The Half-Stitched Amish Quilting Club - 02 - The Tattered Quilt Page 9

  “Jan’s good with his dog,” Terry spoke up, “but I guess goats ain’t my thing.”

  “No animal is my thing,” Selma said, wrinkling her nose. “They’re nothing but pests.”

  Feeling the need for a change of subject and wanting her students to get better acquainted, Emma suggested that they go around the table and share something about what they had done during the week. Cheryl, Carmen, and Selma willingly shared a few things, but when Emma asked Anna how her week had gone, she merely shrugged and mumbled, “Same as always.”

  I wish there was something I could say or do to make Anna open up, Emma thought. She seems so sullen and withdrawn. Even though Selma’s a bit opinionated, at least she’s willing to talk.

  Emma was relieved when Lamar returned. “No message from Blaine,” he said, “but there was one from my daughter, Katie. She strained her back and asked if I’d give her a ride to the chiropractor’s. It’s Dr. Clark’s day off, of course, but he kindly said he’d meet us there. Emma, can you manage okay while I take Katie?”

  “I’ll be fine.” Emma patted Lamar’s arm. “You go along and help your dochder.”

  “Danki, Emma. I’ll see you later.” Lamar said good-bye to the class and hurried from the room.

  “Since we don’t know when or if Blaine will be here, I suppose we’d best get started,” Emma said, reaching for a piece of material that had been cut and was ready to sew. “Today we’ll begin sewing the pieces of fabric you’ve already cut. You can take turns using the battery-operated sewing machines, and if anyone wants to try out my treadle machine just let me know and I’ll show you how.”

  “I already know how to use a treadle,” Selma announced. “My grandmother had one when I was a girl, and she taught me how to sew on it.”

  “That’s good. Maybe you’d like to use mine today.” Emma smiled. “Some of my Amish friends and relatives prefer to use the battery-operated machines or one that’s hooked up to a generator, but I’ve always enjoyed using the treadle.”

  “My mamm uses a treadle machine when she sews, too,” Anna said. “But I’m not interested in that.”

  “You can use one of my battery-operated ones,” Emma said, glad that Anna was conversing a bit. Maybe after she’d done some sewing and saw how her wall hanging was taking shape, she’d actually enjoy the class.

  “I’d like to try the treadle machine for a few of my patterned pieces,” Carmen said.

  “Same here,” Cheryl agreed.

  “Not me,” Terry said with a shake of his head. “I’m not even sure I can use the battery-operated machine.” He frowned. “I’ll probably end up sewing my fingers together instead of the material.”

  “You’ll do fine,” Emma said. “I’ll make sure of that.”

  Terry had been fumbling with his pieces of material for ten minutes when Blaine showed up.

  “Sorry I’m late,” Blaine apologized to Emma. “I stopped at the lake and ended up dropping my line in the water. Guess I sort of lost track of time.”

  “What do you mean, ‘sort of ’?” Terry pointed to the clock on the far wall. “You’re forty-five minutes late!”

  Blaine glanced briefly at the clock; then he smiled at Emma and said, “I caught a largemouth bass, and it’s in a bucket on the porch. If you like fish, I’d be happy to give it to you.”

  Emma nodded. “Lamar and I both like fish, but don’t feel obligated to give it to us.”

  “No, I want to,” Blaine insisted. “Should I go out and get it or wait until after class?”

  “Just wait until Emma’s finished teaching the class,” Selma interjected. “In case you haven’t noticed, the others have already started sewing, so you’d better take a seat.”

  Terry looked over at Blaine and said, “You knew you had class today, didn’t you?”

  Blaine gave a nod. “Of course.”

  “Then you oughta get your priorities straight, instead of going fishing and showing up late.” He plugged his nose. “Phew! No wonder you smell so fishy.”

  “It’s better than reeking of smoke,” Blaine countered. “Besides, if you want to catch anything, you have to go when the fish are biting. And they sure were hungry today,” he added. “I caught a bigger fish than the one I’m giving Emma, but it rolled just as I was about to net it, and off went the hook.”

