by Olivia Swift
“The missing piece of the puzzle,” Mirabelle said and pulled out a square of faded material with a heart displayed on the cloth.
Kim drew in a sharp breath. “It was going to be a heart. This material matches exactly, and the patterns at the side match the ones on the next squares. Oh, Mirabelle. That is fantastic.” Kim picked up the square and held it against the space that was waiting for it. When she tried to put it down, the square seemed stuck to her fingers, and—try as she might—it was determined to stay. “That is one more weird thing,” she said. “The blessed thing doesn’t want to go back into place.” Mirabelle sighed and smiled and told them the folklore attached to the piece of cloth she had kept for so long.
“My gran had been told by her mother that the quilt came from the Western Isles of Scotland and would only be happy in the presence of true love. I don’t know how true that is, but as soon as true love was not there, the quilt was destroyed and lost.” She looked at her two visitors to see their reactions.
“When we both touch the quilt, that is when the music plays,” Rob suggested and held out his hand. “Maybe if we both lay it in place, that will work.” Kim felt an emotion rise inside her chest and bubble up to fill her head so that she could barely think at all, but she put on a steady face and laid her hand with the heart square still there on the central section of the quilt. Rob covered her hand with his own and draped the other arm around her shoulders. At the same time, all three of them looked up as the bagpipe music played somewhere in the distance; it was a cheerful lilting dance. Then they all looked down at the quilt.
There had been times when Kim had thought the quilt had a life of its own. She had even talked to it when she was alone and then told herself it was nonsense and imagination. This was not imagination, because they all saw the quilt move to make way for the last section of material. It did not need to be stitched into place, because the heart section melded itself seamlessly into the main body of the quilt and seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. The section glowed for a second with a wonderful blue light, and then the whole quilt lay still and complete on the table in the room. The music faded away, and the three people looked at each other in total disbelief.
“Wow,” Kim said and sat on a chair.
“Wow indeed,” Mirabelle repeated. “I believed the stories but they were just stories. I saw that before my very eyes.”
Rob said nothing but sat staring at the quilt. He was slightly shaken, if the truth be known. Mirabelle thought they all needed a drink and went to make some strong coffee. They went over what had happened, and Kim asked if she would like the quilt because it really belonged to her family. Mirabelle shook her head.
“It was meant to come to you, and you were the only ones who could make it whole again. The quilt is restored and that is enough to make me happy. I only wish my mother could be here to know the story. Even as she spoke, the music sounded faintly in the distance, and a white feather floated down to land on the quilt.
“I think,” Kim said, “that she is telling you that she already knows.” A tear trickled down the woman’s cheek, and she blew a kiss into the air.
“Thank you. Thank you both for taking the time and the trouble to make the quilt whole and for tracking me down,” said Mirabelle.
15
Neither Kim nor Rob said anything for some minutes as he drove away from Mirabelle’s house.
“You okay?” Rob asked at last, but he sounded a bit shaky himself.
Kim nodded then realized he couldn’t see that and touched his arm. “Yes, thanks. It was all just a bit much to take in.”
“The fact that she looked like Miranda to start with sort of made the whole thing a bit unreal." He hesitated. “And then all the magical stuff. I know I saw it all with my own eyes, but it was quite staggering,” Rob replied. “Shall we stop and have something to eat until we calm down?” They stopped at the next diner and went inside.
“Normality,” Rob said. “Thank goodness. It doesn’t even seem odd that we probably bought the quilt from a ghost—while we are eating in a modern restaurant.”
Kim smiled as she saw his favorite hobby was making him feel better. “What should we do with the quilt when it is complete?” she asked, and he suggested displaying it in the shop in a glass case with an explanation of the history.
“Not the magic bit,” he laughed. “People would think we were crazy. The story of the quilt coming here on a ship all those years ago is romantic enough in itself.”
“We’ll have to tell Jazz and Carly. Remember the spirit things attached to the shop?” she added, and he agreed. They talked about the quilt and what had happened and left the diner. He took her hand as they went back to the car.
“We are not talking about the other thing,” he said.
“The elephant in the room starting with the letter L,” she answered. In the car, she took his hand again. “It scares me to death,” she admitted. Before starting the car, he asked if she wanted him to move back to his mom’s until she thought about it, and she reached across and kissed his cheek.
