The Half-Stitched Amish Quilting Club - 02 - The Tattered Quilt

by Wanda E. Brunstetter

  “I’m surprised at that. Didn’t you mention when we went out to lunch last week that you’re an only child?”

  Cheryl nodded.

  “Everyone I know who grew up without brothers and sisters pretty much had their parents all to themselves.”

  “Well, that wasn’t the case for me. Dad kept busy at work, and so did Mom. And when they weren’t working, they were involved in some activity that took them away from home. If they could work it into their schedule, which wasn’t very often, they’d try to spend some time with me. But even then, I never felt special. I think they were just trying to fulfill their parental duty.” Cheryl sighed. “That’s why I spent a lot of my childhood with Grandma, and it’s how we became so close.”

  “Is this the same grandma who owns the quilt you’re having Emma fix?” Terry questioned.

  “Yes, it is. Grandma Donelson is my mother’s mom, and when my grandpa passed away ten years ago, Grandma moved in with us. We became even closer after that. She’s in a nursing home in Portland now, not far from where my parents live.”

  “What about your dad’s parents? Are they both still living?”

  “Yes, but they live in Idaho, so I don’t get to see them much.” Cheryl nodded at Terry. “What about you? Are your grandparents alive, and if so, do they live nearby?”

  “My dad’s folks are both dead, and my mom’s parents live in Oklahoma. I know I should, but I don’t keep in touch with them much.” Terry pulled into a gas station. “I hope your stomach can hold out for lunch a while longer, ’cause this old truck needs some gas.”

  She smiled. “I think I’ll make it.”

  Terry turned off the ignition and hopped out of the truck. While he pumped the gas, Cheryl reached into her purse, pulled out her cell phone, and turned up the volume. She’d had it muted during the quilting class, not wishing to disturb anyone should it go off. As she was putting the phone back into her purse, a package of mints fell out. When she leaned over to pick it up, she discovered a pack of cigarettes on the floor of the truck.

  “That’s just great,” Cheryl mumbled. “Terry’s obviously started smoking again.” Or maybe he never quit and just managed to hide it well. I can’t date a guy who smokes, not with my allergies.

  When Terry got back in the truck, Cheryl held the cigarettes out to him. “What’s this? I thought you said you’d quit smoking.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “I did. Those ain’t mine. They’re not even the brand I used to smoke.”

  “Oh really? Whose cigarettes are they, then?”

  “I picked up a hitchhiker on the way to class this morning, and the guy tried to light up, but I told him, ‘Not in my truck.’ I’m guessing he must have left his cigarettes when I dropped him off. You do believe me, don’t you?” he asked, looking anxiously at Cheryl. “By the way, I didn’t explain this before, but that’s why I had to put a new seat in this truck. Because of my smoking, I burned a hole in the old seat. That bad habit was a costly one, and I found out the hard way that it’s expensive in more ways than one.”

  Cheryl sat trying to process all of this. She wanted to believe Terry and hoped he was telling the truth, because she would never get involved with another man who wasn’t honest with her.

  Terry reached for her hand. “I’m not lying, honest.”

  “Okay,” she said, relaxing a bit. “I’ll take you at your word.”

  “Sure is a nice day to be at the lake,” Lamar remarked as he and Blaine sat at a picnic table, eating the lunch Emma had prepared for them.

  Blaine nodded eagerly as he bit into his roast beef sandwich. “Like I said before, for me, there’s nothing like being in the fresh air near a body of water, where the fish are just waiting to be caught. Even if I don’t catch any fish, there’s nothing I enjoy more than being out here like this. It sort of helps clear my head and allows me to put aside any problems I have.”

  Lamar chuckled. “I like to fish, too. It’s very relaxing, but I’d give it up if Emma asked me to.”

  Blaine’s forehead wrinkled. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Nope. Nothing and no one is as special to me as my dear wife.”

  “Does Emma ever go fishing with you?” Blaine asked.

  “She has a few times, but she usually keeps busy making the quilts she sells to one of our local quilt shops. When I go fishing, it’s most often with my son-in-law or one of his boys.”

