Dakota Love (13 page)

“Twenty-five years. That’s quite an accomplishment.”

Frowning, Caroline shrugged. “I thought so at the time. I guess it doesn’t mean much now.”

“Why would you say that? Of course it means something. You pledged your love and built a life and family with someone for twenty-five years. Not many people do that anymore.” Rodney stared at the vase while he spoke. He lifted regret-filled eyes to Caroline. “I think you’re very lucky. It’s a milestone I’m sure I’ll never experience.”

“I just thought there’d be more.” Caroline sighed and considered the regret in Rodney’s features. “I guess I never looked at the other side of the coin until now.” Her hand covered Rodney’s. “Thank you for turning it over for me. Will you humor me for a minute? I’d like to show you something.”

The curtain of regret lifted from Rodney’s eyes when he smiled and nodded. Caroline laced her fingers through his and led him to the dining room. She opened a drawer in the oak buffet that matched her table and removed a silver eight-by-ten frame. “This is Ted and Jason.” She pointed to the men as she said their names. “Of course, that’s me in the middle. It was our last family picture, taken on our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.”

“What a nice-looking family. You should be proud. I believe your son resembles you.”

Caroline laughed. “I’ve always thought so.”

She moved a crystal bowl to the side and placed the frame in the center of the table. “For a long time, I saw the glass as half empty. What you just said made me see that it was, no,
is
half full.” Caroline stared at her happy family for a few minutes before turning her attention back to Rodney. “Enough of my revelations. Let’s get this date started.”

For a last-minute date, Rodney did a good job. After dinner at Riverside’s only family-owned restaurant, where they enjoyed the Thursday night all-you-can-eat spaghetti special, they walked to Daily Jolt.

The coffee shop sported an eclectic array of comfy chairs, board games, and a community puzzle. Caroline perched on a tall chair in front of the puzzle. She studied Rodney while he ordered their herbal tea. His flannel shirt in green-and-black plaid complemented the olive tones of his skin.

“This morning you said you had news to tell me.” He set her tea on the table and pulled up another chair.

“Well…” A shiver of excitement ran through her. “I’d say the website is working. I’ve received two more e-mails regarding quilt jobs.”

“That’s great! Wait, they weren’t Michelle’s, were they?”

“No, but I did get her e-mail. I sent her the yardage amounts needed and directed her to examples of T-shirt quilt top styles I found on a website. The first e-mail was from an elderly lady who can no longer hand quilt due to back problems. The other inquiry was from a quilt boutique, and the owner, like Mark, purchases tops or quilts at auctions and is looking for someone to do all their quilting or restoration work before they make them available for sale in their boutique. They’d like me to provide a few references and want to negotiate on my fees.”

Rodney rubbed the smooth skin on the back of his neck. “Getting references won’t be a problem. I’m sure Mark and Mildred will agree to do it. I will, too, since I’ve seen your work. As for the fees, we researched a good sample of various-sized and experienced shops, and you’re in the median. What are they proposing?”

“A flat rate since they’ll supply steady business.” Which, combined with the classes at Mark’s store, would make it hard for Jason to argue her career choice.

“Is a flat rate fair for, say, a quilt like Mildred’s or mine?”

Caroline had been so caught up in the idea of steady business she hadn’t considered the level of work that might be involved. “Not really—the time involved in those types of projects is much different from quilting a top and back together on my long arm.” Rodney had such a good head for business. Guess it was back to hoping for random website hits and word-of-mouth advertising. She felt her brows furrow and mouth draw down.

“Did they say how many quilts per month or year they’d send you?”

“No.” Caroline sighed. “I’d best turn down their offer.” Guess one of her problems with Jason wasn’t solved after all.

“Don’t be too hasty. They started the negotiations. You can make a counteroffer.” Rodney rubbed his palms together like a brilliant scientist cooking up a scheme.

Caroline brightened and cocked her head to one side. “I’m listening.”

“First, I think you should gather your references but also ask them for some. How do we know they aren’t looking for someone because they’re negligent on paying their bills?”

Again, why isn’t he running a big company instead of a mom-and-pop business?
Caroline nodded her understanding.

“Second, we need to know what ‘steady’ means to them. Third, we can provide a schedule of flat fees that seems fair to you per type of service.” Rodney held up a finger with each numeric suggestion.

There was no way Caroline would remember all of this. She reached for her purse to pull out her trusty notepad and realized she’d downsized for their date, which seemed to be turning into a business meeting, something that wasn’t supposed to happen according to the list of conditions set forth by Rodney this morning. How would they ever get to know each other better if all they talked about was business? It was his condition, so why had he let the date slip back into business?

“You could write our thoughts on a napkin.”

