A Patchwork Romance

by Jacobs, Ann

  “No, Jared. Do you always charge in like a bull in a china shop, throw your money around to buy whatever you think it is that you want?”

  He took her hand, pried her fingers loose, wished to hell he knew what to say that would ease her anger. “No. Sweetheart, be reasonable. You wanted donations from businesses. That’s all this is, a donation from Cain Software. It’s likely that the donation will save the company almost as much in taxes as it will cost.”

  “I don’t believe you. I don’t believe this.” Althea whirled around and stomped off to her SUV. Red dust swirled in the breeze, leaving Jared coated with it by the time she sped away.

  Alvin ambled over, an amused look on his florid face. “Independent little cuss, ain’t she?”

  “That she is.”

  “Want to scrap this project?”

  “No way, but I’d better go after her and see if I can talk my way back into her good graces.” A feeling of dread rose in Jared’s throat. He’d never been much good at sweet-talking angry women.

  ▪ ▪ ▪

  I’ve never been so mad in my entire life. How could he? Althea pulled up in front of the churchyard under a big hickory tree and got out of the car. The brisk breeze that fanned her cheeks did nothing to cool her anger. Do I come across to everybody as a wimp? Does everybody think I can’t do the simplest thing on my own?

  She went straight to the simple stones that marked her parents’ graves. Needing to do something, anything, to take her mind off Jared and his high-handed takeover of her dream, she bent and straightened the plastic flowers in a marble vase between the two markers.

  It had begun with them, this…this insistence on doing for her, not giving her a chance to achieve anything on her own. Althea had no quarrel with her mom and dad, because she’d been a child. She’d needed their protection and guidance. Their legacy, though, had passed on to Jim, who hadn’t stepped back and let her grow up, making her own mistakes. Jim, in turn, had handed her over to Bill.

  She walked across the cemetery to his grave. Had he given her free rein and let her make her own decisions? Or had it just happened that he wanted the same things she did? When she thought about it she realized how closely hers and Bill’s needs had been attuned—or so it had seemed. She’d counted on his help with the co-op, but when he’d died, she’d vowed not to rely on anybody’s help again. To do it all on her own.

  Jared had used his money to buy what she’d been determined to earn. As much as she loved him, Althea didn’t believe she could forgive him.

  She sensed his presence before she felt his hands on her shoulders. “Why are you here?” she asked, refusing to turn and face him even though a large part of her needed to acknowledge the connection, the sensual pull…the love she didn’t want to feel for him.

  “I’m here because you are. Sweetheart, I wanted to please you, not make you angry.”

  He sounded so reasonable. So logical. “You don’t understand, do you? I promised myself I’d get the co-op going. That I’d do it. Me, Jared, not you.”

  His hands tightened on her shoulders but then he moved to her side and knelt. For a long time he stared at the inscription on the gray, marble slab. When he stood again, he looked her in the eye. “Did you promise to do it for him?”

  “No. For myself.” Even when she said it, she wondered if it was true. The co-op had been Bill’s dream first, a dream he’d dreamed too late to save his sister from her vicious husband or the granny who’d raised him from dying in gut-wrenching poverty. He’d hoped the co-op would save other women from similar fates. Had Althea merely gone along with him? Had she taken up her dead fiancé’s dream as a living monument to his memory?

  “Then why don’t you want me to help? You say you love me.”

  “Help? I don’t call what you’ve done help. You’ve barged right in and taken over.”

  When Jared took her hand she didn’t stop him. “All I did was find a piece of land and hire somebody to put up a building on it.”

  The way he said it, it didn’t sound like a big deal, until Althea thought about how much money he must have spent. Until she remembered the little piece of property she’d struggled to save enough to put a down payment on, and her plan to make do with the rickety old building that had seen better days.

  “That’s all?” She couldn’t help the sarcastic tone that edged into her voice.

