by Judith Pella
“I fear you will no longer like me,” she said.
The creaking sound of the front door opening made them both freeze.
“Ma! I’m home! Where is everyone?” yelled Georgie.
“My brother’s home from school,” Ellie said needlessly.
Zack nodded. But before he turned once again to leave, he added, “I still like you, Ellie.” Then he spun around and fairly raced away.
“Hi’ya, Reverend!” Georgie said as they passed each other in the front room.
“Hi, Georgie,” Zack said, flinging open the door and continuing on his way.
“Hey, Reverend,I hear the fish are biting down at the pond.”
Zack kept walking. The last thing he wanted to be reminded of just then was that pond.
TWENTY
Ellie sat on the parlor sofa for some time before the trembling inside quieted. She had surely made an absolute fool of herself. Yes, Reverend L ocklin said he understood and didn’t think less of her, but what had she expected? That he point an accusing finger at her and shout, “Scarlet woman!”
His reaction confused her even more. He was so unlike one’s typical idea of a minister that she didn’t understand why she felt the way she did about him.
Finally she rose, picked up the tea tray, and left the parlor. Georgie was sitting at the table with a handful of cookies.
“Where is everybody?” he asked, chewing an oatmeal cookie.
“Mama’s in the garden; Maggie’s at the Arlingtons’; Dad is at the mill,” she replied in a perfunctory manner.
“What’s that you got? Is that shortcake?”
“Yes . . .” she replied, realizing she was speaking as if through a haze, but she couldn’t help it. She could only state the obvious, unable to think clearly.
“Oh, for Reverend Locklin.”
“We had company,” she said, not really hearing him.
“Hey, was the reverend paying court to you?”
Ellie blinked, the words finally nudging her back to reality. “No! Of course not!” she snapped. “We were just—I don’t have to answer all your questions.”
“This family gets stranger every day,” said Georgie. “Boyd is walking around with his head in the clouds. You are as touchy as a wet cat. Maggie is—” He stopped there, glanced toward the pile of school books on the table, and then said no more.
Ellie brought the tray to the sink. She poured the sugar from the china bowl back into the crock on the sideboard. She was about to put away the shortcake when Georgie took note.
“Hey, is that shortcake?” he asked again. “Doesn’t look like anyone even touched it.”
“No . . . we didn’t.”
Georgie shook his head. “Like I said, strange . . . very strange.” He reached for a piece.
She jerked away the dish. “You’ve had enough sweets.”
“Well, someone needs to eat it, since obviously the reverend didn’t like it.”
“He did so like me—I mean it—I mean—oh, take it!” She thrust the dish at him, and he took it without further argument. She then spun around and left the kitchen. Mama would not be happy that she hadn’t washed and put away her good china, but she’d do it later. Right now she had to be alone.
Upstairs in her room she went to the window seat and plopped down, curling her legs up under her. The window looked out on the yard with a perfect view of the willow. No surprise it made her think of the block she’d made for the welcome quilt. How carefully, and yes, almost lovingly she had stitched it. She had put so much effort into it for a stranger. And now that she knew the recipient? Now that she had actually kissed him, looked into the depths of his eyes—warm and kind eyes they were, too. For sure there was a spark of mischief in them, as perhaps no minister should have, and in spite of all she imagined she desired, she rather liked that. Besides, having looked so closely at him, into those eyes, she saw there was goodness in him. As her mother would say, at his heart he was good. Not good for a minister but good for a man. He could have laughed at her impulsive behavior or scorned her, but he had tried to make her feel better. Though he’d been clearly rattled himself, he’d made sure his last words to her had been an assurance that he still liked her.
Would she put as much care into a quilt block for him now? Oh yes!
She knew a kiss was only a kiss. She had kissed Colby Stoddard a couple of times, and she knew she did not love him.I n fact, she had tried very hard to love him, for he would have been a fine husband. She gave her head an ironic shake. She had tried as hard to love Colby as she was now trying not to love Reverend Locklin.
