An Elm Creek Quilts Sampler (123 page)

Not far across the bridge, the forest opened suddenly into a broad clearing from which a lawn sloped gently upward toward the gray stone manor. Donna felt a pang at the sight of it, a sense of homecoming and nostalgia she couldn’t quite explain.

“There it is,” the driver announced. “Elm Creek Manor.”

The travelers who had not yet broken off their conversations did so then, peering through the windows expectantly. Donna heard murmurs of delight, and she smiled to herself, remembering how she had first reacted at the sight of the gray stone walls and tall white columns. Now the scene was colored by memories of picnics in the gardens, quilting with friends on the broad verandah, and passing through the tall double doors to and from her morning walks.

As the van approached the manor, Donna searched in vain for a familiar face among the women unloading cars parked in the circular driveway. She waited on the sidewalk as the driver unloaded their suitcases, hoping the other Cross-Country Quilters would arrive soon.

Suddenly from behind her a voice cried out, “Donna!”

Donna whirled around. “Vinnie,” she exclaimed with delight. “It’s so good to see you.”

“You, too, honey. My goodness, you’re looking sharp.”

“Thanks,” Donna said, pleased. In the past twelve months, she had lost twenty pounds, and she now felt years younger. She had hoped her friends would notice. “You look great, too.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Vinnie said, primping her hair. The two friends laughed and embraced.

Megan arrived not long after Donna had checked in and settled into her room. Two hours later, Julia’s limousine pulled up in front of the manor, creating a stir just as it had the year before. As the four friends welcomed each other with laughter, hugs, and tears of gladness, Donna was struck by how everything felt so comfortably familiar and yet so new and full of promise.

Only Grace’s absence cast a shadow on their reunion. After months of silence following Grace’s inexplicable behavior at AQS, each had written asking her to meet them again at Elm Creek Manor as they had planned. No one reproached her for her actions or even asked her to explain; all they wanted was her company, and each had tried in her own way to show her how eager they were to see her again. She had never responded.

When they had finished unpacking, they gathered in Vinnie’s room for show-and-tell before supper. Donna was the first to unveil her block for the Challenge Quilt. She had abandoned the Hen and Chicks block and made a Bear’s Paw instead, with the autumn leaf print as the four feet, and a rich purple for the claws and the small square in the center. Julia and Megan admired her piecing, but Vinnie said, “What does a Bear’s Paw have to do with your challenge? You should have chosen a block with ‘Daughter’ or ‘Mother’ in the name.”

Donna was quiet for a moment, thinking of the fierce mother-bear rage that had filled her as she brought Lindsay from the apartment where Brandon had beaten her, and the protectiveness that had compelled her to spirit her daughter away to California, where at last Lindsay remembered who she truly was. “To me, Bear’s Paw symbolizes how I overcame my obstacle. Wasn’t that how we were supposed to choose?”

“If that’s what this block means to you, then it’s perfect,” Megan reassured her.

Julia agreed, too, so Vinnie accepted her explanation grudgingly, but added, “I would have settled for a block with ‘University’ or ‘Student’ in the title. You could have made a Schoolhouse block, only in the University of Minnesota’s colors.” Vinnie’s eyebrows rose. “Lindsay is returning to school this semester, isn’t she?”

“She is, but not at Minnesota. She’s transferring to the University of Southern California’s film school.”

Her friends burst into exclamations of delight, and Julia’s was the most joyful of all. “You’ll have to come visit her,” she said, “and whenever you do, you and Paul can stay with me. Becca, too.”

Donna agreed, and immediately Megan and Vinnie pretended to pout over their exclusion. Julia teased them at first, but soon expanded the invitation to include them all. “Come in winter,” she suggested. “Get away from that awful cold.”

To the others, Donna said, “She thinks anything below fifty degrees is arctic.”

“I do not,” Julia protested, but joined in the laughter.

