As You Wish

  Olivia picked up the card and looked at it. “Now that you have what you want, you probably wouldn’t want to change anything.”

  “You can get your New York apartment and maybe you can make your father listen to you,” Elise said.

  Kathy thought about that for a moment. “I think that in this case it’s like a prisoner who’s released after being found innocent. All his life he would have people saying, ‘Weren’t you in jail? What was it like?’ In the advertising world, I will always be known as ‘Ray’s first wife.’ The one he dumped. As it is, women ask me what it’s like being married to him. They sense that he’s only half a step away from being some street gangster and it excites them.”

  “But not you,” Elise said.

  Kathy rolled her eyes. “When we got married, he was barely civilized. I taught him table manners, gave him ballroom dancing lessons. You know what he got me for our first anniversary? A handbag with a lizard on it. A real lizard that had once been alive. He said his mother had always wanted one of those bags.”

  Olivia was the first to laugh.

  “He gave me so many weird gifts that a condition I put on his secretary was that she had to do whatever was necessary to keep him from buying me anything. And I opened an account at Chanel.”

  Olivia was laughing harder. “He told me that Elise was all Chanel and Cartier.”

  “And who do you think taught him that?” Kathy drained her glass and leaned forward. “This thing—” she nodded at the card “—is a scam. Whoever it is will want lots of money, but I say let’s go anyway. I haven’t had so much fun in years. Just thinking about rewriting my past and not marrying Ray Hanran is making me feel like dancing.”

  “Me too!” Elise said. “Imagining running down the aisle in my wedding dress—away from Kent—is a great fantasy.”

  “No dancing for me,” Olivia said. “It’s making me feel like driving—not that it’ll do any good. There is no Everlasting Street anywhere in Summer Hill and there’s nothing on FM 77 but a few old houses. One of them was abandoned years ago.”

  “I vote for anything that might help me with my current situation. Or at least give me some hope of a solution.” Elise stood up.

  “I second that,” Kathy said.

  “Put everything in the sink and let’s get in Kathy’s car,” Olivia said. “Mine might be recognized. Anyone have some big sunglasses and some scarves?”

  “Prada and Hermès do for you two?” Kathy asked.

  “No dead lizards?” Elise said. “Darn!”

  They laughed.

  * * *

  Olivia drove, Kathy beside her, and Elise got in the back. Olivia was glad the two of them were chatting, bonding. They each had body hang-ups. Kathy obsessed about her weight, and eyed every morsel of food as though weighing it for calories and nutrition.

  Whenever Kathy moved, Elise looked at her, assessing every curve. She seemed to be wondering whether being more voluptuous would help her capture love.

  Olivia had to fight the urge to lecture both of them. It wasn’t their body types that won or lost a man. It was him. The man. The women had chosen wrong—and Olivia was an expert on that. The things Kit liked about her were what Alan had abhorred. Olivia’s competence, her ability to get a job done, had made Alan feel useless, had taken away his essential feeling of being a man.

  It was after Kit returned to her life that she thought about the differences in personalities.

  Kit didn’t know it, but she’d asked his son about his mother.

  Rowan’s usually serious face softened. “Mom is lovely. She’s related to Italian nobility and she’s quite beautiful. She’s well educated, well traveled, and can talk to anyone about anything.”

  “Oh.” Olivia’s eyes showed her disappointment. How could she compete with “Italian nobility”? And she had never been out of the US.

  “What Mother couldn’t do was deal with Dad’s peripatetic life. He’d get a call from some government and we were to be gone in twenty-four hours. He expected Mother to organize the move and to take care of everything. But she couldn’t do it. She was used to being taken care of, not the other way around.”

  Olivia’s eyes brightened at his words. Moving, organizing, managing people were all things she could do. And more importantly, she would have loved it.

  Rowan’s handsome face hardened. “Dad wanted Mother to be something she wasn’t, and when she couldn’t be that person, he got angry.”

  Olivia had just nodded. She’d understood well. But understanding didn’t take away the pain.

  She drove past Mr. Ellis’s farm. Long ago it had been sold to a developer and a few little houses had been built, with many more planned. If she could go back in time, she’d buy the land with the rocks where she and Kit had sat and talked. Someone told her that the new owner was going to blast them out of the ground. Boring houses needed boring, flat tracts of land to be built on.

  Just as there was no Everlasting Street in Summer Hill, Olivia was sure that no one on earth could rewrite the past—if that’s what that silly card even meant.

  Kathy and Elise were now discussing the design details of Phillip Lim handbags and enthusiastically agreeing that he was someone to watch.

  Olivia couldn’t help smiling, happy that they were finding a common ground—and glad that for a moment they’d forgotten the bad of their lives. What concerned her was that the young women were so traumatized by what the men had done to them that they’d never recover. They were both beautiful women. Different but quite lovely. But years of being put down and found to be lacking had made them feel less than they were. How could big, lusty Ray not want to pounce on Kathy? As for Kent, he was just plain stupid.

