For Keeps (Aggie's Inheritance) (13 page)

“
Playing?
”
Aggie hobbled into the kitchen and pulled the large pan of bubbling chicken and broccoli out of the oven and placed it on the stove.

“
He’s not going to get much done today. He played hide and seek, tag, red light-green light, Mother, may I, and what I think is an improvisation of steal the bacon all morning.
”

Before Aggie could respond, Tina’s cell phone began playing Heartland’s
I Loved Her First
. Sliding her phone open, Tina greeted her father, asking how things were at home. Her delight in hearing from him dissipated visibly as she listened, and at last she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and promised to be home by Saturday evening. The near-curt goodbye sealed Aggie’s opinion.

“
Well, Aggie, it looks like I’m going home for another ‘dinner’ tomorrow. I’ll probably leave before you’re even up in the morning.
”

“
Lance?
”
Tina’s parents regularly scheduled
“
dinners
”
in order to give Tina and Lance, a young ambitious junior vice president of Tina’s father’s company, a chance to get
“
better acquainted.
”
As far as Tina was concerned, they’d been sufficiently acquainted since thirty seconds after the initial introductions.

“
I’ll miss church on Sunday, but I’ll be back by dinnertime.
”

~*~*~*~

Stitch by agonizing stitch, Aggie worked diligently on the two little t-shirt dresses. Before she ever lowered the presser foot, she asked Libby, sometimes twice, if she was doing things correctly. She’d made several jump starts at the beginning; her foot seeming to consider the pedal as a car brake, so she tended to slam her foot against it sending the needle flying across fabric and nearly into her fingers. As a result, she over compensated and managed to keep the machine sewing at a pace usually reserved for garden slugs.

However, after ripping and sewing more seams than she’d ever imagined and asking more questions than she’d ever before asked in the space of three hours, she proudly hung the two little dresses on hangers in the doorway where she could see and admire them. To her disgust, while she’d plugged away at her two little dresses, Libby had cut out at least half a dozen garments, and Vannie had completed her dress and had almost finished cutting out a skirt.

“
It took me three hours to sew eight seams. Is there something wrong with this picture?
”
The stifled amusement on the others’ faces was less than hilarious.

“
I think we can blame this one on the gathering threads,
”
Libby assured her.
“
You forgot to count those. Gathering threads are the worst part of any garment, particularly for a beginner. They almost always break.
”
A twinkle appeared in Libby’s eyes as she winked at Vannie.
“
Particularly when you make your stitch length
smaller
than normal rather than larger…
”

Luke, hearing giggles erupting from the library on his way to rinse the primer from his paint roller, stepped into the room and leaned against the doorjamb.
“
It looks like she did a good job! Those are very pretty little dresses. I think the girls are going to like them.
”

Libby, nodding agreeably, chuckled.
“
Well, I don’t want to stomp on Aggie’s triumph, but adding a skirt to a premade t-shirt isn’t exactly difficult. It took her two hours to sew two seams, gathering threads, pull the threads, and then sew the skirt to a premade top and hem it. Most of the girls in my classes manage to do their first one in forty-five minutes to an hour. I can do it in fifteen minutes.
”

Stunned by Libby’s words, Aggie’s forehead wrinkled, and she pressed her lips together to keep them from quivering. She felt childish and foolish, but her feelings were a little bruised. Before she could become too upset, Libby continued.
“
She stressed about every step
--
second guessing herself all the way. I think she’s actually a natural, but she made everything twice as hard as it really was. Will you tell her to relax and trust her instincts? The world won’t implode if she doesn’t produce a perfectly finished garment. It just needs to be presentable.
”

Laughing, Luke winked at Aggie and said,
“
Did you get all that, or should I repeat?
”

“
Got it.
”
Though the words still smarted a bit, she tried to take Libby’s gentle teasing as the encouragement she knew Luke’s mother meant it to be.