“I know I want you to stay.” She paused. “If you want to, that is.” He grinned and started the car.
“Does a duck like water?” He laughed and drove them home.
The tidying up and checking the nursery took up quite some time, and they had time to let the magical quilt fade into the background. Kim held the plastic ring that she had kept for all of those years. She had taken to carrying it around in her pocket and smiled when she felt it there and held it very close. It felt so right, and she was so happy. That tapping in her head was more and more insistent.
The next day Kim called her sister and told her that they had found Mrs. Carter. Jazz got the outline of what had happened and asked them to come up after the nursery was closed. Jazz ran next door and told Carly and then called Miller and Jules. They would all want to hear the story, and there was something else niggling at her mind. She knew her sister so well, and there was more to this story than she had admitted.
The Christmas grotto was a huge success, and it took quite a while to clear the shop and finish everything off. Kim ran and changed into jeans and a Christmas top. She reached for her jacket and popped her hand in the pocket only to find there was no plastic ring.
“Oh, no,” she gasped and searched all around on the floor and backtracked to where she had been. No ring was to be found. Rob came to join her, having changed as well, and she stopped looking. She could not tell him that she had lost the plastic ring. “It will turn up,” she thought to herself. “I will find it later.”
They took the quilt along to show everyone the missing piece and drove up to Chestnut Hall. Evan had gone to town on Christmas decorations, both outside with a multitude of colored lights, and inside. There was an enormous tree in the living room, a smaller one in the kitchen, and candles in jars all over the place that flickered and made patterns. The log burner was burning well and lending even more atmosphere. The whole place made you so welcome and had a lovely warm feel to it.
Kim shed her jacket and picked up baby Molly Kim from the playpen where she was watching her own little light display.
“Oh, it feels like Christmas already,” she said and produced a furry snowman. “Christmas starts here,” she added and jingled the bells inside the toy. Molly Kim held out her tiny hands, and she was put back down with her newest toy.
“I swear that baby has more toys than the toy shop,” Carly observed, but Jazz reminded her who had bought the colored lights, and she grinned. Miller and Jules arrived, and Evan piled slices of pizza on the coffee table and told them to dig in.
“Kim, we want details,” Miller demanded as she took a slice. Between them, Rob and Kim told them about the visit.
“The woman was the image of the person in the shop. We thought it was her, but it seemed the woman in the shop was her late grandmother.” There was a sort of stillness as they all waited to hear the rest. The story of the people on the quilt and the business and
then the daughter who fell in love with the wrong man was unfolded.
“Oh, that is so sad,” Carly said.
“Barton Marine,” Miller said and held Jules’s hand. “That notorious family is still around.”
“He tore the quilt and threw it out of the window, and it disappeared. He wanted to really hurt her and destroyed something that she cared about,” Rob added and then smiled. “Tell them the rest,” he said to Kim who then told them about the woman showing them the missing piece.
“Oh, wow,” Miller said. “The quilt is complete.” Kim nodded.
“We all three heard the bagpipes, but the square would not leave my fingers. It was so weird. I could not put the piece of material down.” Rob took her hand.
“Kim won’t want to say this because it sort of freaks her out. Mirabelle said that the quilt would only be whole in the presence of true love.” He paused, and they all waited, pizza in hand, as he told them that when they both touched the material, the square joined itself to the quilt and stayed there. Kim showed them the seam that was not stitched. The quilt looked as if the piece of the design with the heart had always been part of the whole thing. There was a buzz as they all spoke at once.
“The square glowed with a sort of blue light, and we all heard the music again. It faded away and then the quilt was as you see it now.” Kim finished the story. “The strange thing is, now the thing is whole again, there is no bagpipe music, no blue light, and nothing odd about it all. It is just a quilt with two names in the design.”
“Two names with your initials and friends who could help solve the problem. That is a magical story,” Carly observed.
“So, the legend of the quilt was real and now it is whole,” Jazz said and looked at her sister. “How do you feel?”
Kim held Rob’s hand. “This is the most wonderful man in the world, and I have been so frightened to admit that I couldn’t live without him.” She paused, and a tear squeezed out of her eye. “I kept that plastic ring all these years and now, today, I’ve lost it. I feel so guilty. The quilt was meant to be mended, and Miranda was right—even if she was a ghost—he was meant to help me make it whole.” Rob smiled and took a box from his pocket.
