back against the seat. “No, I need the distraction. Do you know where I live?”

  “In town somewhere?”

  “I live in an apartment over my office. The downstairs used to be a shop that sold ladies’ apparel, while upstairs was used for storage. There are only a few windows, and the place smells like mothballs.”

  Gemma was beginning to understand. “And you want to move into your new house.”

  “Exactly. But as you saw, I have no furniture. Jean said she’d go with me tomorrow to buy some. But she left a voice mail saying she has an important case early on Monday morning, and she can’t get back until next week.”

  Gemma was thinking about what Rachel had told her. If Jean couldn’t find time to spend a weekend, how was she going to live there? “I bet you didn’t tell her you had a big surprise for her.” Gemma thought Jean didn’t seem to be the type who’d want someone else to choose her house for her, but that wasn’t any of her business. What she wanted was for Colin to tell her about him and Jean.

  But he didn’t take the hint. “Do you know anything about furniture?” he asked.

  “Not after about 1860, although I am familiar with the Bauhaus School. Mies van der Rohe never did anything for me, though. But then Rococo also leaves me cold, and no two styles could be more different, right?” Colin was looking at her. “Oh. You mean furniture today, don’t you? What you can buy in a shop now. No, I know nothing about it.”

  “You and my father are going to get on well. He lives in a world of past automobiles. He is extremely disappointed that none of his kids has inherited the family obsession.”

  “But you said that two of your brothers work for him.”

  “Work but don’t love,” Colin said.

  Gemma couldn’t imagine a parent being disappointed because he had a son who was a sheriff, a daughter who was about to become a doctor, and another son who lived for his art. “Maybe—” Gemma began, but the two-way radio in the console interrupted her.

  “Colin!” said a man’s voice. “You there?”

  He picked up the microphone. “Yeah, Tom. What do you need?”

  “How far away are you from the fork in K Creek?”

  “Ten minutes,” he said as he glanced at Gemma. “Hold on.” He downshifted, then turned the car ninety degrees without so much as slowing down.

  Gemma held on to the door and her seat, and felt as though she were on a ride at a fair—or a NASA training device.

  Colin didn’t so much as pause in talking on the radio. “I’m about eight minutes away now. What’s up?”

  “A four-year-old boy climbed a tree and he’s sitting on a branch that’s about to break. I’ve spent the last fifteen minutes trying to get him to jump to me, but he won’t let go. Says I’m too old to catch him.” They could hear the frustration in the man’s voice. “The fire department is on the way with a ladder, but I thought maybe if you were close, you could talk him down. Carl’s here but . . .”

  “Five minutes,” Colin said and clicked off the microphone as he reached outside and put a red light on the roof and a siren went off. He glanced at Gemma. “I’m sorry, but I have to go fast.”

  She said nothing but her eyes widened. They were already doing sixty on the winding road. There were only a few feet visible in front of them. If a car—

  She broke off her thoughts because a pickup with a boat attached was in front of them and Colin was heading straight into the back of it. He swerved to the left—and into the face of an oncoming car. Gemma tried to brace herself for the coming crash.

  But then, as though it were like some Biblical drama, the truck beside them slammed on the brakes and jerked to the right, while the car expertly went to the left, its nose heading into the trees. In front of them, the way was clear, and Colin hadn’t even slowed down.

  As soon as they were past, Gemma turned to look behind them. Both the truck and the car had stopped, and a tall man from the truck was crossing the road to the car.

  Gemma turned back around. They were doing seventy now.

  “That was Luke, the author, in the truck,” Colin said. “And it was Ramsey in the car. He’s a lawyer.”

  “It was a pleasure meeting them,” Gemma answered, still holding on.

  Colin chuckled as he turned a sharp right onto land that had no hint of a roadway. “I didn’t mean to scare you, but I knew they’d get out of the way. They’re both relatives of mine.”

  She wanted to ask what he would have done if the road had been full of tourists, but she was too busy holding on to ask him anything. There were holes and little hillocks that made one wheel go down and another go up. Gemma was bouncing on the seat so hard her head scraped the ceiling.

  “Shortcut,” Colin yelled over the noise of the siren and what sounded like a metal tool box in the back bouncing up and down. “We’re going across Merlin’s Farm.” He pointed to the right.

  Half hidden under the trees was a small octagon-shaped building with a tall, pointed roof, like a witch’s hat. There was a short door, and to the right of it was an open space in the wall, with a gate across it.

  It didn’t take a historian to see that the building was very old.

  “That’s . . .” Gemma began. “Is that . . . ?”

  “Spring house. Water inside,” Colin yelled back as he shifted gears. In the next second he went around a couple of big trees and a county sheriff car came into view. Colin skidded to a halt amid a dense cloud of dust and rocks.

  Gemma stayed in the car, coughing, but Colin leaped out before the vehicle came to a full halt. When the car kept rolling, she saw that he’d left it to her to turn off the engine. She slid over the console, braked, and turned the motor off.

  When she looked out the windshield, she saw Colin and two law enforcement officers in brown uniforms standing a few feet away from a big tree that had been struck by lightning. Half of the tree had fallen to the ground, creating what looked to be a ramp that led upward. It would be easy for a child to walk up it.

  Above, sitting on a heavy branch that was bending toward the earth, was a little boy. He had blond hair and big blue eyes that were wide with fear. His mother was standing below and talking to him in a low voice, trying to keep him from moving and causing the branch to break further.