“Dear L ord,I am so confused,” she found herself praying. Only then did she realize how much she needed to give this situation to God. “I just don’t know what I want, or what I should want.” She remembered something. “I want to want what You want for me, Father. Please show me what you want and what I should do.”
Leaning her head against the glass pane, she drew close the sewing basket she kept on the window seat.I t was there for just this purpose. She liked to sit at the window and think—and she always thought better with sewing in her hands. She picked up one of her hexagon diamonds. The one she was currently working on needed a few more of the darker hexagons on the outside row to make it complete. There were about ten dark hexagons left. She’d soon have to cut more if she intended to make more diamonds. She loved this pattern and could see it as a special quilt upon the master bed. For that she’d need to make at least as many more as she already had. But she didn’t mind. As she had told ReverendL ocklin, she so enjoyed each new combination of fabrics that each block was a new adventure, one that had kept her interest for ten years. She had nearly fifty diamonds made.
Digging into the bottom of the basket she took out the very first diamond she had made.I t was of light blue and dark blue. Mama had made Easter dresses for her and Maggie of this material when they were young. Examining the diamond, Ellie could tell it had been done by an inexperienced quilter, though by then she had been stitching for four years. L ike most girls she had started serious sewing instruction at age five. Even at that, her work was not too bad, for even as a nine-year-old she’d had a steady, careful hand.
Picking up a new hexagon, which was already basted to paper, she laid it against the last hexagon of the diamond and, using a fine needle and fine thread, sewed them together with a tiny whip stitch. This diamond was green. Many other colors were also represented in the other diamonds. She called it her jewel-box quilt. When she had enough diamond shapes, she would connect them all with a light-colored fabric, probably muslin.
ReverendL ocklin thought her perseverance in working with this quilt indicated patience and faithfulness.I t was interesting how he had so quickly found the relation between stitching and life. She often saw that connection. Sometimes she thought she enjoyed patchwork so much because she could take plain, even worn, fabrics and put them together into such beautiful shapes. That was just what God did with His Church. Each individual part might not be perfect, but together they made something special.
Well, that might be a bit much, but Mama often used sewing to teach lessons about life, so there must be something to it.
Ellie was about to add the final hexagon to the diamond when the door burst open. She gave a start.
“Goodness, Maggie! You like to scare me to death,” Ellie scolded. “Can’t you knock first?”
“What? Knock on my own bedroom door? That’s a bit much even for you, Ellie.” Maggie gave the door a hard push, and it closed with a bang.
“How’d you get so dirty?” Ellie asked, noting that her sister was indeed nearly covered in grime.
“I wasn’t sitting by a window sewing all day. Working in a garden, in case you didn’t know, is dirty work.” As Maggie spoke she unfastened the straps of her overalls. “Louise is way behind in her garden. She only had a few rows of corn planted and beans. I got in squash and carrots and some turnips.”
“That was very nice of you,” Ellie com
mented.
“Nice? Mama forced me to go.” She slipped off her overalls and tossed them into a corner.
“Can’t you put them into the laundry hamper?”
“I’ll get to it later. Mama told me to change and get you so we can help with supper.” Maggie rummaged through one of the drawers in the dresser. “Those were my last clean overalls. Now I have to wear a skirt.”
“Good thing tomorrow is laundry day.”
“How come you got to escape up here in the middle of the day?” Maggie asked as she dressed.
Ellie shrugged. She supposed Maggie would eventually find out that Reverend L ocklin had been there. “We had company today.I was . . . uh . . . busy with that.”
“Who?”
“Reverend Locklin.”
“Really? I wish I ’d known. I wouldn’t have gone to Louise’s—”
“Well, we mostly had business to discuss—”
“With Dad? He isn’t even home yet—what do you mean, ‘we’?”
