The Secret of the Quilt

by Olivia Swift

  “And there it can stay until we have our afternoon away,” Kim said decisively. “It is not going to spoil our celebration.” Rob slipped an arm around her shoulders, and they went back to work.

  13

  The weekend passed in a flurry of customers, and the local newspaper arrived to take photographs and ask Kim questions. Monday was quiet as far as customers were concerned, but busy as they prepared for the party. They managed to close a little early as the customers dwindled away, and Kim looked at the new and enormous building that was her very own domain. She did a little happy dance as Rob came in and smiled. He whirled her around and said he was glad to see her so happy.

  “Everything is in place, and the caterers are arriving in an hour.” They went to change into clothes for the get-together, and Rob wolf whistled as she came down the stairs in very skinny jeans with artistically arranged rips in them and appliquéd glittery stars in between the open bits. The top was a see-through vivid red with a Christmas flavor and underneath was a camisole in a paler shade. Killer heels in a glittering red to match completed the outfit, and although she had thought that maybe the whole thing was a bit over-the-top, seeing Rob’s face was worth the risk.

  “I am going for the party feel,” she explained.

  “You certainly created a masterpiece,” he said and kissed her forehead so as not to smudge her lipstick. Rob had gone for the casual look but the shirt was a new one and designer jeans.

  “You are pretty smart yourself,” she told him. “Let’s see what the caterers have done.” Some of the tables in the coffee shop had been pushed together to make a long buffet, and the food looked superb. There was a selection of drinks behind the counter and two smart young men ready to serve. Kim selected the music, and they left the Christmas lights on to create the right feel, except for the counter where the assistants needed to see what they were doing.

  Friends and relatives started to arrive, and the place hummed with greetings and shouts of delight. Jazz hugged her sister and told her she looked fabulous. Molly Kim was safely at home with a babysitter, so Evan and Jazz could relax and enjoy themselves. Carly was wearing an assortment of her handmade crystal jewelry, and Kim noticed that Katarina was sporting the same. Katarina had settled into working in the crystal shop for Carly and taken to it in a big way. Before Carly opened her shop, she worked for Jazz in her garden restoration business. Her colleague there had been Ben, who was looking very trendy, and Kim noticed that he had a new and quite outlandish hairstyle.

  “I like the hairdo,” Kim greeted him. “It’s good to see you again.” He grinned and told her that he thought he should be more up-to-date, and then he went to hover around Katarina. In fact, he stood in to help in the crystal shop sometimes and was a huge hit with the ladies who browsed for jewelry. It was an odd setup but seemed to be a hit. Kim greeted Jenny with a hug. She had brought her old friend Milo with her, and Kim was delighted to see him. He was an old family friend, and she had known him since she was a youngster. Rob came and took Milo to find a beer, and then Clay Craven arrived with his wife, Alexa, Mario, and another man. Mario introduced the man as his brother, Carlo, and said he hoped she didn’t mind, but Carlo was joining his business and wanted to see the coffee shop.

  “Of course, I don’t mind,” she said. “Help yourself to drinks and food. Jamie brought his mom, Mack, and Mack’s girlfriend, into the Christmas area and made the introductions. The part-timers, the new coffee shop assistants, and Cherie, all arrived together. Cherie had her partner with her, and Corby Santana came in quietly by herself. Kim went over and gave her a hug.

  “Come and get a drink and see the food. The caterers have done us proud,” Kim said.

  “It looks fantastic,” Corby breathed and glanced across at the quilts.

  “You are not at work,” Kim told her. “Enjoy yourself!” She looked across the now-crowded floor and saw Mario looking back. “I know you know Mario. Have you met his brother?”

