by Ava Miles
Her original decision to put the past behind her had been the best thing for her. But now…
Her sister had extended a hand to her, and Paige had known it was the right thing to take it.
She glanced over to the front door and noted Sadie waiting for her just inside. The door opened a crack and then closed, as if in indecision. Then it opened again, and this time her sister—it was easier to refer to her that way, she realized—hustled out and stopped short, throwing a hand up in an apparent wave.
Sadie was wearing a hot pink sundress with pink pumps and looked like she was hosting a tea party instead of teaching a quilting class. Paige looked down at her navy capri pants and simple white T-shirt. She hadn’t thought to wear anything dressy.
“Just be yourself,” Mark had whispered in her ear after kissing her goodbye by the car. “When you do that, everything always works out.”
She had been glad for the reminder. Part of her was anxious for her sister to like her, and Paige knew Sadie was probably feeling the same way. It was the human thing to feel. But in his sweet, caring way, Mark had told her to expect to feel vulnerable, and so she did. But as she grabbed her purse and left the car, she realized she felt hopeful too.
Sadie’s heels slapped against the concrete as she ran to meet her halfway, and from the momentum her sister was gaining, Paige could tell Sadie wanted to hug her. So she leaned in, and they hugged in the middle of the hot parking lot.
Her sister’s arms were gentle, and when Sadie nestled her face into her neck like a long-lost friend might after an eternity apart, she gripped her closer and softened into her embrace. Tears started to fall from her eyes, but she didn’t want to break the moment by apologizing for getting that pretty pink dress a little wet. Then she felt a similar wetness on her neck, and she knew Sadie was crying too.
“I’m so happy you came,” her sister whispered.
“Me too,” she said hoarsely, sniffing.
They broke apart and spent the next minute staring at each other. She noted Sadie’s earlobes were unattached like her own, and their jaws curved the same way. Mark’s love had healed Paige of the wounds of her childhood, and now she realized her sister’s love had the power to heal a few other parts that hadn’t seen the light of day. Gratitude circled her heart.
“I’m so glad you invited me to this, Sadie.”
The woman gave a serious sniff and laughed. “Me too. Goodness, we’re already blubbering, but it feels so perfect, doesn’t it? I mean, every time I see you, I catch another glimpse of one of my mannerisms or the way your ears are shaped like mine, and I just want to bawl my eyes out. We’ve lost so much time together, but we’re here now, and it’s going to be wonderful.”
“Even if I don’t like to quilt?” Paige joked, because after going online and researching it, she worried there were too many techniques to master. She wasn’t sure how that would go. Of course Mark had claimed it would help that she was a web designer. Like they were the same thing, God bless him.
“Of course,” Sadie said with a huge smile. “I have to tell you, when you’re ready, all of my siblings would love to meet you. Either one on one like this or together. They…they’re…”
Paige’s heart seemed to cheer. They want to meet me! They want to meet me! Her hands tightened around Sadie’s. “I would love to meet them too,” she said, and then gave into the urge to hug her sister again. “I didn’t know I was going to feel like this right away.”
“I did,” Sadie said, hugging her hard. “Before I even met you, I just knew I was going to love you. How could I not? You’re my sister.”
The way she said “sister”—so confident and full of ownership—sent a tidal wave of warm water through Paige’s heart. Her eyes leaked out the excess, and she found herself confessing, “I wasn’t as sure as you. I mean, I don’t really love my own mother or her family.”
She was grateful Haley would never hear the words “bastard child” or be slapped for asking for more milk because she’d already drunk more than her share.
Sadie eased back. “I’m not sure I could love our daddy, after everything he’s done, so I understand. It’s like I’m conflicted. I pray about forgiving him and loving him like I would any child of God, but I just can’t feel that way yet. And I pray he changes and…”
“Becomes the parent he was supposed to be, the loving and kind one.” Paige nodded. “I had to let that go, but it took me a long time. I’ve mostly managed to forgive my mother, and Mark says I do love her, but he always sees the best in me. She thinks I ruined her life, but now that I have Haley, it’s impossible for me to imagine how any mother could hate her child like mine seems to hate me.”
