“Better than Colin Frazier’s wife?” Mrs. Wingate asked.
Tristan smiled at her way of phrasing that. He wasn’t in the least surprised that she’d seen his feelings for Gemma, and now she was reminding him of Gemma’s marriage to another man. “Yes, which I’m glad of, because Jecca seems to be rather fond of me too.”
“Then you must make Jecca stay in Edilean,” Lucy said. She knew all about the Heartwishes Stone and believed in it fully.
“Every time I mention her staying, Jecca . . .” Tristan lifted his hand. “Well, let’s just say that that girl has a sharp tongue on her.”
“What did you say to provoke her?” Lucy asked, her tone showing that she was on Jecca’s side.
Tristan went over his suggestions of local jobs ff l But lor Jecca and her replies.
“I see her point,” Lucy said. “A job is very important to a woman.”
“I wonder if Jecca would like to be an interior decorator,” Mrs. Wingate said. “She seems to have a talent for it.”
“She just wants to paint her watercolors and have them sell,” Tris said.
Lucy sighed. “That they don’t sell is a big problem to her.”
“She told you about that?” Tristan asked, astonished. “Kim told me, not Jecca.”
“We talk a lot in the evenings when we sew,” Mrs. Wingate said. “Jecca is very good company. She tries to pretend that she doesn’t mind about her paintings not selling, but she does. And why hasn’t she told you about this problem in her life?”
“I don’t know,” Tris said. “Maybe it’s because I don’t put her on a couch and grill her. And speaking of revealing secrets, what have you two told her about your secrets?” He looked at Mrs. Wingate. “I heard you nearly passed out at the mention of Bill Welsch’s name. What was that all about?”
“I, uh . . .” Mrs. Wingate got up and went to the stove.
Tristan looked at Lucy. “Now where was it that you grew up? Are you married? Any kids?”
Lucy went to stand next to Mrs. Wingate.
Tristan took a long drink of his tea, then stood up. Both women had their backs to him. Grinning, he put himself between them and an arm around each one. “I’m doing my best, okay? I like Jecca more than I’ve ever liked any woman before and I’m doing all that I can to get her to stay. But it takes time.”
The women nodded but didn’t look at him.
He kissed each one on the cheek, then stepped back. The women still didn’t look happy. “If it makes you two feel any better, this morning while Jecca was asleep, I spent an hour online looking at Kim’s Web site. You think two and a half carats or three carats for a ring would be better?”
“Three,” the women said in unison, then turned to smile at him.
“Have some faith in me, will you?” he said as he took a big pickle out of the bowl on the table. Crunching, he left the room.
Tristan’s bravado stayed with him all the way to the conservatory. He needed to be around his plants. They calmed him down.
He saw that he had mealybugs on some leaves, so he got out the alcohol and swabs and began to get rid of them. It was a task he was used to and the routine of it gave him time to think.
The truth was, he knew that he was falling in love with Jecca. He also knew that he’d felt that way almost since he’d first seen her this time. It was quite possible that it all began many years ago.
She wasn’t like the other women he’d dated. Jecca didn’t seem to expect things to be given to her. She wanted to be a man’s partner, his equal. She didn’t assume that since he what while as a doctor that they’d live in a mansion and . . . And become a stereotype.
No, she wasn’t like other women. She was different, he thought, and he liked that very much.
He was pleased that she fit in with his family. When he was in Miami, Jecca and Nell had spent a lot of time on the phone together. At first Tris had felt guilty that he’d so neglected the playhouse. He hadn’t realized what bad shape it was in.
But when he saw Nell curled up in a chair, his cell phone to her ear, and talking with Jecca in a secretive way, he was glad he’d neglected the playhouse. When Nell started quoting things Jecca had said, Tris wished he’d let the roof fall in. Or maybe run a truck through it. The more work the playhouse needed, the longer Jecca would stay.
Addy had liked Jecca too. “She’s as dreamy as you two are,” she said the evening after she’d talked to Jecca on the phone.
“Too dreamy to be entrusted with the remodeling work?” Tris asked. He was curious about what his sister thought.