  Corby smiled and nodded. “Carlo, yes, we were at school together. We go way back.” She accepted a glass of wine, and Carlo made his way across to say hello. Kim left them, satisfied that Corby was not feeling left out of things and went to talk to everyone else. The music played on, drinks flowed, and the food was demolished. The caterers replenished supplies, and in the end, most of them found seats and sat with drinks in hand, and the relaxed hum of conversation filled the air. Mack and his girlfriend had found a space to do a slow dance together, and Dex took Carly’s hand to do the same. Kim was enjoying seeing others, including Jenny and Milo, get up and join the dancers.

  She felt Rob come and rest his hands on her shoulders. He reached over and took her glass away. “Come on, gorgeous. We haven’t danced together for years.” Kim smiled and took his hand.

  “You know what Jazz will say,” she said as they started to sway to the music.

  “And she would be right, but she doesn’t know it.” He grinned in return. Jazz had noticed and nudged Evan, but he told her once more to leave it alone.

  “Do not interfere,” he warned her again, and she contained herself. When the dancers were starting to move away to sit down, Evan took his glass and called out to everyone.

  “Family and friends,” he called out. “This has been a great evening to celebrate the new garden center. Thanks, Kim and Rob, for a lovely time, and will everyone raise their glasses and drinks.” He lifted his glass “To Summers Garden World.”

  “Summers Garden World,” they all echoed and broke out into a whole riot of calls and wishes. Kim was thrilled and felt really emotional. She was glad of Rob’s arm around her shoulders and Evan’s offer of a tissue. He laughed. “When you have a baby, you always carry tissues.”

  Carlo came up and asked her about the quilt that Corby had told him about. “Our mother made quilts all her life,” he said. “Mario and I would be interested to see it if it’s possible.” One or two of the others called out thanks and goodbyes, and Kim said it was no trouble at all and went off to the garage to find it. The caterers had cleared away, and the table was conveniently bare when she came back and rolled out the quilt. Rob explained that they had made out most of the letters, and Kim had done a lot of repairs.

  “I’ve put on a new back and filling, but there is still a missing piece.” She told them about the Wilhelmina.

  Carlo touched her arm. “Does the area of the missing piece sometimes give off a warmth?” Apart from Mario, they all looked at him with undisguised curiosity. “Don’t think I am nuts. Mario will agree with me. We have seen one like this once before and the missing pieces were often warm.” Mario nodded and Kim agreed that she had felt heat when she ran her hand over the area still not completed.

  “I would be very surprised if the missing piece was not a heart,” Mario added. “I know that sounds sort of mushy, but we have seen it before. The quilt was very like this one.”

  “Their mother was a genius with quilting,” Corby added. “I think she was the one who gave me the quilting bug.”

  “She had a sense of things that other people could not always see. Dad never believed her, but she was amazingly accurate,” Mario told them.

  “Well that might well be another piece of the puzzle,” Rob said, and Kim added that if they didn’t find anything out from this Mrs. Carter, she would make the missing section a heart.

  “We’ll let you know what we find out,” she added. “I’m glad you asked to see it, because I was about to give up on finishing the whole thing.” Everyone around was curious to see the quilt and run their hand over the missing section, but it retained its secrecy and Kim folded it up and took it back to the suitcase in the garage.

  The last of the guests finally said goodnight, and Rob helped her lock the main doors and turn off the lights.

  “It went really well,” Kim said. “I am exhausted.” She flopped onto the sofa and he brought her coffee.

  “We make a good team,” he ventured.

  “Thanks for everything,” she told him
and put down the coffee. “This relationship thing . . .”

  “It seems to be working and we are still friends,” he answered and pulled her close. The kisses were long, lingering, and set sensations going inside of Kim’s whole body that she had never felt with anyone before and hadn’t expected to feel with her best friend.

  “Rob,” she started.

  “Mmm?”

  “This is more than friendship, isn’t it?” She would not let herself think about what it actually was. In fact, she had decided not to try and work it out. Rob was about to reply when she stood up and pulled him to his feet. Standing in front of him, she put her arms around his neck and whispered, “You won’t say this so it will have to be me,” she took his hand. “Leave the sofa and come to bed.”

  “You sure?” he asked, and she simply smiled and pulled him toward the stairs.