Sadie rubbed her arm in comfort. “I’m not a mother, but I understand that feeling in my own way. I can’t completely understand how a daddy could abandon his kids. The Christian part of me wants to say he must have been hurt somehow, somewhere, but really, that’s about character.”
Character, Paige thought. Yes, that was exactly right. It was either something you did or didn’t have, and she’d always strived to be unlike her mother in that essential way.
“Sadie!” someone called suddenly. “Is everything all right?”
They both looked over. An older woman with tightly permed white hair had the door propped open with an ample hip.
“Goodness,” Sadie exclaimed. “In all of the excitement, I plumb forgot about the class. Everyone is waiting inside.” Turning back, she raised her voice and said, “Coming, Leanne. I got caught up.”
Paige noted a few other women were watching them through the glass windows of the store. “If it’s all right with you, I’d prefer to just say we’re long-lost relations on your father’s side for now.”
She and Mark had talked about this. Neither she nor Sadie needed any extra pressure from other people. Besides, she didn’t willingly share the details of her birth with anyone. When asked, she simply said her father had left when she was young.
“Oh! I was planning on telling them we were new friends connected through a family member. But I like your idea better. It has more of the truth to it, and I really am terrible at keeping anything under wraps. My face gives everything away. Are you ready to go inside?”
“Yes,” Paige said, feeling oddly better after the emotional release. “Haley and Jess have the odd notion that I’m going to come home with a princess quilt. They don’t seem to understand you can’t make a quilt during a ninety-minute class. Certainly not a beginner like me.”
“You might surprise yourself,” Sadie said, linking their arms together and leading her to the store.
“I love the name, by the way. Oodles. It’s kinda funny.”
The woman named Leanne was watching them approach as though she were presiding over an exclusive bridge club. Paige had a feeling this woman wasn’t at all convinced she belonged in their class. She made an attempt to smile at her as the air-conditioned store enveloped her. The scent of pecan pie tickled her nose, and she caught sight of a brown candle flickering.
Spools of fabric filled the store, organized by color and type, the display so magical she felt she’d wandered into a fairy land. The tulle was closest to Paige, making her think of the tutus Haley and Jess loved to put on when they were playing princess. The yarn display, again a shower of color, stood against the wall closest to the door.
“Everyone,” Sadie announced, putting her arm around Paige’s waist. “I want you to give a warm welcome to our new class member. This is Paige, and we’ve just gotten connected. She’s a relation on my daddy’s side, but we never knew each other until recently.”
“Oh, now I understand why you’re all dressed up, Sadie,” Leanne commented. “I was wondering what y’all were doing, crying in the parking lot. That seemed rather odd.”
“We were…” Paige said, trailing off at the realization that Sadie must have gussied herself up for her. Somehow she’d never imagined another woman wanting to impress her like that.
Sadie gav
e her a look and a sweet squeeze. “Happy to see each other, I guess.”
“That’s so nice,” a grandmotherly woman next to Leanne said. “I’m Ada, and I’ve been quilting for nearly fifty years. My man passed last year, and Sadie invited me to come and quilt with her group since my nights get lonely. Welcome, Paige.”
“Ada does more volunteering than God intended,” Leanne informed her, “but we love her all the same. Welcome to our group. I’m Leanne.”
Paige already had her name down, thankfully. She made sure to take a mental snapshot of Ada’s face so she would remember too.
“I’m Whitney,” said a young blond woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties. “I joined the class a few months ago when I found out I was pregnant. I want to make a quilt for our baby.”
“It’s your first?” Paige asked, feeling a soft smile spread on her lips.