“You didn’t lose the ring. I borrowed it.” He handed her the plastic ring back, and she clutched it to her as if it was the most valuable jewelry in the world. He took something else from the box. “This is the same ring but in diamonds, my darling. Please tell me you love me and want to be Mrs. Rob Manners.” Kim’s mouth opened and closed like a goldfish for a few seconds while everyone waited for her to reply. Kim only had eyes for Rob, and for her there was no one else in the room. She finally said the words he had waited to hear for nearly twenty years. The message from the quilt from so many years ago had made her see what was there all of the time. The words that had been tapping in her mind forced their way into the world.
“I love you and I guess I always have, sweetheart. The answer is yes.” She flung her arms around his neck, and tears poured from her eyes. Rob found a few tears of his own and held her close as everyone else jumped up and down, screamed, laughed, shouted—and in Jazz’s case—did a happy dance all around the room before throwing herself onto her sister and crying along with the others.
Dex broke out some bubbly, and Evan found glasses. Everyone had a drink pushed into their hands, and Evan made the toast.
“To Rob and Kim—congratulations.” Everyone echoed the toast, clinked glasses, and some sort of calm came back into the room.
“This will be the best Christmas ever,” Jazz said.
“Molly Kim’s first one,” Kim added.
“The New Year will see the garden center in full swing,” Jules added. “I am so glad I found those photos and the address.”
“I am grateful that you did,” Rob answered, “but is this pizza going to waste?” That brought a chorus of laughter, and they all remembered that they had been eating before the story unfolded.
Kim smiled as she watched her future husband enjoy the pizza. “The way to a man’s heart,” she said.
“Cake,” Jazz added. “You’ve been feeding him cake all of these years.”
“If you knew how I panicked when I thought I had lost the plastic ring,” Kim laughed. She looked at the new one sparkling on her finger and then popped the plastic one on as well. “Carly can you make this first ring into a pendant of some sort for me I can wear it around my neck?”
“Of course, I can,” the jeweler replied. “It will be a pleasure.” She looked at the others. “You know since Evan bought this place we have all had the most wonderful times. I opened my shop complete with ghostly resident; Dex helped me out, Jules met Miller and now the quilt has brought Rob and Kim together.” She picked up her glass. “Another toast. Chestnut Hall and happily ever after, folks. Happily ever after.”
They all echoed the sentiment, and Jazz went to pick up Molly Kim. Carly and Kim both went over to the baby as well, and Kim took her niece in her arms. Carly held her crystal on its cord and laid her hand on her friend’s tummy. Jazz smiled and nodded.
“Don’t tell anyone yet,” she said quietly. Kim heard the exchange and kissed her niece on the head.
“Baby brother?” she whispered into Molly Kim’s hair.
“Sister,” the whisper came from Carly in reply but very, very quietly. The three women hugged each other with the baby in the middle, and Rob came to say he was taking his fiancée home if they wouldn’t mind. Kim kissed her niece and gave her back to Jazz.
Rob could hardly wait to whirl her around when they went back into the house. He had been pleased at Chestnut Hall and been congratulated by everyone, but it was Kim he wanted to tell how he felt. He wrapped his arms around her and handed her his heart in the kiss that lingered over her lips.
“I love you so much,” he whispered into her hair, and she turned her face upward to return the kiss.
“I have been so scared to admit that we could be in love,” she told him. “I do love you. I think I always have. I always will.”
“Oh, Kim,” he answered, but was too emotional to say more. He picked her up and carried her up the stairs. “Carly was right. Happily ever after, Kim. Happily ever after.”
THE END
Afterword
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Thank you.”
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About the Author
Olivia Swift loves writing cozy mysteries! Her stories are inspired by her varied interests…gardening, spirits, crystals and so much more. Of course, there must be a romance or two in her books and a happily-ever-after ending!
Growing up in a small English village, Olivia is only too familiar with the various characters that make up a community. There is always an event, drama, or mystery amongst the village folk.
Only a few years ago, Olivia and her husband chose to take an early retirement and moved to the Aquitaine region of France. There, in her sun-filled study, she is able to sit and write her books. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the window overlooks her lovely French country garden.
www.liriospublishing.com
[email protected]
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