“I asked him to come so we could discuss my ideas about starting a Sunday school. That’s all.” Too late she realized her tone was overly defensive.
Maggie’s eyes narrowed with perplexity. “You invited him?” Suddenly her eyes sprang open. “And Mama got rid of me. Ain’t that convenient?”
“Now, settle down, Maggie—”
“Don’t you talk to me that way!” Maggie railed. “Like I was a child and you are my mother.I won’t have it!”
“I was not!”
“So did you change your mind again, Ellie? Now you’re going after William. Is that it?”
“It was just about Sunday school!” But she remembered the kiss and could not propel her argument with much force.
“You just have to have every fellow in town, don’t you?” sneered Maggie.
“No, it’s not that.I don’t want him,” Ellie protested, though lamely.
“Never mind! I don’t want to hear another word.I’m’m never speaking to you again!” Maggie spun around even as she was fastening the waistband of her skirt. She flung open the door and stormed out.
“Maggie!” Ellie called.
With a groan, Ellie let her head fall back against the window frame. What was she going to do now? If Maggie was this angry over a mere visit, what would she do if she knew Ellie had kissed the minister?
Maggie came tearing into the kitchen, truly like a storm unleashed, then came to a screeching halt. Ada, oblivious to all that had gone on upstairs, turned from the sink where she’d been paring potatoes.
“Maggie, was that you slamming the doors?” she asked. “Haven’t I told you a hundred times—?”
“I won’t have it from you, either!” Maggie cried. “I won’t have you treat me like a child, pushing me neatly aside so I won’t embarrass you when we have company.”
“Margaret Edith! I will not have you speak to me in that tone!”
But apparently Maggie was not ready to curb her anger. “Why should I respect you when you don’t respect me? How dare you get rid of me so Ellie could have the minister all to herself!”
“What are you talking about?” Ada’s stomach clenched as she began to understand very well what her daughter was getting at.
“Mama, tell me that you didn’t send me over toL ouise’s in order to get rid of me,” Maggie challenged.
“Well . . . you . . . ah . . . have it all wrong,” Ada stammered.
“Yes or no! Did you try to get rid of me?”
It was not a question Ada wanted to answer because, much to her shame, she knew the answer was yes. Unfortunately, she hesitated too long. Maggie had already yanked open the back door and was racing outside.
Ada sighed heavily. For the first time she realized how things were. She had laughed when Ellie mentioned Maggie’s interest in the minister. At the very most, Ada considered it to be a childish whim. Was it more? Did Maggie care more deeply about the minister than anyone imagined?
Making the moment even worse, Ada thought of Calvin’s warnings about getting too carried away with matchmaking. Had he been right? Were his dour predictions coming true, with their daughters caught in the midst of the storm?
Was Mother Newcomb right, as well?I ’d rather cut off my right arm than have to admit that, Ada thought. Maybe there was still time to repair the damage. Maybe she could clean up the mess before Mother Newcomb ever perceived a thing.
Ada put down the paring knife and headed toward the open back door. Maggie was nowhere in back, but as Ada walked along the side of the house, past the clothesline, and reached the corner of the house, she saw her daughter sitting on the willow swing. Her long legs were sprawled out in front of her, her arms hooked around each of the side ropes. Suddenly tears welled in Ada’s eyes. She recalled how often Maggie begged not to be treated like a child, and now Ada saw as clearly as if a fog were suddenly lifted that Maggie was indeed no more a child. Her lithe, mature body dwarfed the swing.
Ada remembered when Calvin had first hung that swing. Maggie had been about four years old and wanted desperately to join the older ones in using it, but the wooden slat seat was a little too high off the ground for her. She’d tried and tried until she finally heaved her little self into the swing. Ada wanted to forbid her to use the swing until she had grown a bit more, but Calvin said they better let her learn, because she was going to use it in spite of them. All that summer Ada feared Maggie would break a bone and had watched her like a hawk whenever she was on the swing.
