Mavis made a show of taking off her plastic rain bonnet and shaking the drops off in the sink.
"How is everyone doing this fine afternoon?” She took off her coat and hung it on the back of the chair opposite Neelie. Harriet could tell the older woman had sensed the tension in the room. “Carla, honey, could you make me a nice cup of tea?"
Carla turned from the group, banging the kettle onto the stove.
"You must be Neelie,” Mavis said, and held her hand out to the young woman. “Welcome to Foggy Point."
Neelie took it and smiled.
"I guess you don't get too many Africans in your town,” she said in her lilting English.
"That's a fact,” Mavis said. “I'm so sorry you're here under such sad circumstances."
"Yes, it is a terrible thing that happened to my sister."
"It's hard to lose someone close to you. You were close?"
"When we were younger, we were like twins. After we grew up, I moved to the city, and my sister stayed in our village, so we didn't see each other as often as we wished."
"Well, that makes it more difficult, I'm sure,” Mavis said.
"It has been very hard. And also the baby..."
"Beth told me you've brought your sister's baby to Aiden.” Mavis looked her in the eye. “Why is that?"
Neelie sat back in her chair. “I should think that would be obvious. My sister Nabirye told me to bring the baby to her father, and she gave me his name and address."
"So, this was a plan you two had, just in case?” Harriet asked.
Mavis glared at her.
"My sister was very ill. When it became clear she could not live, she asked me to take baby Kissa to her father. There was no plan. It was her wish in death, so I had to do what she asked, though I spent all the money I had paying for the doctor to try to save my sister, an effort that failed."
"If you spent all your money on the doctor, how did you get here?” Harriet persisted, in spite of the murderous look Mavis was giving her.
"My sister's church gave me a ticket and a small amount of money, which unfortunately is now gone,” Neelie snapped. “Things are very expensive in America."
"Let me call Pastor Hafer at our Methodist church and see if there are any emergency funds for this sort of thing. I'm sure he can help us sort this out."
"She can stay here,” Carla said.
Mavis and Harriet both whirled to face the younger woman.
"That baby looks exhausted,” Carla went on, “and they have all kinds of baby stuff in the nursery here for when Avanell's grandchildren came to visit. Besides, they're already here."
"I'm not sure that's a good idea,” Harriet said.
"I can ask Aiden when he calls."
"No!"
Harriet knew her response was a little too loud. Carla's cheeks burned.
"What I mean is, I was hoping we could save all this...” She waved toward Neelie. “...until Aiden is back. He's dealing with a very stressful situation at work, and he can't do anything about this until he comes home anyway."
"They could stay with me at my place,” Mavis offered.
"It's kind of you to offer,” Harriet said, “but I think Carla's right. This place has a full nursery setup and lots of room."
Mavis raised her left eyebrow as she turned and looked at Harriet. Harriet gave her a slight nod.
"Well, honey, if you think it's the right thing to do..."
"I'll show you to your room,” Carla told Neelie as she set Mavis's tea on the table. “You look like you could use some rest."
Neelie got to her feet. She wobbled a little, then followed Carla out of the kitchen.
"Okay, why are you so agreeable about this stranger staying with our Carla? And what's wrong with that girl?"
"We need more information, and what better way to get more information than by having Neelie and the baby where we can keep track of them. Besides, from Carla's behavior, I'm guessing she doesn't think Neelie is taking care of the baby properly."
"I was getting that feeling myself. Neelie looks like she's not doing a very good job of taking care of herself, let alone a baby."
"She was looking pretty shaky before you got here. I asked her if she's diabetic, and she didn't answer, but she did perk up after I gave her some orange juice, so she either was starving or she is diabetic."
"Something about her story just isn't ringing true,” Mavis said. “And by the way, she is the one I saw arguing with the checker—minus the accent."
"I wish Aiden was here. He could clear this up in a minute."
"No sense dwelling on that. If he's not going to be home for a week or so, we'll just have to deal with it ourselves."
