Summer of Two Wishes by Julia London Read Free Book Online Page A

missed calls.
    He was trying to stay sane about this, but he was beginning to get a really bad feeling in his gut. He didn’t even know how to think about any of this. He’d tried so hard to think straight that he hadn’t slept at all since Laru had called him that fateful afternoon and told him to get home. He’d raced back from San Antonio to find Macy on the deck of their house, her eyes as wide as moon pies and weird mud splatters on her pink dress. She’d looked like she’d seen a ghost. And then she’d told him.
    How did a man go about handling that sort of news? He was a newlywed; he was building their life. He was embarking on a very large deal to build a destination resort and spa that would make them wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. He didn’t need this. He needed Macy, and now he didn’t even know what to expect when she came back from D.C. He couldn’t talk about it to anyone—he hadn’t even told his folks and hoped to heaven they hadn’t seen it on the news while they were motoring across the country. He gathered they hadn’t, as they hadn’t called him. Wyatt knew he’d have to tell them sooner or later, but right now…right now he had this silly, childish hope that somehow, this would all go away. Macy would come home, and they’d go on just as they’d been before.
    The one person he did vent to was his lawyer, Jack Zarkowski. He’d done that the moment he heard Lockhart was alive. When he’d explained the situation, Jack had said he needed to read the law. It had taken a couple of days before Jack got back to him, and when Wyatt asked him if his marriage was valid, Jack said, “Yes and no.” He explained that Wyatt’s marriage was considered void if there was an existing marriage that wasn’t terminated by death or legal action, but that the onus was on Finn or even Macy to file a suit to declare her marriage to Wyatt void.
    “She’s not going to do that,” Wyatt said angrily. “So what do we do about him?”
    “She needs to file for a divorce from Lockhart. When the divorce is granted, your marriage is automatically made valid. Basically, it’s up to her.”
    “What about property?” Wyatt asked.
    “If the property belonged to her before your marriage, it’s hers. If the property was Lockhart’s, and she inherited it because of his death, it’s still his. If she sold it, he’s still entitled to the value of it. If I were you, I wouldn’t buy or sell any personal property until this is worked out.”
    The news left Wyatt reeling. This was a nightmare—not only was his business buying and selling land, including land he bought and then flipped for a profit, he was counting on the sale of the Lockhart land to help fund his resort. Not to mention a portion of the Lockhart land was to be used in the resort footprint—they were going to put condos up on the southern end of the ranchland.
    Macy . He flipped his phone open and dialed Macy’s number, expecting it to roll to voice mail. He tossed the papers on his desk as he waited for the phone to connect.
    “Hello?”
    Wyatt started at the sound of Macy’s voice. “Macy!” he said, relieved and elated and…and relieved. “Where have you been, sweetheart? I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for two days.”
    “I know, Wyatt, I’m sorry. I just haven’t had a moment.” She sounded exhausted. Her voice was flat, the life gone out of it.
    “Are you okay?”
    “Me?” She sounded surprised. “I’m fine. I’m just…I’m tired. We’ve had to do this round of interviews and press briefings, and it’s been really hard. The whole world is looking at us through a microscope.”
    “Yeah, it’s all over the news,” he said. “How…” He wanted to ask, he desperately wanted to ask, but he couldn’t seem to make himself say the words.
    Macy knew him too well, apparently, because she said softly, “He’s fine. He’s tired, too. And he’s overwhelmed. We all are.”
    “How did he take the news?”