  Blaine was about to comment, when his cell phone rang. “Drat! I forgot to turn that stupid thing off.” He glanced at the caller ID and blinked when he realized it was Sue calling. I wonder what she wants. Guess I’d better answer it and find out.

  Flipping his phone open, Blaine said, “Hello.”

  “Hi, Blaine, it’s Sue.”

  “Yeah, I knew that when I saw your name on my caller ID.”

  “Are you busy right now?” she asked.

  “I’m eating lunch with a friend.”

  There was a pause. “Are you on a date?”

  “What? No. I’m with Lamar Miller, and we’re at Lake Shipshewana.” Not that it’s any of your business, Blaine thought with irritation.

  “Oh, I see. Well, I won’t keep you, but there’s something I wanted to say.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I ran into Stuart and Pam at the mall last night. They were shopping with their kids, and Stuart mentioned that you’d been taking some quilting classes. I never pictured you doing something like that.”

  “It’s true. Stuart got me into it with a bet we stupidly made.”

  “Yes, he mentioned that. Stuart also said you’ve been seeing a woman you met there, and I…I was wondering if you’re getting serious about her.”

  “At this point, I can’t really say. Cheryl and I have only gone out a few times.” Blaine wasn’t about to admit to Sue that he wasn’t planning to see Cheryl anymore. No point in giving her the satisfaction. Besides, why did she care? Their relationship was over.

  “Oh, I see.”

  Blaine wasn’t sure how to read Sue’s tone of voice. Was she jealous? Did she wish that she and Blaine were still dating? Did he dare to ask? No, that would be setting himself up to get hurt again.

  “Look, Sue, I really can’t talk anymore.”

  “Okay, sure. I’ll let you get back to your lunch. Good-bye, Blaine.”

  “Bye, Sue.” Please don’t call again; it hurts too much. Blaine turned off his cell phone and stuffed it in his shirt pocket. Then he grabbed his can of soda pop and took a drink.

  “Sorry for the interruption,” he said, setting his empty can down. “That was my ex-girlfriend, Sue.”

  “You still care for her, don’t you?” Lamar asked.

  “What makes you think that?”

  “I can see it on your face.”

  Blaine didn’t know why, but he ended up telling Lamar all about Sue and how she’d turned down his marriage proposal, and they’d broken up.

  “Would you like a piece of advice?” Lamar asked.

  Blaine shrugged. “I guess so.” With the eager expression on Lamar’s face, he figured the elderly man was just waiting to give his opinion.

  “Sue must still have some feelings for you, or she wouldn’t have questioned you about Cheryl.”

  “You really think so?”

  Lamar gave a nod. “If you love this woman, then maybe you shouldn’t give up on her.” Lamar reached into the picnic basket for another sandwich and handed it to Blaine. “You know, when I first started caring for Emma, she wouldn’t give me the time of day.”

  “So what’d you do?” Blaine asked, his interest piqued.

  “I kept pursuing her—did nice things for her and hung around till she couldn’t say no.” Lamar snickered. “It was a challenge at first, but well worth the wait. Now Emma and I are quite happy together.”

  Blaine smiled. “That’s obvious. You two seem like you were made for each other—as some might say, you’re soul mates.”

  Lamar bobbed his head. “But we wouldn�
��t be married today if I hadn’t made an effort to win Emma’s heart. So I’m thinking maybe you gave up too soon on winning the hand of the woman you love.”

  “Maybe so, but I don’t think pursing Sue is a good idea because she might turn me away, and I don’t want to be hurt again.”

  “Well, you’ll never know unless you try, and since Sue called, my guess is she misses you.”

  “I’ll give it some thought,” Blaine said. “But we came here to do some fishing today, so why don’t we get to it?”

  “Hey, Anna, come with me to the women’s restroom,” Mandy said when Anna met her at the 5 & 20 Restaurant after she’d left Emma’s quilting class. She held up a paper sack. “I want to show you something.”

  Curious to know what her friend had in the bag, Anna followed Mandy into the restroom.

  Once inside, Mandy opened the sack and pulled out two pairs of jeans, two knit tops, and a pair of lightweight jackets. She gave one set of clothes to Anna. “Put these on, and take down your hair. We’re gonna spend the rest of the day as English girls.”

