“Your parents won’t mind that you’ll miss their party?”
“I’m sure they will, once they find out.”
He studied her for a long moment. For a while she feared he would refuse. He was offended by her gall and never wanted to see her again.
But then he picked up her suitcase and offered her his arm. “I’d be delighted to have you come. If I’d known you could, I would have asked you weeks ago.”
She took his arm, too overcome with relief to speak. That, Agnes later realized, was when she first knew she loved him.
The train ride west was one of the happiest occasions of her life. Finally she and Richard had the chance to talk alone for hours. Richard truly listened when Agnes spoke, unlike all the other men she had known, who would smile indulgently and exchange looks over her head, chuckling as if she were an amusing child. Richard didn’t agree with all of her opinions—especially regarding the troubles in Europe—but he never once treated her as if she was nothing more than a harmless, silly decoration. To someone who had spent her life learning how to be an ornament, this was a revelation.
When they arrived at Elm Creek Manor, Agnes was nervous and excited. She didn’t regret her decision to come home with Richard, but she wished his family had expected her. Maybe then Richard’s sister Sylvia wouldn’t have greeted her with such obvious shock. Maybe then Agnes wouldn’t have earned Sylvia’s immediate and intense dislike. It was obvious that Sylvia was the queen of this household, just as Agnes’s mother ruled the Chevalier home. With Sylvia against her, Agnes feared Richard would not remain hers for long—if it was, in fact, right to call him hers.
“Your sister doesn’t like me,” she told him that evening before they retired to separate bedrooms a respectful distance apart. Richard laughed and told her she was imagining things, which made her heart drop even lower. From that moment she knew he would be forever blind to Sylvia’s barely contained malevolence.
Gradually, Agnes won over the others. She got along well with Richard’s eldest sister, Claudia, and the young cousins even asked her to join in their games occasionally. Sylvia’s husband, James, was a true gentleman, kind and thoughtful, much like Richard himself. Only Sylvia remained aloof and resistant.
Agnes understood the source of her resentment: Sylvia was selfish. She had a husband, a sister, a loving family—but that wasn’t enough for her. She also wanted her younger brother all to herself, and no young woman from Philadelphia was going to steal him away.
How ironic it was that Sylvia was treating Agnes as Mrs. Chevalier treated Richard. If those two headstrong, jealous women ever encountered each other—Agnes giggled at the thought. She wished she could share her amusement with Richard, but she didn’t want him to know how her parents felt about him. No doubt he suspected the truth, but she would spare him the insulting details.
Instead she doubled her efforts to befriend Sylvia. When she sensed how proud Sylvia was of her quilting, she made certain to praise Sylvia’s needlework—the fineness of her stitches, the intricacy of the designs.
“How charming,” Agnes said, admiring Sylvia’s current project, an elaborate quilt with appliquéd baskets, flowers, and other intricate shapes. “What pattern is this?”
“It’s a Baltimore Album quilt.” Sylvia went on to explain the history of the style. Agnes listened, nodding as if fascinated. Once she glanced up and caught Claudia’s eye, and she saw that Richard’s elder sister was trying to hide a smile. Claudia knew what Agnes was about, even if Sylvia didn’t.
When Sylvia’s long-winded explanation finally drew to a close, Claudia spoke up. “Do you quilt, Agnes?”
Agnes realized she had an ally. “No, I don’t know how. I wish I could, but I know I could never make anything as lovely as this.” She gazed at Sylvia’s quilt in admiration.
“All it takes is practice,” Sylvia said briskly, but Agnes could tell that the compliment had pleased her.
“I wish that were true,” Agnes said. “But I don’t have your talent, Sylvia. I suppose I’ll just have to keep buying my comforters in the shops in Philadelphia.”
To her surprise, Sylvia pursed her lips, offended. “Naturally you’d want to do that. Out here on the frontier, however, we don’t have that luxury.”
“Sylvia,” Claudia warned.
