Fabric of Life

by Judith Post

  Hannah gave a huge sigh. “Like a fairy tale.”

  “If my idea works,” Thea cautioned.

  “It has to work. Don’t let him come home without her,” Hannah scolded.

  Thea blinked. If only she’d thought of this before. “I’m not in the mood for soup,” she said. “Let’s do take-out tonight.”

  “Pizza?” Hannah begged.

  “Pizza and ice cream,” Thea said.

  Hannah danced around the kitchen, and Thea was amazed once more by how deeply children can suffer, and how quickly they recover.

  Chapter 48

  Late Sunday afternoon, Thea and Hannah sat at the heavy, pine table, hunched over a Scrabble board.

  “Charisma isn’t spelled with a ‘k’,” Thea said when Hannah finished her turn.

  “Is too.”

  “I challenge,” Thea said. “Look it up.”

  Hannah sighed, admitting defeat, and took the pieces off the board. “How is it spelled?” she asked.

  “C-h,” Thea said. “It cheats, like Christmas.”

  “Fudge!” Hannah frowned at her letters. “That’s not going to save you, though. I’m still going to win.”

  Thea had no doubt about that. Hannah was clever at games. She wasn’t. Hannah was readying for her next move when tires crunched on the gravel drive, and Thea looked up, hoping to be saved.

  “If it’s Rachel, she’ll let us finish our game,” Hannah warned, instantly understanding the look on Thea’s face.

  But it wasn’t Rachel who came to the door. It was Cynthia and Toby, and one look at Cynthia’s face told Thea that her friend was really upset.

  “Why don’t you and Toby go outside and play?” Thea said.

  Happily, Hannah left the game. Having a kid to play with ranked higher on her entertainment quotient than an adult.

  Once the door slammed behind them, Thea said, “Are you all right? Your furniture wasn’t moved again, was it?”

  “Nothing like that!” Cynthia’s tone was clipped. “It’s Randall. He planned this big trip with Toby and was supposed to pick him up this afternoon, but he never showed up.”

  “How did Toby take it?”

  “It was awful. First, we thought he was just late, like always. Then, Toby thought maybe Randall was in a car wreck or something. I tried to call him on his cell phone, but he didn’t answer. Then Toby really started to worry.”

  “Randall forgets Toby a lot, doesn’t he?”

  “We can never count on him to keep his weekend visits. He gets busy and blows Toby off. But when he makes some kind of a big plan, he always shows up. That’s his idea of making up for all the little stuff--his choice of words, not mine.”

  “Hasn’t anyone told him that forgetting a kid isn’t little?” Thea asked.

  “Does anyone know more than Randall?” Cynthia asked. “If God came down to talk to him, Randall would think he knew more than the Almighty.”

  “So did you ever get a hold of him? Is Randall all right?”

  Cynthia’s eyes blazed. “I got a hold of him. He finally called back after two hours to tell us that he had to cancel Toby because the corporation that bought Sheila Grayson’s house had a new deal in the works and they had to finalize some points with him right away. That’s why he couldn’t answer his cell phone. He was in a meeting with them.”

  “Couldn’t he have called before the meeting?” Thea asked.

  “That’s what I said. Randall said that everything was so rushed, he didn’t have time to think. He just forgot.”

  “What about now?” Thea asked. “If the meeting’s over, he could still come and pick up Toby.”

  “You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But this deal is hot, Randall says. He has to act on it NOW. Toby will understand. He’ll make up for it later.”

  “The bastard.”

  “Exactly.”

  “The thing is, I told Virginia she could have the week off, that I’d cover for her in the gallery. I thought Toby would be with his dad.”

  “Did you tell Randall that?”

  “Like it mattered. He said it was a moot point, that he was in Cleveland, so I’d have to figure something out.”

  The screen door opened. From the look on Hannah’s face, the kids had obviously only moved to the porch and had been listening. Hannah’s eyes flashed anger at Randall, sympathy for Toby, and excitement.

  Oh, boy. Thea braced herself for whatever Hannah had in mind.

