Dreaming of Love

by Melissa Foster

  Women of all ages gathered around the tables to eat. They filled one another’s glasses, bounced babies on their knees, and shared stories that brought laughter and tears. Every once in a while one of the women would leave a table and stand by the tree, her head bowed. Sometimes she’d set a hand on the massive trunk. Emily pictured women doing this for hundreds of years, and she wondered how the myth had begun. What was it about this house, or this tree, that was worthy of being the center of something so momentous?

  She listened to the cadence of the group. Even though she couldn’t understand everything that was said, she understood enough, and the rest was evident in their eyes. A world of emotions was taking place right before her eyes as they told stories of grandmothers, aunts, mothers, and daughters who had come to the House of Wishes over the years, seeking something. Women spoke of being blessed with babies or finding a lost loved one. Emily couldn’t keep up with the stories. Each one was slightly different from the next, but the themes never veered far from the heart.

  Emily found herself drawn to the tree, her hands pressed flat against the rough bark. She closed her eyes. She wasn’t wishing, and she wasn’t thinking about wishing. She was simply being there. Drinking in the beauty and the warm feeling of togetherness these women had draped over the night.

  “Missing Dae?” Serafina asked.

  “Very much, but I wasn’t really thinking of anything. I was just sort of being present.” Emily gazed at the others, who were now working side by side, carrying the dirty dishes to the well pump, where another table had been set up beside two trash bins. They worked with practiced efficiency, as if they’d been doing this for years, which they very well might have. Two women rinsed the dishes as four others wiped them dry and stacked them in baskets.

  “Do you do this a lot? Get together with all these women?” Emily asked.

  Serafina smiled and shook her head. “You’d think it was a weekly affair the way they’re so familiar with one another, but the truth is, we barely know them. They barely know each other. When there’s a crisis, word spreads fast through neighboring towns and communities, and whoever can make it comes to support the others. When I first came back from the States, Mama took me straight here for this type of gathering.” Her eyes filled with sadness. When she continued, her voice was softer. “They make you want to have faith in their energy, don’t they? Like if they can create this much energy, they must be able to pull off just about anything.”

  “They make me want to be around them, and yes, being here and feeling their energy, I believe that the compassion and wills of these women have more power than the house or the tree ever could.”

  “They do,” Serafina said. “This house and this tree, they’re just placeholders. They could be anything. A car and a chair. A basket. A shoe. It wouldn’t matter. It’s the women, and this place, that makes the difference. What they’re doing has been done for years and years. Hundreds of years probably. No one knows when it started exactly, only that it’s been carried out for generations.”

  “So, at some point a long time ago, women began gathering and wishing here. It could have been just anyone’s house, and it became the House of Wishes?”

  Serafina shrugged. “After spending years in the States, I’ve come to believe that it’s probably grown from what you know as a girls’ night out. When I try to imagine how it came about, I see a group of friends sharing wine and a meal when their husbands were out working or away at war. I think those women were there for one another through good times and bad, and you know how girls are. We share our hopes and our dreams with one another. I think the myth grew from there.”

  “I can see something like that happening.” Emily thought about her hometown and how fast gossip spread. Word of something so magical would spread quickly. Her thoughts drifted to the bond she had with her brothers’ fiancées, making the vision of something magical even more possible. She thought about the place on top of the mountain where her older brother Ross had taken her right before she left for college. He’d said he went there to think, and she’d gone back a number of times since. She realized that she’d even come to believe that if she thought about things there, in that specific location, she’d always figure them out. That was how myths were created. This one was just a little bigger.

  “If you ask my mother, she has a whole different idea. She believes it’s the energy of the earth and that tree that makes the wishes come true. And see that woman over there?” Serafina pointed to a thin brunette wearing a flowered, knee-length dress. “She believes it was her ancestors who started the whole thing. And that woman there.” She pointed to a short-haired woman sitting with a baby on her knee, her head kicked back midlaugh. “She thinks it has nothing to do with any of those things, but everything to do with this exact location and the sun and the moon and the stars.”

  They crossed the lawn toward the tables. “I don’t think it matters how it started or why,” Serafina said. “I think it’s just nice to believe, most of the time. Even when it’s hard, like the other night when I felt like I couldn’t take the hoping anymore, that was a moment of weakness. Right now? My heart is filled with hope for Dante’s return. Look around. How could it not be?”

  “I’m glad you still have faith that he’ll return. I want him to come home to you and Luca. It’s what I wished for.” She hadn’t even admitted that to Dae, but she wanted Serafina to know how much she had come to care for her and Adelina.

  Serafina embraced her. “Thank you. That means a lot to me.”

  “Would it be in bad taste for me to take a few pictures so I can show Dae how much this property means to the women here?”

  “Not at all. Go ahead.”

  Emily took a couple of pictures, and though she knew that Dae wouldn’t get them until later, and he wasn’t calling her until tomorrow, she sent them off with a brief message that she hoped would make him smile after his long trip home. Brad and the Chrises didn’t show up, but as you can see, I’m in good company. Miss your kisses! Xox.

  Just typing about Dae’s kisses made her miss him.