  “Doing what?” Anna asked, her heart beating with excitement. Here was a chance to see what it felt like to look English, but even so, she was apprehensive.

  “Let’s start by having a couple of burgers for lunch, and then we’ll go shopping for some makeup and jewelry.”

  Anna’s eyes widened. “What if someone sees us? As much as I’d like to do what you suggested, I don’t want my folks to find out. It was bad enough they found out about the bracelet Carmen gave me. It would be a hundred times worse if they learned that I was walking around Shipshe wearing makeup and dressed in English clothes.”

  Mandy laughed and poked Anna’s arm. “You worry too much. With our hair down and wearing these clothes and some makeup, no one’s gonna know who we are.”

  “They might, and I’m not willing to take that chance. Especially when we’re so close to home.”

  “No problem. We’ll go to Elkhart or Goshen and have a fun day there.”

  “How are we supposed to get there, Mandy? Either of those towns are a long ways for us to ride on our bikes.”

  Her friend nodded. “You’re right, which is why I thought we could hitchhike.”

  Anna shook her head vigorously. “No way! Hitchhiking could be dangerous.”

  Mandy pulled a cell phone out of her purse. “Okay, worrywart, if you don’t want to hitchhike, then I’ll call my brother, James, and ask him to give us a ride.”

  James, still going through his running-around years, had bought a car. And Mandy, being the free spirit she was, had a cell phone her folks knew nothing about.

  “Well, what do you say?” Mandy nudged Anna’s arm again. “Should I give James a call or what?”

  Anna nodded. She’d wanted to experience the English world, so she’d take a chance and go with Mandy today.

  CHAPTER 35

  Goshen

  While sitting in a booth beside Mandy, at a burger place in town, Anna stared down at her English clothes. It felt strange to be wearing them, and the jeans felt a bit tight, but it was kind of fun and exciting; especially once she’d looked in the mirror and realized how cute the clothes looked on her. Since Anna had never worn makeup before, Mandy had shown her how to apply it. Anna was amazed at how the eyeliner and mascara made her eyes look bigger.

  It had worked out well that Mandy’s brother had been able to give them a ride to Goshen, where they were less apt to be seen by anyone they knew. Of course, as Mandy pointed out, with the makeup and jewelry they wore, even if they were seen by someone they knew, they might not be recognized.

  “Look over there,” Mandy whispered, leaning close to Anna’s ear. “See those cute guys at the table near the door? They’re watching us.”

  Anna glanced in that direction. Two young men, one with blond hair and the other with coal-black hair, stared at them with big grins. Before Anna could comment, the one with blond hair left his seat and strolled across the room, stopping in front of Anna and Mandy’s table. The other fellow followed, and they both plunked down on the other side of the booth.

  “You girls live in Goshen?” the dark-haired boy asked. “Don’t think I’ve seen you around this burger joint before.”

  Mandy rolled her eyes. “Goshen’s a big town, and there are lots of fast-food restaurants, so what are the odds that you’d have seen us before?”

  The boy leaned his head back and laughed. “Guess you’re right about that.” He looked at Anna and winked. “I’m Bill. What’s your name, sweetie?”

  Anna’s cheeks warmed, but before she could reply, Mandy quickly said, “She’s Anna, and I’m Mandy.”

  Bill motioned to his blond-haired friend. “This is my buddy, Tony, and we’ve been watching you two ever since you came in.”

  Tony grinned and winked at Mandy. “How’d you like to spend the rest of the day with us? We promise to show you a good time.”

  Anna held her breath and waited to hear how Mandy would respond. She hoped she wouldn’t say yes, because the way these two guys looked at them—like hungry animals—made Anna nervous. She also noticed the outline of a pack of cigarettes stuffed inside the sleeve of Tony’s T-shirt. She shuddered to think how she and Mandy would react if these boys insisted that they smoke with them. Anna had never smoked a cigarette before; she had no desire to, either. Just the smell of cigarette smoke made her head feel stuffed up.

  “We appreciate the offer,” Mandy said smoothly, “but my friend and I have other plans for the day.”