  “Why doesn’t Toby spend a week at our house?” Hannah blurted. “I’ll make sure he has fun. So will Thea.”

  Thea blinked. A week? She hadn’t had a regular routine since Gabe came back. She was behind on everything. But then guilt kicked in. She’d made Hannah miserable by sending Josh away. And it’s not like summer vacation had been much fun so far. How much work could one extra little boy be? And it would make Hannah happy. “Why not?” she said. “But I’m going to be busy this week. You’re going to have to help.”

  Hannah shrugged. “You’re always busy.”

  Thea raised an eyebrow. “I mean it. Grown ups have lives too. You have to give me two hours to work every morning, and the rest of the day we’ll do things that are special.”

  “Should we do our secret handshake and make it a deal?” Hannah asked.

  “We never go back on the secret handshake,” Thea warned.

  Solemnly, they splayed their fingers into a V, and she and Hannah smacked up, down, and sideways to make it official.

  Cynthia smiled. “Thanks. I appreciate this.”

  “It’s going to be nice for everybody,” Thea said. “Hannah could use some company. I’ve been Mrs. Curmudgeon lately.” She looked at Cynthia’s frazzled expression. “Why don’t you stay for supper? You look like you could use a relaxing evening.”

  “Only if you let me help.”

  “It’s a deal.”

  They decided on comfort food and made a big pot of spaghetti, garlic bread, and a tossed salad. By the time Cynthia kissed Toby and said her goodbyes, everyone’s mood had lifted, and Thea was looking forward to the week ahead.

  When she went to her studio later that night, though, after the kids had fallen asleep on the air mattress in front of the TV, worries were beginning to creep into her vacation mode.

  “I still don’t have any answers,” she told Gabe. “I feel like I should be doing something, anything.”

  He wrapped misty arms around her. “What can you do? This is the perfect time to stop and go into mommy mode. Lindsay won’t be back to the winery until next week. Rachel and Cynthia are paying more attention to the kids at the country club, listening for anything we might have overlooked. You’re sort of at a dead end.”

  “But people are dying,” Thea said.

  “I’m not going to leave the studio for anything, so nothing’s going to happen right now. Aggie’s watching over the gallery. Take a break. Sometimes, when you leave a problem alone, you come back to it and see it in a new light.”

  She tried to give him a squeeze, couldn’t.

  “It must take a while to recharge my energy battery,” he said, grinning. “Nothing substantial tonight. Now go get some sleep. Hannah will have you up bright and early tomorrow.”

  She didn’t think she could sleep. She thought she’d fret over details and think of new questions, but she was wrong. The minute her head hit the pillow, she was out.

  Chapter 49

  The three of them fell into a nice routine. Each morning, Toby and Hannah joined Thea in the kitchen and they made breakfast together. On Monday, Toby chose French toast and bacon. It was a messy experience with both kids dipping the bread into the milk and egg mix before Thea browned it in a hot pan. On Tuesday, Hannah decided on chili dogs with chocolate shakes--for breakfast. What the hell? Thea thought. Why not? Another mess with milk, ice cream, and chocolate syrup. Wednesday was pancakes, and Thursday (Hannah’s second turn) was peanut butter and banana toasties. After breakfast each day, Toby and Hannah took off for the stream while Thea worked
for a few hours. When the kids straggled home, Thea put her work away and shifted gears. The rest of the day, she was theirs.

  They played board games and cards, went into town to visit Annabel, and drove to see her parents. Thea took them to the lake one afternoon for a picnic. They hiked nature trails in the national park. After supper, they rented movies. By Friday, Thea realized that she’d had as much fun as the kids. This week was exactly what she needed. She was even looking forward to the fishing trip she’d promised Toby as their big finale.

  “Can we ride our bikes to the river?” Hannah begged. “Josh showed me a good spot not too far away.”

  “Why not?” Thea said. This week, those words were her mantra.

  They caught enough fish to keep the kids happy and threw them all back. After a couple of hours, when they were hot, tired, and sweaty, Thea led the procession of bikes back down Ruby Riverwalk, past Shari’s inn, and up the drive to her house. They were huffing up her steep gravel drive when she noticed an old, blue Ford parked by the deck. She pointed to Hannah and Toby. “We have company. You two put the fishing poles away and go clean up. I’ll be with you in a little bit.”