  The morning found them tangled together in a sleepy and pleasant world. The early light fell onto Rob’s sleeping face, and she pushed his hair back from his forehead, then dropped her head onto his chest and wrapped her arms around him. When he opened his eyes and found her draped across his body, Rob’s first thought was to wonder if she would regret it when she woke. She smiled as she saw him awake and dispelled his fears by kissing him good morning.

  “Definitely more than friendship,” she said.

  14

  Looking across the table at him as he ate breakfast, Kim thought about the step she had taken the night before.

  “Can we keep this new situation just between ourselves for now?” she asked. He stretched his hand across and covered hers.

  “Yes. We need to get used to it first,” he answered and smiled. “I would rather keep you all to myself.” He paused. “You are a fantastic woman.”

  Kim smiled and stood up. “You’re pretty good yourself,” she said as she found a jacket, to go outside and open up. He caught up with her and took her hand.

  “People will think the job is finished and wonder why am I still here,” he suggested, and she stopped walking and thought about it.

  “We are still not sure about the quilt being damaged, and you don’t want me here on my own until we are certain?” she asked, and he agreed that it would sound plausible.

  “I will take more time to sort out my own business through the day,” he told her. “Although there is not a lot of earth moving required in December, Jimbo can handle whatever there is.”

  “Things are going to be busy, and Santa arrives today as the grotto swings into full Christmas mode. The advertising and the newspapers should bring customers,” Kim told him, and they agreed that they would take Thursday afternoon, if everything was under control, to track down Mrs. Carter.

  “She might not even be there, or be related, or be prepared to talk to us. If we get nowhere, I will just make a heart for the middle and finish the thing off.”

  “Then all systems go—until Christmas,” he answered. “We can relax at Jazz and Evan’s on Christmas Eve at their party.”

  “That reminds me that I saw a beautiful, furry baby coat and a matching soft toy for Molly Kim. I will run down in between times to pick them up before they sell out,” she said.

  “And who knows what the New Year will bring,” he said and claimed a quick kiss before they opened up the entrance. Rob left her to it and went to see to his own affairs.

  The staff now had an entrance of their own since the changes, and Jamie was already in the greenhouses. The others arrived more or less together, and the man booked to play Santa arrived and was introduced. He unpacked his outfit and put it on top of his ordinary clothes. It was amazing how the beard and spectacles transformed him into some magical creature. The man did have lovely twinkling eyes and had played the part many times before. Kim took him and showed him the system and the free gifts for children. He had signs to put up to say he would be back shortly if he needed to take five minutes, and she left him to settle in and rearrange the seats to his own liking.

  Customers started to trickle in, and the assistants were coping beautifully. The coffee shop offered enticing goodies, and some of the customers took a drink and sat at the tables. Kim walked through the entire place and ended up with the greenhouses. She knew Jamie would have everything under control but asked him if he needed anything. It was a good feeling that the whole place was working. The advertising had worked, and the place started to fill up.

  Kim made a sandwich for herself at lunchtime and quickly popped an orange cake into the oven.

  “My cake-making has taken a back seat,” she thought as Rob came in to join her.

  “Cake later, wonderful,” he said, kissed her on top of the head and ate her sandwich. She laughed and made another.

  “If everything stays as it is, I think I can take an afternoon off,” Kim said.

  Things did, amazingly, keep on working smoothly. Evan came in each day to check on the supplies for the coffee shop, and Jazz came down with him once just to see how it was going.

  “We are taking Thursday afternoon to see if we can find Mrs. Carter,” Kim told her sister, and Evan said that he would stay for the afternoon if she wanted him to.

  “Thanks. That would be great,” she said. On Thursday, with the quilt in a satchel, they took the two hours’ journey to where the census showed that Mrs. Carter had been living at the time.

  “This might be a wasted journey,” Kim remarked, but Rob reached across and took her hand.