  Jared apparently thought she was being serious. “That’s all, sweetheart, except for having Laura make some calls to extract pledges for operating capital donations from businesses in Blairsville and Dahlonega. What gets done inside that building will be strictly up to you.”

  He sounded so earnest, she couldn’t stay angry, so she looked up at him and tried to smile. “I can understand you wanting to surprise me. But what you did was too much. You didn’t ask me or even tell me ahead of time what you were doing. I can’t believe you didn’t know how important it is to me to do things on my own.”

  “Yes, I did. Knowing that gave me a few uncomfortable moments, until you told me you’d let me help.” His little-boy grin made her want to hug him, even though it fueled her uncertainty about their future together.

  “Your idea of helping is taking over. I won’t—I can’t let you run my life. I don’t know if I can marry you after this, but I know I can’t live in your pocket the way I’ve been doing. I need some time to myself. Time to think.”

  When she met his gaze, she sensed his confusion and hurt. Well, she was hurting, too, and he was the reason why. “I’ll follow you to your place and gather my things. We need some time apart.”

  “What about the quilt?”

  Althea pictured it on its stand beside the fireplace. “It’s nearly finished. I could—”

  “Stay. Finish it where it is, sweetheart. I’ll clear out and spend a week or so in Atlanta so you can have your space.”

  He sounded so reasonable, so accommodating. She wished she didn’t have to give him back his ring, but she did, feeling naked when she pressed it gently into his hand. No matter what, she loved Jared. Wanted him.

  But she couldn’t let him control her life and destroy the sense of independence she’d worked so hard to achieve. “Jared, keep this. I can’t wear it now.”

  For a minute she thought he’d protest, but he slipped the ring into his shirt pocket. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry you think I did something I shouldn’t have, but I knew how much it would mean to you to have the co-op up and running. I didn’t think it would matter so much how that came about.”

  “It does.”

  “I know now. If I could, I’d go back in time and tell you what I was planning before going ahead and doing it.” His eyes reflected the sadness she felt.

  “You would?”

  “Yeah. If I had, though, and you’d have told me not to do it, a lot of women in these mountains might have had to wait a lot longer than they will now, to get the same kind of independence that means so much to you.”

  What he said made sense, but she wasn’t ready to concede that what he’d done was right. “Might, Jared, not would. I’ve saved almost enough for the down payment on the place I told you about. It wouldn’t be the state-of-the-art facility I’m sure you’re having Alvin build, but poor mountain women would be just as happy about having any place to produce their crafts.”

  He reached over and caressed her jaw. “They’ll be more comfortable than they would have been in that rickety shack you wanted to buy.”

  Althea couldn’t refute that. Still, Jared had taken over and made decisions that should have been hers. She’d lost him just as surely as though one of them had died. Turning away, she stared across the cemetery at her parents’ graves. No matter how much she loved him, she couldn’t give in. She wouldn’t hand over control of her life to this man.

  “Let’s go, then. If you’re serious about going to Atlanta, I’ll finish the quilt at your place while you’re gone.

  ▪ ▪ ▪

  Jared paused at the bottom of the stairs
when they got inside.” Give me half an hour to throw a few things in the car, and then I’ll leave. How long will it take you to finish the quilt?”

  “If I work on it every evening, I should have it finished by Saturday.” Part of her didn’t want him to go, but she had to have time, time to wean herself away from him and resign herself to loneliness.

  “Then I’ll be back on Sunday. Think about me, sweetheart. Think about us. I haven’t changed my mind about what I want.” With that, he strode up the stairs, only to come back a little while later with a laptop case and duffel bag. “Remember I love you.”

  And then he was gone.

  The powerful engine of his Mercedes roared for a moment then faded away in the distance. Jared had done as she demanded. He’d left her. Althea stood on the porch for a long time, shivering in spite of the warm, summer sun seeping through the trees. Alone was a lonely place to be.

