The Apple Orchard

by Susan Wiggs

  “Cheers.” Tess had done stranger things than clink glasses with her boyfriend’s ex-wife, but she couldn’t remember when. “Actually, this piece is what I came to ask you about. Isabel’s been looking for it. I believe—and this comes from a lot of research—this belonged to Erik Johansen.”

  Lourdes laughed and took a drink of wine. “God, you are a piece of work. It’s not enough that you’re dating my husband...”

  Ex-husband, Tess thought.

  “But now you want to take away a trinket that was left to me by my father?”

  “I’m trying to help out my sister and Magnus, that’s all.” Tess had brought only two photographs with her, both taken at Bella Vista during Erik’s lifetime, both showing the egg on display with both Erik and Magnus present. “I trace heirlooms as a job. It originally belonged to Magnus. He brought it from the old country after the war. It went missing, so it’s kind of a miracle to find it. Having it again would mean the world to Isabel.”

  Lourdes finished her wine and refilled her glass. “Maybe it would mean the world to me.”

  “Would it?”

  “I barely remember my father. It’s nice having something that belonged to him.”

  “Isabel and I never knew ours, either.” Tess kept a poker face. Softball or hardball, she asked herself. Lourdes was a lawyer. She was probably smart as a whip. If she had the first inkling of the egg’s value, she’d never surrender it.

  “Look, I’ll be frank,” Tess said. “Isabel is having an incredibly hard time and reclaiming a family heirloom will help her. It still belongs to Magnus Johansen. Restoring a piece of family history to Isabel would be such a kindness.”

  “And if I refuse?”

  Tess wanted to avoid any hint of drama. She could provide provenance that would make Lourdes’s father look like a thief, but she didn’t want to use that as leverage. “If you refuse,” she said, “you won’t be the person your kids think you are. They adore and admire their mom.”

  Lourdes’s gaze flickered, and she took a hurried sip of wine. Tess carefully replaced the egg. She avoided looking at it.

  Lourdes poured herself another glass of wine and took a seat on the sofa. “It seems to me,” she said slowly, “we’ve each got something the other wants.” Lourdes crossed one leg over the other and twirled her foot.

  “I’m not sure I understand. I don’t want anything from you. I was just suggesting it would be a kindness to Isabel if you were to restore the ornament to her.”

  “I’m not going to mince words. You know as well as I do that you’re the only thing standing in the way of me and Dominic reconciling.”

  Tess felt bad for her, worse still for Dominic and the children. Recalling the loneliness and isolation of growing up without a family, she wondered if she could put herself in the way of this broken family’s attempt to repair itself. “I’m not in the way,” she said quietly.

  “He is the father of my children. We’re a family. You have no right to interfere with that. Let’s agree that you can give Isabel the Christmas ornament, and you go back to wherever you came from.”

  Her flawed thinking was breathtaking, but Tess was not about to point that out. Lourdes was offering her a bargaining chip. Never mind that it was made of crazy.

  “And if I refuse?” Tess deliberately echoed Lourdes.

  “Then you’re not the long-lost sister Isabel thinks you are. Oh, and by the way,” Lourdes continued, “did Dominic tell you we’re going to counseling?”

  Tess felt as if she’d been punched in the gut. It must have shown on her face, because Lourdes gave a tiny smile. “Thought not. It’s true, though. Ask him yourself.” The woman was delusional. Yet she was also willing to make a deal.

  Tess knew exactly what she had to do.

  * * *

  Tess went to the hospital. It only seemed right to bring the treasure straight to Magnus, who thought he’d lost the egg when he’d lost his son. When she got to his room, she found the doctor and two nurses clustered around the bed.

  Her heart froze. Was she losing him?

  “What’s happening?” she demanded, pushing into the room. He looked the same. “Is something wrong?”

  Dr. Hattori stepped back, adjusted his glasses. “We’re upgrading his condition. There’s been more reaction to stimuli.”

  “Upgrading. You mean he’s waking up?”