  Too tired to argue, Hannah and Toby took their bikes and fishing gear to the storage area under the deck, then trudged up the steps into the house. They wouldn’t clean up right away, Thea knew. They’d slump in front of the TV and watch cartoons to regain their strength. So there was no hurry. She went to see who’d come.

  She was surprised to find Tillie sitting in a rocking chair on the porch. Thea’s heart sank. Tillie’s lush, brown hair was pulled back, flat and greasy, in a rubber band. Her hazel eyes were circled with dark hollows. The girl would never be pretty, but Thea could see why Bill was attracted to her. She radiated “nice.” Some people called her simple, but Thea thought there was a wisdom about her, a deep, fundamental goodness.

  Tillie rose reluctantly when she saw Thea. “Shari told me that you might be able to help me. She showed me the life map you wove for her.”

  “I’d be happy to make one for you. Did Shari explain how they work?”

  Tillie shook her head. “I don’t want to see my whole life. I s’pect it has plenty more bumps, and that’s kind of scary. I didn’t come for that. But I was wondering if you could look at my bookmark, tell me if I’m going to have another baby, and if it’ll be all right.”

  Thea hesitated. “Will you be okay if it shows you something you don’t want to see?”

  “I’ll be okay about babies,” Tillie said. “Shari says I can make choices, right? If I can only carry dead ones, I’m gonna get myself fixed. And if I can’t have any at all, I’d rather know. Bill and me will just love each other all the more.”

  Thea nodded. “Let’s go to my studio.”

  Tillie followed her to the barn, but didn’t step inside it. “If you don’t mind, I’d just as soon wait out here. You’re a nice person and all, but your calling kind of gives me the heebie-jeebies.”

  “I’ll be back in a minute,” Thea said. When she returned, she was holding Tillie’s bookmark and smiling.

  “Smiling’s good, right?” Tillie asked. “You’ve already looked and you’ve got good things to tell me.”

  “It’s easier to show you,” Thea said. She held up a nice, straight bookmark in a pallet of soft colors.

  “There sure are a lot of shades of green in that,” Tillie commented.

  “Greens are good,” Thea said. “They mean you’re a natural person, balanced and peaceful.”

  “How many greens do I need?” Tillie asked, frowning at the different threads.

  “At the beginning, you’re the only green,” Thea explained, showing the tight weave at the bookmark’s start. “You spent a lot of time by yourself. There aren’t many threads that are woven with yours.”

  “My mom was too mean to stay around. I went to the woods most every day, spent as much time there as I could.”

  Thea pointed to a place where a deeper green made a lazy pattern back and forth through Tillie’s softer, sage green threads. “This is when you met Bill. He was in and out of your life when you were both just little kids.”

  Tillie’s face went dreamy. “Bill’s dad was as mean as my mom. He scooted out of his house as much as I did. Sometimes our paths crossed.”

  Thea followed the threads with her finger. “They crossed more and more the older you got.”

  Finally, the threads braided together. “Guess I can figure out when that happened,” Tillie said with a blush. “After that, we were always together.”

  Thea followed Bill’s thread to the end of Tillie’s bookmark.

  Tillie frowned, then her eyes went wide. “I’m gonna die first. Thank goodness.”

  “Bill’s always there,” Thea said. “Now, here’s close to where you are right now.” She pointed to a short, vibrant pink thread that twisted around Tillie’s sage green for a tiny design, then stopped.

  Tillie’s eyes teared. “That’s Miranda, ain’t it?”

  “Look.” There was a short space and then a blue thread joined the weave to make a three-threaded braid for quite a while. “That’s your little boy.” It was joined by a second soft pink thread that formed a long braid until the blue thread branched off from it. A short while later, the pink branched off, too. “Your son and daughter are close to you and Bill until they’re grown and move out on their own. Even then,” her finger traced the gentle in-and-out pattern that followed, “they stay in touch.”

