Return to Summerhouse (The Summerhouse 2)

“Why, everything changes, of course.”

Amy blinked a few times. “Changes? You mean your whole life?”

“Of course.”

“How could that be? What if, say, a person had written a book about a trip he took, but the second time around, he didn’t take that trip and so didn’t write the book. What would happen to the copies of that book? And what about people’s memories?”

“Then the book would not exist and no one would remember that it ever had. It can be quite disconcerting that you remember something that no one else does.”

Amy opened and closed her mouth a few times. “But how…?”

“I don’t know,” Primrose said. “Nor does my sister know how it works. It’s a gift she’s had since she was eighteen. Something…well, rather unusual happened to her and since then she’s been able to send people back to the past.”

“Why hasn’t the world heard of this?” Amy asked softly.

“We’re careful that people at large do not hear. And…Well, my sister can change the past.”

“Oh!” Amy said. “You mean that if someone told the secret your sister could go back and change it?”

Primrose shrugged. “I couldn’t know, now could I?”

“Of course, because you wouldn’t remember. Could a person go back and change a big thing?”

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nbsp; “You mean things like disasters and plane crashes, don’t you?”

“And assassinations that start wars,” Amy said.

“Alas, no. My sister tried that. She wanted to go back and stop Eve from eating that forbidden fruit. But it didn’t work. Her abilities are wonderful, but they’re limited to the personal problems of individuals.”

“But what if I want to go back, not to my immediate past, but to before that? To another life I may have had?”

“I don’t know,” Primrose said. “I’ve never encountered this situation before.”

“What I want to know is if changing my destiny in the past would change my present life. If, say, there were a way to change what happened to a man in the past, say I kept him from being killed, would that change me today?”

“Very interesting question,” Primrose said. “I can’t give you an answer, but in my experience, true love usually wins over everything.”

“True love didn’t win in Faith’s life and I don’t think Zoë has ever experienced it.”

“If that were true, she’d have no need of my sister’s services.”

Amy blinked for a few seconds. “You mean that Zoë loved someone but that person hasn’t come forward?”

“Perhaps,” Primrose said as she glanced at the clock. “I really think I’ve said too much. My sister will cut off my chocolate for a week. Hmmm, it seems that the teapot is empty.”

Amy knew that was her cue to leave, but she had a thousand questions that needed answering. “All of this is so new to me,” she said. “Since I lost my baby nothing has been the same in my life.”

“Perhaps your daughter didn’t want to be born to someone whose destiny was off track.”

“If my destiny is out of balance it’s not because of anything I’ve done in this life.” Her head came up. “How did you know I was to have a daughter?”

“Intuition. You have a house full of men. Tell me, what does your husband do for a living?”

Amy sighed. “He runs the trucking company that his father started. It’s not Stephen’s choice of careers, but it makes good money. His three older brothers are…” She tried to think of the kindest way of describing them. “They like adventure and excitement. They never seem able to settle down to any one thing, not a job, a wife, or anything.”

“Hotheaded speed demons?” Primrose said so pleasantly that Amy laughed.