When Wishes Come True Excerpt

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The Wish

The waiter placed the spectacular two-tiered cake studded with thirty candles at the center of the table. Four women sat around the table, a yearly ritual since childhood. They'd tell one other that they never had big birthday parties, they had birthday squares; four points of the compass, one for the each of them. They wanted only each other at their birthday celebrations.
"This cake is simply too fabulous." Topaz said, smiling at her sister and two best friends. She was a striking woman whose eyes looked like huge pools of melted chocolate fringed by long, thick lashes. Her natural hair flowed down her back in a soft, frothy African cloud touched with golden highlights. Velvety, copper skin covered rounded, plump curves carried with womanly confidence.
"It's your big three-oh. You deserve it," Cherice said. Cherice was big, brash, and beautiful, the owner of one of the most successful hair salons in the city. She was a honey-skinned beauty with startling blonde locks that on second glance suited her perfectly. They matched her golden cat's eyes and the single elegant, black beauty mark perched to the left of her heart-shaped ruby red lips.
Topaz's sister, Rosaline, a pediatrician, nodded in agreement over the glow the candles. Rosaline and Topaz had roughly the same plump body structure, but the likeness ended there. Rosaline was casually dressed in a pantsuit, her hair pulled back at the nape of her neck in a bun. She was a classic beauty with even bronzed features and minimal makeup.
"The cake is honey-vanilla with whipped cream frosting and real butter," Brandy said. "I hope y'all left your diets at home." Brandy was the only one of them who wasn't heavier than average, and the only one who wasn't a raving beauty. She was totally unselfconscious about her looks. She never wore makeup and wore her hair in low-maintenance braids. Brandy anchored the evening sports for a Kansas City network affiliate and wrote a syndicated sports column, a coup for someone both female and young. She was a natural tomboy, athlete, and sports lover extraordinaire.
It was good to be back in Kansas City, Topaz thought. She'd cut tours short, left recording sessions, and canceled concerts to rush home for one of their birthdays and she knew each one of them would do the same for her.
Their yearly birthday rituals included more than cake with sugary frosting, burning candles and presents with brightly colored paper.
"Since it's your big three-o, you better make this wish count," Rosaline said.
One of the most important things in their lives was the trailing wispy smoke of their birthday wishes. Somehow and in some way, when the four of them came together, their birthday wishes really came true.
Topaz stood. She blew out the candles with one big breath. It was her time again; another year, another wish.
"You have to name it to claim it. What is your Heart's Desire?" they asked her.
That was her cue. It couldn't be a secret wish; the wish had to be spoken. They'd tried wishing secretly one year when they were in junior high and their hormones were running amuck. The results had been woefully disappointing.
They never knew exactly how their wishes would come true, and often they didn't turn out quite how they'd planned or hoped. Some things didn't work at all. You couldn't wish for world peace or a cure for cancer; for instance. You couldn't wish to win the lottery or wish something that would affect someone else unattached to you. Heartfelt, sincere personal wishes that did no harm were always fulfilled.
"My Heart's Desire is to find true love," Topaz said fervently, eyes closed, passionate love scenes running through her mind. Was it her imagination that she heard rustles and the whisper of winds in the background?
It was tradition that nobody questioned your Heart's Desire once it was spoken, but she could feel her companions' raised eyebrows.
"Yep. That's what I want," Topaz said in answer to the unspoken question.
"Shouldn't you be more specific?" Rosaline fretted.
"What's more specific than true love?" Cherice asked.
"Shoot, my dog loves me, and he gives me less headaches than my boyfriend," Brandy said.
"That's a point," Cherice said. "I hope you don't get a dog."
"That's a new sort of wish," Rosaline said, still frowning slightly.
"Every year we get together and wish for material successes and happiness and health, things like that. But we never wish for what our women's hearts need most."
"Gurl, you've been singing too many looooove songs," Cherice said, fanning herself with a napkin.
"Maybe so, but haven't you ever wondered why we don't wish for love?" Topaz asked. "What are we frightened of? Maybe I have a little of Rosaline's scientific mind after all. I got to thinking that in spite of all the love songs and the love scenes in the movies and the romance novels . . . Well, maybe that sort of love doesn't exist after all."
"What?"
"Maybe love-ever-after is something that was made up to tell stories, like monsters and things that go bump in the night."
"I don't know about that," Cherice said. "I wouldn't want to do without a regular dose of good lovin'."
"That's lust, honey," Brandy said, examining the cake with longing. "Aren't y'all hungry?"
"I'm not talking about lust or infatuation," Topaz said. "You and Tyree have been together for all of three weeks. Cherice, your record is about three months before you kick a man to the curb. That's not true love. That's more like being a female dog in heat."
Cherice's perfectly arched eyebrow lifted. "It works fine for me," she said.
They all cracked up at Cherice's serious expression.
"At least the girl knows she's a dog, unlike some men out there," Brandy said.
"I suppose it doesn't hurt for some men to know how it feels to be on the other end of the leash once in a while," Topaz muttered.
"I can't argue with that," Rosaline agreed. "But what's the difference between true love and wishes coming true?" she continued. "We see magic happen in our lives all the time. So how can you say there is no such thing as fairy-tale endings, passion, and romance-ever-after?
"That's what I want to find out. I want to know if that sort of love exists, and more important, if it exists for me."
They were all silent for a moment.