  Emma was surprised at Blaine’s change of mood, and how his face lit up when he talked about fishing. It was nice to see this side of his character, but while she hated to burst his bubble, she’d better do something quick, or these two men who were acting like boys might end up in a fight. It was becoming more obvious to Emma that some sort of duel was going on between Terry and Blaine. She was sure it had nothing to do with Terry’s smoking or Blaine’s fishing, and everything to do with a certain blond woman in her class.

  “Here are the pieces of material you cut out last week,” she said, handing them to Blaine. “All you need to do is pin them in place, and you can begin sewing.”

  Blaine shook his head. “I don’t know anything about using a sewing machine.”

  “I’ll show you how,” Emma said.

  As the others took turns at the sewing machines, Emma instructed Blaine on how to pin his pieces of material together before sewing them. Once she was sure he could handle things on his own, she went to the kitchen to get some refreshments.

  She’d just placed some banana bread on a platter, when her nine year-old granddaughter, Lisa, who lived next door, rushed into the kitchen. “Mama wants to know if you have any zucker she can borrow,” she told Emma. “We’re gonna bake some chocolate-chip kichlin, but we don’t got enough zucker.”

  “Of course you can borrow some sugar.” Emma lovingly patted Lisa’s head, then went to the cupboard and took down the plastic container she kept her sugar in.

  “Did you do some baking this morning?” Lisa asked, pointing to the banana bread.

  “I made it yesterday,” Emma explained. “I’m getting ready to serve it to my quilting students.”

  Lisa grinned. “Are you gonna teach me how to quilt someday?”

  “Of course. Unless your mamm decides she’d rather teach you.”

  Lisa shook her head. “I’d rather you teach me, Grossmammi. You’re the bestest quilter in Shipshe.”

  Emma chuckled. It was nice to know her granddaughter felt that way, but she was sure others could quilt equally well. “I’d better get back to my students now, and you’d better go home. You’ll never get any cookies baked if we keep gabbing.” She handed the sugar to Lisa, then bent down and kissed her cheek. “I’ll see you later this evening when Lamar and I come over for supper.”

  Lisa nodded and skipped out the door.

  Emma was about to carry the tray of banana bread to the other room, when Carmen entered the kitchen. “I came to see if you needed any help,” she said.

  Emma handed the tray to Carmen. “You can take this into the quilting room, while I get some coffee and mugs.”

  “Okay.” Carmen paused near the kitchen door. “I’ve been wondering about something, Emma.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Since I’ve been in the area I’ve heard some things, and one of them is that all Amish young people go through a time of running-around after they finish the eighth grade and are done with their formal schooling.”

  “That’s right. It’s called rumschpringe.”

  “That’s what I thought; although I can’t pronounce it correctly.” Carmen shifted the tray in her hands. “What can you tell me about—”

  “I came to tell you that Selma doesn’t want any coffee,” Lamar said, entering the room. “She said she’d prefer a cup of tea.”

  “Oh good, you’re back. How’d Katie’s chiropractic appointment go?”

  “It went fine. She’s home resting now with an ice pack.”

  “That’s good. Now about Selma’s request…Did she say what kind of tea she wanted?”

  Lamar shook his head. “But to be on the safe side, maybe you sho
uld give her a cup of hot water and offer a choice of tea bags.”

  “That’s a good idea.” Emma looked at Carmen. “What was it you were about to ask before Lamar came in?”

  “It was nothing important. I’ll talk to you about it some other time.” Carmen hurried from the room.

  “Have things gone any better with the class today?” Lamar asked, reaching into the cupboard to get the tin filled with tea bags.

  Emma sighed. “Not really. There seems to be some undercurrent going on between Terry and Blaine, and Selma’s still a bit overbearing. Then there’s Anna. I can’t seem to get through to her, Lamar.”

  “Just give it more time. I’m sure things will improve. This is only the second class.” He gave her arm a loving pat. “Remember how it went with your first class, Emma?”