Agnes quickly added, “What I meant to say was that I would prefer a handmade quilt like those you have in Elm Creek Manor, but since I can’t quilt, I—”
“You’ll buy something made by someone with better sense.” Sylvia glanced away from her work to frown at Agnes. “I hope you remembered to pack all you’ll need, or you might need to go home early. Our humble shops out here in the country are no match for those in the heavenly land of Philadelphia.”
The rebuke stung. Perhaps Agnes had gone on about Philadelphia during her visit, but it was only to show the Bergstroms how wonderful she found Elm Creek Manor in comparison. If only they knew how much she longed to take the happy clamor of their family back home with her. She left the room before she burst into tears. She would not humiliate herself further by allowing Sylvia to see her cry.
It was not an auspicious beginning, Agnes thought, turning away from the window. She and Sylvia had come a long way since then. In the past two years, since Sarah had reunited them, they had become friends. Agnes never would have dreamed it.
She never would have dreamed that she would one day be able to quilt like Sylvia, either, but she had learned. Sylvia had tried to teach her, but when those lessons failed miserably, Claudia finished the job. Now Claudia was gone, and Sylvia would soon join her. Once again, Agnes would be alone.
She took a deep breath to fight off the tears. It wouldn’t do to break down when Sylvia needed her friends to be strong. Then she remembered the round robin center in her sewing box. Yes, that was what she needed, something to keep her busy so she would stop glancing at the clock and wondering why the nurse hadn’t been back with news of Sylvia in such a long while.
The other Elm Creek Quilters, who had been so eager to see her center design, barely noticed as she took out the round robin quilt and began to work. She had strip-pieced a background for her appliqué, with varying shades of blue for the sky and green for the grass. After trimming this piece into a large circle, she had sewn pieces of gray and white onto it, creating a portrait of Elm Creek Manor in fabric. A scrap of black cotton became the rearing horse fountain in the front of the manor, and a narrow strip of blue was the creek in the distance. Now she was adding the final touch: a grove of trees at the northeast corner of the manor, where the cornerstone patio was, where the main entrance to the manor had been before the south wing was built in Richard’s father’s day.
Richard had told her so much of the manor’s history—how Hans Bergstrom had placed the cornerstone with the help of his sister and wife, how the manor had served as a station on the Underground Railroad, how the estate had flourished over the years, and how it had sometimes faltered. Once he mentioned that the north garden was a perfect spot for a wedding, and once that the ballroom in the south wing could accommodate several hundred guests. His hints thrilled her, but she had other ideas. When she married, it would be in a proper church, and the reception afterward would take place in her parents’ home. They would insist upon it. As far as Agnes was concerned, if she did somehow manage to convince her parents to accept Richard, she would let her mother do whatever she wanted for the wedding in gratitude.
As it turned out, neither Agnes nor Richard had the wedding they had imagined.
His proposal and the ensuing ceremony took place over a span of a few short days in March of the following year, 1944. Richard had returned to Elm Creek Manor for his school holidays, but this time she did not accompany him. Instead she waved good-bye from the platform as his train pulled out of the station, then she returned home with her brother, who had accompanied them at Mrs. Chevalier’s insistence.
The next time she saw Richard was several days before he was actually due back. It was mid-morning,
and he had come straight to the front door instead of throwing pebbles at her window and signaling her to meet him outside. Her mother’s voice was frosty as she informed Agnes she had a caller waiting in the drawing room.
Agnes’s heart pounded as she went downstairs. Her mother’s tone told her it was Richard waiting—but why? What was he doing back so soon? Something was terribly, terribly wrong.
When she entered the room where Richard waited, he was pacing back and forth, hair tousled, face flushed, eyes bright with excitement. She was too startled to speak, but he looked her way at the sound of the door. He crossed the room swiftly and seized her hands. “Agnes, I have something to ask you.” He dropped to one knee. “I love you with all my heart, and I know you love me, too. Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
Agnes stared at him. Why was he asking her now? He knew she was just sixteen. He knew he ought to ask her father first, and not for years yet. Why—
Then she understood. He and Andrew—all their bold talk about enlisting—
Her legs were suddenly too weak to support her, but Richard helped her to a chair. “Please—” she choked out. “Please—”
He smiled, but there were tears in his eyes. “You don’t have to beg, darling. I’ve already proposed.”