  When Olivia got to FM 77, she slowed and turned right. She knew what was down the road. There were three old farmhouses set quite far apart. The first two were inhabited by older couples, and for lack of money, the houses had been allowed to deteriorate. Last year Josh Hartman had been paid by the church to repair the roofs. She knew he had put in many more hours than he was paid for.

  At the end of the road was the third house and no one had lived in it for over twenty years. It was set way back from the gravel road and had once been owned by an old man with six dogs. He’d left the house to his son, but no one could find him so the house had sat vacant.

  Olivia drove down the road slowly and at each driveway she had an impulse to turn around. This was ridiculous! Why were they here? To give money to some charlatan? To be ripped off because... Because they had hope? Is that what they were trying for?

  By the time she neared the end of the road, she was driving so slowly the car was barely crawling. She could hear every piece of gravel under the tires.

  Kathy turned in her seat and looked out the windshield. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m feeling silly. Why are we doing this?” Olivia asked.

  “Why not? Getting out of the house, thinking about something positive instead of the rotten things men have done to us has to be good.”

  Olivia smiled. “I like your attitude.”

  “Look!” Elise leaned between the seats and pointed.

  There was a brand-new green-and-white sign that said, EVERLASTING STREET. Olivia couldn’t help giving a snort of laughter. “This is a driveway.”

  “Magic comes in many forms,” Kathy said.

  Olivia turned into the driveway that was now called a street. There were big old trees shading the way, and it wasn’t until she got to the end that she saw the house.

  What had once been a derelict, decaying old place had been completely rebuilt. Big windows had been added and the front section built out to form a tall bay window. The old porch enclosed the entire side of the house.

  “Looks like some work has been done,” Elise said. “Think it was magic?”

  “Unless I miss my guess, it was Josh Hartman. He c
an design as well as build. I can assure you that the original house never looked this good!” Olivia turned the engine off and sat for a moment looking at the pretty house. It was a nice size, not sprawling, but not a cottage either. She was a bit annoyed that no one had told her this had been done. Stacy, their designer, was Josh’s sister, so she should have mentioned that her brother was—

  “You okay?” Kathy asked.

  “Sure.” Olivia tried to brush away the feeling of having been left out. “Let’s do it.”

  Elise got out of the car and the others followed her.

  It was very quiet around the house. Birds chirped; the wind rustled the leaves. To the right, a tall wooden fence had been put up, with an arch over the gate. Olivia went to it and glanced inside. It was a large vegetable and herb garden. Right now, it was new and raw, but give it a couple of years and it would be glorious.

  “For witch’s brew?” Kathy asked, lightening Olivia’s sense of foreboding. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

  Before Olivia could reply, Elise started running. “Come on, you two. Let’s go.”

  “She’s really unhappy in her life, isn’t she?” Kathy said softly.

  Olivia sighed. “I don’t want to think about what’s in store for her. This hiatus won’t last long. When she’s found, her parents will... I don’t know what they’re going to try to do. She needs a job and...” Trailing off, she looked at Kathy. “Whatever gives that child even a minute of hope, I’m all for it.”

  As soon as they reached the front door, it was opened by a pretty young woman. She was medium height, with lots of unruly brown hair, and she was quite thin. She had on a loose green T-shirt and black cotton trousers.

  “Hello.” Her smile showed even, white teeth. “You are... No, don’t tell me. Olivia, Kathy, and you’re Elise. Did I get it right?”

  If Dr. Hightower had told her they’d be coming, it wouldn’t have been difficult to guess who was who.

  Olivia was standing in the back. She’d always been an observer of people. When she was acting, she liked to think how to play the character. Unless she missed her guess, this young woman was very nervous. Her bravado was forced, as though she was trying to cover some insecurity.

  “You’re Madame Zoya?” Elise’s tone told of her disappointment.

  “No, I’m not.” She said it with a fierceness that smacked of defiance. “That’s my aunt. I’m Arrieta Day. I...” She paused and took a deep breath. “I’m taking my aunt’s place.”

  They were still standing in the doorway and the young woman kept glancing at Olivia with an expression she couldn’t quite fathom. It was almost as though she wanted Olivia’s approval—or her permission. But permission for what?

  There was an awkward moment of silence, then Arrieta stepped back. “Please come in. I made raisin cookies and the kettle is on and...and...” She didn’t seem to know what else to say.

  They entered a large foyer with a staircase before them. To the right was a small dining room with an antique pine table. To the left was what looked to be a little library with double doors that were standing open. As for the rest of the house, it was all closed doors.

  Arrieta motioned for them to go into the library. At the far end was a tall bay window with a cushioned seat. The other walls had floor-to-ceiling bookshelves that were mostly empty. The only furniture was a maple desk and four lattice-back chairs. It all felt barren, as though no one had yet moved in.

  The women sat down while Arrieta stood behind the desk. “I guess you want to know how this works.”

  Elise nodded while Kathy and Olivia just stared at her.

  “I can send you back in time.” Arrieta’s voice sounded almost like an apology. “You choose when and you stay for three weeks. Then you come back here. Anyone want cookies?”

  “Time travel?” Kathy said. “I just thought this was a...a reading. But time travel? I don’t think—”

  “I’m in,” Elise said. “When do we begin? How much do we pay? Will you take a rain check since I have no money?”

