28

OKAY?” COLIN ASKED Gemma for the thousandth time. It was the morning after Jean’s uncle had been arrested, and Gemma was on the couch in the guesthouse, a quilt over her legs.

All she could do was smile at the way Mr. and Mrs. Frazier and even Shamus were hovering over her. Mrs. Frazier had wanted Gemma put to bed in their best guest suite, but Colin had said their house—his and Gemma’s—was better for her.

“I’m not ill, I’m just pregnant,” Gemma had said.

Those words had made Mrs. Frazier burst into tears—again.

In the end, they’d compromised. Gemma was to spend the next three days in the Frazier house, looked after by Mrs. Frazier, then she’d move into Colin’s house for good.

“You’re sure you’re all right?” Colin asked as he looked down at her with a mixture of pride and wonder.

“Yes,” Gemma said. “Please go and take care of the case. And find out about Tristan. I want to know how he is and what happened to him.”

Roy stepped into the room, her phone in her hand. “I can answer that. Dr. Tris was halfway to the airport when he realized he didn’t have his phone, so he went back to get it. He surprised Jean’s uncle as he was searching Tris’s house.”

Gemma looked at Colin, and he took her hand as he nodded. She was right; Adrian had been looking for the Heartwishes Stone.

“Tris said the man escaped out a window and Tris went after him,” Roy said.

“He should have stayed where he was and called me,” Colin said.

Roy continued. “Tris knows that, but he was afraid the man would go to Mrs. Wingate’s house, so that’s why he chased him. The creep hid in the bushes and hit Tris with something. We don’t know what it was, but we think it was a golf club. Dr. Tris said he thought the man was aiming at his head but Tris heard him and turned. The blow hit his left arm.”

“How bad is it?” Gemma asked.

“Broken but not too badly. He’ll be in a cast for a few weeks. His parents flew in from Sarasota, and his dad will take over Tris’s practice for a while.”

“What about Jean?” Mrs. Frazier asked. “How is she dealing with all this?”

Gemma couldn’t help holding her breath. Had they found out that it was Jean who committed the robberies in Edilean? Gemma looked up at Colin. She knew that he’d spent the night questioning Jean, but there hadn’t been a chance for him to tell her what he’d found out.

Colin spoke first. “She heard that Tris was going out of town, so she thought maybe her uncle would try to search the house. Seems the man had been spying on Tris for a while. He was hiding in the bushes when Gemma first threw up.”

Colin looked at her, his hand squeezing hers in a renewal of his promises. Never again would she have to keep secrets from him.

He looked back at the others. “When Jean got there, she didn’t see Tristan. By that time, he was unconscious and halfway down a hill and the uncle was back in the house. Jean didn’t know that her uncle had already texted Gemma on Tris’s phone to go there. Jean had a gun and she caught him off guard. She used surgical tape to tie him up.”

Colin paused. “Jean tried to call me, but Tris’s Internet service had been knocked out by the storm. If Gemma had shown up, thinking Tris needed her, the man probably would have made her give him the Stone, then killed her.”

He had to take a few breaths before going on. “But Gemma very wisely didn’t pull into the driveway but came around the side. By that time, Jean had arrived and taped her uncle to a chair. Unfortunately, the man was good at escaping any bondage. If Gemma hadn’t attacked—which she shouldn’t have done, by the way—he would have murdered his niece.”

“All for a Stone that grants wishes,” Mrs. Frazier said in disgust.

Everyone in the room looked at her. Now that her deepest wish had been granted, she could afford to be disdainful.

“Where is the thing, anyway?” Mr. Frazier asked. “I’d like to see it.”

Gemma started to speak, but Colin interrupted her.

“That’s between Gemma and Tristan,” Colin said. “I’ve not seen it and don’t plan to see it. I know it was hidden in Tristan’s house for many years, so ownership of it goes to him. And when I talk to him I think he’ll agree to give the guardianship of it to Gemma. If she wants to stay in Edilean, that is.”

Mr. Frazier put his hand on his son’s shoulder, and looked at the others in the room. “What do you say that we give these lovebirds some time alone?” He didn’t wait for an answer but herded everyone out of the guesthouse.

When they were alone, Gemma threw the quilt off her legs and stood up. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

She turned toward the kitchen but Colin didn’t follow her. When she looked back, he was on one knee and he had what was unmistakably a ring box in his hand.

Slowly, she walked back to him.

“Will you marry me?” he asked as he held out the little blue velvet box. She opened it to see a ring that had to be a family heirloom, three diamonds in a slightly worn basket setting.

“I thought you might like something old better than new,” he said softly.

“I love it,” she said as she took the box, then held it out to him.

He removed the ring, tossed the box on the couch, and slipped the ring on her finger. It fit perfectly. “Your mother told me your size.”

“My mother?” She was astonished.

“I thought I should make myself known to her, so I called and asked her permission.”

Gemma sat down on the couch. “Did you tell her about—” She glanced down at her stomach.

“When I called her, I didn’t know about that.”

She was sitting, he was still on one knee. “When did you do this?”

“Right after we met in the sandwich shop. As you told my brother, I was miserable.” His eyes brightened. “You bought the baby clothes for our child, didn’t you?”

“Yes.” She held his face in her hands and kissed him. “I want to hear more, but your child is making me so hungry your ears are beginning to look appetizing.” She stood up.

“Gemma?” he said, his voice sounding urgent. “You haven’t answered my question.”

“What question?”

He raised his eyebrows, then glanced at his awkward position.

“Oh!” she said, laughing. “You poor baby. Your knees must be killing you. Yes, I’ll marry you. Yes and yes and yes.”

“Great,” Colin said. “Now help me up.”

She put her arms out to him, but he didn’t need help. He pulled her down to the couch. Slowly and with all the emotions they felt in their hearts, they touched and held each other. Their kisses were different, for their doubts and fears were gone, and all they could see was the future.

Unseen by human eyes, the Heartwishes Stone blinked. It had given two more wishes. Gemma belonged to a place and people, and Colin had found True Love.