Dakota Love (19 page)

She swung the door open.

“Whoa, I hope you don’t greet all your customers with that scowl.” Mark stepped inside.

“You scared me and I hit my shoulder on the freezer door. Excuse me if it hurts.” Sarcasm dripped from her voice.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to.” Mark’s eyes narrowed as if he suspected her of a crime.

“You and everyone else.”
Ted, Jason, Rodney. They all hurt me and didn’t mean to
. Caroline’s tense shoulders relaxed. That wasn’t Mark’s fault.

“No, I’m sorry I snapped at you.”

“It’s okay. Makes up for the time I hid from you while you were babysitting.”

One corner of Caroline’s mouth twitched until she grinned at the memory. She’d been frantic. Her mother finally came over and called Mark out of hiding with threats of telling his mother.

“That’s better. I have something you need.” He held up a Granny Bea’s bag. “I found a flour sack, exact match for Rodney’s quilt. Too bad about his gallbladder attack.”

Caroline raised her eyebrows. “So you’ve talked to him.”

“Yeah, I had to get approval to buy this. It was pretty pricey.” Mark continued as if he hadn’t noticed the snippiness in her statement. “He’s still at his sister’s but is coming home this weekend. But you probably already know that. He’s really thankful you were there that night. I offered to drop it off because I had another errand to run. He suggested I bring it to your house. Guess he’s getting anxious to have the quilt completed.”

“I guess.” Caroline shrugged. “Rodney was thankful I was there, huh?”
Bet he wasn’t after the surgery
.

“I don’t know why that surprises you. We always want the people we really care about close to us when we don’t feel well. Rodney told me about the quilt’s history. I think he’d hoped for a better story. Don’t you?”

Rodney knew the story behind the quilt? Had he mentioned that in any of his phone messages? Of course not. He had no idea if she’d forgiven him.

“Whoops. Judging by the look on your face, I probably spoiled a surprise. I bet he wanted to tell you the story in person.”

Caroline knitted her brows together. She really wanted to know the story. She knew Mark though. He could keep a secret.

“Well I need to get on my way. See you Tuesday night.” Mark offered the bag with the flour sack to her.

“Bye.” Caroline closed the door behind him, then, through the door window, watched him back out of her driveway.

She sighed. Guess she’d never know the story behind the quilt. Yet that wasn’t entirely true. If she asked, Rodney would tell her. But she was going to try not to have an opportunity to ask. Caroline peeked into the bag. The fabric, though brighter from lack of washings, was pastel yellow with white flowers. A perfect match.

After eating her low-calorie spaghetti from the cardboard packaging while leaning against the kitchen counter, Caroline slipped the flour sack from the plastic bag and headed downstairs. She took the cardboard pattern she’d made from the computer-printed block out of her sewing box. She looked over the flour sack for holes, rips, rust marks, or flaws. One area was faded but not damaged in any way. It must have been exposed to direct sunlight. Caroline turned the sack inside out and removed the thread that made the seam. The faded spot should be just big enough to cut the needed blocks from. That way it would match the quilt’s fabric even closer.

After steam-pressing all the wrinkles from the cloth, Caroline laid the blocks over the faded fabric. One corner hung over to the brighter part of the material, but most of that would be hidden by the seam allowance. She traced and cut out the blocks, then basted them together by hand. Not her standard method but easier to rip apart in the event she pieced the block wrong. She’d machine sew all the quilt top’s seams together to fortify them once this block was inserted back into the top.

In no time, Caroline looked down at a completed Lily of the Field block. She pinned the quilt block into the gaping hole of the quilt top on the display board.
“O you of little faith.”
Caroline shook her head as if she could shake her thoughts out. She stepped back and looked at the quilt from several angles. The new block was just a tad bit brighter than the original blocks. Something only a trained eye might catch.
“See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.”

Was her faith small? She’d never thought so before Ted’s death. She’d participated in church and all its activities, but now she could see that at her weakest, she turned from God instead of welcoming Him with open arms.