She wanted to strike him for joking at such a time. She hated him. She loved him so fiercely she could never let him leave her. “Please tell me you didn’t enlist. Please tell me you’re not asking me this because you’re going off to war in the morning.”
“Not in the morning.” His face was close to hers. He stroked her hair gently. “I have two weeks.”
Her chest tightened up with sobs, so many that she thought they would tear her throat open. But she swallowed them back and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Unsteadily, she rose from her chair. “Will you excuse me, please?”
“But Agnes—”
“I’m going to seek my parents’ blessing.” Without waiting for a reply, she left the drawing room. Her mother was in her sitting room writing letters.
Agnes took a seat beside her and waited for her mother to look up. She refused to acknowledge her daughter’s presence, to punish her for the undesirable caller. Agnes wondered what punishment her mother would contrive for what she was about to say, and realized it didn’t matter. Nothing could hurt her more than the thought of Richard’s going off to war.
Finally her mother looked up. “Yes, dear, what is it?”
“Richard Bergstrom has asked me to marry him. I would like to have your blessing, and Father’s.”
Her mother’s face went white in fury, but her voice was perfectly controlled. “Absolutely not.” She resumed writing, and nearly tore the paper with her pen. “If you’re not pleased with the young Mr. Cameron we’ll find someone else suitable for you, but you shall decline Mr. Bergstrom’s proposal and instruct him never again to speak of it.”
Agnes felt as if she were watching the scene play out from a great distance. “No,” she heard herself say. “I shall not decline.”
Her mother slammed down her pen. “You shall. You have no choice. You are too young. Do you really believe any judge within two hundred miles of here would allow a Chevalier daughter to marry under such suspicious circumstances?” Her voice was high and shrill. “They value their livelihoods too dearly for that, I assure you. Not one of them has any wish to be the man who allows a disobedient child to destroy the Chevalier family’s good name.”
Agnes grew very still. For the first time she saw her mother clearly, without fear. Agnes held the power now, and her mother was the frightened one. No matter what happened next, Agnes would never submit to her mother again. She was free.
“Richard has enlisted. He leaves in two weeks.” Each word was as cold and distinct as if it had been chiseled in marble. “I will spend every moment between now and his departure by his side—every day and every night. I would prefer to do so as his wife, but I will do so as his mistress if necessary. Since you are so concerned with the Chevalier family’s good name, perhaps you should consider carefully whether you truly wish to withhold your blessing.”
Her mother stared at her for a long moment, breathing rapidly, clutching the desktop. “Your father will never agree,” she managed to say.
“You will convince him.”
Agnes was correct; her mother did make him see reason. But he gave Agnes one condition. “If you marry that man,” he roared, “you leave this house forever. You will be dead to us.”
His words shocked her into silence. She could only stare at him, the man she had always admired and loved so deeply. He thought she had betrayed him, and perhaps she had.
She thought of Richard, and how he might not return from the war. She might have two weeks with him, two weeks in exchange for a lifetime with her family.
She was her father’s favorite daughter, and yet he could cut her out of his life with a word.
She wanted to ask her father if he meant it, but that would have been foolish. Her father never said anything he didn’t mean. She wanted to beg him to reconsider, but her father never backed down from an ultimatum.
So she spoke from the heart. “I will miss you all very much,” she said. Then she returned to the drawing room to tell Richard she would be his wife.
They had a simple civil ceremony. Andrew was one witness, one of Agnes’s school friends was the other. Agnes had wanted her sisters, but she could not ask them to defy their parents.
Later that day, James and Harold arrived, too late to stop Richard and Andrew from enlisting. James decided to enlist so that he would be in the same unit as his brother-in-law. Harold reluctantly said he would as well.
Agnes thought it was madness. “Don’t do it,” she had begged them. She clung to James’s arm. “Please. Think of Sylvia.”
