Summer of Two Wishes by Julia London Page B

her joy. But then some journalist would deflate her with intrusive questions about her second marriage. How could anyone think the decision she faced was one that could be made with the glare of TV lights in her face? Didn’t everyone understand that she was teetering on the edge of a chasm that had just opened up in her life, and there was nothing to guide her away from the edge?
    She just wanted to celebrate Finn. She would deal with the rest of it later.
    Macy hoped the scrutiny would end when they left D.C., and it did for the few hours it took to fly back to Austin. The army had supplied them with a plane and everyone sought a little space after so much time in close company; they’d scattered. Finn was the last to board. He walked past Macy to the back of the plane and sat with his brother Brodie for the flight home.
    Macy was expecting that. Since the moment she’d told him she’d remarried, he hadn’t really spoken to her except on camera. He’d been so stunned and angry that she’d called Brodie and retreated to Emma’s room, waiting for Brodie to call her back.
    Only Brodie didn’t call her back. Finn didn’t want to see her. Macy had hoped that once he’d had time to relax, she could talk to him. But that hadn’t happened.
    When they arrived in Austin, they were greeted by the local media, more of Finn’s family, including his older brother Luke; Nancy Keller, the mayor of Cedar Springs; and other government officials. They were ushered into a reception hosted by the Friends of Fort Hood, all arranged by Major Sanderson.
    Exhausted, Macy stood to one side, listening to Finn’s garrison leader, Colonel Deavers, tell Finn that he should get an agent to field the requests for interviews and book and movie deals. “It’s a miraculous story,” the colonel said.
    “Yes, sir,” Finn said.
    Colonel Deavers looked at Macy. “It must have come as quite a shock to you, Mrs. Lockhart.”
    “It was an answer to my prayers,” she said, and smiled at Finn. He looked down.
    “There will be a lot to sort out,” the colonel opined.
    Macy smiled and nodded that yes, there would be things to sort out, more than the colonel could possibly know. Life was moving at lightning speed, and Macy was no closer to knowing what to do than she had been the afternoon she’d been reunited with Finn. Oh, but her heart had swelled at the sight of him, her body had responded instantly to his touch. She had believed, in those few feverish moments in the hotel room, that her path was clear, and the path led to Finn.
    But then Wyatt’s anguish had crept into her consciousness, and she recalled his devastation when she told him Finn was alive and the heartache in his voice over the phone, and Macy had realized that there was no clear path.
    She loved two men . She loved them differently, but she loved them both nonetheless, and it left her incapable of making a decision. Or eating or sleeping, for that matter. She was paralyzed.
    “I suspect they will want your story, too, Mrs. Lockhart,” Colonel Deavers added with a smile.
    Clark . Her last name was Clark.
    “We’ll talk about it,” Finn said, and put his hand possessively on the small of Macy’s back. “Will you excuse us, sir? I need to get Macy something to eat.”
    “Of course,” the colonel said, and gestured toward the buffet.
    Macy didn’t want food—the scent of something on the buffet was making her nauseous as it was. “I’m not hungry,” she said as Finn led her away from the officer.
    “Me either,” he said.
    He led her off to the side, to a dark corner near the buffet. He gave her a faint, sad smile, and Macy felt a tug of deep longing. “Just think, a few more minutes of this and you can finally go home.”
    “Yes, but not exactly the home I was hoping for,” he said. “I’d like to talk a minute, Macy. We haven’t had much of a chance.”
    “No, we haven’t. And there is so much I want to say.” That she was sorry, so very sorry. That she