  ▪ ▪ ▪

  Jared hadn’t felt so deserted since the day his mom had died. Marcie’s defection hadn’t left him fighting nausea, feeling as though he was standing alone against the world without a single friend. Like the robot Marcie had often accused him of being, he opened the door to his Atlanta condo a little after midnight and stepped inside.

  He may sometimes have gone through the motions of sex with Marcie, and she may have been right when she said he didn’t display much more emotion than a hero of one of his electronic games. But he was no fucking robot. Not with Althea.

  Feeling lonesome as hell, he went to the kitchen, grabbed a six-pack of beer and sprawled on the living room sofa. He tried not to think about Althea, but it didn’t work. She’d become an essential part of him.

  There was nothing robot-like about sex between them, he thought, getting instantly hard when he recalled the incredible way she’d made him feel the first time she’d gone on her knees and taken him in her mouth.

  But it wasn’t just the sex with Althea. He’d once thought he wanted a woman to complement his talent, contribute to his success the way Marcie had. He was wrong. Althea was more interested in him than in his business. He treasured the simple pleasures they’d shared, such as tubing on the river and picking berries for their dessert. Even his work seemed exciting when he could look across the room every few minutes and see her working contentedly on her quilting.

  Fuck. The last thing he wanted was to give her up. He wouldn’t let her throw away what they’d found together over something as trivial as him surprising her with a little gift.

  He popped open another beer and downed half of it as he thought about how unreasonable she’d been to get so upset.

  Okay, so he’d accept that the land and the building for the co-op were more than a little present, at least in her eyes. Finishing off the beer and opening another, he leaned back on the sofa and stared out at the Atlanta skyline.

  I’ve got to figure out how to get her back.

  By morning Jared had downed the better part of a twelve-pack, but he’d managed to come up with a plan. He’d also developed one hell of a headache.

  Rubbing at his bleary eyes, he called Laura at home, determined to put his plan in action and then spend the rest of the day trying to catch up on sleep. “Laura?” he said when she picked up the phone. Damn it, even the one word came out slurred.

  “Jared, it’s six o’clock in the morning.”

  “I’ve got a job for you. I want you to pick out five presents for me.”

  “Presents?” Laura sounded annoyed.

  Jared rubbed his head, tried to get the fuzz off his brain. “For Althea. She’s mad at me.”

  “She’s not the only one. But I’ll bite. What do you have in mind?”

  He thought about that but came up empty. “Don’t know. Something pretty. Sparkly. Expensive. Show her…”

  “Jared, are you drunk?”

  “Nah. Well, maybe a little. That’s it. Get her some jewelry. Ice blue stuff, like her eyes. Fiery hot.” He paused to down the last of the beer. “Nasty stuff. I hate warm beer.”

  “You want aquamarines and rubies?”

  Laura’s sarcasm went almost but not quite over Jared’s throbbing head. “Not in the same pieces. You know what I mean. I want to send her one piece every day this week, so she won’t forget me while I’m gone. Take care of it.”

  “Okay. I take it you’re here in Atlanta?”

  “Yeah. I’ll come to the office tomorrow.” He mumbled out instructions for sending the presents to Althea. “Thanks, Laura.”

  He’d have gone to bed but it was easier just to lie back against the leather sofa cushions and close his eyes.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  By four o’clock Tuesday, Althea was ready to drop. Thank heaven she hadn’t had many customers. She rubbed her gritty eyes. Her shoulders and back ached, and the fingers on her right hand felt as though they were still clutching a quilting needle.

  She’d never recommend that her worst enemy pass a sleepless night by quilting for twelve hours straight, the way she’d done last night. Closing the shop early wouldn’t hurt anything just this once. Even the simple task of emptying the cash register seemed too much to ask of her exhausted muscles today.

  Gravel crunched outside. Just her luck. She slammed the cash drawer shut and tried to paste on a semblance of a smile.

  It was Trina. Althea wished she hadn’t asked her to drop by yesterday when she’d run into her in town. Now wasn’t the time to arrange for her friend to work full-time, not when she wasn’t at all certain she’d need the help.