"Do you think Carla will be safe here with that woman under her roof?"
"It's a little late to be worrying about that now, isn't it? Besides, our meek little friend seems to turn into a tiger when a baby is involved."
"I wonder what Terry's up to these days,” Harriet said, referring to Terry Jansen, Carla's new Navy-investigator boyfriend.
"I asked Carla at our last meeting, and after much blushing and stammering, she told me he is still very present. I wonder if maybe we should put a bug in his ear about the current situation."
"Too bad I lost my contacts when my phone got crunched. I had his number."
"Fortunately, when he was questioning us all about what happened last month, he gave me his number, too. Being the hip yet old-fashioned grandmother that I am...” Mavis smiled. “...I not only put it in my cell phone, I also wrote it in my address book at home, just in case I lost my phone or something."
"Well, aren't you the smart one."
"I'll call him about Carla's situation when I get home. Maybe you could give Lauren a jingle and see if she can she can find anything out about Carla's new house guest."
"Sure. I haven't had a good dressing down by Lauren in, oh, I don't know, three days, maybe."
Mavis smiled. “I'd say you're due, then."
Carla came back into the kitchen, ending the conversation. She was still holding the receiver to Wendy's monitor.
"Did I just make a big mistake?” she asked Mavis as she collapsed into a chair. Her cheeks turned pink.
"No, honey,” Mavis said and patted her hand. “You were speaking from your heart."
"She's been starving that baby. Did you see how thin her little legs are?"
"It sounded like she's only had the baby for a few days,” Mavis said. “And they did come from Africa."
"But she's not in Africa now, and she's still not feeding the baby right."
"Now, honey,” Mavis soothed. “She isn't a mother herself. This is her sister's child. She might not know how to take proper care of a baby."
"Well, I do know how to take care of a baby, and as long as she's here, she's getting three squares."
"I'm sure she'll appreciate that,” Harriet said. “As long as they're going to be here, try to find out what you can about them. Keep it friendly—don't make her suspicious, or we won't get anything—but keep your eyes and ears open."
"I can do that.” Carla's cheeks turned a darker pink.
"Not to change the subject,” Mavis said, doing exactly that, “how are the shower preparations coming along?"
Carla stood up. “Come see,” she said, and led the way across the hall to the formal dining room.
Mavis and Harriet spent the next twenty minutes admiring the pink streamers and balloons Carla had hung from the chandelier, checking the placement of forks, knives, spoons and napkins as well as Carla's choice of china teacups and saucers. Harriet was proud of her young friend, and knew she'd had a daunting collection of china and silver to choose from at the Jalbert house. Aiden's mother had been an avid collector of both.
"This looks great,” she said.
Carla looked down at her feet. “I got a book from the library to see how to set the table."
"You did a fine job,” Mavis agreed.
Carla lifted the lid of the delicate fl
oral china sugar bowl. “I got that special turbine sugar."
"Turbinado?” Harriet said.
"Yes, and I got white cubes in case people don't like the brown kind.” She lifted the lid of a cut-crystal sugar bowl.
"Seems like you're all ready,” Mavis said. “It's a good thing, too, since now you're going to be playing host to Neelie and Kissa."
"I don't mind,” Carla said quietly. “I know how hard it is."
"Just don't let her take advantage of you,” Harriet cautioned.
"Don't you worry,” Mavis said and put her arm around Carla's thin shoulders. “It's a good thing you're doing for that baby, and I don't believe for a minute you can't handle Miss Neelie."
"I need to go stitch your quilt,” Harriet told Mavis. “Carla, call me if you need anything, and I do mean anything. I'll see you both tomorrow."
She understood why Carla was reaching out to Neelie, but she didn't like leaving her vulnerable friend with a stranger who seemed to have only a passing acquaintance with the truth.
Then she prepared to endure the abuse she was sure to get from Lauren—it would be worth it if she could find out who Neelie Obote really was and why she'd come to Foggy Point.