Next Megan showed her block, a beautiful Snow Crystals pattern with diamonds cut from the autumn leaf print and a lovely blue floral. In the center, eight diamonds formed a LeMoyne Star; in each corner, six diamonds fanned into a partial star, so that the design seemed to radiate from the center. Julia gasped at the perfect precision of Megan’s sewing. “How did you make all these points so sharp?” she asked, tracing the tip of a diamond with her finger.

“Sharp points or not, she should have chosen something else,” Vinnie protested. “Snow Crystals. What on earth does that have to do with helping your son?”

Megan’s smile faded, and a wistful look came into her eyes. “It’s hard to explain,” she said. “I suppose my situation is like Donna’s. Maybe there isn’t a literal connection between this block and my challenge, but this is what I was inspired to make.” She paused, gazing at her block, and quietly added, “The pattern just came to me on a night when I finally realized that I could be happy again.”

Donna reached over and squeezed her hand, wondering what secret Megan kept, and wishing she could do something to remove the sorrow from her friend’s voice.

Vinnie sighed in exasperation. “I don’t think you two followed the rules very well.”

“At least I met my challenge,” Megan said. “Robby’s counselor says he’s making great progress.”

“Has Keith helped?” Donna asked.

Megan hesitated. “A little. He invited Robby for a visit in June, and Robby said they had a good time. He’s crazy about his little brother, and he said Gina’s not so bad, either.”

“That’s good news,” Julia said.

“It’s a start, anyway. A lot depends on Keith, but I’m hopeful. Robby’s disappearance shook him up. I think … ” Megan paused, thoughtful. “I think he’ll be a better father from now on, despite the geographic distance between them. I think he’ll be a better father to little Bob, too, and maybe even a better husband.”

Donna was glad to hear it, but she wished that Megan had added something about her own happiness. Megan had never mentioned Adam since the day he had found Robby at the middle school, but Donna remembered how his affection had transformed her, and hoped she would know as great a happiness soon.

“My turn,” Vinnie said, and reached into her red canvas tote bag. Before bringing out her block, she pursed her lips and glared around the circle of friends. “Now, no laughing,” she scolded them. “I finished my block in January, when circumstances were quite different.” Donna caught the quick glance she gave Megan as she unfolded her block, sighed, and held it up for them to see.

It was a Wedding Ring block.

Donna, Julia, and even Megan burst into laughter. “All right,” Vinnie said, with just the barest hint of a smile. “You’re all very amused, I’m sure. But you have to agree this burgundy complements the autumn leaf fabric well.”

“It’s a lovely block,” Donna assured her.

“I know that, and that’s why I wasn’t about to throw it away just because I didn’t meet my challenge.” Then she frowned, thoughtful. “Although in a way I did meet at least part of it.”

Donna and Julia exchanged a look of surprise, but Megan’s gaze was fixed on Vinnie. “What do you mean?”

“I wanted my grandson to get over his broken engagement and find someone new. Well, perhaps he hasn’t found someone new, but he must have gotten over his former fiancée, and if he hasn’t, I’m sure he will soon.”

Megan’s voice was a study in nonchalance. “What makes you think so?”

“Because she’s marrying someone else,” Vinnie said. “He’s a big shot, too, and almost twice her age. He’s the owner of the company that bought the store where she works.”

“You’re kidding,” Donna exclaimed.

“That’s one way to insure your job security,” Julia remarked.

“Now, I’m not saying that’s why she did it,” Vinnie said. “She might truly love him. On the other hand … ” She shrugged. “Well, she’s stopped pestering Adam, and that’s what counts.”

“Pestering him?” Megan said.

“Oh, my, yes. She was always showing up unannounced, making a nuisance of herself. Once she even came to his school because she was upset about one thing or another that had happened at work. Would you believe she didn’t understand why he wouldn’t interrupt his class to console her?” Vinnie shook her head, exasperated. “He can be too kind for his own good. If I were him, I would have told her to buzz off a long time ago.”

“That doesn’t seem like Adam’s style,” Donna said, giving Megan a side-long glance. Megan didn’t notice, as she was staring at Vinnie’s block, her expression reflecting her conflicting emotions.