  “Never,” he said. “A trip out together is great anyway. If we don’t find her, we’ll just have some time away to ourselves.” She smiled and squeezed his hand in return.

  “This is the street,” Rob said, as he drove down a pleasant and very ordinary road in the suburbs of town. The navigation system told him that he had reached his destination and he pulled up to look around.

  “That’s it,” Kim said quite excitedly. “At least we found the house.” It was a small, white-painted house with a tidy grass area at the front, pretty curtains at the window, and a blue front door. She knocked and they waited. There was a short time-lapse, and then the sound of someone behind the door. It opened cautiously, and Kim gasped.

  “Miranda?” The woman smiled and told them she was Mirabelle, but her grandmother had been Miranda. Kim was not sure what to make of that. “Had been?” She thought, but stepped inside when Mirabelle opened the door wide and invited them in.

  “They tell me I am the very likeness of my grandmother. How can I help you?”

  “It sounds silly,” Kim started, “but we bought an old quilt from a lady called Miranda who looked like you. The quilt was damaged, but I’ve been repairing it, and we worked out a puzzle of sorts written into the decoration.” Mirabelle smiled.

  “Wonderful,” she told them. “How did you find me?” Between them, they explained the ticket and Jules’s research and asked if they had the right place. Mirabelle thought for a short while.

  “I was always told that one day the quilt would come back into our lives, and we could help with the restoration.” She paused. “Yes, you have found the right family. I can tell you what I know.”

  “Please,” Kim said, and Mirabelle told them that her great-great-grandparents were the Kate and Robbie MacManus named on the quilt, and they had a son who carried on their business.

  “His daughter was my grandmother, Miranda. She inherited the quilt that had always been treasured as a symbol of love.”

  “I feel a ‘but’ about to happen,” Rob interjected, and she nodded.

  “She married the wrong man. Her parents tried to stop her, but she ran off and married him. He was part of a crooked family and one who did their dirty work for them. She did have a daughter, my mother, but the husband was a nasty man and went to jail for murder.” Kim gasped. “This is awful.”

  “Mirabelle agreed and told them her mother had been raised by her grandparents.

  “Before he went to jail, Barton—he was called Barton Marine—took the thing she treasured: the quilt. He ripped it and tore
the center out of it; he threw it out of the window, and it blew away.” She looked away into the distance and sighed. “They were in a second-floor apartment, and by the time she ran downstairs, it was gone. It either blew away or someone found it. He attacked her when she came back into the house and then he left.”

  “That is simply awful,” Kim cried out. “Poor woman. Did she ever see him again?” Mirabelle shook her head.

  “She died a few years later, and my mom always said she died of a broken heart. He was my grandfather, but I never saw him, and he died in jail.”

  “What a terrible ending,” Kim grasped Rob’s hand. “I wish I’d never found out.”

  “You are putting it right, Kim,” he said. “Show Mirabelle the quilt.”

  “I’ve never seen it. Well maybe I did as a small child, but I don’t remember it,” Mirabelle said with a smile. “I’m glad you found it.”

  “Or it found me,” Kim answered, as she took the quilt out of the bag and unrolled it onto a table. “There was something mysterious and magical about the little shop, and some strange things have happened since we brought the quilt home.” When Mirabelle asked what sorts of things, they recounted the music, the tears in the material, and the coincidences of the names and initials.

  “Someone suggested that all of the people who helped were destined to come together to solve the problem,” Rob added.

  “Do you suppose that Barton Marine is still trying to destroy it?” Kim wondered. “It would explain how nobody could have been in the house and ripped the material.”

  “It is a possibility. You are trying to put things right, and he wanted to hurt her by tearing it apart,” Mirabelle answered. You and your friends have searched and that brought you to me,” Mirabelle said and stood up. She went to a cupboard and pulled out a small box that she brought over to them. “Maybe I have the last piece of the puzzle. There have been many times when this was almost thrown away, but for some reason it never was.” The two visitors looked mystified until she opened the box and took out a faded envelope.