Oh, how she wished… She and Mark had been trying to have a second baby for five years, but she hadn’t gotten pregnant yet. Mark wasn’t concerned. He said their family would be perfect no matter what happened. Paige mostly agreed, but she really wanted to have another child or two. Growing up, she hadn’t wanted anyone else to share in her hell, but Haley’s situation was different. There was so much love and joy in their family, she thought it would be sad if there weren’t more children to enjoy it.
“Yes,” Whitney said, putting her hand on her tummy. “Do you have children?”
“A daughter,” Paige said. “She’s in second grade already.”
“They grow up in a blink, don’t they?” the woman next to Whitney said. “I’m Mae, by the way. Welcome to the class, Paige. I expect your little girl will want you to make her a quilt.”
Of all the women, Mae exuded a special warmth. Perhaps it was her similarity to a plain-clothes Mrs. Claus, what with her radiant smile and soft white hair.
“A princess one,” Paige said, laughing. “I have a feeling she’s going to have to wait a while.”
“Not at all,” Mae said. “You sit by me sometime when you’re more comfortable, and I’ll show you a few of my tricks. I cut corners, you see.” Her wink was downright charming.
“Your quilts stay together and are beautiful, Mae,” Sadie said. “I don’t see that as cutting corners. You’re just efficient.”
“Is that what we’re calling it?” the last woman in the group said.
Her dark red hair could only come from a bottle, and she had an edge for someone who looked to be in her forties.
“I’m Imogene. Nice to meet you, Paige. Welcome. I’m newly divorced—my worthless husband of twenty-two years hooked up with a skank ho right out of college. My kids are grown, and my oldest thought I might release some of my pent-up anger through quilting.”
“How’s that been working for you, Imogene?” Leanne asked with a flat drawl.
“Every time I stick a pin into a square for piecing I just imagine it’s his dick.”
Sadie gasped along with Paige. “Ladies. That’s—”
“Awesome,” Whitney said. “I hope his dick falls off for cheating on you. I hate cheaters.”
Leanne looked to be smiling despite herself. “Amen!” she said loudly.
Imogene held up her hands at Sadie’s look. “Okay, no man bashing. Sorry, Sadie. Paige, I brought the snacks tonight. I can’t cook much, but I can manage to make a box cake and frost it. Hope you like carrot.”
Cake and women with strong opinions. This was already sounding fun. “Thank you, Imogene. I’m particularly fond of the cream cheese frosting.”
“Me too,” the woman said, slapping her curvy hip. “I like to think the carrots make it the healthiest cake you can eat.”
“Thank heavens you like cake,” Leanne interjected. “We had a girl a few months back who brought kale chips when it was her turn. Imagine that! She was always complaining about all of the sugar we were eating.”
“At least she didn’t last too long,” Ada said. “She wasn’t much for quilting, turned out.”
“I hope I’m going to like it,” Paige decided to admit. “I mean, I’ve always thought quilts were beautiful. My great-grandmother used to wrap me in one when I was little. I don’t remember the pattern much—only that every patch was from an old flannel nightgown.”
“Those are the best,” Ada said. “I kept my girls’ nightgowns for just that purpose.”
Sadie glanced over at her, and Paige forced a smile. She’d love her great-grandparents, but her great-grandmother had died of a heart attack when she was younger than Haley. Her great-grandfather had taken it into his head that headstrong Skylar was to blame, and he’d up and kicked them out. The flannel quilt had been left behind in the madness of their departure, and she’d thought of it many times since, wishing she’d insisted on stuffing it into the one suitcase they’d left with.
“So your great-grandmother quilted?” Mae asked.
“I believe so, but I never saw her do it,” Paige admitted. “By the time I came along, she had arthritis so bad she could barely peel and cut a potato.” Of course, her mother had never helped much around the house, preferring to run off at night with a string of men she kept around. No wonder her great-grandfather had held a grudge.
Leanne nodded. “I feel her pain. I like to think quilting keeps my joints loose. Well, I suppose we’d better get back to it. Half the class is gone by now probably.”
