Page 24 of My Heart Will Find You

“I would love to. Are you going to embellish my dream and make it more dramatic? Do all those writer-things to it?”

“You want a romance, don’t you?”

“I wouldn’t mind if he stopped telling me that I am ‘old and plain.’”

“And here I was thinking of using that for the title.”

“You wouldn’t!”

He smiled. “How aboutHe Thought She Was Old and Plain but Discovered She Was a Raving Beauty?”

“I like it! But do you think it’s too long to fit on the bestseller list?”

“Four point font will do it.” He looked back at his notebook. “Your marriage is only a beginning. I need a middle and an end. Let’s go back to my question. If you could return, what would you change?”

“I’d outlaw carpetbaggers, set up integrated schools, add—”

“I don’t mean things you can’t do. What can you achieve within the constraints of the time period?”

“Well...” She thought. “I’d find my dream’s version of Phillip. He’s the husband my overeducated sister adores. He could give Alice freedom.”

“That’s more like it,” Henry said. “But first, I want to go back over what you’ve already dreamed. Didn’t you mention a tire iron?”

“Oh yeah. Corsets are hell. Except for what they achieve. My little waist was almost worth the stays.”

“Good line. I’ll use it. So let’s go over it all one more time.”

5

Etta was absolutelysickof the lockdown. It had been a week and a day, and she was ready to go out anddothings. But it seemed that there was no end in sight. If the news was to be believed, the country might be shut down for months. But that was ridiculous. How could businesses survive?

The person who most agreed with her was Lester. His wife had told him to stop complaining to her and to call Etta. She and Lester had spent hours reminiscing about all the things they missed.

She talked to her family every day. Alicia had already started using something called Zoom, and her business was flourishing. “My introverts love this isolation,” she said of her patients. “Now they have an acceptable excuse for staying home. But my extroverts like you are struggling to adjust. Etta,” she said in her therapist voice that gave warning, “stay busy.”

Glumly, she’d said she would.

Her brother-in-law, Phillip, agreed with Etta. He was an airplane mechanic and he had no work. “I’m learning to cook.” He sounded disgusted.

Her father was like Henry. Neither of them noticed that there was anything different in the world. Her father was mostly retired, but he still did a few accounts on his computer. Most of the time, he read and made notes for his biography of Wyatt Earp. He’d been working on it for fifteen years.

Henry was quite happy. His only outside contact was via email. When Etta showed him how to text, he thought it was a marvel. He and Caroline started texting back and forth as she was the techie in their family.

Henry kept Etta informed of all that was going on with them. It was the baby’s lungs that were having trouble. Little Alexandra was in the NICU, and Caro and Ben were in a nearby hotel. Caroline knew Henry well, so she kept him updated on all that was going on in the outside world. The news of empty shelves and panic-buying shocked them.

Etta couldn’t go to the grocery, and she hadn’t been able to get on any waiting list for food delivery. She was glad for Freddy, who delivered a small box of fresh produce every few days. But she left it on the front porch and didn’t enter the house. When she rang the bell, Etta would run to the front window and mouth,Are you okay?Freddy would grimace, then reluctantly nod. Like Etta, Freddy hated being cooped up.

When she left, Etta would watch Freddy until she was in her truck and out of sight. It was funny how some people you could know for years but not know at all. Then there could be an instant bond between strangers. That’s how she felt about Freddy. They were friends.

To occupy herself, Etta cleaned things. She did the whole kitchen, removing the contents of the cabinets, washing it all, then putting things back.

Henry shook his head at her. He was content to read and think. “Create,” Etta said. “That’s what you do.”

Henry’s reply had been, “You can tackle the attic.”

Etta said, “No thanks,” but three hours later she pulled down the ladder and went upstairs.

Maybe she’d find some things from 1874 when the house was built.

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