Page 129 of My Heart Will Find You

“Go,” Etta said. “I’ll set out lunch.”

“You don’t want to see it?”

To see where Max and I made love? No thanks!“Maybe later,” she said.

“Sure.” He got out his bag of photo equipment and left.

The first thing Etta did was check the rock by the stream where she and Zack had found the bear. Just as before, behind the plants was the name Etta and an arrow pointing downward. But she knew she still had the bear so it was no longer buried.

When she went back to the car, just as she reached for the picnic basket, her phone rang. It was a FaceTime call, and she was tempted to not answer it. But she did.

It was Henry. He was in a hospital bed and he looked like he’d aged in the last few days but then so had Etta.

“Do you hate me?” he asked, his eyes sad.

She wasn’t going to give in to him. “Don’t give me that puppy dog look,” she snapped. “You did a rotten thing to me. You lied, scammed, and tricked me. And for what?”

Henry’s face brightened. “No sympathy for poor old me? Are you sure? They’re about to roll me into surgery.”

“Which you should have had months ago. But no, you scared everyone by refusing to get the surgery, then you refused to leave Kansas, then you—”

“Etta!” he said loudly. “I want to tell you the truth.”

“That would make for a change.”

He gave her a little smile. “You did a lot for many people. You righted some wrongs, saved lives. You and I and Zack are the only ones who know the truth of all you accomplished.”

She wished his flattery had no effect on her, but it did. Her anger calmed. “Max...” she whispered.

“Yes, I know. I read about it in the big art book.”

“The oneyouwrote. The first Henry. Your Max is a lot like him. He can’t stop moving around.” She paused. “Are you going to tell me what freaked you out so much that you became the drama queen and demanded to go to Denver?”

With a laugh, he shook his head. “Sometimes you remind me of my beloved Martha. She never gave sympathy either.”

“I’d take that as a compliment if I hadn’t met her.”

“It is the greatest of compliments. Okay, a couple of years ago, I had a dream. It was as vivid and as real as anything you experienced.”

“I’m listening.”

“It was a view into the future. I saw that my beloved Max would be killed in an accident. Something would hit him in the heart. I couldn’t see what it was, but it was instantly fatal.”

“That happened tomyMax,” she whispered. “Not yours.”

“Maybe,” he said. “But then, the dream changed and I saw a lovely young woman. You. I was made to know thatyoucould save my son. I didn’t know how, but I did know that I was to stay in my old house and wait for you.”

“And that dream is why you refused to look after your heart?”

“Yes. Besides waiting for you, I knew that under no circumstances was I to ever mention Max to you. And that was it. I woke up and I knew what I had to do. I waited until you came down my street pulling that little case behind you. I was very afraid that you’d refuse the cookies and lemonade, but you didn’t.” He looked on the verge of tears. “I’m sorry I lied to you, but I would do anything for my children.”

“So when you read about my Max in the big book...”

“I thought that tragedy might duplicate itself in my son. I had to see that he was all right.”

“Then later, you contrived to send him here to me.”

“Yes, I did.” He sounded proud. “My wish is for him to find someone to share his life.”

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