Yet God hadn’t given up on her. He’d sent Rodney and this quilt. Caroline took a deep breath and released it along with her tension, anger, frustration, and fears. The only emotion burning in her heart was curiosity. She needed to know the story behind this quilt, because it seemed to be His messenger to her.
“Stop worrying, Caroline. Your heavenly Father knows what you need
.
‘See how the lilies of the field grow…. Do not worry about tomorrow
.’
”
Her shoulders relaxed for the first time in over a week as she walked back to the quilt. She unpinned it from the board and held it to her face, the fabric cool, soft, and comforting against her skin. And as if it could answer her, she said, “You seem to know my story. Will I ever know yours?”

T
hree weeks after his surgery, Rodney’s doctor released him so he could resume normal activities. At Michelle’s insistence, Caleb accompanied Rodney when he went home. Rodney argued Caleb had better things to do on a weekend than care for his bachelor uncle. He’d lost the fight when Caleb shrugged and said he didn’t mind at all.

It turned out his sissy knew what was best for him. Quiet surrounded him from the moment he unlocked the front door. He immediately missed the hustle and bustle of her busy household, noisy video games, the din of constant chattering and clanking of pots and dishes—the noise of a family.

During Rodney’s recovery, temperatures warmed into the low sixties. Spring seemed just around the corner, but a Canadian clipper dropped the temperatures back into the thirties and brought with it a storm front. Although snow was forecasted to hit north of Riverside, sleet pinged against the windows. Rodney’s crew members promised they were on top of it.

“Do you want to go check your customers’ driveways and sidewalks?”

Rodney continued to stare out a window. He rubbed the rough stubble on the back of his neck. “I trust my crew to handle it.”

“Then why are you pacing between the windows and door?” Caleb held Rodney’s coat out to him.

“Cabin fever, I guess.” Rodney took his coat and slipped it on. Not a lie entirely. He was tired of being cooped up in a house. However, it had more to do with Caroline. Did she know he was home? Should he call her? Stop by?

“Let’s go.” Caleb pulled on a hooded sweatshirt with the USD Coyotes logo on the front. “I’ll drive.”

Right now the roads and sidewalks were just wet, but at sundown with lower temperatures, they’d freeze. Rodney verified with his crew members which houses they’d covered, then split the rest between them and him. Rodney directed Caleb to the first of five customers. Together they spread melting compound on his customers’ driveways and sidewalks.

His customers greeted them both with enthusiasm. Caleb never tired of repeating where he went to college and his current course of study. Michelle had done a fine job of raising her boys. At that age, Rodney had focused on his career and stepping one rung higher on the ladder of success. He’d have never stood in the bad weather and visited with anyone, unless he or she could boost his career. In that retrospect he and Caleb were nothing alike. That dichotomy gladdened Rodney’s heart.

Back at home, his mind wandered to Caroline. She never did return his phone calls. Michelle suggested he give her space, time to work through her emotions. It tore at his heart to know that he’d thrown her back into a life of worry and isolation. More than one person in Riverside tattled on Caroline, stating he must have given her quite a scare. She’d reverted back to her old way of life. Mildred’s report was what laid Rodney’s heart wide open. Just when she’d shared with him her interest in participating in the church services again, Caroline had been absent from church since Rodney’s gallbladder attack. At least after Ted’s death she still attended church. What had Rodney done to her?

Caleb went back to college early Sunday morning. Good thing, because the weatherman missed his mark on the forecast. The storm took a turn for the worse by early afternoon. Rodney moved a curtain to the side to check out the weather’s progress. The heavy wet flakes of spring snow floated from the sky at a rapid pace. His lawn, just yellow-brown grass this morning, sported an inch layer of snow that, of all things, reminded him of quilt batting. Caroline, in a few short weeks, had infiltrated his thoughts in ways he never dreamed a woman could. He sighed and dropped the curtain. No sense going out to move snow yet. He’d be fighting a losing battle at the rate it was falling.

Rodney sat down at his computer. He’d long ago finished his business website and the one he’d contracted for the author. Allison sent him some leads for other small business owners, but he’d left the corporate world for a reason, his health. Looking back over the last few weeks, he’d become obsessed with running two businesses. How easily he had slipped back into the rigors of corporate business, putting in late hours with no room for exercise but lots of room for stress. As he hit the button to send his no-thank-you and I-wish-you-well response to Allison, his doorbell rang.

