The Healing Quilt (10 page)

“Did you call to see what happened?” Kim asked.

“Of course I called. His mother said he’d gone off with his friends to watch a ball game.” Noreen’s forehead wrinkled. “That’s just one example of the lack of dependability I was talking about.”

Emma tapped her hand gently against the table. “Once Phyllis gets here, I’ll explain what she needs to do with her quilt squares, but I think the rest of you should get started now.” She hoped Noreen wouldn’t make any negative comments when Phyllis arrived. Noreen and Erika’s catty remarks brought tension into the room.

Noreen’s face tightened as she looked at her watch. “We’re already fifteen minutes behind, so we may end up needing to stay longer today.”

“If that turns out to be the case, then any of you who wish to, can stay as long as you need to after class.” Emma motioned to the three sewing machines on the other side of the room. “You’ll have to take turns using the machines.”

“What should we do while we’re waiting our turn?” Jennifer questioned.

“You can either visit with the others who are waiting or start cutting out your batting, which is what I had planned for you to do next Saturday.”

“We don’t want to get ahead of things,” Noreen said with a click of her tongue. “But then there’s not really much for us to visit about, since we barely know one another.”

“That’s how you’ll get to know each other,” Lamar spoke up. “All of our students in the past became well acquainted by the end of six weeks. In fact, some even became close friends, and last fall one of our students’ friendships turned to romance.”

“How interesting.” Noreen glanced quickly at B.J. and smiled.

Emma wondered if Noreen thought there might be a chance for her to find romance in this class.
Now wouldn’t that be something?
she thought, smiling to herself.

“Actually one of our students signed up for the class just so he could get to know a pretty young woman who’d come to learn how to quilt,” Lamar interjected.

“How’d it work out?” Kim asked, leaning slightly forward in her seat.

“It didn’t start out too well,” Lamar said. “Terry was a bit overbearing at first, and Cheryl didn’t want anything to do with him.” He looked over at Emma and grinned. “Eventually, Terry won Cheryl’s heart.”

“I didn’t come here for love or romance,” Noreen said, “but if by chance it were to happen, I wouldn’t turn it down.” She gave B.J. another quick glance, but he wasn’t looking her way.

Is something going on here?
Emma wondered.
Could Noreen be interested in B.J.? Or maybe it’s just my imagination, because they barely know each other
.

“I’m definitely not interested in romance,” Kim said. “With romance comes heartache, and I’ve had my share of that already.”

“Are we done with all this silly talk about love and romance?” Erika asked, frowning. “I thought we came here to learn how to quilt.”

“And so we shall,” Emma said. “Why don’t I get Jennifer, Noreen, and Erika started on the sewing machines, and the rest of you can visit with Lamar? I’m sure he’d be happy to tell you more about the quilts he’s designed.”

Lamar gave a nod. “I’m always eager to talk about quilts.”

Erika groaned. “I’d like to know how you think I’m supposed to use one of the sewing machines when they all have foot pedals to make the machine go. In case you’ve forgotten, my legs are paralyzed.”

Emma’s face warmed, and quickly spread to her neck. “Oh dear, I hadn’t thought about that. Perhaps Kim would be willing sit beside you and operate the pedals while you guide the material under the pressure foot to sew the seams.”

“I’d be happy to do that while we’re here,” Kim said, “but what will Erika do when she’s at home and wants to start another quilt or do some other type of sewing?”

Erika shook her head. “That won’t be a problem because after I finish this wall hanging, I don’t plan to do any more sewing. As I’ve said, I’m only doing it to please my dad, and when I’m done, I’m done. In fact, if I never see another needle and thread, it’ll be soon enough for me.”

Emma cringed. With that negative attitude, Erika might be hard to reach.
But I won’t quit trying
, she told herself.
We still have four more classes, and every time Erika comes to our home, I’ll make an effort
.