“Then I suppose I’m the only one who failed to meet her challenge,” Julia said with a sigh. She held up her Friendship Star block for inspection, and smiled as the others admired it.

“I’m glad you didn’t meet your challenge,” Vinnie said. “It was a far better thing you did, sticking up for that poor girl.”

“I am disappointed about the movie, though,” Donna remarked. “I was looking forward to seeing it.”

“I was looking forward to starring in it,” Julia said. “But that’s show biz.”

“Show biz sounds like a lot of malarkey to me,” Vinnie said. “When’s
Prairie Vengeance
coming out? I want to know so I can be sure to boycott it.”

They laughed, and Megan put a comforting arm around Julia’s shoulders. They all knew how disappointed she was, how much she had counted on this movie to revitalize her career. After watching Julia on the set and seeing how devoted she was to her craft, Donna knew perhaps better than anyone how bravely she had persevered in the face of disappointment and humiliation. Deneford and his cronies had treated her shabbily, and Donna considered Julia well rid of them. She hoped Julia was wrong, and that Deneford didn’t have the power to blacklist her, as Julia was certain he had done. Her sacrifice for Ellen merited a reward, and Donna believed wholeheartedly that good deeds eventually brought rewards, especially when the doer wasn’t expecting them.

“May I still include my block in the quilt, even though I didn’t accomplish my goal?” Julia asked.

“Of course,” Vinnie declared. “You earned your place. Besides, we’re going to need all the blocks we can get, now ….”

She left the thought unfinished, but Donna suspected they all understood her meaning: They would need every block to complete their quilt, now that Grace would not be contributing hers.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” Vinnie called out, but the door remained shut. She brightened. “Maybe someone was passing by to call us to dinner.”

“She would have said so,” Megan said, and called out in a louder voice, “Come on in. It’s not locked.”

After a pause, someone on the other side of the door said, “It would be much easier if you would open it, please.”

Donna looked to Vinnie for permission, since it was her room. When Vinnie shrugged and waved her toward the door, she rose and opened it.

Grace stood in the hallway, supporting herself upon two metal crutches.

“Grace,” Donna exclaimed. “What happened? Were you in an accident?”

“Not exactly.” In the room beyond, Grace saw the others rising and coming to the door, then hesitating as they spotted the crutches. She fought the urge to run away—not that she could run. “May I come in?”

“Of course,” Vinnie said, pushing the door open wider and assisting her into the room.

“My bag—”

“I have it,” Megan said. She brought it into the room and shut the door.

Vinnie led Grace to the bed and helped her sit down as the others settled into chairs or on the floor. Nervously, Grace waited for them to ask her about Paducah, about the crutches she unfastened from her arms and leaned against the bed, but they sat watching her expectantly, waiting for her to speak. Grace intended to tell them everything, but now, facing them, she didn’t know where to begin.

Vinnie broke the silence. “It’s good to see you, dear.”

“I guess you weren’t expecting me.”

“No,” Donna said, “but it’s a wonderful surprise.”

The others nodded, and suddenly Grace couldn’t bear their polite caution, their tentative attempts to draw her out when they had always been so open with her. “I’m sorry about Paducah,” she said.

Vinnie waved it off. “Don’t worry about it. We probably got the time mixed up or something.”

The others nodded, but Grace wasn’t about to let herself off so easily, not when she had come to make amends. “No, I saw you, and you know it. I saw you and I ran away.” She glanced at her crutches and let out a small laugh. “Or tried to run.”

Megan’s voice was gentle. “What happened, Grace?”

“I didn’t want you to see me. I didn’t want you to see me with these.” She indicated the crutches. “I didn’t want you to know I needed them.”

“But why?” Donna said. “We’re your friends. You don’t need to hide from us.”

That was precisely what she had been doing for far too long: hiding from her friends, from everyone who cared about her, from herself. “I have MS.” She watched their faces as this sank in. “It’s gotten worse since last year, when I could hide it, and it will probably continue to worsen.”