  “What kind of plans?” Bill asked.

  “We’re going shopping,” Anna interjected.

  Tony smiled. “Shopping, is it? Well, maybe we’ll just tag along then.”

  Oh no, Anna thought. How are we going to get away from these two? I really don’t want to go anywhere with them.

  Mandy smiled, tipping her head. “Feel free to go with us if you want, but you might get bored.”

  “I don’t think so,” Tony said with a quick shake of his head. “Who could be bored hanging around two girls as hot-looking as you?”

  Anna cringed. All of a sudden, she didn’t feel so cute. This day wasn’t turning out the way she’d hoped. She had merely wanted to have a little fun wearing English clothes, and she wished she could make Tony and Bill go away. She feared that if she and Mandy went anywhere with these two, things could turn out badly.

  “Aren’t we supposed to meet James soon?” Anna asked, looking at her friend.

  Mandy nodded. “Oh, that’s right. I’d almost forgot.” She smiled at Tony and sweetly added, “Maybe we’ll see you some other time.”

  Bill frowned, but Tony merely shrugged and said, “Well, if you’ve got another date, you should have just said so.”

  Anna was about to say that James wasn’t her date, but changed her mind. If the guys thought she or Mandy had a boyfriend, they’d probably leave them alone.

  Tony stood and stuffed his hands in his jean’s pocket. “We’ll be sitting over there, in case you change your mind.”

  As Tony and Bill sauntered off, Anna blew out her breath in relief. “I’m glad they went back to their table. I didn’t like the way those two looked at us, and I didn’t want to go anywhere with them, did you?”

  Mandy shrugged her slim shoulders. “It might have been kinda fun, but with James coming to pick us up in a few hours, it wouldn’t have worked out so well.”

  “I hope they don’t come back over here,” Anna said, feeling kind of shaky inside. “Worse yet, what if they follow us when we do our shopping?”

  Mandy leaned close to Anna and whispered, “I think I know a way we can sneak out of here without them knowing.”

  “Really? How?”

  Mandy smiled. “Come with me to the ladies’ room, and I’ll show you.” Moments later, two young women in Plain clothes slipped unnoticed out of the restaurant.

  Elkhart

  “This has been such a nice day,” Paul told Carmen as he lifted Sophia off the carousel.<
br />
  She nodded enthusiastically. “I’m going to miss all the fun times I’ve had with you and Sophia when I go back to California.”

  Then don’t go, Paul thought, but he didn’t voice the words.

  “Why don’t you and Sophia come out to see me during your spring break next year?” Carmen suggested. She bent down and gave Paul’s daughter a kiss on the cheek. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you, little one?”

  Sophia giggled, and the look of adoration Paul saw on her face as she lifted her hands up to Carmen, put a lump in his throat. “Sophia’s going to miss you, and so am I,” he said, making eye contact with Carmen.

  “I’ll miss you both, as well.” Carmen took one of Sophia’s hands and Paul clasped the other one as they walked past several shops in the Davis Mercantile. When they came to the scrapbooking store, Carmen suggested that Paul take Sophia to the toy store while she bought a few scrapbooking supplies.

  “That’s probably a good idea,” Paul said. “If we all go in, Sophia will get restless.”

  Carmen smiled. “We can either meet outside the scrapbook store, or if I get done before you do, I’ll join you in the toy store in twenty minutes or so.”

  “Sounds good.” Paul bent down and scooped his daughter into his arms. “Off we go, little one. Let’s find you a new toy.”

  Carmen had been looking at scrapbooking supplies about twenty minutes, when her cell phone rang. When she saw that it was her boss, she reluctantly answered the phone. He doesn’t give up, she couldn’t help thinking.

  “How’s it going, Carmen?” Mr. Lawrence asked. “Have you got that story wrapped up yet?”

  “Not quite, but by the time I get back to the office, I’ll have that story about the Amish and how they let their young people go wild during their time of rumschpringe.”

  “Okay, but I may not be here when you do,” he said. “I have to take my wife to see her niece who just had a baby, so if I’m not here, just give your story to the assistant editor, Mike, and he can look it over before it goes to press.”