  “Neither do I,” Arrieta said, then looked a bit panicked. “I mean... I guess that would be okay. I hadn’t thought about that. I may need to call my aunt and ask. Oh, and it’s a hundred dollars per person.”

  Kathy was looking at the hope on Elise’s face. She wasn’t going to put logic into this and take that look away. “I’ll pay for everyone. So how many times do we have to come back to you before we do the time travel?”

  “None.” Arrieta’s expression showed that she knew Kathy didn’t believe any of it. “I make you some tea, you drink it, then you go back in time. All in one visit.”

  “What kind of tea?” Kathy’s voice was suspicious.

  “It’s not drugs, if that’s what you think. It’s herbs that help you relax.” Arrieta looked around as though searching for an escape route.

  Olivia spoke up. “This isn’t possible.” They all looked at her.

  “The Butterfly Effect?” When they said nothing, she went on. “You change one thing in the past, no matter how small, and it will all be different.”

  “You can only change what affects you,” Arrieta said. They waited for her to go on, but she didn’t.

  “But I want to go back to three weeks before 9/11,” Olivia said. “I want to warn people. Or before Pearl Harbor. Or—”

  “No.” Arrieta sat down behind the desk. “We’ve had people try that. One man spent his whole three weeks in jail. When he tried to warn people, he was arrested for disturbing the peace. People thought he was going to set off bombs. Another man went back so he could get a second chance at being a good father. But you know what he did?”

  No one answered.

  “He plagiarized songs. He had a good memory for lyrics, so he wrote them down and put his name on them. Made his kids memorize them.”

  “So when he came back to the present he’d be rich and famous,” Kathy said.

  “Exactly,” Arrieta answered.

  “But I take it that it didn’t work,” Olivia said.

  “When he got back he was exactly where he was when he left. All memory of the songs he’d stolen was gone. His ex-wife still hated him and his children had no use for him. It was a very sad case.” She took a breath. “And writers are the worst. My aunt says she’ll never send another writer back. They love to steal plots. One man rewrote Guardians of the Galaxy from memory and sent it to his agent.”

  The women waited to hear the results. Arrieta raised one shoulder. “The agent loved it but later, he thought the author was crazy for saying that he wrote the book before it was put on the screen. The agent dropped him.”

  “So we need to keep our noses to our own business,” Olivia said. “Is there a way to know when we step over the line?”

  Arrieta shrugged. “Only what is supposed to happen will.” She stood up. “I’ll let you think about when you want to go back to.” With that, she nearly ran from the room.

  Kathy stood up. “This is a joke.” Olivia and Elise stayed seated. “You two don’t actually believe this, do you?”

  “I would like to go back to the morning of my wedding,” Elise said softly. “Before that day I could stand it all. I had an absolute belief that after I married Kent everything would change. I thought our parents would start being pleased by me. Kent and I would have babies and talk about where we wanted to go on vacation. Ordinary, normal things. But they didn’t happen.” Her voice was growing louder. “After I got married, everything got worse. People were even less pleased with me than before. And Kent had no interest in me at all. He—”

  Olivia put her hand on Elise’s arm.

  “Sorry.” Elise looked at Kathy, her eyes pleading. “I don’t care if all I do is fall asleep and dream. I’d rather have hope than just wait for them to come and get me.”

  Olivia got up and went to the few books tha
t were in the many feet of empty shelves. There were some on growing herbs and a dozen about serving tea. How to run a tearoom, what to serve, recipe books. She turned to the two women. “I’m going to find out more about this.” She went into the big foyer and looked at the closed doors. The lady or the tiger? she thought. Which door should she choose?

  The clatter of silverware being dropped made her go to the door on the right. It opened into a beautiful kitchen. “Hello.” As soft as Olivia’s voice was, Arrieta was still so startled that she nearly dropped a teacup. “Here, let me do that. You sit down.” She nodded at the table in the adjoining breakfast nook.

  “I think I’m supposed to serve you,” Arrieta said, but she sat down anyway.

  “How many times have you done this?” Olivia asked.

  Arrieta’s expression answered her.

  “Oh, I see. Your first time.” Olivia put loose tea in the flowered pot. “Tell me about yourself.”

  “I’m also supposed to ask the questions.”

  “I’m sure that’s right, but there are extenuating circumstances, aren’t there?”

  “I guess.” Arrieta still looked like she wanted to run away.

  “Did your aunt dump this job on you?”

  “Yes!” Arrieta said. “I hate destiny! It sounds romantic, but it’s not. It means I have no free choice but that I have to do something. But that’s not fair, is it? A person could have a great singing voice, but she doesn’t have to sing, does she?”

  “And you don’t want to charge people for hope, then give them nothing,” Olivia said.

  “Oh no, that’s not it at all. I can sing. I mean I can send people back in time, but I’m not very good with people socially.”

  “Then why do you want to open a tea shop?” Olivia said quickly.

  For a second Arrieta’s eyes widened, then she laughed. “Aunt Primrose told me you were good at figuring out people. I have to earn a living and I like to bake and garden. With a couple of good employees, I think I can make it work.”