  “I guess you don’t have to wish for love,” Serafina said. “You’ve found it with Dae.”

  “Yes, I think I have.” Emily glanced over her shoulder at the tree, and she realized that just as she had fallen for Dae, she was also falling in love with the House of Wishes and all that it stood for, the emotions it evoked, and the women whose lives it touched.

  Chapter Nineteen

  DAE TOOK A long pull of his beer as he listened to his brother Colby tell him about the assignment he’d just completed. Colby had been a Navy SEAL for six years, and although they didn’t get to see each other often, they tried to keep in touch with phone calls and emails.

  “Anyway, I’m on leave in a few months, and I thought I’d come spend a few days with you. If we can get Wade to drag his ass away from the computer and can convince Leanna and Kurt, then maybe we can all go see one of Bailey’s concerts.”

  “Yeah, that sounds great.” Dae walked through his living room to the picture window overlooking the mountains, thinking of Emily. He’d give his left nut to have her with him tonight, the night of the concert, and every night before and after.

  “Great. I’ll count on it. How was Tuscany? When are you going back to obliterate that villa?”

  “That’s up in the air right now. I’m meeting with my client tomorrow. The guy’s a real ass.”

  “You’ll seal the deal. You always do.”

  It’s not sealing the deal that I’m worried about. For the first time in his career, he wasn’t excited about demolishing a property. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to obliterate the House of Wishes.

  “So…” Colby lowered his voice. “Did you get some fine Tuscany ass?”

  Dae took a swig of his beer and smiled. He was used to Colby’s crass remarks. Guy talk, that’s all it was. Colby had been that way their whole lives. He wondered why it suddenly rubbed him the wrong way.

  “That’s yo
ur department, not mine.”

  “Yeah, yeah, Mr. I Don’t Want To Hurt Anyone.” Colby’s deep laugh rumbled through the phone. “Should I take that as a yes but you’re not talking?”

  “Take it as I met a woman, but she’s not a piece of ass, although she is finer than any woman I’ve ever seen.” Dae wasn’t sure exactly how his brother would react to his admission, but he knew Colby would give him shit. They pretty much always gave each other shit in a teasing, brotherly way. The problem was, Dae was in no mood for shit tonight. He missed Emily too much, so he hoped his brother would pick up on that and keep his reaction mild.

  “Uh-oh. A woman. Not a chick. Not a girl. A woman. Sounds serious.”

  Relieved, Dae smiled. “Yeah, it is. She’s amazing.”

  “Serious, like Leanna and Kurt serious, or serious like, yeah, this might last a few weeks, serious?”

  “I think we’re definitely long-term, Leanna and Kurt serious.”

  “Wow, that’s some heavy shit. But hey, I’m happy for you. Does she live in Italy?”

  “Nope. Colorado. Her name’s Emily.”

  “That’s cool, dude. If you’re still with her when I’m on leave, I’d love to meet her.”

  “I will be, and yeah, definitely.”

  They talked for a few more minutes. After they ended the call, Dae finished his beer, sat on the couch, and kicked his feet up on the coffee table, then dialed Emily’s number. It would be seven o’clock Friday morning in Italy. He knew Emily might still be sleeping, but he couldn’t stay awake much longer without using toothpicks to keep his eyes open, and he wanted to hear her voice before he went to bed.

  He scrolled through the pictures she’d sent of what looked like a party at the property he was supposed to demolish. The House of Wishes. He had a hard time putting the two together. He knew it would just make it harder for him if he ended up tearing it down. The muscles in his neck constricted as he called her.

  She answered on the first ring. “Hey!”

  “Hey there, beautiful. You sound chipper this morning.”

  “I am. I’ve been up cooking with Adelina and Serafina for the past hour. I can’t wait to show you what they taught me to make. How was your flight?”

  “Long and lonely.”

  “Aw. I wish I’d been with you. Isn’t it like midnight there? I didn’t think I’d hear from you until later today. Oh, hold on a sec.”

  He listened to her telling Serafina and Adelina that she’d be right back.

  “Okay, sorry.”

  “I don’t want to interrupt you, babe. I can call later.”

  “You’re not interrupting. I’ve been dying to talk to you. I kept waking up last night and reaching for you. I miss you so much. Did you get the pictures I sent?”

  He conjured up an image of Emily in bed. Of course, in his version she was naked. He cleared his throat in an effort to center his thoughts.

  “I miss you, too, more than you can imagine. I did get the pictures. It looked like there was a party going on.”

  “Not a party, just a gathering, but it was the most amazing thing I’ve ever been around. Women came from the neighboring towns to…You know, I’m not even really sure how to explain what they were doing. They ate, talked, and wished, but it wasn’t like they all wished together at the same time. It was a collective wishing, I guess, but the wishing was sort of done individually, or silently.”

  “Em, slow down. I haven’t slept in twenty-four hours, so my mind is a little foggy. I’m trying to keep up. What were they wishing for?”

  “Oh, sorry. They were wishing that the property wouldn’t be demolished.”

  He heard hope in every word. Shit. “Em.”

  “You should have seen them, Dae. It was like being part of this big family. All the women having dinner, taking care of babies, laughing like they’d known one another for years, when in reality many of them had never even met before.”

