“Boo! Hiss!” Tess said. “You love everybody in Edilean. If that wish were granted, we’d be a town with no illness, no accidents.”
“Sounds great to me,” Sara said.
“There is one thing you want,” Mike said to his wife. “You told me just the other day.”
Sara looked puzzled for a moment, then smiled. “That was a joke and don’t you dare tell them what I said.”
?
??Now you have to tell us,” Luke said.
“Not me.” Mike held up his hands in surrender. “I have to live with her. If she wants to confess, that’s up to her.”
Everyone looked at Sara.
“All right!” she said in exasperation. “I said . . .” She sighed. “It wasn’t anything really. I just said that I envied Joce having twins. Tess, back me up here. Wouldn’t you like to be carrying two babies, a boy and a girl?”
“Absolutely not!” Tess said. “One is all I’ll be able to handle. The only mother I knew was our grandmother. Nobody could be worse than her. I’m afraid—” She stopped talking and took a drink of her iced tea.
Mike reached out his hand and took Tess’s in his and held it. His eyes told her that he was with her.
“Tess, I’m sorry,” Sara said. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“Before I gave birth I was really worried whether I’d love my babies,” Joce said.
“And now she won’t leave them for even minutes,” Luke said. “This is getting too deep for me,” Colin said. “Any more of this strawberry stuff, Sara?”
“Sure, I’ll get it.”
“No you won’t,” Colin said as he got up and went to the little table. “Mike, what’s your wish?”
“Easy,” Mike said. “I want to take down a truly evil person.”
“You and me both,” Colin said as he sat back down.
“Excuse me if I’m being dense,” Joce said to Mike, “but didn’t you just do that last fall?”
“That was done by my wife,” Mike said, smiling at Sara in pride. “And we had a lot of help. I’d like to end my career with fireworks.”
Sara looked at Gemma. “My husband will soon retire from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, and he’s like a caged beast because I made him promise to take a desk job.”
“Beast, am I?” Mike asked as he looked at Sara.
“You two can do that later,” Rams said. “So who’s left to make a wish? Colin?”
“What about you, Rams?” Colin asked.
“I got what I wanted when Tess said yes to me.”
“That’s nice,” Gemma said.
“It’s a cop-out,” Luke said. “What is it? The lawyer in you can’t reveal anything? You could wish for a backbone.”
“You could wish for—” Rams began.
“Don’t you two start!” Joce said. “I haven’t had my wish yet.”
They all looked at Joce. “I’ve decided to save my wish for when I really need it.”