“We were thinking of holding a mommy shower for you,” Barbie said around five o’clock. Almost everyone had come and gone by this point. The ones who remained were the original members of the widows’ group—with the addition of Mark and Hector. It was hard to believe nearly a year had passed since that bleak Valentine’s evening, when they’d started their lists of Twenty Wishes.
She’d completed her list last spring.
19. Karate classes with Ellen
20. To live happily ever after
Twenty wishes, nearly all of them a reality now.
Anne Marie had found a pair of red cowboy boots in a secondhand store for a fraction of the cost. They fit perfectly and she wore them often.
Then one Sunday in July, shortly after Anne Marie had begun attending church with Ellen, she’d spontaneously sung a hymn. She was well into the second verse before she remembered that she couldn’t sing anymore and yet here she was…. Now not a day went by without her belting out one song after another.
Anne Marie’s gaze fell on Barbie, who sat next to Mark, holding his hand.
Anne Marie had met him only half a dozen times, but Barbie had spoken of him often enough to make her feel as if she knew him.
“When we made our lists of wishes, did you ever dream it would come to this?” Elise asked, joining the circle of friends.
“We haven’t talked about our lists recently,” Lillie said, sitting in the overstuffed chair with Hector standing behind her, his hands on her shoulders. “Has anyone completed any wishes lately?”
“I have,” Elise said, looking down at her plastic glass of champagne. “I’ve set up a charitable foundation in memory of Maverick.”
“Elise, that’s wonderful!”
The older woman struggled to hide her emotion. “That’s not all. I took my two grandsons on a hot-air balloon ride. That was something Maverick and I always intended to do. We put it off—and then it was too late.”
“Was it as exciting as you thought it would be?” Anne Marie asked.
Elise smiled warmly. “Even better than I imagined. When I closed my eyes, I could almost feel Maverick’s arms around me again,” she said in a low voice. “It was the most thrilling sensation to be that high above the ground. He would’ve loved it.”
“I completed one of my wishes, too,” Barbie volunteered.
“Which one?” Lillie asked.
Eyes dancing, she glanced at Mark. “I went skinny-dipping.”
Lillie frowned. “I have a feeling you weren’t alone.”
Barbie giggled like a schoolgirl. “As it happens, I wasn’t.”
Mark shifted uncomfortably in his wheelchair. “I believe that falls under the heading of too much information.”
“You went with Mark.” Lillie feigned shock.
Barbie laughed and leaned over to kiss his cheek. “I’m not telling.”
Mark couldn’t quite restrain a smile.
“What about you, Anne Marie?” Barbie asked, diverting attention away from her and Mark.
“I’m about to accomplish one of my most heartfelt wishes.”
“About to?” Hector asked. “I thought the adoption was finalized this afternoon.”
“It was, and Ellen’s now my daughter in the eyes of the law. But this is another wish.” She opened her purse and removed a thick envelope and showed it to the group.
Ellen dashed over to her side. “Can I tell everyone?” she pleaded.
“Go ahead,” Anne Marie told her.
“Mom,” she said, and looked at Anne Marie. “Is it okay to call you Mom?”
“Absolutely.”
“Mom bought tickets for us to fly to Paris for our first Christmas together.”
“Paris,” Elise repeated slowly. “What a perfect idea.”
Anne Marie slipped her arm around Ellen. “I’m going to Paris with someone I love.”
Barbie’s eyes were soft. “That’s just beautiful.” She glanced at Mark, who grumbled something about not getting any ideas. She ignored him and reached for the brochure Anne Marie handed her.
“Barbie, I’m warning you right now, I’m not going to Paris.” Mark hesitated. “Go if you like. I’ll even encourage it. But I’m staying right here.”
“Yes, Mark.”
“I mean it, Barbie.”
“I know you do.” Apparently she had no intention of arguing with him. “I’m perfectly capable of traveling to Europe for two weeks on my own.”
“Two weeks?” Mark said, frowning. “That long?”
“It would hardly be worth my while to travel all that way for less than that.”
Mark groaned. “Why do I have the feeling that I’m going to be staring up at the Eiffel Tower and wondering how I got there?”
Everyone smiled.
Ellen walked over to where Anne Marie was sitting and climbed onto her lap. “One of my wishes came true, too,” she told the group.
“Which one was that?” Hector asked kindly.
“I found a mom,” Ellen announced. “I thought Anne Marie would just be my Lunch Buddy but now she’s my mom. Forever and ever.”
“Forever and ever,” Anne Marie repeated.
It was a solemn moment, broken only by Ellen’s happy shout. “Hey, Mom! You have to start a new list of Twenty Wishes now, don’t you?”
Anne Marie smiled. This truly wasn’t the end but a new beginning for them all.
