Summer of Two Wishes

by Julia London

  Macy was already climbing in her Jeep before Karen could say more.

  She flew back to town and took a shortcut around the elementary school to Brodie’s. When she turned into Brodie’s drive, she turned off the engine and paused a moment to close her eyes and swallow down another swell of nausea. She hadn’t eaten anything since morning and she was suddenly feeling the effects.

  When she climbed out of her car, Finn was already walking down the drive to her. He was wearing a pair of faded jeans that were threadbare in all the right places. An old stained straw cowboy hat was on his head, and Macy thought he’d never looked quite as strong to her as he did that moment.

  “Macy?”

  “I told him,” she exclaimed, and started toward him, but her heel caught in one of the bricks that made up the old drive.

  Finn caught her.

  “I told him, and he…he…”

  “He what?” Finn demanded as he put his arm around her shoulders.

  “He didn’t take it very well, you know, but then again, who would?” she said, wiping the tears that were flowing again. “I am so sick of crying!”

  “What did he do?” Finn asked again.

  “Bless his heart, but he was so angry. And then he said he had some news of his own, and…and I have to sit down,” she said, sliding down to the drive as a wave of nausea came over her.

  “Baby, are you all right?” Finn asked worriedly, going down on his haunches next to her and stroking her hair back from her face.

  “I haven’t eaten.”

  “Everything all right?” Brodie asked as he walked down the drive to them.

  “Brodie, you got something she can eat?” Finn asked, his expression full of worry. “Crackers, maybe? Some bread?”

  “Yeah,” Brodie said. “Come in.”

  Finn helped Macy up and started to lead her toward the house.

  “Wait!” she said, clutching his arm. “I haven’t told you everything, Finn. He said he had news of his own, he said…” She paused to swallow down another wave of nausea.

  “It’s okay, Macy. Let’s get you something to eat first—”

  “Finn,” she said, grabbing his arm and making him look at her. “He sold it. He sold the ranch! He had my power of attorney and he sold the ranch.”

  Something flickered in Finn’s eyes. His nostrils flared with his intake of breath. “I’ll kill him,” he said quietly.

  “Finn!”

  He clenched his jaw and pulled her to his side. “Sorry, baby, but that bastard picked the wrong fight.” And his jaw remained tightly clenched as he led Macy into the house.

  Macy awoke the next morning on Brodie’s couch, a blanket tucked in around her.

  “Morning,” Brodie said, standing in the dining room with a cup of coffee.

  “Oh my God…what time is it?” Macy asked.

  “Eight.”

  She looked around her—she vaguely remembered laying her head on Finn’s lap last night. She’d been so exhausted, so nauseated, and so completely spent from the tears that had fallen when she’d realized she had made her decision and was safe now. Safe with Finn. Whatever happened, she was with Finn. So why couldn’t she erase the memory of Wyatt’s face and his devastation from her mind?

  “Finn said to tell you he’d call you later, but he had something he had to do,” Brodie said.

  “Thanks for letting me crash, Brodie,” Macy said.

  “No problem.” He winked at her and turned toward the kitchen, but paused and glanced back at Macy. “I’m glad you’re back.”

  She smiled. “Thanks. You have no idea how much I appreciate that.”

  She didn’t take Brodie up on his offer to cook breakfast for her, as the thought of eggs made her belly swirl, and not in a good way.

  About an hour later, Macy pulled up at Laru’s and stifled a groan. Her mother’s BMW was parked outside. “Great,” she muttered.

  Her mother was standing in the middle of Laru’s great room when Macy entered, dressed in an expensive suit and heels. She folded her arms and glared at Macy. “Where have you been?” she demanded.

  “Mom…I’m a little too old for that, don’t you think?” Macy said.

  “I would like to know what is going on.”

  Macy put down her purse. “I would guess, judging by the way you’re going all Law and Order on me, that you’ve heard from Wyatt.”

  “What are you doing?” her mother cried. “Are you determined to ruin people’s lives?”

  Emma appeared from the kitchen wearing shorts and jogging shoes. Behind their mother’s back, she shrugged helplessly.