[Back to Table of Contents]
Chapter 7
Harriet had planned to go straight home and back to her long-arm machine, but as she started to pull out of Aiden's driveway, she found herself turning the opposite direction, toward Lauren's place.
According to Aunt Beth, Lauren had joined the Loose Threads quilting group three years earlier. She'd been a beginner when she moved to Foggy Point and, unfortunately, had been taught by a quilter who had a very vague understanding of copyright as it applied to patterns and designs. It had taken the Loose Threads two of those three years to undo that bad early training and convince her that, if she wanted to create her own patterns, she couldn't start with someone else's copyrighted photo or drawing—rendering an image in fabric didn't erase the image owner's rights. Lauren had been convinced and was now attending classes in design and stitching at a folk art school in Angel Harbor.
In spite of her acerbic personality, and her tendency to blame Harriet for her quilting misfortunes, Lauren had high-level computer skills and, Harriet had to grudgingly admit, was good at crisis problem-solving.
Lauren lived in a large apartment over a wooden boat sale-and-repair business near the dock in Smuggler's Cove; she'd moved there the previous month. Harriet parked on the street and walked around the boat showroom to a flight of exterior stairs that led to an upstairs porch and Lauren's door. She savored the fish-tinged smell of the sea for a moment before reaching toward the wooden door.
It opened before she knocked.
"So, what do you want me to look up now?” Lauren asked without preamble. “Don't pretend this is a social call. You never come calling unless you want something. Let's have it."
"Are you busy?” Harriet asked while she tried to think up a reason for her visit other than the real one, which was, in fact, to ask her to look something up on her computer.
"I'm always busy. What do you want?"
"After the last Loose Threads meeting, Aunt Beth and I stayed to look at fabric for functional dog quilts."
"Can we move on to the part where I have to research something?” Lauren circled her hand to encourage Harriet to move along.
"I'm trying to tell you if you'd stop interrupting."
Lauren performed her standard eye-roll but kept her mouth shut.
"As I was saying, Aunt Beth and I were at the quilt store after everyone else left, and a woman with a baby came in. She claimed she's brought her sister's baby to Aiden."
"Why on earth would she do that?"
"She said her sister in Africa died and asked her to bring the baby to him."
"Oh,” Lauren said in a louder voice. “So, Aiden has a kid we didn't know about, an African one, at that? How'd he explain it? I mean, the part about not telling anyone about it."
"He didn't. He's out of town, and he doesn't have cell reception."
"I suppose you want me to find the baby's birth certificate. That could be impossible, depending on whether the baby was born in a hospital or not."
"Actually, we were wondering if you could check out the sister, the one who brought the baby here. And the mother, if you can."
"We who were wondering?"
Harriet explained about Neelie showing up at Aiden's and the subsequent arrangements.
"This Neelie sounds like she's got a lot of nerve, trying to bully her way into Aiden's house while he's gone. Are you sure it's a good idea for her to be there with Carla? She's kind of a wimp. Who knows what she'll let the girl carry out of the place before he gets back."
"Well, that would be why we were hoping you could check her out. She's very pushy. And she broke my cell phone, so if you need to reach me, either call on my business line or call Aunt Beth. Carla is worried about the baby. Mavis is going to call Terry and let him know what's going on."
"Back up,” Lauren said. “She broke your cell phone?"
"You don't want to know."
"It's probably a good idea about Terry. Here.” Lauren handed her a small tablet and a pen. “Write the names down and anything else you can think of. I'll see what I can find out."
"Let me know as soon as you find anything."
"The usual disclaimers apply."
"I know, no promises, and your paying customers come first, etc., etc., etc..."
"Have you done your dog block yet?” Lauren asked, changing the subject.
"No, Phyllis gave me a last-minute rush job, and Mavis has the first piece of Joseph's quilt ready to go on my machine as soon as I get home."