  Trina set down her quilted tote bag. “Where’s your ring?” she asked, her gaze fixed on Althea’s left hand.

  It would have been too much to expect Trina or anybody else not to notice she wasn’t wearing the showy ring. “I’m reconsidering Jared’s proposal.”

  “What happened?”

  Althea told Trina about Jared buying an expensive piece of land for the co-op and arranging to have a building put up on it. “Her barged right in and took over. I won’t let anybody make me dependent on them, ever again.” Her head was throbbing, and she wished again that she hadn’t asked her friend to drop by.

  Trina shot her a puzzled look. “Girl, you’ve been fretting for months because you couldn’t get businesses to donate enough money so you could get a place to start this co-op thing. Now your man’s taken care of that problem for you. The way I see it, lookin’ a gift horse in the mouth just don’t make good sense.”

  Althea looked out the window when Trina paused, seeing another truck making its way up the mountainside, gears grinding when the driver downshifted to make the steep grade. It was another one of Alvin’s dump trucks, full of landfill from Jared’s folly at the crossroads just down the hill.

  “You hear me, girl?”

  “Yes, Trina. But Jared should have talked with me about it. He shouldn’t have just butted in and taken over. We’re not talking about a few dollars here. He’s spent a fortune.”

  Trina looked at Althea and shook her head. “For you, it’s a fortune. Think. Jared went and bought himself a mountain. Not an acre for a summer place the way most rich tourists do, but an entire mountain. Setting you up with a nice place for your co-op’s no big deal for a man like him.”

  Suddenly it hit Althea. Her problem with Jared wasn’t exactly that he’d undermined her independence. It wasn’t even that he had an annoying tendency to get her whatever he thought she wanted before she voiced a request.

  Her problem was that she knew Jared was out of her league and she was way over her head. She had no idea how to fight her way to the surface. She’d thought about it more than once before letting the way he made her feel shove that particular worry to the back of her mind.

  “Althea? You okay?”

  Too stunned to speak, she shook her head.

  “You don’t look all right. You look downright peaked.”

  Althea didn’t doubt that. Her hands were icy cold, as if all the warmth had drained out of her body. “I’ve got to go outside a
nd get warm.”

  The sunlight didn’t warm her the way it should have when she stepped out on the porch. Instead, she shivered more as she watched a convoy of Alvin’s dump trucks lumbering up the mountain highway.

  What’s wrong with me? Althea watched Trina drive away a few minutes later, not remembering whether or not she’d told her friend goodbye. Drained, she went back inside and gathered her things so she could leave.

  “Miss Simmons?”

  She blinked, trying to make her tired eyes focus. It was a stranger wearing a black suit, a cap in hand, standing in the doorway. He must have come in the somber looking limousine parked outside. “Yes, I’m Althea Simmons,” she said, confused.

  “I’ve been asked to deliver this.” He held out a small, flat box wrapped in silver foil. “If you’ll just sign the receipt…”

  “Where did this come from?”

  “Atlanta, ma’am.”

  “From Jared Cain?” Damn it, what had he gone and done now?

  The man looked confused. “It’s from B. Delavan, Fine Jewelers. If you’ll sign this, I’ll be on my way. It’s a long drive back, and I’m not keen on driving in the mountains at night.”

  Althea scribbled her name and then glanced at the package he placed in her hand. It was heavier than it looked, plain but for an embossed silver seal on one corner. Mindful of the manners her mother had taught her, she murmured her thanks.

  As soon as the limousine pulled onto the highway, she tucked the package in her purse and locked up the shop. A little later she sat at the kitchen table at Jared’s place, her gaze fixed on the unopened package. Obviously it was from Jared. She didn’t know anybody else in Atlanta who might send her anything. From moment to moment she vacillated between wanting to open the package and fearing it contained yet another piece of evidence that falling in love with Jared was the worst mistake she’d ever made.