The Half-Stitched Amish Quilting Club - 02 - The Tattered Quilt (7 page)

“That’s right,” Lamar agreed. “Some people prefer the more traditional patterns, like the Lone Star, and some enjoy making something unusual like my Pheasant Trail or Horseshoe pattern.”

“When did quilting first begin?” Carmen asked.

“In a traditional sense, not until the 1870s,” Lamar replied.

“At first the fabrics were solid and dark, much like our plain choice of clothing.” Emma smiled, as she pointed to another quilt made with maroon, brown, and off-white colors. “But later, pastels and whites were added to many of our quilts.”

“Do all Amish women quilt?” Selma asked, realizing she’d better stay low-key.

Emma shook her head. “Many do, but some women keep busy with other things and don’t have time to quilt.”

Selma was about to comment, when the door to the quilting room swung open, and a young, auburn-haired Amish woman rushed in. Her long green dress had several splotches of dirt on it, and there was a large tear near the hem. The stiff white cap on her head was askew, and her cheeks were red as a ripe cherry. “S–sorry I’m late,” she panted. “I had a little accident on my bike.”

Emma was relieved that Anna had made it to class, but she felt concern seeing the state of disarray the poor girl was in. “Are you all right?” she asked. “Were you hurt?”

Anna shook her head as she reached up to push her head covering back in place. “I think my knees are scraped up a bit, but I’m okay.”

“How’d it happen?” Lamar questioned. “Did you spin out in some gravel, or what?”

Anna frowned. “When a stupid black dog started chasing me and tried to get a hold of my skirt, I got scared and pedaled faster to get away. That’s when I lost control of the bike and ran into a ditch beside the road.”

“What happened when you fell?” Emma asked. “Did the
hund
bite you?”

“No, but I was afraid he might. Some English man pulled up in his car to see if I was all right, and when he hollered at the dog, it took off like a shot.”

“Why don’t you go down the hall to our bathroom and make sure you’re not bleeding,” Emma suggested, noticing the look of embarrassment in Anna’s light brown eyes. “Washcloths are in the cabinet, and the bandages are in the medicine chest by the sink.”

“I’ll do that right now.” Anna scurried out of the room, muttering something under her breath.

Poor girl. She’s probably self-conscious
. Emma turned her attention back to the class, although she wondered how much information she would get through to her students today. They’d gotten a late start, and with Selma’s know-it-all attitude, this might be a difficult class to teach.
I’ve never had one like her before
, Emma thought, cringing inwardly.
Of course it can’t be any harder to teach this class than it was my very first one
,
when I had such a mix of unusual characters
. Emma remembered how surprised she’d been that first day when a young English woman with a sour attitude; a preacher’s wife with church problems; a man and his wife struggling with marital discord; a Hispanic teacher, recently widowed; and a tattooed biker on probation had showed up at her door. If she could teach them how to quilt and deal with some of their personal problems, maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to work with this group of people. At least she hoped that would be the case. After all, there were just four students. Surely they couldn’t all have issues.

I’ll need to remind myself to take one week at a time and just do my best
, she told herself.
With God’s help, nothing is impossible
.

C
HAPTER
6

S
ure wish we didn’t have to work today,” Terry complained as Jan pulled his truck and utility trailer into Emma’s yard. “I’d rather be out riding my Harley.”

“Same here, but we can’t leave those shingles we tore off the Millers’ roof yesterday lying in the yard.” Jan popped all five fingers on his right hand—a habit he’d started lately. “When we show up here on Monday morning, I want to be able to start on the new roof right away. Of course if we had a gofer things would move along faster.”

Terry scratched his head. “A gopher? What are you talking about?”

“You know. Having another guy to take care of the odd stuff, like picking up the old shingles, instead of us having to do it,” Jan explained. “Someone who’d bring us stuff when we’re working on the roof. Tools and such. Like I said, a gofer.” He grinned. “They’d go fer this and go fer that.”

Terry chuckled. “Oh yeah…that kind of gopher.”

Jan thumped Terry’s arm. “Well, since we don’t have one, I think we oughta get these old shingles picked up.”

“Guess you’re right. I’ll just have to make plans to go riding next Saturday. Do you and Star want to go along?”

Jan shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ll have to wait and see what she’s up to. She may have to work, or she could be in Fort Wayne, visiting her mom and stepdad.”

“Do you ever wish you and Bunny could’ve gotten back together?”

