The Pledge, Value
Page 21
She had always hoped that when the war was over, she and Wes could settle down happily in the town they both loved, where they had grown up among their family and friends. But everything had changed now. Nothing would ever be the same for them. Old friends had become cold, doors once opened to them were now closed, warm greetings had become outright rejections. The homes where they had always been welcomed would not receive them. Hillsboro was no longer a place where they would feel comfortable, happy, or wanted. Peace may have come to the country, but the South only knew unforgiveness and vengeance.
The truth was bitter and hard to accept. But she couldn’t deny it. Wes was right.
JoBeth remembered her mother’s saying, “When we love, we place our happiness in the happiness of another.” If this was what Wes wanted—needed—to do, if this was what he felt was the best thing for them and for their future life together, then there was no question she would agree and go. His happiness meant everything to her.
“Oh, Wes, it will be hard. But don’t you know that we promised each other never to be separated again? Wherever you are, that’s where my home is, my heart.” She thought of the long separation, how she had yearned for him. No matter what happened, they belonged together. Wherever he went, she would gladly follow.
“California.” She said the word tentatively, as if trying it out. “California!” she repeated. She felt a prickle of excitement. Looking up, she met his steady gaze and smiled.
The Crazy Quilt
Sewed points and squares form a pattern like life’s cares—old garments, old memories—and what is life? A crazy quilt, sorrow, joy, grace and guilt, a scrap of silk, a piece of velvet, a length of ribbon, a square of scarlet, here and there an edge o’ lace to enhance the commonplace, and so the hand of time will take fragments of our lives and make out of life’s remnants in patterns fall, to make out of our life a thing of beauty after all.
Douglas Malloch
American Quilt Series
Bonus Selection
Dear Reader:
The editors at Zondervan Publishing House and author Jane Peart would like to thank you for reading The Pledge, the second book in the American Quilt Series. This Special Bonus Section, offered as a token of our appreciation, contains the “Prologue” to the next book, The Promise, which continues the story of the next generation.
Also included is a brief outline of how to make the “heart-in-hands” quilt that plays such a prominent role in The Pledge.
Again, if you are enjoying the American Quilt Series, be sure to look for the third volume, The Promise. You will probably also enjoy Jane Peart’s other fine series: The Brides of Montclair Series and the Westward Dreams Series. The twelve volumes of the Brides of Montclair Series tell the epic story of a single Virginia family from before the American War for Independence to the twentieth century. (Volumes 13, 14, and 15 of that series will be appearing in 1997 and 1998, making one of the most extensive novel series on the market!) The Westward Dreams Series contains four volumes, each of which portrays a different independent-minded woman from the East who travels to the Old West to find a new life for herself and, of course, romance.
Thank you again. Happy reading,
The Editors of Zondervan Publishing House
Prologue to The Promise
From her bedroom window, Jana Rutherford, christened Johanna after her Grandmother Davison, looked out at the familiar scene she loved. Beyond the rim of beach stretched the distant blue line of ocean against an orange-pink sky. As she watched, a single boat, its sails billowing like winged gulls, moved slowly along the horizon.
She never tired of the Hawaiian landscape. She would never forget her first sight of the Big Island ten years before. She was standing at the railing of the steamer coming from Oahu with her father. “Look, Jana,” he had said, “there it is, Hawaii, the biggest of all the islands.”
There, in the direction he pointed, the Big Island seemed to emerge out of a sea of turquoise water rising steeply into lush green walls of dark tropical vegetation from the beach below on which foam-scalloped surf swirled.
“That’s where we’re going to live, Jana; that’s our new home,” he said. “We’re going to be happy there.”
And they had been. Especially Jana. From the beginning she had loved everything Hawaiian. Even her name sounded better in Hawaiian: Koana. It sounded softer, more musical.
A gentle wind now rustled the fronds of the palm trees outside the house and stirred the lattice blinds. Reluctantly Jana turned back to her bedroom. There were still things to do before tomorrow. More packing. The steamer left early from Hilo for Honolulu. There she would board the ship sailing to the United States.