  “Jah. It was a bit rocky at first, but as time went on things got better.”

  “And so they shall again. Just remember to ask God for guidance.”

  “Yeow!” Blaine hollered. “I stuck my finger with a pin!”

  Cheryl reached for her purse. “I have a bandage if you need one.”

  “Yeah, that’d be good.” Blaine smiled at Cheryl in a way that nearly made Terry gag.

  Terry rolled his eyes. I’ll bet he did that on purpose, just to get some attention.

  “You need to be careful with pins,” Cheryl said as she put the bandage on Blaine’s finger.

  “I know that now.” Blaine pointed to the pieces of material he’d already sewn. “I’m no better at sewing than pinning. Look how crooked my stitches are.”

  “They’re not that bad,” Cheryl said, leaning closer to Blaine. “It just takes a little practice to get the hang of it.”

  Hearing the conversation between the two of them was almost Terry’s undoing. It was irritating watching how comfortable Cheryl seemed with this guy who smelled like fish. I wonder if Cheryl’s interested in him. If so, could the feeling be mutual? And Blaine—just look at him. Terry had noticed before that Blaine didn’t make eye contact with anyone much, but he sure wasn’t having trouble looking into Cheryl’s beautiful, doe-like eyes. The worst part of it was she was looking back.

  She does seem to be better suited to him than me. Of course, opposites are supposed to attract, so there might still be some hope, Terry told himself. If I could just get her to go out with me, maybe she’d see that I’m not half-bad. The biggest problem I see is that I smoke, and since Cheryl’s allergic to smoke, that’s a strike against me. There’s only one thing to do, he decided, reaching for a piece of banana bread. I need to quit smoking. But can I do it?

  CHAPTER 13

  Elkhart

  Would you say that again?” Jan asked as he and Terry headed to a job on Monday morning. “I think I might’ve been hearing things.”

  “You heard me. I’m gonna quit smoking.”

  Jan quirked an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? What made you decide that?”

  “Cheryl’s allergic to smoke,” Terry replied, trying to sound nonchalant. “Don’t think she’ll ever go out with me if I smell like smoke. Besides, as you’ve pointed out many times, it’s bad for my health.”

  “Funny, but you’ve never worried about that before.” Jan’s deep laughter bounced off the roof of his truck. “Boy you must really have it bad!”

  “What do you mean?”

  “All the times I’ve tried to get you to quit, and you’ve just ignored me.”

  “That’s ’cause I wasn’t ready,” Terry retorted.

  “So you meet some gorgeous blond who you’ll probably only date once or twice before you dump her, and suddenly you’re ready to throw away your cigarettes? I’ll have to see that to believe it.”

  “You can laugh all you want, but I will quit smoking, and if Cheryl agrees to go out with me, I’m sure I’ll wanna date her more than a few times.”

  “You sound pretty confident. Have you even tried asking her out?”

  “No, but I will…Next Saturday, in fact.”

  “And when are you planning to quit smoking?” Jan pointed to the pack of cigarettes in Terry’s shirt pocket. “I see you’re still toting them around.”

  “I’ll quit as soon as I’ve smoked my last cigarette.”

  “When will that be?”

  “When I’ve emptied this pack,” Terry said, pulling out a cigarette and lighting up.

  “Well, you’d better smoke it up quick then, ’cause there’s only four weeks left before your quilt classes end, and that don’t leave you much time to win Cheryl over.”

  “I can do it,” Terry said with a vigorous nod. “Just wait and see. Besides, I’ll bet I can quit smoking before you get this dirty truck cleaned out.”

  Jan grunted. “I’d be more worried about your smoking habit than my truck. And you know what?”

  “What’s that?”

  “I think you oughta stop right now, so you have some time to get the smell outta your clothes. I mean, why wait around? If you expect Cheryl to take notice of you, then you oughta get right on it.”

  “I don’t know.” Terry scratched his head. “It’s not gonna be easy.”