  “I really don’t know what that is supposed to mean, Mom, but no, I am not trying to ruin anyone’s life. I am trying to do what is best for me and my baby.”

  “What? You’re pregnant?” Emma cried.

  “You’re doing the right thing by taking that baby from his father?” her mother asked.

  “Macy! You’re pregnant?” Emma exclaimed again, smiling with delight as she hurried past their mother to hug her. “That’s fantastic! When are you due?”

  “Late February.”

  “I am still waiting for an explanation!” her mother snapped. “What do you think you’re going to do? Are you really going to give up everything that Wyatt can give you and the baby and go live with some cowboy with nothing to his name?”

  Macy’s pulse soared with indignation. “That old song again, Mom? Finn’s not lofty enough for you? Well here’s a newsflash—not that it’s any of your business, but yes, that is exactly what I intend to do. I love Wyatt, Mom, but my heart and my soul belong to Finn and they always have. You know they always have.”

  “God, that makes me want to cry,” Emma said. “I hope I find someone like that someday.”

  “Emma!” their mother said. “Would you please butt out?”

  Emma threw up her hands. She started for the kitchen, but was intercepted by Laru.

  “What’s going on here?” Laru demanded.

  “Laru, for once, don’t talk,” Jillian said irritably.

  “She knows I’m pregnant,” Macy said to Laru. “And that I am leaving Wyatt.”

  “Oh, Macy,” Laru said sympathetically. “Good for you!”

  “What?” Jillian cried. “Wyatt Clark is a good man!” she snapped at Laru. To Macy, she said, “You have to think of someone other than yourself, Macy. You have to think of that child, and that child deserves to know his or her father. I am disappointed in you, to say the least.”

  Macy’s heart began to pound; an image of Wyatt flashed across her mind.

  “Oh for God’s sake, Jilly,” Laru sighed. “Like she hasn’t thought of the consequences of her decision?”

  “I am thinking of my child, Mom,” Macy said, her voice shaking with anger. “And you don’t have to tell me how disappointed you are. You’ve been disappointed in me for as long as I can remember.”

  “What?”

  “It’s true! You have always wanted me to be something I’m not. You made me join all those stupid science clubs when I was a kid with the hope that I’d suddenly become good at it and go off to be Madame Curie. But I hated science! You nagged me to go to law school, but I wanted to be a social worker, and that was hugely disappointing to you. And you never wanted me to marry Finn! You thought he wasn’t good enough for me even then, remember? Now he’s everyone’s hero and he’s still not good enough for you! What in the hell does it take?”

  “That’s ridiculous!” her mother exclaimed. “You’re trying to deflect from the real issue here—”

  “There is no issue here,” Macy said sternly. “I have made up my mind. I am going to be with Finn. I cannot live with Wyatt when I don’t love him like I love Finn just to please you!” With that, Macy strode to her room, ignoring her mother’s cry for her to come back, ignoring the argument that ensued between Laru and Jillian.

  Macy shut the bedroom door and leaned against it. Two wishes, she thought. The first, that Wyatt was wrong and she and Fin
n could go back to the way they were and be happy like they once had been, and the second, that Wyatt would be okay, that he’d find happiness again.

  36

  Linda Gail could hardly contain her excitement when Wyatt didn’t show up at the office as usual at eight o’clock sharp Wednesday morning. She assumed that meant he’d called Macy, they’d had a great night, and now they were sleeping in. Linda Gail felt a little tingly just thinking about it. She’d done something good. She’d helped two people come together who belonged together.

  But then Wyatt appeared at half past ten looking a little off, and Linda Gail wished she were anywhere but at work. Wyatt strolled into the office and paused right before her desk, glaring down at her.

  “Wyatt? Are you all right?”

  “I’m great, Linda Gail.”

  “That’s good,” she said, disbelieving. “But I’m sort of afraid to ask how everything went last night.”

  “How did it go?” He planted his hands on her desk and leaned forward, his eyes boring into hers. “It was a freaking disaster, Linda Gail. We never made it to the restaurant. We never left Cedar Springs. I didn’t see the point after she told me she was pregnant with my child but leaving me for Cowboy Bob. That’s how the evening went.”