“I still can’t believe I agreed to do this,” Mike grumbled as he parked his car in front of a small cream-colored house in Pinecraft, bearing the address his wife had given him. A few other cars were parked there, along with a motorcycle.
I wonder who rides that
, he thought as he stepped down from his SUV.
I can’t believe anyone who rides a bike would be interested in quilts. Maybe it’s some poor guy whose wife talked him into coming here like me. Well, here goes nothing
.

Mike tromped up the porch steps and knocked on the door. A few minutes later, an Amish man with a head full of thick, gray hair and a matching beard greeted him. “May I help you?”

“Uh, yeah, I’m here for the quilt class.”

The man’s bushy eyebrows furrowed. “Excuse me?”

“I’m here for the quilt class. This is the right place, isn’t it?” Mike questioned.

“Well, yes, we are holding a quilt class here today, but it’s the second class, and we weren’t expecting any new students.”

“I don’t think you understand.” Mike tapped his foot impatiently. “I’m here to take my wife’s place in the class.”

“Who is your wife?”

“Phyllis Barstow. I’m her husband, Mike.”

“I’m Lamar Miller.” He extended his hand. “My wife, Emma, and I met Phyllis last week when she came for the first lesson.”

“Well, she won’t be back,” Mike said. “Her sister broke her leg, and Phyllis went to Fargo, North Dakota, to take care of her. She asked me to come here in her place and learn how to quilt.”
And I stupidly said yes
, he silently added.

“Oh, I see.” Lamar opened the door wider. “Come inside, and I’ll introduce you to my wife and the others in our class.”

As Mike stepped into the house, he caught sight of a small gecko skirting along the baseboard. He didn’t pay it much mind, knowing the critter was harmless and good for catching bugs.

Mike’s thoughts shifted when he followed Lamar into a room where four women sat at sewing machines, while an Amish woman and a bald, older man were seated at a table in the center of the room.

“Everyone, this is Phyllis Barstow’s husband, Mike,” Lamar announced. “Phyllis had to go to North Dakota to help her sister who has a broken leg, so Mike’s here to take her place.”

The Amish woman smiled and rose from her chair. “I’m sorry Phyllis won’t be able to complete the class, but it’s nice that you can be here to learn how to quilt.”

“Yeah, I can hardly wait,” Mike muttered under his breath.

“My name is Emma Miller, and these are the quilt squares your wife cut out last week,” Emma said, handing Mike a plastic sack. “We are in the process of stitching the squares together now, and I’d be happy to help you with that.”

“It’s a good thing, too, ’cause I don’t know the first thing about sewing,” Mike said, wondering once more why he’d agreed to do this. It wasn’t likely that he would learn anything he could show Phyllis when she returned. He’d probably make a mess of her wall hanging.

Emma smiled. “It’s okay. I’m here to teach you, Mike, and we’re glad to have you in our class.”

Lamar nodded in agreement.

“I’m not sure I’m even teachable.” Mike swiped at the trickle of sweat rolling down the side of his head. “Now give me a fishing pole, some bait, and a hook, and I’m good to go, but I’m not the least bit comfortable with a needle and thread.”

The baldheaded man at the table chuckled. “Well, you’re in good company then, because other than appreciating the beauty of quilts, I don’t know anything about sewing, either.”

After Emma introduced each of the students to Mike, he took a seat at the table between her and B.J. He was about to take Phyllis’s quilt squares out of the bag he’d been given, when the older woman, Noreen, let out an ear-piercing scream.

“What’s wrong?” Emma asked, scrunching her brows.

“Look…over there!” Noreen, her eyes wide with obvious fear, pointed to the wall closest to her. “Get it! Get it! I can’t stand creepy-crawlies in the house.”

“If someone will help me corner the critter, I think we can catch him pretty quick,” Lamar said, moving toward the gecko.

Mike, being the sportsman that he was, jumped up right away. “No problem. I bet I can catch him,” he hollered as he took up the chase.