Now look at her!
Ada dashed away the tears that spilled down her cheeks and approached the swing.
“Maggie, will you forgive me?”
“For what?” groused Maggie.
She never would make anything easy, but Ada knew she didn’t deserve a reprieve from her daughter.
“For not being sensitive to your feelings,” Ada replied. “I guess I didn’t think you’d mind my trying to get Ellie and the reverend time alone—” When Maggie opened her mouth to retort, Ada tried to anticipate her words. “I should have understood that you are indeed old enough to be part of this kind of thing, that you are old enough to understand. But, Maggie, can you try to understand me a little, as well?I t’s hard for a mother to let her children go. I could lose three of you just like that. And Georgie’s not far behind. I want to hold on to you as long as I can.”
“The chicks have got to leave the nest, Mama,” Maggie said, some of the ire gone from her voice.
“I know.” Ada came close to her daughter and placed an arm around her shoulders. “But to me it was just yesterday when your feet were swinging over the edge of this seat, twelve inches above the ground.I need some time to let reality sink in.”
“You don’t got much time, Mama.”
Ada’s heart lurched once again. “Are you sweet on someone, Maggie?”
“Maybe.”
“N-not the reverend?” Ada implored. She couldn’t help it. Was her heart merely set on Ellie having the minister, or was there something else?
“Would that be so terrible?”
“He’s quite a bit older than you.”
“Only a year more than Ellie.”
Ada knew the time had come. She could no longer impose her will on her children as she had when they were young.If Maggie loved the minister, Ada had to stand back. But she would do as she had when Maggie had learned to use the swing. She would remain close. She would be there to catch her if she should fall.
TWENTY - ONE
Riding down to Deer I sland two weeks later, Zack took stock of his situation. Now that he was working at the sawmill, he figured he could save up enough money in a couple of months to leave this place.
There was a way he could leave much earlier— But, no! He wasn’t a thief, and he wasn’t about to start with church money. Still, everyone around here talked a lot about God’s will. Maybe it was God’s will the money had fallen into his hands.
He thought about that deacons’ meeting he’d attended.
The main to
pic of discussion was a church building. They thought the time was right to begin serious fund-raising. They thought Zack’s youth and enthusiasm was just what they needed to inspire the folks of Maintown to open their purses. Zack had no problem with that. The building committee reported that they had found a nice piece of land for sale about a quarter-mile east of the Copeland place, on the opposite end of town from the schoolhouse. I t was a half-acre, and they could get it for two hundred fifty dollars. Actual building costs would be around four hundred with everyone pitching in on the work.
Then Calvin had slapped a leather wallet down on the table. “I think it is time we open an account at the St. Helens Bank and start collecting some interest on this.”
“How much do we have there?” Russell Belknap asked.
“A hundred and fifty dollars,” Calvin replied. “I don’t like to keep that much cash in the house.”
“Don’t care much for banks,” Hal Fergus said.
Apparently the men had had this same disagreement a year earlier, and that’s why nothing had been done about the money.
“I care less for some robbers absconding with it,” Calvin responded.
“There ain’t no robbers round here—”
“I heard someone broke into Dolman’s General Store just last week,” Nathan Parker said.
“Well, that’s St. Helens,” Fergus said, as if proving his point.
“I have a thought,” put inL ewis Arlington, who had returned recently from Rainier because now not one but two of his children were ill. “Don’t Arthur Brennan own that parcel? Maybe he’ll take the money as a down payment to make sure no one else gets the land.”
“No need,” said Nathan Parker, head of the building committee. “Arthur said if we want the land, all we have to do is shake on it, and it’s ours when we have the full amount. This money should be earning some interest. That’s how you do business.” He gave a pointed glance at Hal, who merely grunted in response.
Calvin knew the men looked up to Parker’s business savvy, since he was one of the richest fellows in town. He figured this was the best time to proceed and said, “Let’s put it to a vote.”
