“Give me an example,” Jenny said, while I hurriedly had a sip of wine.
“For one thing, I’d noticed the way Johanna spoke about Swanson. One minute he was wonderful and she had been close to him. Then the next, he was a philanderer who had broken his first wife’s heart. It may not seem like much, but to me it showed she had mixed feelings about the man. And she was doing the same thing when talking about Sondra. One minute Sondra was a nice woman, and then the next she was a neurotic person who wouldn’t even talk to anyone on the phone. Yet, I remembered Judy saying Sondra had been a member of her book club. So she couldn’t be as antisocial as Johanna was painting her out to be.”
“The Charlotte police questioned Johanna at the station,” Roxanne said. “And she admitted everything. It turns out that she and Swanson had been having an affair for years. All along he’d been promising her that he’d leave his wife—someday. But when the someday came, he fell for a girl less than half her age and married her within weeks of meeting her.”
“That was another thing I’d noticed. She’d once told me that he had married her only a short time after meeting her, and then during another conversation she implied that they had been having an affair while he was still married. But what was really the clincher was when I remembered that I had told Johanna that I was trying to reach Sondra. She was the person I first went to see when I was trying to locate her.”
“How did she find out you’d located her?” Jenny asked.
“She didn’t,” Roxanne answered, taking over from there. “She decided to kill her just in case. With Sondra dead, nobody would ever find out that she and Swanson had been carrying on this long-term affair.”
Marnie nodded. “I get all that, but what I don’t get is how Sondra knew that Johanna had killed her ex-husband.”
“She didn’t,” Roxanne said. “The ironic part of this is that Sondra was convinced Mona had killed him. But Johanna was afraid that if the police ever found out about her relationship with Swanson, they might figure it out.”
“Wow,” Marnie said.
Roxanne looked at me. “I’ve been meaning to ask you. How did you recognize Johanna in the hospital? From my understanding, she was disguised as a man.”
“It was her eyebrows. She draws them in such a peculiar shape, and when I saw that man in the hospital, I noticed his odd appearance, but it wasn’t until Dempsey phoned me that everything fell into place. And by the way, I’d noticed she wore wigs, and imagined she was suffering from cancer, but the reason she wears them is because her hair is so thin.”
“All I can say,” Roxanne said, “is I’m very much relieved we didn’t have to release Mona after charging her. I would have hated to have made a false arrest.”
The evening wore down, until everybody went home. I climbed into bed, thinking about Matthew again. I wondered if Jenny was right and that he would call.
• • •
The next few days went by in a blur of activity. Still, my heart thudded every time the telephone rang. But still no call.
On the fourth day, Jenny came rushing into my shop.
“Did you hear the news? There’s a sign in the window of Good Morning Sunshine. The place is closed for business. Much as I feel sorry for them, I admit I’m thrilled to officially be the only game in town again.” She squealed. “Isn’t that great?”
“Wasn’t it just a few days ago that you were complaining about being too busy? Have you found a new employee yet?”
“No, but I’ve got some feelers out. I’ll find someone soon.” She left, walking on a cloud.
As for me, my shop sold more in the following few days than it usually did in a month.
“Jenny predicted your business would do well,” Marnie said. “I hate to tell you she told you so, but she told you so. You’ve got to be a believer now.”
“Like I always said, Jenny has an above average ability to read people. That, combined with a little common sense, and anybody could predict the future.”
She harrumphed and busied herself for a while, then, almost timidly, she asked, “Any word from Matthew?”
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
He had even stopped dropping off Winston at the shop every morning. I went back to weaving and forced myself to think of something else.
• • •
It was the evening of the fifth day. I was home, sipping a glass of wine and feeling lonely, when the phone rang. When I saw Matthew’s number on the call display, my heart went into a gallop. I took a deep breath and picked up.
“Matthew,” I said. “This is a surprise.”
“I’ve been mulling over the talk we had, and I think you and I should sit down and discuss a few things. Are you free tomorrow night for dinner?”
“I am,” I said, already dying of curiosity. But I kept my cool. We agreed that he would pick me up at six, and hung up. Then I spent half the night worrying about what I would wear to look absolutely irresistible.
Chapter 30
“You look beautiful,” Matthew said, holding the door open for me. I was wearing my blue dress—the one I knew was his favorite—and my highest heels. I’d done my hair and it now fell onto my shoulders in soft curls. And I’d paid particular attention to my makeup. As a result, I looked as good as I could, without looking like an entirely different person.
“Thank you,” I said. He went around the car, slipped into the driver’s seat and we took off. Minutes later we walked into the Longview. Again, he went around and held the door open for me.
“Mademoiselle.”
“I always did have a weak spot for Frenchmen,” I said, sliding out. “You’re being so formal tonight,” I said. “What’s the occasion?”