  “Oh, Wyatt,” Linda Gail whispered, her heart sinking for him. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Instead of being sorry, get the city permit office on the phone. I want to get something moving on that development,” he snapped, and shoved away from her desk and marched into his office, slamming the door behind him.

  That night, when Linda Gail went home, she walked over to where Davis was sitting in his lounger, his Bud Light in hand, and leaned over and kissed him.

  “What’s that for?” Davis asked, looking pleasantly surprised.

  “Just for being you,” Linda Gail said, and went on about her business, leaving a smiling husband behind. Until today, she had not fully appreciated her mundane life and her steady husband.

  Samantha Delaney burned her hand when she heard Reena and Cathy later that afternoon as they waited for their lattes. “You’re kidding,” Cathy said flatly when Reena reported that Macy Clark was pregnant with Wyatt’s baby but going back to the town hero. “Some hero he turned out to be. They say he drinks like a fish and he’s got some real anger issues. He wouldn’t even ride in the Fourth of July parade.”

  “What do you expect?” Reena said. “He’s been living in a cave for the last three years and he just came home. And really, what was the point of him being in the parade? Just so everyone could get a good look at him?”

  “Everyone has been rooting for him since they found him alive,” Cathy said. “You’d think he could show his gratitude a little by going through with the parade.”

  “Honestly, Cathy, sometimes I wonder what is wrong with you. It’s just a stupid parade. He can ride on the big red-white-and-blue float next July and let everyone get a look at him then. He’s been through a lot and sacrificed a lot and people like you should get off his back.”

  Samantha turned around, the lattes in hand.

  “Hey, Sam,” Reena said brightly. “We’re all looking forward to the big to-do next month.”

  “Thanks,” Samantha said, and put the drinks on the counter.

  “I just hope Macy knows what she is getting into,” Cathy said, picking up her latte. “Some of those vets have real issues. Remember Delores Wynn? Her older brother was one of those Vietnam vets who lived under the I-35 bridge. He was murdered last year by another transient. She said that he was never right after he came home from Vietnam, and lived the last ten years under the bridge.”

  “They have better mental health services today,” Samantha said. “If they can get soldiers to access them.”

  Reena and Cathy looked at Samantha. “That’s good to hear!” Reena said. “So is everything ready for the big fund-raiser?”

  More than ready. Sam had worked tirelessly almost around the clock to make sure of it. “Sure is. I think it’s going to be a great event.”

  “Hey! Maybe you can get Macy to bring Finn to that! That way, people like Cathy could get a good look at him.”

  “Oh, stop, Reena,” Cathy said with a laugh, and walked away from the counter.

  “He’d be a big draw,” Reena said to Samantha as she picked up her coffee.

  Samantha nodded. She smiled. She shoved her hands in her back pockets and thought that Finn would have been a great draw, if she could have had him without Macy. Poor Macy Harper Lockhart Clark, with too many husbands. Pregnant with Wyatt’s baby and wanting Finn, the man she should have never forsaken. This mess is just what Macy deserved, Samantha thought, and turned around to clean the milk steamer.

  Jesse was helping Ernesto repair a retaining wall around Laru’s rose garden when he saw the big white pickup truck barreling down the drive. He stood up and watched the pickup come to a halt just a little too close to the house. When Wyatt Clark emerged, Jesse smelled trouble and tucked his gloves into his back pocket. He walked out on the drive to greet Wyatt.

  “Hey, Wyatt, how are you?”

  Wyatt barely glanced at him. He put his hands on his hips and whistled.

  “What’s going on here, pal?”

  “I’m not your pal,” Wyatt said. He whistled again. From inside the house, Milo barked. “Let him out,” Wyatt said, leveling a gaze on Jesse.

  “Who, Milo?”

  “Unless you got another dog in there, yeah, Milo,” he said angrily.

  This wasn’t going to be much fun, Jesse figured. He didn’t know where Milo had been, but the old dog had returned with Macy that morning, as happy-go-lucky as he’d ever been. He shook his head. “I can’t do that, Wyatt, you know I can’t. That’s Macy’s dog.”