One task had been left to the last—going through the koa-wood chest. It contained things stored through the years. It held her childhood, as well as an assortment of memorabilia of the last ten years. It was a job she had procrastinated doing. It would be like opening a Pandora’s box of memories, some good, some bad. But she couldn’t put it off any longer.
Kneeling in front of it, she lifted the lid. The collection of a lifetime was piled haphazardly within: old dolls long since put away; worn books; a ragged Teddy bear missing one eye and too scuffed and limp to pass along to some other child—yet too beloved to give away. There was a cardboard portfolio she had made to hold some of her first drawings and watercolors. And in one corner, there was a battered shoe box. When she picked it up a fine drift of sand spilled over her hands. Inside were all sorts of seashells. A whole parade of happy days spent searching for them marched through her mind.
Then she saw what lay underneath, at the bottom. Her memory book, a little warped, mildewed at the edges, its original pink cover turned brown. The spray of pansies painted diagonally across its front had faded. After taking it out, Jana sat back on her heels and placed it on her lap. Slowly she turned the yellowed pages, one after the other, until she read:
September 1884—Kimo left today. He has gone to Germany to be apprenticed to a famous cabinet maker. I don’t know how long he’ll be gone. A year, maybe two. We walked down to the beach together, and he wrote in the sand, “Kua kua makamaka.” In Hawaiian that means “forever friends.”
That was the last entry in the book. The rest of the pages were blank. So much had happened since she had written that. Why had she stopped writing in this book? Was it because of her grandmother’s wish in giving it to her that Jana should record “only sunny hours, joy-filled days, and happy memories” in it?
Jana closed the book thoughtfully. She replaced it inside the chest and slowly closed the lid. She couldn’t throw it away. So much of the last ten years was recorded within its covers. And so much was unwritten as well.
Was it the Christmas of 1886 when everything had changed for her…?
To read more, ask you local bookseller for The Promise by Jane Peart.
How to Make the
Heart-in-Hands Quilt
Unlike the “Carolina Lily” quilt pattern portrayed in The Pattern, Book I of the American Quilt Series, this “Heart-in-Hands” design is not traditional. It was designed specifically for this book by author Jane Peart, and she offers it as a way of thanking the many readers of her books. She would like to extend a special thanks to master quilters Connie Chapman and Liz Miller for their instructions and for the execution of the actual quilt.
Supplies needed for a 10-3/4-by-9-3/4-inch patch
Background Fabric: gray/blue, small print or plain
Doves: white fabric
Border Trim and heart: red fabric
Outer Border: blue fabric
Hands: peach or flesh colored fabric
You will also need: Fusable fabric or Wonder-Under
Copy the overall design onto paper to make the basic template. (You may trace the design by hand or enlarge the above design several times in a photocopier until it is the correct size).
Cut and fuse the fabric squares according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Then trace the p
attern design onto the fused fabric squares. Cut out designs and place them in the desired places on the patch background fabric. Then embroider the olive branches that are held by the doves.
When everything is in place, remove the paper backing, and with a hot iron, fuse the design to the background.
Sew on the blue border. Place the square on the backing, which is layered as follows: 1. Fabric. 2. Batting. 3. Muslin.
Stitch down the various pieces of the designs (the doves, the hands, and the heart—with running stitch, button-hole stitch, or pin stitch).
For the 1-1/2-inch border, cut 4-1/2 feet of red fabric two inches wide. Fold it in half lengthwise and press it to the width of I inch. Sew around front of patch, turn it over, and hand stitch it down.
Books by Jane Peart
A Tangled Web
The Brides of Montclair Series
1 | Valiant Bride
2 | Randomsed Bride
3 | Fortune’s Bride
4 | Folly’s Bride
5 | Yankee Bride/Rebel Bride
6 | Gallant Bride
7 | Shadow Bride
8 | Destiny’s Bride
9 | Jubilee Bride
10 | Mirror Bride
11 | Hero’s Bride
12 | Senator’s Bride
13 | Daring Bride
14 | Courageous Bride
Westward Dreams Series
1 | Runaway Heart
2 | Promise of the Valley
3 | Where Tomorrow Waits
4 | A Distant Dawn
5 | Undaunted Spirit
The American Quilt Series
1 | The Pattern
2 | The Pledge
3 | The Promise
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