“
Aggie?
”
Libby waited for Aggie to meet her gaze.
“
I forgot to tell you my sewing motto. ‘Perfect isn’t without flaw. Perfect is finished.’
”

Now
Aggie’s smile was genuine. A look, one Aggie hadn’t yet categorized yet, settled over Luke’s face. Grinning like a Cheshire cat, he hurried out of the house, and after climbing into the truck, he drove toward town. At a loss, Aggie turned to the others and threw up her hands in exaggerated disgust.
“
Is it so terrible to be slow? I’m now beneath his company because I tried to do a good job? Oy!
”

Tina picked up Aggie’s sarcasm and ran with it.
“
Well, you know, had you finished in say two hours and fifty-eight minutes, he might have been able
to
tolerate your existence, but those two minutes are a bit excessive, don’t you think?
”

“
Oh, you girls are so silly. I know my Luke. He’s planning a prank of some sort; we’d better be on our guard. In some ways, my Luke is still a little boy; he enjoys teasing people a little too much.
”

The women tried to guess his plot and plan a defense, but before they could come up with a plausible idea, Lorna came dancing past on her way to the bathroom singing,
“
I will
salt
Him. I will
saaaallllt
Him. I will, I will,
salt
you, oh Lord!
”

“
Hmm,
”
Aggie remarked dryly,
“
I thought the Lord was supposed to ‘salt’ us so we could season our conversation with grace.
”

“
Well,
”
Libby said, still stifling back chuckles,
“
I guess it proves that the Lord’s words apply to all of us. ‘Give and it shall be given unto you.’
”
Lorna danced past still salting the Lord with her song of praise, prompting Libby to add,
“
However, it might be good to explain the difference between salt and exalt. Just in case.
”

“
I would say,
”
Tina added,
“
that usually salt is bad if you over
-
indulge. I just don’t think that there’s any way that child could raise the Lord’s blood pressure with her version of ‘salting’ Him.
”

By the time they’d cleaned up their sewing mess, Luke returned with a wrapped box. It looked like it’d been professionally wrapped, and had the women asked, he would have confessed that it was wrapped by the woman at the local hardware store. As Aggie unwrapped her new
“
mending basket,
”
as he called it, the room reverberated with laughter. Slowly, and with great fanfare, she pulled duct tape, super glue, stapler and staples, and a tube of liquid nails from the box. Aggie, between fresh fits of giggles, managed to gasp,
“
So, now we know Luke’s mending secrets!
”

Martha says:
Aggie, honey? Are you there?

Aggie says:
Hey, Mom!

Martha says
: I was wondering how you are feeling these days? Is the ankle bothering you much?

Aggie says:
Not really. I mean, it isn’t perfect, but the way everyone keeps forcing me to rest, it can’t help but heal.

Martha says:
I am glad to hear it. So, it’s not as bad as last time?

Aggie says:
No. The doctor said that he wouldn’t be concerned about it at all if it hadn’t had a good wrench at the old house. He said he thought I would have been walking normally by the next morning.

Martha says:
That’s good.

Martha says:
I was wondering if you thought this month would be a good time to come visit. I miss the children.

Aggie says:
Of course! I keep meaning to bring everyone up, but I don’t know how to prepare for something like that, and Luke still needs a lot of input on what to do around here. My room is almost done though, so then it won’t be so bad.

Martha says:
I think you have enough on your plate without trying to make a trip like that yet.

Aggie says:
Allie did.

Martha says:
Yes, and Allie learned to do it one child at a time. It’s a little like juggling. You don’t usually throw all the balls you can in the air and expect everything to run smoothly.

Aggie says:
I guess. Anyway, regardless, of course I want you to come. Come anytime.

Martha says:
Is it ok if we don’t give much notice? We’ll bring food and such. You don’t have to worry about that.

Aggie says:
Mom, if I know you’re coming days or weeks in advance, I’m going to stress out trying to keep everything great for you, and we both know that’s unrealistic. Just call when you know, or when you’re on the road. Either one works.

Martha says:
I’ll see when your father can get away. He’s been helping the youth clean up lots on the east side. He’ll probably want to wait until that is all finished.

Aggie says:
Makes sense to me. It’d be nice if you could come before the kids start school though.

Martha says:
We’ll try.

Aggie says:
Oh, drat. There is that maintenance warning. I wanted to tell you a few things. Anyway, I’ll talk to you soon. Give Dad a hug for me. I love you.

Martha says:
We love you too. We’re so proud of all you’re doing.

Aggie says:
Mom, I can’t imagine doing anything else now. It’s still all so new, but it’s the new norm.