“The occasion is you solving not one, but two cases. So your snooping—”
“Investigating,” I corrected him, keeping my tone light, even though my heart had just dropped like a brick. If the whole point of the evening was to celebrate my solving the case, I might as well go home.
“Fine. Investigating,” he repeated after me. “The point is you’re alive and I don’t have to worry about you getting into trouble. I don’t know about you, but that, to me, is worth celebrating.”
“Hi, Della. Hi, Matthew,” Bunny, the owner, said from behind the registration desk. “Everything is ready for you,” she added with a wide smile. She waved us toward the restaurant entrance with a grand gesture, worthy of a The Price is Right model.
“Wow. What was that all about?” I asked as soon as we had walked out of earshot. “It’s not like we’ve never been here before.”
“Who knows?” Matthew said, opening the restaurant door.
“What the heck?” The inside of the restaurant was pitch-black. Suddenly the lights went on and people were jumping out from all over the room. I spotted Jenny and her boyfriend, Ed. A few feet away were Marnie and my mother. “What the heck?” I said again, dumbfounded.
“Surprise!” they all yelled at once, almost sending me into cardiac arrest.
“What—” I looked at Matthew, confused.
“This was your mother’s idea,” Matthew said, grinning wickedly. “And I decided it was an excellent idea.”
People were now standing around, waiting for God knows what. I looked among the crowd seeing more people I knew. There was Margaret, and Mercedes with her mother. Even Roxanne was here, and at least a dozen other people. And then my mother was coming forward with her arms open. She wrapped me in a bear of a hug.
“Surprise, sweetheart.”
“But . . . It’s not even my birthday,” I said when she released me. “I don’t understand.” Rather than answer, she just smiled and pointed to Matthew. I turned toward him, and to my surprise, found him on one knee.
All at once, tears gathered in my eyes.
“Della,” he said, retrieving a small silver box from his pocket, and
opening it. “Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
This was the moment I had dreamed of for so long. But when I opened my mouth to say yes, it came out like a croak, and in the next moment I had rivers running down my cheeks.
Everybody I knew was watching as my makeup was quickly becoming ruined. My nose was running. And I just knew I was doing the ugly cry. But I had never been so happy in my life.
“Was that a yes?” Matthew asked.
I nodded. As he slipped his grandmother’s ring on my finger, the whole room broke into applause.
Weaving Tips
Navajo weaving is easily recognized for its bright geometrical patterns in reds, blues, yellows and greens, often on tan or gray backgrounds. Although originally it was used to create blankets and little else, today we find it in everything from rugs, and upholstery fabrics, and home linens such as place mats and decorator cushions, and yes, even in fashion. A few of my favorite projects were sleeveless vests (worn over a shirt and jeans) and a shoulder bag.
What most people don’t know is that the original Navajo designs were simple stripes of white, gray and brown. In the early seventeenth century, few Native cloths contained blue. The blue pigment, indigo, could be obtained only through trade with Mexico and was difficult to come by. It wasn’t until the mid-nineteenth century that many of the colors we now associate with Native weaving actually came into popularity.
One important characteristic of Navajo weaving is that it is constructed wide rather than long. This is because traditional Navajo weaving used upright looms with no moving parts. Often they were simply two trees six to eight feet apart, and the weft was prepared by simply wrapping the yarn around from one tree to the other, again and again, until the desired length was reached. And then the weaver would work on the project until it was finished. The artisan sat on the ground during weaving and wrapped the finished portion of fabric underneath the loom as it grew. The average weaver took anywhere from two months to many years to finish a single rug, depending on the size of the project.
Another characteristic of Navajo weaving is in the threads used. Historically, the Navajos raised their own sheep, and produced their own wool, which was coarser than most seen today. For a more traditional look, use natural 8/4 wool yarn.
Before starting on your project, I recommend always making a sample. Simply use an empty frame and wrap your weft around and around until you have the desired width. Aim for five threads per inch. This should be perfect for the recommended thickness of yarn. Remember that the more yarns per inch, the finer your thread will need to be and the more challenging your project. For the first time, I also recommend a simple stripe pattern, working with three colors, off-white, gray and red, for example. It will result in a pleasing yet easy project. A first-timer’s biggest challenge is usually in beating the weft evenly so that the rows and stripes are straight.
Although there are Navajo looms available on the market, you can always start with a small project, such as the decorator cushions I mentioned earlier, and use the proverbial frame loom with the wraparound technique I described above. Once you’ve mastered that, you can move on to bigger projects.
Happy weaving, everyone!
About the Author
Carol Ann Martin is an author and former television personality who divides her time between San Diego and the Canadian coast. She lives with her husband and their ever-expanding collection of dogs. When she is not writing, Carol Ann enjoys baking and beekeeping.
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