Rodney tucked his blue flannel shirttails into his jeans as he hurried to the door. Looking through the window, he caught sight of a black sedan in his driveway. His heart leapt. Caroline. What was she doing out on a day like this? He all but ran through the short hall to the front door. He swung it open, not even considering she might not be as happy to see him as he was her.

“Hi.” Caroline smiled brighter than the snow accumulating on the hood fur surrounding her face. No sign of worry or anger etched her features like the last time he’d seen her. “I finished your quilt.” She held up a shopping bag by the twisted paper handles.

“You should have just come in.” Rodney stood to the side, leaning against the door for support, afraid the internal tremors Caroline created would show on the outside, too.

“Well”—Caroline shrugged as she raised her eyebrows—“I didn’t know?”

Rodney knew what she meant, but she hadn’t worn out her welcome.

“It’s really coming down out there.” Caroline brushed the snow from her shoulders and tramped her boots on the rug in front of the door before stepping aside so the door could be closed. “Must be close to three inches now. Bet you’re happy. It might be the last snow of the season.”

Rodney stared at his guest. Rude though it was, he was dumbfounded. This was not the Caroline who had left the hospital, nor the one he’d first met. The hood surrounding her carefree features gave her the appearance of a fresh-faced schoolgirl.

Caroline laughed as she slipped the hood back and water droplets fell onto her face. Rodney’s entire body responded to the joyous sound. He felt his features give way to a broad smile. When their eyes met, they shared the same unspoken message they did that day in Granny Bea’s parking lot. He couldn’t leave the message unsaid anymore. He loved her, every part of her, and he needed to tell her that, even if she didn’t want to be tied to a man with health issues. She needed to know how he felt. For a consummate adman, whose words flowed smoothly until he gained an account, these words stuck in his throat, damming up his vocal abilities.

Caroline broke the silence. “We need to talk.”

Tell her—tell her you love her
. Rodney nodded his head in agreement.
Ask her to take off her coat
. His tongue, thick and heavy, didn’t seem to work.

“First, I owe you an apology….”

The notes of a lullaby interrupted Caroline. She pulled off her glove and fished through her purse. “It’s Jason and Angela’s ring.”

Rodney expected her to turn her back to him for privacy. Caroline’s demeanor might have changed, but he was certain Jason’s attitude about him remained the same, especially if Caroline had told him about Rodney’s health.

Instead Caroline continued their previous eye contact and smiled as she said hello. In an instant Jason’s voice tones boomed from the phone. Rodney couldn’t make out the words, but the worry crevice between Caroline’s brows warned him of disaster. How could Jason possibly know Caroline was at his house?

Terror registered in Caroline’s eyes just before tears glazed them over. “I’m on my way.” She clicked her cell phone shut. A tear trickled down her cheek as Rodney stepped closer and wrapped her in his arms. He suspected this time the worried look on her face held merit.

“The baby’s in trouble,” she croaked out. Sobs bounced her shoulders against his chest, and he increased the pressure of his embrace.

After a minute or so, Caroline pushed away from Rodney. “I’m sorry. I have to go to the hospital.”

“You’re not going alone in this weather.”

“I don’t know.” The corner of Caroline’s mouth disappeared.

Rodney grasped her by the shoulders. “Look, if Jason has a problem with it, I’ll wait in a different area of the hospital. Now, is your car blocking my pickup in the garage?”

Caroline shook her head no and let Rodney guide her to the back door, where he bundled up for the weather, slipping his stocking cap over his bare scalp as they went out the door.

“Which hospital?” Rodney asked as he guided Caroline to the pickup and assisted her into the seat.

“Vermillion.” Caroline reached for her seat belt.

Once inside the truck, Rodney realized that Caroline still held the bag with his quilt in it. “You can put that behind the seat,” he said as he pushed the button to activate the four-wheel drive feature.

Instead she removed the quilt from the bag and hugged it. Peace relaxed the pain in her expression. She sighed. “Rodney, your quilt has quite an effect on me.”