After Lamar and Mike pursued the gecko unsuccessfully, B.J. got into the act. “Come back here,” he panted, red-faced and gasping for breath as the gecko eluded his grasp and slithered up the wall. The poor man looked exhausted. Winded and coughing, he finally had to quit.

“Are you okay?” Noreen asked, a look of concern etched on her face.

“I—I’m fine. Just a bit winded is all.” B.J. flopped into a chair. “Guess that’s proof that I’m not as young as I used to be.”

Mike made another pass at the gecko, but missed again and fell on his face.

“Maybe I can help.” Kim dashed across the room and quickly snagged the critter in the palm of her hand. Everyone but the girl in the wheelchair cheered.

Mike clambered to his feet a bit too quickly and had to steady himself until a wave of dizziness passed. He was embarrassed that he’d made a fool of himself in front of the class, but figured the wooziness had been caused by jerking his head too fast while in hot pursuit of the gecko. Mike had the strength and agility to reel in a big fish when he went out on his boat, but he couldn’t even catch a little lizard. And to be shown up by a woman, no less! He really felt like an idiot. This was not a good way to begin his first quilting class, and he could only imagine how the next hour would go.

A
fter Kim put the gecko outside, the class continued, and the topic of the alligator that had been in the Millers’ yard came up again.

“I still can’t get over that,” Kim said, sitting down at the sewing machine beside Erika once more. “A little gecko is one thing, but I don’t know what I would have done if I’d been in your shoes, Lamar. Think I would have run straight for the house, screaming all the way.”

“I’d have probably passed out on the lawn,” Noreen put in as she finished up with her bit of sewing.

“Back home all we ever had to deal with was my goat, Maggie, getting out of her pen.” Emma chuckled. “I guess here we need to be a little more careful when we step into the yard.”

“Most gators don’t show up in people’s backyards unless there’s a body of water nearby,” Mike said as he laid out the quilt squares his wife had cut the previous week.

That guy seems like a know-it-all to me
, Kim thought as she continued helping Erika by pressing on the foot pedal for her.
I don’t think he really wants to be here, either. But then neither does Erika, so that has to make it hard on our teachers
.

“I just thought of something,” Emma said, coming up beside Erika and Kim. “What if we put the foot pedal for the electric sewing machine up on the cabinet next to the machine? Then, Erika, you can press down on it with your elbow, which would give you both hands free to guide your material under the presser foot.”

“That’s a good idea,” Kim said before Erika could respond. “Don’t know why I didn’t think of it myself.”

“I—I guess I could give it a try,” Erika said, with a dubious expression.

As Emma placed the foot pedal on the cabinet and showed Erika what to do, Kim began pinning her own quilt squares together, while glancing over at Jennifer. The young woman seemed nice and was eager to learn how to quilt. Jennifer didn’t say a lot, though, and Kim wondered if she was shy or just didn’t have much to talk about.

If I was in her place and expecting a baby, that would be all I talked about
, Kim mused. At the age of thirty-six, she’d all but given up on marriage and having a family of her own. Oh, she’d dated a few men over the years, but none had been willing to make a commitment, and a few she’d broken up with because she knew they weren’t good husband material. Most of the men she’d gone out with were either selfish, had nothing in common with her, or wanted more than she was willing to offer. Kim had made a pledge when she was a teenager to remain pure and give herself only to the man she would marry. But since marriage and children probably weren’t in her future, she’d put her focus on other things—riding her motorcycle, walking her dog on the beach, and being cheerful to all her customers at the restaurant.

Kim’s thoughts were interrupted when Emma touched her shoulder and asked, “How’s it going?”

“Okay, I guess. It just takes awhile to get all the squares pinned in place.”

“That’s true,” Emma agreed, “but once you get the blocks sewn together, your wall hanging will start to take shape.”

Kim sighed. “I’ve been trying to decide what to do with it after I’m done.”

“I’m going to hang mine in my living room,” Noreen said. “I know just the place for it, too.”

“Mine’s going in the baby’s room,” Jennifer spoke up. “That’s why I chose pastel colors in shades of pink.”