  “I’m seeing increased brain activity. There’s eye movement and possibly some tracking.”

  “Have you called Isabel?”

  “I left her a message.” The doctor gave Tess a full report. The process could take days or even weeks, and the prognosis was far from certain. There was no way to predict the recovery. He might be in a vegetative state, or he could regain full functionality or anything in between.

  “There is every reason to hope for a good outcome,” the doctor said.

  “What can I do?”

  “What you’ve been doing all along. Talking and touching, staying close. He’s lucky to have a granddaughter like you.”

  Tess felt a lump in her throat. “He has no idea. I mean he really, really has no idea.”

  Alone with Magnus, she rolled her chair close to the bed. “So I found it,” she said to him. “Just like I told you I would. Hurry and wake up. I need to know what you know. Did you realize Erik had the egg? Did he just help himself to it? Did you realize it was then taken by Carlos?”

  She took the egg from her bag. It was surreal, carrying a multimillion-dollar artifact around like it was a powder compact. “After I show you and Isabel, we’ll want to go straight to the bank with this.”

  She placed the egg under the palm of his hand. She imagined that hand in younger years, holding the object, taking pride in the idea that it had been awarded to his grandfather for saving a precious young life.

  “I had to make a deal in order to get this,” she told Magnus. “Dominic’s ex-wife gave it to me on condition that I take myself out of the picture. She’s delusional if she thinks that is going to bring them back together, but of course I didn’t tell her so. I do have to leave, though. Not just because of the deal I made, but because I don’t...belong here.”

  She drew in a breath and realized her chest was aching. The rhythm of the pumps and monitors pulsed into the silence. “I didn’t ever think anything would be this hard. I love him, Magnus. I’ve never felt this way before. I love his kids. I love his life. And yet I have to walk away. And it’s tearing me up. I didn’t know. I had absolutely no idea what real love feels like, what it could do to me. And now I have no idea what to do without it.”

  Freeing a tiny gold filigreed latch, she opened the egg. A half-melted candy cane fell out. “Lourdes had no idea what she was hanging on her tree, year in and year out,” Tess said. “It was right in front of her the whole time.” She put the egg back in her bag and sat in silence for a while.

  Behind her grandfather’s thin, closed eyelids, she could see movement. The doctors had cautioned her all along that Magnus was not simply going to leap out of his bed one day and take up where he’d left off. But that didn’t keep her from hoping and dreaming that someday, they would meet face-to-face.

  “I need to go,” she said. “I have to show this to Isabel and then have a less fun conversation with Dominic.” She took Magnus’s hand and squeezed it.

  “You squeezed back,” she whispered. “I swear, I felt you do it. Do it again.”

  Nothing. But she refused to dismiss the feeling that he was somehow more present, the muscles of his face perhaps less slack, the position of his body more solid, as if someone was in charge.

  Leaning down, she whispered, “See you soon,” and drove back to Bella Vista.

  * * *

  Tess found Isabel up on a ladder at the roadside stand, detaching the sign from above the door. The old-world, hand-lettered sign read Bella Vista Fine Produce and according to Isabel, had hung in its place for more than fifty years. She looked adorable in faded overalls that were a couple of sizes too
big, a hand-knit sweater and fingerless knitted gloves. Her breath made little clouds in the cold air.

  Tess parked across the road by the mailbox. “Hey,” she called.

  “Hey, yourself.” Isabel turned on the ladder to greet her.

  “Be careful,” Tess said. “Our family has bad luck with ladders.” Hearing the words “our family” come out of her own mouth was surprising. “What are you doing?”

  “I didn’t want to leave this behind,” Isabel said, indicating the enamel sign.

  “Isabel—”

  “I know you think I’ve been in denial about the foreclosure, but that’s not true. I know exactly what’s going to happen, and I know exactly what has to be done. I’ve got to start somewhere.” She lowered the sign to the ground, then climbed down after it.