"I'm glad Robin or whoever it was decided we need a few more days. I'm playing with a doghouse block that's showing promise. I went to the senior home again this morning to help Sarah with a software problem, and she showed me hers. And yes, in spite of all her whining, she had a block done. Anyway, she's trying to do something with dog bones. I tried not to laugh, but her bones didn't look like bones, and I'm pretty sure her result would have to have an X rating."
"Did you tell her that?"
"I laughed, and she stuffed it back into her bag. After that, she wasn't interested in anything I had to say. And I did try to be tactful."
Harriet wished she could have been a fly on the wall for that conversation.
"I like your new place,” she said as she started to leave.
"You want to stay for some tea?” Lauren asked. “I'll understand if you're too busy,” she added in a rush.
"I think I have a few minutes,” Harriet replied. “I'd love a cup of tea.” She set her purse down by Lauren's sofa and followed her into her kitchen.
Harriet hadn't planned on spending an entire hour, but Lauren was reaching out to her, and she couldn't ignore that. She was sipping her peppermint herb tea with clover honey when she realized that, in all the uproar of Neelie's arrival, she'd forgotten to check on Randy. It was unlikely she'd talk to Aiden before the shower, so she'd just add it to her ever-growing list of to-do items.
"Where have you been?” Aunt Beth asked when she finally came into her studio through the outside door.
"Having tea with Lauren.
"Don't you lie to me,” Beth scolded.
"I'm not, and what are you doing here, anyway. Not that I don't love seeing you anytime, but I wasn't expecting you, was I?” She set her purse on the floor by one of the wingback chairs in the small waiting area set up near the door.
"Mavis filled me in on the doings at Aiden's house. I wanted to hear your take on it, and since you don't have a cell phone anymore, I couldn't call and ask. Anyway, I have a few tricks up my sleeve that might come in handy on Mavis's quilt piece."
"Have you been holding out on me?"
"Well, I can't tell you everything I know, now, can I? You might not need me anymore if I did that."
"You know that will never happen.” Harriet put her arm around h
er aunt's shoulders and quickly filled her in on Neelie's arrival at Aiden's and Carla's decision to let the woman and child stay with her.
"Mavis is going to call Terry and let him know what's going on, and I stopped by Lauren's to see what she can find out about Neelie and her sister. She also told me she'd seen Sarah, and that Sarah's attempts at making a dog bone block hadn't gone too well."
"I've been fiddling with novelty print fabrics with dog images on them,” Beth said. “The problem I'm running into is that none of the fabric companies make an extensive line of pet fabric that coordinates. I've collected half-yard cuts of every dog fabric on the market, and they're all over the map. I've got cartoon images, realistic dogs, pastel backgrounds, bright-colored backgrounds and everything in between. None of it goes together."
"Remember that class we took where we cut four-inch squares and mixed them all up in a garbage bag and then blindly pulled them out and sewed them into four-patch blocks? It was supposed to prove there were no bad combinations."
"Supposed to being the operative phrase there.” Beth sighed. “Trust me, my combinations are terrible."
"Maybe we can water them down by alternating them with a lot of great batiks."
"Let's see what we can do with Mavis's piece first,” Beth said. “I took the liberty of loading it onto the machine. I had an idea I want to show you about how to deal with the seam between the old and the new parts."
[Back to Table of Contents]
Chapter 8
Harriet woke up early on the morning of DeAnn's baby shower. She'd forgotten to put a midnight snack in Fred's food bowl the night before, and he'd punished her by head-butting her awake at six-thirty. By the time she staggered downstairs and provided a gob of the gelatinous goop Aiden had prescribed for Fred to clear up his dandruff, she was wide awake.
"Listen, you little wretch,” she said to him as he circled his dish and rubbed his face on her bare leg. “This was your idea. We could still be in our warm bed."
She hadn't changed the thermostat on the furnace to fall settings yet, and consequently, the kitchen was freezing. She was in the midst of her daily internal debate over the merits of going out for a walk versus going back to bed for another half-hour when the flashing red light on her answering machine caught her eye.
Quilt by Association Page 4