  “Blue and pink. Is that for a boy and a girl?”

  “Not always. Blue stands for balance. My Rachel’s personal thread is blue. When my mom told me that, I knew she’d be all right. Blues are natural survivors. And loving.”

  “And pink?” Tillie asked.

  “Means a person who has the right mix of spiritual and material energy. She’s going to be mature and together.”

  Tillie sighed. “Thank you. I ain’t in no hurry now that I know. It’s not like I won’t miss Miranda, but it helps ease the pain.”

  “I’m glad it helped.” Thea had learned that even when the patterns weren’t good, studying a weave could make a person feel better. He could prepare for the times ahead and understand that life’s ups and downs weren’t his fault. The only thing a person could hold himself responsible for was how he handled the joys and hardships that he experienced. Thea stepped inside the barn and released Tillie’s bookmark to its rightful place among the beams.

  “Bill and me don’t have much money right now,” Tillie said as they walked down the hill back to her car. “But is there anything we can do for you to pay for my reading?”

  Thea shook her head. “It’s part of my job. It’s what I do.”

  “I sure do appreciate you taking the time,” Tillie said.

  “My pleasure. Have a nice life.”

  “It looks like I’m going to, don’t it?”

  Hannah and Toby waited impatiently for Tillie to leave, then ran to Thea once she was alone. Time for kid duty again.

  Thea looked at them and wrinkled her nose. “I hate to say this, but you both stink.” They’d kicked off their shoes, but that was about it. They smelled like river water and fish. “Time for your shower.” Before they could protest, she walked to the storage area, pulled out a yellow Slip-and-Slide, and tossed it on the ground so that it slanted down the hill. Then she draped the hose over the clothesline so that water sprinkled the plastic slide.

  “You first,” she told Hannah and squirted a spray of liquid soap on Hannah’s stomach.

  “Suds time!” Hannah yelled and dove, head first, onto the slippery surface.

  Toby was right behind her.

  They were washing off the river dirt as they slid down the hill, and Thea smiled, watching them. The smile froze on her lips when Randall Raker’s Hummer pulled into her drive. What on earth was that man doing on her property?

  Chapter 50

  Toby got to his feet at the end of the slide and watched as his dad’s car came to a stop. He r
eached for Hannah’s hand, and she gripped it tightly. Thea felt pride swell in her chest. Hannah was ready to do battle for her friend.

  Randall got out of the car and waved, and Toby ran to Thea. “What’s dad doing here?”

  “I don’t know. Did you invite him?”

  Toby’s face was squeezed with worry. “I’d better go inside.”

  Hannah went to turn off the hose, and both kids disappeared into the house. Thea waited for Randall.

  He was in casual attire--Dockers, Polo shirt, expensive loafers. He was the most unattractive, handsome man that Thea had ever met. He was tall and muscled from workouts at the gym. His features were GQ material, but his coldness permeated the air around him.

  Thea shivered when he smiled.

  He gestured toward the Slip and Slide. “It’s amazing how little it takes to please a child, isn’t it?”

  “Kids have their basics in pretty good shape,” she said. “They know what’s important and what’s not.”

  His eyes narrowed. “And what’s important?”

  “The spirit it’s done in.”

  “I have to thank you for covering for me this week,” he said. “It saved Toby a lot of disappointment, but I can take him now. I have everything wrapped up.”

  Thea shook her head. “That’s not my decision. It’s up to Cynthia. She hasn’t given me the okay to send Toby with you.”

  “It’s not her choice. I’m Toby’s father. I was supposed to get him this week, and I can work him into my schedule now.”

  “You were supposed to pick him up last Sunday. You forfeited. Now you have to renegotiate. You can use my phone if you want to.”

  “All right, if you want to play hardball, I can do that.” He flipped open his cell phone and dialed Cynthia at the gallery.

  Thea didn’t have to talk to her friend to know the direction their conversation was taking. Randall’s fingers clenched the phone and his voice turned to ice. “If I understand correctly, I still have weekend visitations. This is Friday. I’ve come to pick him up.”