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“I’ll take the mango drink,” she said. “I’ve given up raspberries. Forever,” she added.

He led her to the back of the shop. As with many stores in Edilean, this one was quite narrow but extended back for the full block. There were no other customers, so they were alone as they sat down in a small booth.

“How have you been?” Colin asked.

“Great,” she said. “And you?”

“Missing you,” he said softly as he reached out to take her hand, but she moved it away. “Gemma, there are things I can’t tell you, but I—”

“In that case, I have work to do,” she said as she started out of the booth.

The young woman came with their drinks, blocking Gemma’s exit. “Is everything all right?” she asked.

Gemma knew that whatever she said in front of the girl would soon be all over Edilean. “Everything is just fine.” She sat back down.

The girl put the drinks on the table and left.

“All right,” Colin said with a sigh. “Let’s leave things as they are. There was another robbery.”

“Oh?” she said and wanted to ask questions, but didn’t. She gave her attention to her drink.

Colin lowered his voice. “We’ve kept this one from the town, but it’s the same MO. There was a ten-year-old girl living there, and a sprig of willow tied with a pink silk ribbon was left behind.” He paused. “Gemma, I can’t thank you enough for spotting that in the photos. It was because of you that I knew what to look for in this new robbery.”

She kept looking at her drink and didn’t meet his eyes. “Tell me about Luke and Mike.”

“Oh yeah,” Colin said. “I guess you heard about Sara having twins, just what she wished for.”

“Of course. Joce told me and so did Tris.”

As she said the name, she watched him, and saw the hurt in his eyes. It looked as though he really did believe there was something between her and Dr. Tris. Yeah, she thought. Prenatal vitamins. “I was just in that little shop Yesterday, buying baby clothes for my sister, and I realized I’d forgotten about Sara. Think she’d like some little blue rompers for her boys?”

“She’d love them,” Colin said, “and it’s nice of you to think of her. She—”

“And then there’s Joce. It’s a little late, but I thought I might get her babies something. In fact . . .” She reached into her shopping bag and withdrew one of the outfits she’d bought and spread it out on top of the tissue paper on the table. She’d been told it was a day gown, suitable for a boy or girl, made of Swiss batiste, and trimmed with tiny, hand-embroidered honeybees.

“Isn’t it pretty?” Gemma said.

Colin touched the hem of it. “Very nice. Mrs. Wingate has lots of these things. She lives out near Tris and—” The mention of the name made Colin stop talking—and she realized that no matter how unhappy she was, he was worse. Maybe that should have cheered her up, but it didn’t.

Gemma put the gown back in the paper and into the bag, then took a deep drink of her smoothie. “I really need to go. I’m setting up interviews at some universities and I need to find out about them. As soon as I get approval on my subject matter, I’m going to be working on my dissertation in the evenings.”

Colin watched her gather her bags. “Wait! I haven’t told you about Luke and Mike.”

“That’s all right. I’ll get Joce to tell me, or I’ll call Sara. Anyway, I need to get Sara’s Florida address so I can send her my gift.”

“They’re moving back here.”

“How wonderful!” Gemma said as she stood up. “It was so nice talking to you.” With a smile, she left and hurried around the corner to enter the heirloom sewing shop.

“Did you forget something?” Mrs. Wingate asked as soon as Gemma was inside.

To Gemma’s absolute horror, she burst into tears.

“Oh, my goodness,” Mrs. Wingate said as she hurried forward and helped Gemma to a chair. She took her bags from her and gave her a tissue from a box on the counter.

“I don’t usually cry,” Gemma said, “but lately I haven’t been able to stop.”

“Excessive hormones will do that,” Mrs. Wingate said.


Tags: Jude Deveraux Edilean Romance