"You're preaching to the choir," Cherice said. "We've all lived our own fairy tales in one way or another every year our entire lives. I can't wait to see what happens for you."
"Yeah, Sis, if happily-ever-after-love exists, it'll come to you."
"Remember when that investor for Cherice's salon walked up to our table before she'd hardly got her wish out?" Brandy said.
"I about fell out of my chair that day," Topaz said.
"Or when we got that call about Brandy's mother?"
They got quiet and more than one pair of eyes misted. They couldn't save the world or cure the common cold, but they could save a life or make a small difference. Rosaline's wishes almost never concerned herself, but rather some child to whom she'd become attached. But somehow Rosaline always had whatever she wanted and needed. There was a glow about Rosaline. Often she seemed more blessed than the lot of them.
"What is this you're giving me?" Topaz asked Brandy.
"It's a knife. Cut the cake, chile."
They'd barely managed to put a dent in the cake before Brandy exclaimed, "Look over there! Look who's being seated!"
"Where?"
"Over there! It's Ray Gaines, in the flesh. How long has it been since he's been back in town?"
"Years. Since we graduated from high school," Cherice said.
"Didn't he go pro?"
"He went more than pro, chile," Brandy said. "He went to the Super Bowl." She turned to Topaz. "And he used to be your man. Weren't those the days, Topaz?"
The fork with a piece of cake on it had frozen halfway to Topaz's mouth. Ray Gaines. Star football player. Her high school sweetheart. Her prom date. Her . . . first. So Ray Gaines was going to be her true love? He had to be. The Wish. She hadn't expected that this quickly . . .
"I'm getting his autograph," Brandy said, rising from her chair. "What am I thinking? I'm getting an exclusive interview. C'mon Topaz. You're my entrée. He'll be happy to see you again. C'mon girl. Topaz!"
"Brandy, calm down. Don't you see the girl is in shock?" Cherice said.
"The Wish," Rosaline whispered.
"Ohhh. The Wish. Oh, yeah. Ray Gaines. I remember. Dang. That was quick," Brandy muttered.
"He got bank too. And a Super Bowl ring. My, my," said Cherice. "You're one lucky lady, Topaz."
"I just want my interview," Brandy said.
Rosaline dipped her napkin in ice water and was dabbing her sister's temples with it. "Topaz? Topaz! Snap out of it. Put your fork down. You're going to be okay."
"There goes Brandy," Cherice said. "She's headed over to his table. I wonder who that is with him. That other man is too fine."
"They're getting up," Rosaline hissed in Topaz's ear.
"Here they come. I wonder if that guy with Ray played in the Super Bowl too," Cherice mused.
"Ray's coming to our table and you're rubbing my makeup off? Are you nuts? Quit it," Topaz said, pushing Rosaline's hand with the wet napkin away.
"I see that Topaz has pulled herself back together," Cherice said, as Topaz hurriedly fumbled for her compact.
Topaz clicked the compact shut just as Ray, his friend, and Brandy reached the table.
"Ray had to come over and say hello when I told him you were all here," Brandy said, looking very excited.
"Topaz," Ray said, extending his hand.
"Ray, it's good to see you again."
"You haven't changed a bit. You're quite a success. I hear your music on the radio every once in a while."
"And you're quite a success too," Topaz said, unable to keep from glancing at the huge Super Bowl ring on his finger.
Ray looked the same, only fatter, but his voice didn't sound quite like she remembered it, or maybe it did and that was the problem. It still seemed high pitched and crackly like an adolescent boy's voice, out of place on such a big man. His hand was surprisingly cold and sweaty. Topaz had to restrain herself from wiping her hand off on the napkin after she retracted it.
"You remember Jonathan Bynum?" Ray said.
There was a simultaneous pause as four pairs of eyes swung toward the tall, slim man that Ray introduced.
"This is your cousin, Jonnie?" Topaz asked faintly.
"The same," Jonathan answered, putting out his hand. "I remember you well, and I have to agree with Ray that you're more beautiful than ever."
Unlike Ray, Jon's voice had changed along with him. His voice was soft and silky as buttery leather and his lashes were as long as she'd seen on any man, almost as long as her own. He wasn't as beefy as Ray, but he was as tall, easily six feet three, long and lean. His hair lay in the distinctive crisp black ringlets that many of her classmates had envied. She was happy that it wasn't too short. It would have been a shame to cut off those curls.
Yes, Jon had grown into a more than a handsome man. She remembered the tall, bespectacled kid who constantly trailed them. They tolerated Jonnie because he regularly did Ray's homework and whatever other errands and chores they could think up for him to do. Come to think of it, Johnnie regularly paid for most of those meals at Micky D's they enjoyed. He'd written more than his fair share of her essay papers too.
"We always stuck you with our homework, I remember," she said.
Jon took her hand and it seemed as if the room tilted sideways for an instant. Must have been all that sugar in the cake she'd just eaten.
"Jon always did like schooling. He's been doing more than his fair share of it all these years. I think it's his hobby." Ray clapped hand on his cousin's back. "I bet you don't know what you're going to do with yourself now that you're finally done."
"I just finished my surgical residency," Jon said to them. "I'm taking some time off, and then I've accepted a fellowship in the San Francisco Bay Area."
"Isn't that more school? See I told you. This guy will never quit," Ray barked.
She could feel Rosaline's attention perk up and she could almost hear Cherice behind her drooling.
Jonathan still held her hand. His thumb circled on her palm and it felt as intimate as a kiss. Her heart pounded and she looked up into the deep, dark pools of his eyes and it was as if there was a thunderstorm brewing there, with lightning and hail and swirling clouds. She was lost for a moment.
Then Ray said her name and brought her back to the now, and she withdrew her hand and turned her attention back to where it belonged, to Ray Gaines, her Wish come true in the flesh.

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