  “Maybe God wants you to quit. Did you ever think of that?” Jan elbowed Terry in the ribs. “I’ve invited you to attend church with me and Star many times, but you always come up with some sort of excuse. Maybe if you sat in church once in a while and let God into your life, you’d have the strength and willpower it takes to quit smoking.”

  “I’ll give it some thought,” Terry said, blowing smoke out of his mouth and breathing it back up his nose.

  Goshen

  Cheryl had no more than taken a seat at her desk when the phone rang. “Edwards’ Law Firm,” she said after she’d picked up the receiver.

  “Hey, Cheryl, it’s me, Lance.”

  “Why are you calling me here at work?” Cheryl asked with irritation. She didn’t know why her ex-boyfriend would call her at all, much less at her place of employment. She didn’t want Mr. Edwards to think she was using the office phone for personal use. He probably wouldn’t appreciate it.

  “I tried your cell number but all I got was your voice mail,” Lance said.

  Cheryl reached into her purse and realized that she’d left her cell phone at home. “What do you want, Lance? I have a lot of work staring me in the face and don’t have time to talk.”

  “I won’t keep you long, but April’s birthday is next week, and I need a suggestion as to what I should buy her.”

  Cheryl tapped her fingernails on the desk. “Why ask me?”

  “You and April used to be good friends—college roommates, in fact. So if anyone should know her likes and dislikes it ought to be you.”

  “You’re the one spending time with her now. April and I don’t see each other anymore, so you should be able to figure it out on your own.” Cheryl clenched her teeth, struggling to keep her emotions in check.

  “I know that, but you used to be best friends, so I thought—”

  “Well, you thought wrong. April’s your girlfriend, so figure it out. And please, stop calling me!” Cheryl hung up the phone before Lance could say anything more. It was bad enough that he’d dumped her for April. Did he have to rub it in her face?

  She grabbed the morning’s mail and thumbed through it, anxious to get her mind on something else. As a Christian, Cheryl knew she needed to forgive April and Lance, but with him calling her like this, it was hard to control her temper. Whenever Lance called, it felt like someone had poured salt into her wound. Just when Cheryl thought she was over Lance’s rejection and April’s betrayal, he’d call again, wanting to know something about April so he could make a good impression.

  What was that verse Ruby Lee told me about? Oh yes, “I can do all things through Christ….” I surely ought to be able to take control of my emotions and not get so angry like this. Maybe I should talk to Ruby Lee or Pastor Gene about it.

  Middlebury

  When Anna arrived at work Monday morning, the first thing she did was boot up
the computer to check for e-mails from any of their English customers, who often placed their orders online.

  After she’d taken care of that, since no one but her was in the office, she decided to surf the Internet and check out some sites that sold English women’s clothes. She was fascinated with the bright colors, fancy scarves, pretty blouses, slacks, and jewelry. One of these days when she went shopping in Goshen, she planned to try on some English clothes. A few of Anna’s friends like Mandy, who hadn’t yet joined the church, dressed in English clothes whenever they were away from home and out having fun. Anna spent most of her time at work and didn’t have much free time to spend away from home, so she hadn’t been able to do all the fun things her friends did since they’d gotten out of school.

  At least I can look at pretty things online, she mused, admiring a fancy pair of women’s platform shoes. The shoes featured suede and tweed uppers, dotted suede details at the heel, and a vintage-looking bow. “Those are amazing,” Anna murmured. Of course I probably wouldn’t be able to walk in them without falling over. It’d be fun to try, though.

  Anna had taught herself how to use the online search options, and the more she used the computer, the more fascinated she became. She was amazed at the information available by simply typing in a word or two in the search window. She could visit places she’d only dreamed about, see clothes she longed to wear, and take part in some chat rooms, where she could converse with others outside the scope of her Amish community. Since the computer was in a separate room, away from where the windows were made, Anna used it for her own enjoyment whenever no one else was around. If a customer came in, she could easily minimize whatever page she’d been looking at. And she could usually hear Dad’s footsteps when he was approaching the office, so there was time to click out of whatever site she’d been exploring before he discovered what she was up to.