“Oh, don’t be so dramatic, Leanne,” Ada told her, using a firm hand to steer her toward the circle of folding chairs. “We have plenty of time. Whenever a new member joins the group, it’s important to make them feel welcome. Otherwise, we could all quilt at home.”
“Amen,” Imogene said.
“Oh, don’t starch up your girdle any more than usual, Ada,” Leanne replied. “You won’t be able to walk out of here later, what with it being so stiff.”
“Like I would wear a girdle in this heat,” Ada said. “At my age, I’ve earned the privilege of letting everything God gave me hang out.”
“Gravity’s a bitch,” Leanne said, pointing to her own sagging breasts. “These used to be perky. Just you younger ones wait.”
“Leanne,” Sadie said in a stern voice.
“Sadie doesn’t like me to say ‘bitch,’ but sometimes it’s the only word to get the job done.”
“Shall we sit and resume?” Sadie asked. “Paige, we have some water and sweet tea set out by the cake. Just over there.” She pointed to the folding table in front of the upholstery fabric. “I see everyone has already helped themselves.”
“You were out there forever,” Leanne drawled.
“Enough, Leanne. Paige, the bathroom is to the back right of the store,” Ada said. “That’s usually my first question when I go somewhere.”
“When you reach a certain age,” Leanne said, “that’s the only question besides when your Social Security check is coming that matters.”
Paige had to purse her lips not to laugh at these two women and their tall tales of aging. She felt more confident about her decision to join this group. She hadn’t been so sure about the whole thing on her way over.
“You can sit between me and Mae,” Sadie told her. “We’re all working on baby quilts right now for the hospital. Except Whitney, who is working on her own baby quilt. You’re welcome to make one for your family, of course.”
Haley had been somewhat pacified by the beautiful baby quilt Sadie had given her. Even though it was much too small, she slept with it most nights.
“No, I’m happy to make a few quilts for the hospital,” she said. “That way I can figure out what to do for Haley’s big princess quilt.”
“That’s a sound plan,” Sadie said. “Since you’re a newbie, what I’d like to suggest is that you think about the colors that make you the happiest. Usually that’s the easiest place to start. Then we can talk about a pattern.”
“Most new quilters get a little intimidated by the millions of patterns out there,” Mae told her. “Best keep it simple in the beginning, honey, and S
adie is a pro at guiding you while helping you make something fun and pretty all your own. You can work on your confidence and your quilting techniques as you go along. The two go hand in hand.”
“Like bread and jam,” Ada said, reaching into a cloth bag and pulling out the beginnings of a patchwork quilt.
Each woman seemed to have a special bag beside her chair. She’d missed that memo.
“I didn’t know about tools,” Paige leaned in to tell Sadie as soon as they were seated. “And I don’t have a bag.”
“Don’t worry none,” Sadie said. “I have extra tools for new students. I figure everyone needs to find out if they love quilting before they invest in the tools. You’ll need a medium rotary cutter, a cutting mat, a special ruler I’ll show you later, and a few other things.”
“I don’t have a sewing machine either,” she whispered. “And I don’t really know how to use one either. I mean, I haven’t done any sewing since Home-Ec in high school.”
“The sewing machine part is a piece of cake,” Leanne said. “A few of us still like to hand stitch, but it’s only because we have more time on our hands than you young people.”
“You look too young for a Home-Ec class,” Ada said. “Where did you go to high school?”
Sadie looked eager to hear her answer. “In a small town outside of Knoxville,” she said. After their hasty departure from Texas, she and her mother had moved in with her grandparents, who’d relocated due to the scandal. While they’d ended up kicking them out after a few months due to her mother’s wild stunts, they’d remained in the same town. Her grandparents would give them money from time to time since her mother couldn’t hold down a job. She’d heard them say more than once that the only reason they hadn’t cut all ties to her mom was because of Christian charity. Of course, her mother hadn’t wanted a job or any responsibilities—her only ambition was to jump from man to man. Her grandparents had pitied Paige, but pity wasn’t the same thing as love.