Summer of Two Wishes by Julia London

“Come on, now. Everything is good.”
    “I’m sorry,” she said tearfully. “But you can’t imagine how grateful I am to have you home. I look at you and I get down on my knees and thank God for giving my child back to me. It’s a miracle. I just wish everyone understood what a miracle it is.”
    “What do you mean?” he asked.
    “Oh, nothing, really,” she said, shaking her head. She patted his chest and stepped away to the dresser, where she anxiously rearranged a half dozen pictures of him. “I just want you to know that your father and your brothers and I understand how blessed we are to have you back.”
    By process of elimination, Finn deduced that his mother meant Macy wasn’t as thankful for his survival as they were. “What, Mom…you don’t think Macy is feeling quite as blessed?” he asked with a laugh.
    His mom rearranged two more pictures. “I don’t know if she is or she isn’t, she hasn’t said. But if I were in her shoes, I wouldn’t have remarried so quickly.”
    This was the last conversation Finn wanted to have with anyone, much less his mother. He wondered if Luke had found the whiskey yet. “I wouldn’t expect Macy to give up her life just because mine was lost,” he said.
    His mother attempted to shrug indifferently, but her pinched expression at the mention of Macy’s name said it all.
    “I’m tired, Mom. I’m going to have a drink with Brodie and Luke.” He moved toward the door, but his mother had tears in her eyes again.
    “Ma,” he said, embracing her once more. “Come on, now. I’m home. It’s all behind us,” he said, even as a trickle of doubt ran down his spine.

9
     
    About ten miles north of the old Lockhart place, Wyatt stood on the deck attached to the back of his house, staring at the lake that looked black as ink now that the sun was going down.
    Milo was sprawled in the open doorway, his head between his paws, his eyes following Wyatt’s every move. Just beyond Milo was a pristine house scented with fresh flowers—Wyatt had filled the vases and even a couple of buckets with the armload he’d bought at Austin Flowers. In the kitchen, in a warming oven, was a meal of sea bass and asparagus. Wyatt had picked it up from Twin Sisters Catering after calling one of the sisters and pleading for a special meal. When he said the name Finn Lockhart, they had jumped at the chance to cook something for “The Hero.” Wyatt had tried to explain that it wasn’t for Finn, but he wasn’t certain they’d understood him. He was beginning to think that if he uttered Finn Lockhart’s name, he could get the keys to any bank vault in town.
    Wyatt checked his watch again. Two minutes had passed since the last time he’d looked. “Damn,” he muttered, and glanced at Milo. “How long does it take to drive from the airport?”
    Wyatt wasn’t exactly the type to feel anxious about a woman. He’d always had a lot of feminine company; he dated his way through college, dated more when he graduated and got into the development business. For a long time, he’d believed he wasn’t the marrying type—he liked his work, liked having time to play golf on weekends. He was the guy who could get in a round or two, then clean up, go to Austin, and hit the clubs.
    But then he’d met Macy at a country club event. He knew of Macy—everyone knew of everyone in a town like Cedar Springs—but he’d never been formally introduced to her. That night, her dad, Bob Harper, was in town from Dallas and was trying to sell Wyatt some land he needed to unload. Bob had introduced Wyatt to his daughter, and Wyatt had thought Macy looked sad and vulnerable. But he also thought she was really pretty in a down-home way. There was something about her, something he wanted to hold and protect.
    That night, he’d coaxed her number out of her and called her. He’d long suspected that they went out the first time because Bob Harper pressured her to do so for the sake of the deal.
    If that was