Return to Summerhouse (The Summerhouse 2)

“That’s about right.”

“I’m not a trained therapist and I’m no psychic, but it seems to me that while your destiny may be on track, maybe the destinies of the people close to you are not.”

Amy well knew that Stephen wasn’t as perfectly happy as she was. He loved her and his children, but his job was not of his choice. But Stephen wasn’t a complainer and he was a man of honor. When his eldest brother refused to take over the family business, it had gone to the next son, who had also refused to take it on. Too much work, too much responsibility, not enough excitement, was what they said. Stephen had also wanted to turn down the job, but he hadn’t been able to stand the disappointment in his father’s face and voice. When he was just weeks out of college, he’d gone to work for his father. Over the years he’d expanded the business and had made a very good living, but sometimes Amy had seen him looking at his brothers with envy. They went from one job to another and took off when they wanted to. When they got behind on child support payments, they “borrowed” from Stephen. After all, he was running a family business. To their minds, the profits belonged to all of them.

It was Stephen in his unlikable job, and the callousness and ingratitude of his father and brothers, that made Amy often drive herself to exhaustion. She wanted everything at home to be peaceful and perfect for Stephen.

Amy looked at Primrose. “Do you think that if I could change the destiny of this man who looks like my husband that I could change Stephen’s circumstances in this life?” Her eyes lit up. “Could I change his brothers? Maybe even change his father?”

“I really don’t know,” Primrose said. “All I know for sure is that my sister only gives out her card to people who need her and that true love is always involved. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some things to do.” She stood up.

Amy wanted to stay there all day and ask the woman questions, but she knew she was being dismissed. When she stood up, she glanced out the windows at the sunlight. “Do you think it’s pouring down rain out there?”

Primrose laughed so hard that Amy was afraid the little old lady was going to choke. “You have brightened my day, my whole week,” she said to Amy at the door. “And I shall think about the questions you’ve asked me.”

“If I do want to…do this, I mean, do what it says on the card, what do I do?”

“The three of you come back here together and my sister will meet you at the door and she’ll tell you what to do.” Primrose lowered her voice. “I shouldn’t give you any advice, but I really think you must do whatever you need to to get your destiny back on track. And, dear,” she said in a warning voice, “you need to choose the time carefully. There have been mistakes made and some people return to the wrong time and don’t change a thing. My sister doesn’t allow them to try again.”

She patted Amy’s arm. “But I think you know what time you want to go back to. And oh yes, each of you should bring one hundred dollars. That’s what she charges.”

Amy stepped onto the porch, then turned back. “Could someone go with me?”

“With you?” Primrose asked, surprised. “You mean go back with you to change your life?”

“Yes. I wish Zoë could go with me. I think that right now, the way things are, even if she had a chance to return to the past, she wouldn’t go. I’ve never seen anyone with so much anger inside her.”

“You have the most extraordinary ideas,” Primrose said. “Let me talk to my sister about this. She’ll have the answers when you return. But I would think that if anyone is to go with you, she’ll have to want to.”

“Don’t worry. Zoë would go back just for the man’s horse.”

Again Primrose laughed. “What is it about beautiful men on beautiful horses? Would that I could go back with you.”

“Why don’t you?” Amy said, her eyes alight.

“It’s your destiny,” Primrose said as she stepped back into the house. “Your destiny, not mine,” she said as she closed the door.

“Mine or Stephen’s or the dark man’s or even Zoë’s,” Amy muttered. “I can’t figure out what belongs to whom.”

Eleven

“Poppycock!” Faith said. “That’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”

“I’ve looked through everything I have and I have no business card from your magic woman,” Zoë said.

“She’s not mine,” Amy said, exasperated. She had made dinner tonight, a lovely chicken dish that she often made for guests at home. She’d bought all the ingredients and done all the work by herself. Her plan was to tell the women about her visit to Primrose once they’d each had a few glasses of wine.

But Zoë thwarted her. As soon as they sat down, Zoë asked, “So what do you want?”

“Whatever do you mean?” Amy asked in her most innocent voice.

Faith and Zoë just stared at her.

“Okay,” Amy said, “I went to Madame Zoya’s house today.” She then proceeded to tell them what she wanted them to know of the visit. She left out anything that she feared would upset them.

Neither Faith nor Zoë believed a word of it.

“It’s not possible,” Faith said. “No one can change the past. You can’t go back.”