  “That’s my damn dog!” Wyatt shouted. “Let him out!”

  Jesse didn’t have to answer—Laru opened the door and Milo came bounding out, ecstatic to see Wyatt. And Wyatt—he sank down on one knee and wrapped his arms around the squirming dog like Milo was Lassie, finally come home. Laru stood a few feet away, her arms folded, watching him curiously. “Wyatt, what are you doing here?” she asked congenially.

  “Nothing to do with you, Laru,” Wyatt said, and stood up and opened the door of his truck. “Up,” he said to Milo, and Milo leapt into his truck.

  “Hey!” Laru cried. “You can’t take Milo!”

  “Oh, yes I can,” Wyatt said. “He’s my dog. If Macy wants him back, she can come talk to me about it.” He cast a dark look at Jesse, then got into his truck and drove away.

  Laru looked frantically at Jesse. “What do we do? Do we call the police?”

  “No,” Jesse said. He felt bad for Wyatt. He’d really gotten the raw end of the deal. “Let him go,” he said. “If Wyatt needs the dog to move on, let him have the dog.”

  “But what about Macy?” Laru asked. “She loves Milo.”

  “She’s got Finn,” Jesse said.

  Wyatt had fully expected Macy to call about Milo. When she didn’t, he worried she was plotting a counter abduction, and he took Milo everywhere he went. He wasn’t losing Milo to her, too. No way.

  He was keenly aware that the news about Macy had spread all over town. He’d made sure of it. He wanted her to be uncomfortable, to have to face the questioning looks everywhere she went. And he wanted Finn Lockhart to know that while he might think he’d won, Wyatt still held the upper hand. At the very least, Finn wouldn’t have his little cutting horse ranch around Cedar Springs unless he could put his hands on some major bucks. A lawyer or land out this way was pretty damn expensive, more than a G.I. could afford, more than Finn would have when Wyatt was forced to hand over the profits from the sale of his land. He figured, after closing costs and realty and legal fees, Finn would be about one hundred thousand short. That meant Finn would have to move on, and Macy…maybe she’d move with him and maybe not.

  To emphasize his feelings on the matter, Wyatt made sure the clearing of Finn’s old ranch was under way. Since
the sale of the ranch had closed, he’d had a pair of bulldozers out there, grinding up the scrub cedars and mesquite.

  Linda Gail, who’d ordered the bulldozers for him, had looked at him askance. “What?” Wyatt had demanded, daring her to challenge him.

  “Just doesn’t seem right, that’s all,” she’d muttered. “That’s his ranch.”

  “Was his ranch,” Wyatt had said. “Just do it, Linda Gail.”

  She had given him a look much like his mother used to give him when he was a boy and she was ashamed of something he’d done. Not that Wyatt cared. His heart was as hard as the limestone that filled the earth around here.

  The nights were the worst for Wyatt. He had no place to go, other than the Saddle-brew. He’d had dinner with Dave and Aurora one night, both of whom said things like, “There are other fish in the sea,” and “We liked Macy, but we really like Caroline.”

  Wyatt saw Caroline exactly twice after Macy told him she was pregnant. Once, to look at some land. The second time, to negotiate a deal for her. When they were done, she’d produced a bottle of champagne and after a couple of glasses, she’d kissed him. The kiss wasn’t too bad, really. But it wasn’t too good, either.

  One night, as Wyatt wandered around the big empty house with Milo beside him, his dad called to let Wyatt know that he and his mother were leaving Laughlin, Nevada, where they’d parked the RV for a month, and heading on to Flagstaff. Wyatt drew a circle on a notepad and traced it, around and around and around, as his father talked about the price of gas, the day he’d won a thousand dollars at the slots in a convenience store, and how his mother was making a scrapbook of their trailering.

  “That’s great, Dad,” Wyatt said as he traced the circle. He kept waiting for his father to ask about him. He’d never told his parents about Lockhart coming home. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever told them that Macy had been married once before. He didn’t have that kind of relationship with them.

  “Everything all right with you?” his dad asked.

  Wyatt hesitated. He thought about telling him everything. But then his dad said, “I better make this quick. I don’t have a lot of minutes.”