By the weekend, she felt better. She got up early and drove into Williamsburg to find a gym. Using the key Mike had given her to his gym and risking running into Colin was more than she could take. She spent thirty minutes on a bike, forty-five with light weights, then put on her gloves and hit a bag for twenty minutes. She was a little worried about kicking, considering what was growing inside her, so she skipped that.
She showered at the gym, put on clean clothes, and for the first time in days felt good.
The next task she set for herself was to face Edilean and its pity. She wasn’t ready to see Ellie and have to answer questions, so she parked downtown and went to the square. She’d seen a shop there that had held no interest for her, but it did now.
It was an elegant little boutique called Yesterday and it was on the other side of the square from Colin’s office. When Gemma opened the door, an old-fashioned bell jangled. All the fixtures in the store, the wall shelves and the big glass case at the end, were old, taken from buildings of an earlier era. The mahogany woodwork was suitable because it held the prettiest, most old-fashioned baby clothes Gemma had ever seen. They were of the softest cotton, with what looked to be hand embroidery on them.
Behind the counter was a tall, delicately pretty woman, probably in her forties. Smiling, she came to the front. “You’re a friend of Mrs. Newland, aren’t you?”
Gemma had to think about who that was. “Sara,” she said. “Yes, I am a friend of hers.” Just the thought made Gemma stand up straighter. To belong, she thought. That’s what she’d wanted and what she was getting.
“Dear Sara,” the woman said. “She’s one of my best customers. In fact, she called and ordered a matching outfit for each one of the many sets she’d already bought. I’m Olivia Wingate and how may I help you?”
Gemma almost blurted out that she was going to have a baby, but she couldn’t allow herself that pleasure. Instead, she gave the first lie she could think of. “My sister is expecting her third child and I’d like to get her something different than the usual clothes.”
“You have come to the right place. How much
do you know about heirloom sewing?”
“Nothing whatever.”
“Would you like to just choose an outfit, or do you want to learn about how it was made?”
“Learn is my favorite word in any language,” Gemma said and put her handbag on the glass counter. “I’m all ears.”
An hour later she left the shop with three breathtakingly beautiful baby outfits, each one wrapped in tissue paper, and carefully slipped inside a lavender-colored bag with YESTERDAY printed in blue. Her mind was full of new words, such as entredeux, wing-needle, pintucking, and bullion roses, but most of all, the idea that she really and truly was going to have a baby was finally sinking in.
For the first time, she thought of the prospect not as a burden and of work that had to be done, but as a joy. She very much liked her nieces, and she’d enjoyed playing with Joce’s children and they were beginning to know her. And Gemma looked forward to seeing Sara’s new babies.
At the thought of Sara’s newborns, Gemma realized she should get Sara a gift, and she knew just what she wanted. She’d seen two blue shorts sets, perfect for little boys. Mike would probably like a couple of T-shirts with the Ringside logo on them, but there were too many female hormones raging inside Gemma to consider that.
As she turned back toward the shop, she came face-to-face with Colin. Her first reaction was to smile. She’d missed him very much and she so wanted to share her news about the baby.
In the next second, his accusations rang in her head, and her smile faded.
“Gemma . . .” he said, reaching out his hand to her.
She stepped back and made herself smile. “How are you?” she asked as brightly as she could manage. “Beautiful day, isn’t it?”
“Gemma, could we go somewhere and talk about things?”
If he’d said this to her a few days before, she would have said yes, but not now. “I have so many errands to run and I need to get back to the guesthouse. We’ll have to talk some other time.” She turned toward her car.
“Did you hear what happened to Mike?” he asked.
She didn’t want to look back, but she couldn’t stop herself. Me and my curiosity! she thought. “What about him?”
The seriousness left Colin and he smiled at her. “I only tell gossip over food.”
“I’m not hungry,” Gemma said and took a step to the curb. “If you didn’t hear about Mike, then I guess Joce didn’t tell you about Luke. Oh! But that’s right, only a few of us know. It looks like your Heartwishes Stone is working.”
“Damn!” she said aloud as she looked back at him. Curiosity was an addiction, like a drug. She had to know what he was talking about. “Where?” she asked, her teeth clamped together.
She hated his knowing little smile as he led her to a sandwich and smoothie shop around the corner.
“What can I get for you, sheriff?” asked the pretty young woman behind the counter.
“The usual, Jillian, and Gemma will have whatever you can make with lots of raspberries in it.”