“Sometimes.” Jan sighed. “But I guess it’s better this way. There was a certain kind of chemistry between me and Bunny when we were teenagers, but after Star was born, her mom changed. She couldn’t have really loved me back then if she could just run away and take our baby without looking back or letting me know where she was going. Even if Bunny had tried to start something up with me after Star came back into my life, I don’t think I could have ever trusted her again.” He groaned. “I’m not sure marriage is even right for me. Think me and my dog, Brutus, are better off without a wife telling us what to do.”

“I know what you mean.” Terry slapped his knee. “Don’t think I’ll ever tie the knot.” He slowly shook his head. “Not with the way things turned out for my folks.”

“It’s a shame they split up after being married so many years,” Jan said, running his finger over the film of dirt clinging to the dashboard of his truck. “Figured after they’d gone to see a counselor that things might get better.”

“Yeah, me, too. They were doing better for a while, but then Dad started drinking pretty heavy, so Mom kicked him out.”

Jan gave the fingers on his left hand a good pop. “Life is full of disappointments, ain’t it?”

“That’s for sure. Sometimes it stinks.”

“But some things we just can’t change, and right now we’d better quit yammering and get to work.” Jan opened the truck door and stepped out.

Terry hopped out, too, and went around and opened the back of the utility trailer. The sooner they got the shingles picked up, the sooner he could return to the single-wide trailer he rented from his uncle Ted. Not that there was anything great waiting for him there. It would just be nice to flake out for the rest of the day. Sometimes he wished he had a home of his own—maybe a log cabin surrounded by trees.

Maybe I oughta look into buying a small piece of land
, Terry thought.
Then I could start building a cabin during my free time
. He grabbed some shingles and pitched them into the trailer.
Well, I can’t think about that right now. I’ve got work to do
.

Terry and Jan had only been working a short time, when a sporty looking, silver-gray car pulled into the yard. A slender young woman with short blond hair worn in a bob stepped out of the car. She was dressed in beige slacks and a rose-colored pullover sweater that showed off her womanly curves. She glanced up at the house, then opened her trunk and removed a cardboard box. Glancing briefly at Terry and Jan, she headed for Emma’s house, walking with an air of confidence.

“Now there’s a real looker,” Terry said, as the woman stepped onto the porch.

Jan rolled his blue eyes. “She’s probably here for Emma’s quilt class, and don’t get any dumb ideas, ’cause she’s most likely married. Even if she’s not, she looks too sophisticated for a guy like you.”

“What are you sayin’, man? You think I’m not good enough for someone like her?”

“I ain’t saying that at all. Just don’t think you’d have anything in common with the woman.” Jan motioned to her car. “For crying out loud, she drives a Corvette. How’s that compare to your beat-up truck?”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out if she’s married or not,” Terry said, ignoring Jan’s remark.

“Oh yeah, what’s that?”

Terry rubbed his hands briskly together. “I’ll go in the house and check things out.”

Jan grunted. “Check out what, Terry? Are you just gonna barge into Emma’s home and ask the blond-haired chick if she’s married? And if she’s not, are ya gonna ask her out?”

Terry shrugged. “I might.”

“Don’t be such a sap. Emma would be shocked if you did something like that, and the cute little blond would probably laugh right in your face.”

“Maybe not. Maybe she likes the strong, silent type.”

Jan leaned his head back and roared. “You, the silent type? Now that’s a good one!”

“Well, maybe I’m not silent all of the time, but I am strong.” Terry gave his ponytail a flip and chuckled. “Could be, too, that the pretty little thing likes men with flaming red hair.”

Jan pointed to the shingles nearby. “Just get busy picking these up and quit fantasizing.”

Terry’s eyebrows lifted.
“Fantasizing?
Where’d you pick up a word like that?”

“I ain’t stupid, ya know.” Jan shook his head. “For your information, being around Star so much and listening to some of the song lyrics she’s written has broadened my vocabulary.”

Terry bent down and grabbed an armful of shingles. “If you say so.”

After heaving the shingles into the bed of the trailer, Terry turned to Jan and said, “Just as soon as we’re done here, I think I’ll go inside and see what I can find out about the blond. Is that okay with you?”

Jan turned his hands palms up. “Suit yourself. Just don’t say I didn’t give you fair warning if someone throws you out on your ear. I’d hate to have to say, ‘I told you so.’ ”

When Emma heard a knock on the front door, she turned to Lamar and said, “Would you mind getting that? It’s probably Jan. I saw him and Terry pull into the yard a bit ago.”

“Sure, no problem. You go on teaching the class, and I’ll be back in a minute.” Lamar shuffled out of the room, moving at a slower pace than usual. Emma hoped his back wasn’t hurting again. He’d had trouble with it since he’d bent the wrong way to pick something up two weeks ago. A few visits to the chiropractor and Lamar said his back felt better, but maybe he just didn’t want her to worry.