  He didn’t want to think about the women whom he very well might have to let down. He wanted to have a nice, loving conversation with Emily, but at the same time, he didn’t want to lessen the excitement in her voice. He rested his head back on the couch and sighed.

  “Hey, babe?”

  “Yeah. Sorry. I’m rambling. I miss you.”

  “Babe, you realize that I can’t make any promises about what will happen to that property, right?”

  “Yeah.” Her voice sounded far away. “I know.”

  “I’m sorry, but you know this is my job.”

  “Yeah. I know. I just wish you could have felt the energy these women brought with them. Dae, I know it sounds strange, but I feel so connected to that property now. Being here with Adelina and Serafina and listening to the stories of the women last night, spending the night there and making love with you in that room…It just made the property really come alive.”

  Dae closed his eyes. He’d felt something when they’d been there, too. And he couldn’t help but feel like that room where they’d slept had been left as it was just for them. A ridiculous thought, he knew, but still…

  “I know, baby. I know you love that property, and I can’t say that I didn’t feel something bigger than us when we were there. But I still can’t make any promises.”

  “I know.”

  He pictured her beautiful brown eyes shadowed with disappointment and hated knowing that he was the cause of it. He didn’t need the income. He could walk away from the job. Tell Frank he wasn’t interested in demolishing the building. That would be easy, but wouldn’t there just be another building after that? And another? And another? Would this always be a bone of contention between them, or was it just that Emily was overly attached to the people and the myth surrounding this project?

  “I’m meeting with him tomorrow. Well, today your time, tomorrow my time. And I’ll call you after our meeting. It’ll probably be around two my time, so…”

  “About ten o’clock my time. I hate the time difference.”

  “Me too. Why don’t we Skype tomorrow night? I really want to see you.”

  “Okay. Good luck with your decision. I know it’s not an easy one, and I hope whatever you decide is what you really want.”

  She paused, leaving the word decision hanging in the silence. How could the decision be what he wanted when he wasn’t even sure what that was beyond wanting her?

  When she spoke again, the excitement he was used to hearing in her voice had returned.

  “You should be really proud of me. I didn’t even think about checking email today. Oh!” Her eyes widened. “I loved the gift you gave me. You’re so sweet, Dae. Thank you. I’m going to the vineyard and the sunflower patch today.”

  “I’m so glad. Take pictures and send them to me. And please make sure to take a selfie so I can see you.”

  “Okay. I promise. Guess what?”

  “What?”

  “Adelina is showing me how to cook a few Italian dishes, and she’s explaining the symbolism of the foods. I can’t wait to cook for you.”

  He was glad to hear excitement in her voice again. “I don’t care if you never cook a day in your life, as long as you’re with me and happy.”

  “I know, but being here is doing something strange to me. I want to cook for you. It’s weird. I even want to slow down with my work and, as you said, enjoy the things I like to do. And I want to figure out what all those things are with you, Dae.”

  He wondered if she’d still want those things if he demolished the building she’d come to love. It had been a hell of a long day, and he was so tired and jet-lagged his eyes were crossing, but he knew he had to ask the nagging question.

  “Em, I’m really glad you’re having such a good time, and I want all those things with you, too, but are you sure you can handle it if that property comes down?”

  His stomach knotted when Emily’s silence stretched a beat too long, telling him everything he needed to know.

  “Em?”

  “Yeah. I…I think so. It’s just a house.”<
br />
  Her tone told him that the house had already become anything but just a house to her, and the knot in his stomach clenched a little tighter.

  Chapter Twenty

  LATER THAT AFTERNOON, after spending the morning cooking with Adelina and Serafina again, Emily visited the vineyard in Chianti. The Chianti estate encompassed hundreds of acres atop a hill, with vineyards stretching as far as the eye could see. In the center of the property was a massive, multilevel estate, with heavy wooden doors and multiple terraces, where the winery was housed. Giovanni was expecting Emily. He was a gracious, balding man with a gray goatee, narrow shoulders, and a voice as elegant as the wine he served. He gave Emily a tour of the facilities, which were spectacular for too many reasons to count, but as Giovanni explained how the grapes were cultivated and the wines were made, her mind was tied up in thoughts of Dae. She wished he were there with her, holding her hand, flashing his sexy smile, stealing kisses. She could hardly believe that he’d taken the time to schedule this private tour for her. But then again, Dae had yet to stop surprising her. She missed his voice, his touch, and of course, his kisses, but most of all, she missed the feeling of completeness she had when they were together. She’d been pushing away thoughts about his making a decision on whether or not to demolish the House of Wishes, and as it threatened her good mood again, she closed her eyes and pushed it farther away.

  Giovanni led her out the back doors of the winery onto a slate patio overlooking the vineyards. The fresh air brought Emily’s mind back to the present. It was too early in the season for the grapes to ripen, but she swore she could smell them in the warm summer air.

  The view from the patio was breathtaking. The property rose high above other fields and farms. In the distance, hillsides boasted trees, farmhouses, and roads that snaked through the land. The estate itself was surrounded by rows of abundant grapevines.