  “Or not,” said Tess. She crossed the road to Isabel and stepped into the abandoned shop. She remembered the day she’d met Dominic here, driven by a downpour. Had she fallen in love with him that day? Had it happened all at once, and she just hadn’t recognized it?

  Isabel followed her in. “I used to spend hours in here with my grandmother,” she said. “The shop was her pet project. I wonder if it’s a coincidence, that both our grandmothers kept shops.”

  “Dominic said it’s in my blood.”

  “Maybe it is. After Bubbie got sick, Ernestina kept it up for a while, but it was never the same.”

  Tess set down her big handbag. “I just came from the hospital. Magnus is making progress.”

  “Really?” Isabel’s face lit up. “Tell me everything.”

  “I had a little scare when I first showed up. There was a whole team all clustered around him. But it’s good news. They’re seeing increased activity.” She explained what the doctor had told her.

  “It would be a miracle if he got better. The Christmas miracle we’re all praying for.”

  He seemed a long way from truly better, but there was no good reason to take her hope away. Especially now.

  “There’s something else,” said Tess. “I went by the hospital because I wanted him to be the first to see this. You’re the second.” She moved to a counter-height table and took out the egg.

  Isabel’s breath caught. “Are. You. Kidding. Me.” She shuddered as if a cold wave moved through her. “That’s it? That’s it?”

  Tess laughed aloud at the expression on her sister’s face. “Congratulations.”

  Isabel inspected every facet of the egg, her eyes soft with wonder. She held and touched it, set it down and regarded it from all angles. “You’re amazing, Tess. My amazing sister. Tell me everything.”

  “My mom and I came up with a theory,” she said.

  “That’s the first time I’ve heard you call her your mom.”

  Tess didn’t want to let Isabel know about the deal she’d made. Not now, anyway. “Open it,” she said to Isabel. “It needs a good cleaning, but it’s just beautiful.”

  Isabel studied the gleaming inner surface. “So the angel fits right here.”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m freaking out. Are you freaking out?” Isabel laughed aloud. “So, now what? What on earth do we do next?”

  “You need to be the one to decide.”

  “Oh, no. This is a family matter. You are family. We’ll both decide.”

  “You have his power of attorney.” Tess watched her sister’s face, soft with sentiment and memories. She thought about her conversation with Miss Winther. It seemed so long ago. If you’d trade memories for money then maybe you haven’t made the right kind of memories.

  Isabel set the egg back into the nest of tissue paper. Her movements were brisk and efficient. “There’s really no debate. You and I both know what this egg means to Grandfather.”

  Twenty-Eight

  Dominic used to look forward to his days off because it gave him time for what he really loved doing—making wine. Now he looked forward to it for a totally different reason—Tess. Still, there were chores to do. The kids were still asleep as he and the dogs headed out into the chill early morning. The Dude stayed on the porch, as usual, unwilling to leave while the children slept. Iggy raced through the heavy mist, weaving in and out of the rows in pursuit of some imaginary prey.

  Winter in the vineyards was a secret and quiet time of the year, when the work of growing was hidden beneath the surface. The vines shut down for the season, but the trellises and soil needed attention. Patience and practice were required. There was something zenlike in the work of pruning and cultivating, and his mind wandered to its new favorite place—to Tess.

  She had no idea what she meant to him. After all the drama with Lourdes, he thought he had given up on love. He believed he couldn’t do it again, couldn’t risk his heart by placing it into someone else’s care.

  Tess was proof that he could. He felt an overwhelming tenderness for her, this feisty, difficult, vulnerable woman. He had brought her kicking and screaming to Archangel, and he’d expected nothing but trouble from her. He’d gotten the trouble all right. He was in love again.

  The thought made him grin like an idiot. Despite what had happened in the past, he wasn’t cautious, or worried, or unsure. Despite the bleak, chilly weather, he was in a great mood. Today Isabel was going to teach him to make something called pots de crème, which apparently was about ninety-five percent chocolate and butter. He planned to serve it to Tess with a lush black Muscat made by his friend Xavier up at Misty Ridge. And then he had something important to ask her.