Gently, James freed himself. “I am thinking of Sylvia,” he said, and then he and Harold left.
Agnes was not comforted by the knowledge that James and Harold would be looking after Richard on the battlefield. Their selflessness and courage would not stop a bullet. They should have tried to free Richard from his enlistment, not join him in it. It was madness. Utter madness. And she alone seemed to see it.
They returned to Elm Creek Manor together for a few bleak days of grievous good-byes. Harold proposed to Claudia, but they did not rush off and marry as Agnes and Richard had done, as so many other young couples had done. They wanted to wait until after the men returned so they could do it right. Agnes marveled at their certainty that they would have that chance.
And then, all too soon, the men departed.
Of the four, only Andrew and Harold returned.
Agnes’s hands trembled, and she stuck herself with the needle. She dropped the quilt as soon as she felt the pain, but she was not fast enough. A small drop of blood now stained the back of the block, a smear of red leaking through the gray fabric of the manor.
She shivered.
“Let me help you,” Bonnie said. She took the quilt and carried it over to the drinking fountain.
“Did you hurt yourself?” Andrew asked.
“Only a little needle prick,” Agnes said, but Carol had already taken her hand and was examining her finger. There was a tiny drop of blood on the pad of her left index finger. Carol insisted on taking her to the bathroom to wash the pinprick with soap and water. Then Carol carefully applied antibiotic ointment and a bandage, all from the small first aid kit she kept in her purse.
“What do you do for a cough?” Diane asked when they returned to the waiting room. “A lung transplant?”
The Elm Creek Quilters smiled, but no one had the heart to laugh.
“It’s better to be safe than sorry,” Carol said.
“She’s right,” a voice broke in. “Hospitals are the worst places for picking up germs. I read that somewhere.”
It was Sarah who had spoken. They all turned to look at her. As far as Agnes knew, those were the first words she had spoken since arriving at the hos
pital.
“Then I’m fortunate Carol was here,” Agnes said gently, returning to her seat.
Bonnie handed her the quilt center. “The stain came out, but I’m afraid it’s a little damp.”
“That’s all right. I’ll finish when it’s dry.” All that was left was a tiny bit of the last tree, and then she could stitch the design in place in the center of the round robin quilt her friends had made. She tried not to, but in the back of her mind she wondered if Sylvia would ever see the completed quilt hanging in the front foyer to welcome the new quilt campers.
The quilt campers.
“Oh, dear,” she said. “It’s Sunday.”
Her friends exchanged looks of weary dismay, and she could tell they had forgotten, too.
Gwen said, “We’ll have to call everyone and tell them camp is canceled this week.”
“We can’t do that,” Judy said. “It’s already nine o’clock. If they’re driving a long distance, they might have left already.”
“And those who are flying already paid for their airline tickets,” Bonnie added.
“Can’t you refund their costs?” Andrew asked. “If you tell them what happened, they’ll understand.”
“No.” Sarah sat up and looked around at her friends. “We can’t do that. We have to hold camp as planned.”
Silence.
“Maybe you’re right,” Diane said. “That’s what Sylvia would have wanted.”
Sarah whirled on her, furious. “That’s what Sylvia would want.”
Chastened, Diane looked away.
Summer stood up. “Sarah’s right. We can’t let Sylvia think we’ll fall apart if she doesn’t watch us every minute. I’ll go back to the manor and start setting up.”
Gwen chimed in that she would join her daughter, and soon it was agreed: Agnes, Andrew, Sarah, Carol, and Matt would remain at the hospital; the others would return to Elm Creek Manor to await the arrival of their newest guests.
“Call us as soon as you hear anything,” Judy urged, and Agnes promised they would.
A strange silence hung over the waiting room after their friends left. Matt went to the hospital cafeteria and returned with steaming cups of coffee and warm muffins. Agnes accepted a cup of coffee gratefully, but her stomach was in knots and she knew she wouldn’t be able to choke down a bite of food. The heat from the cup soothed some of the chill out of her hands.
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