  Charlie, the Johansens’ German shepherd, appeared at the top of the ridge. A moment later, he came bounding down the slope toward Dominic, happily joining Iggy, scampering through the vineyards. Dominic peeled off his work gloves and looked around. If Charlie was in the vicinity, that meant Tess wasn’t far behind. Lately the dog acted more like hers than Isabel’s.

  He spotted Tess walking toward the small arched bridge that spanned Angel Creek. She wore an embroidered jacket and a soft-looking scarf around her neck, and her hands were jammed into her pockets. Just the sight of her lifted his heart.

  “Hey, you,” he said, meeting her halfway on the bridge. He reached out to pull her against him, taking her soft face between his hands. “I was just thinking about you.” The first touch of their lips was cool, quickly warming as they melded. It felt so damn good to kiss a woman he was in love with.

  She pulled away and looked up at him. “I figured you were out doing chores.”

  “What’s up? You’ve got that ‘we need to talk’ look.”

  “You have a good eye.” She hesitated, and in that beat of time he felt a twist in his gut. This was not going to go well. “I found the egg.”

  His jaw unhinged. Then he gave a shout of laughter. “Wait, what? Seriously? Where the hell did you find it?”

  “It’s with Isabel now. And it appears to be exactly what we thought it was. Exactly, Dominic. It’s perfect. And she needs to get it into a safety deposit box, because it’s worth what we thought it was worth.”

  He picked her up and swung her around, laughing as his tension drained away. He’d been bracing himself for bad news.

  “You’re a genius, Tess. I swear, a bona fide genius. How the hell did you find it?”

  “It was...mixed in with some Christmas decorations.”

  “Unbelievable. You’re unbelievable.”

  “Well, about that.” She stared at the ground. “I wanted to let you know, I’ll be leaving.”

  His gut turned to stone. It wasn’t the words she said but the intent behind them.

  “You’re not leaving,” he stated.

  “Of course I am,” she said. “I never said I’d stay. We both knew from the start—”

  “We didn’t know shit from the start,” he objected. “We both know now, the whole world is different.”

  “No, it’s really not. Your life is here—your winemaking, your kids, your job, your home. As for me, I have a career, and plans. I work in the city and travel all the time. My next move will be
to New York or London. It’s what I do, and...I just can’t stay here, Dominic. I...can’t.”

  Each word she spoke hit him like a hammer blow. He hadn’t been looking for anything when he’d met her. In fact, he’d been trying to simplify his life, not complicate it with a headstrong woman. But something had happened. She made his heart new again, and he would never be the same.

  “I’m asking you to stay,” he said.

  “You’re asking me to give up the life I’ve built. Would you do the same for me? Would you uproot yourself and follow me?”

  Ouch. “My custody agreement prohibits me from taking my kids that far from their mother.”

  She looked him in the eye. “You didn’t tell me you and Lourdes were going to counseling.”

  “What the— Who the hell told you that?”

  “Are you?”

  “Yeah, but—”

  “Kids need both parents,” she said, her eyes chilly. “Dominic, we made a mistake. We never should have started anything—”

  “Don’t do this,” he said simply.

  “I have to. Better now than later, when we figure out it can’t work.”

  “Better now?” he demanded. “Better than what?”

  She was crying now. He’d never seen her cry before. “It was beautiful, my time here, with you,” she said. “It was amazing, like a dream.”

  “Exactly. Then why the hell are you ending it?”

  “I’m sorry. I have to go” was all she said.

  Twenty-Nine

  “Just so you know,” Tess murmured to Jude as they seated themselves on the “friends of the bride” side of the aisle, “showing up single at a wedding is one of my least favorite things to do.”

  “I’m wounded.” Jude gave an exaggerated sniff. “Why can’t I be your plus-one? Aren’t I the one rescuing you from being parked at the leftovers table with the kids and awkward cousins?”

  “I don’t need rescuing.” Her high-heeled pumps pinched already, and the ceremony hadn’t even started.