“Or”—Caroline cleared her throat—“we could adhere to your earlier idea and not discuss business on our date. You will remember all your suggestions tomorrow, won’t you?”

A wide smile broke across Rodney’s face. “That’s right. We’re on a real date.” Rodney’s brown eyes grew wide, and his smile faded.

Did Rodney’s solemn expression mean he wished they weren’t on a real date? At first, Caroline thought he’d seemed pleased at the reminder. Had she misread his interest in her? After all, they’d almost kissed. Maybe he just liked the business part of their relationship. She sucked the bottom corner of her lip under, not caring if it was a telltale sign of her inner worry. She was worried. She liked Rodney. A lot.

“Caroline.” Rodney took her hand and laced his fingers in hers. “I need to apologize.”

For misleading me? Then why are you holding my hand?
Caroline’s first urge was to pull her hand from his, but his warmth made her feel…connected. Not just to him but the world.

“You deserve a better first date than all-you-can-eat spaghetti, sipping herbal tea, and sitting in front of a jigsaw puzzle.”

Her concern was released with her laughter, but hurt replaced the sincerity on Rodney’s face. She reached up with her free hand and touched the dimple in his chin with her fingers. “Rodney, I’m having a wonderful time. It’s just perfect. Had you planned a big, splashy, get-all-dressed-up date, I’d have been very…” She paused.

“Worried?”

“No, well…maybe.” Caroline laughed. “Nervous is what I was going to say. But this is comfortable. I prefer comfortable.”

“Well, then…” Rodney scooted his chair closer to the table. “Let’s liven this date up and see if we can add any pieces to the puzzle.”

Caroline picked up a piece and tried it in several places close to her. When it didn’t fit, she laid it back down.

“What did you think of the pastor’s sermon on Sunday?” Rodney studied the puzzle pieces, chose one, and inserted it into an empty space. The corner of a building took shape.

“Well, um…”
I didn’t really listen
. “Interesting.” That was a safe word choice, wasn’t it? Absently, Caroline lifted another piece and tried to push it into several gaps in the picture, with no luck.

“I like that he preaches on verses from the Old Testament.” Rodney moved some shapes around, lifted one he liked, and placed it in the puzzle.

“Most people find the messages in the Old Testament less pertinent to our modern lives.” What text had he preached about? Caroline racked her brain for an inkling of a memory of that sermon. She glanced at the pieces around the puzzle, then chose one whose color matched the area in front of her. But no matter how hard she pushed, the shape didn’t fit into the selected area.

Rodney picked up another piece and placed it into the space Caroline had tried to fill.

“Then they aren’t listening. After all, there were many blended or nontraditional families like Joseph and his stepbrothers who sold him into slavery. And King David, look what he did with Bathsheba. But they repented and trusted in the Lord and their lives turned out all right. Actually better than all right—blessed.”

“How true.” She could take a lesson from those Bible stories. If the Lord helped Joseph turn his slavery into a blessing with his dreams, could He help her get her life back on track, too?

She tried a puzzle piece in various openings to no avail. Rodney worked along one edge of the puzzle, expanding the picture toward the middle. Several more piece choices for Caroline fared the same results—no match. She shrugged. She sure couldn’t put this puzzle together, but she was getting good at picking up the pieces.

Caroline marveled at the comparison of putting together the puzzle and her life. She’d started a business, agreed to teach classes, and gone on a date. Those three pieces were starting to form the picture of her future.
And yet…
Her pleasant thought was interrupted. Gaping holes remained in her life, like her relationship with Jason, her financial security, and her involvement with Rodney.

Caroline took a sip of her herbal tea.
“ ‘Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.’ ”
She reflected on the Bible verse that had mingled with her thoughts since starting the restoration of Rodney’s Lily of the Field quilt. Peace filled her soul. If she gave God the pieces of her life, could He restore it just as she was doing to Rodney’s quilt?

C
aroline vowed to herself and God that she’d make a concentrated effort to pay attention in church this morning. Even with the distraction of Rodney sitting beside her, she’d managed to pull it off. The sermon left her refreshed and inspired. She skipped the singles breakfast so she could get ready for a customer appointment that afternoon.

Her original business plan didn’t include hours on Sunday, but since it was the day Michelle visited Rodney, she agreed to an exception to save Michelle a trip.

She’d straightened her house yesterday and placed pictures of important moments in her life throughout the rooms. Joy replaced the dread as she remembered the moments in her life the pictures represented. Ted, handsome in their wedding portrait; Jason, a tiny newborn in Ted’s arms; the snapshot a stranger took for them on their trip to the Black Hills. These pictures, back out in their proper spots, should ease Jason’s concern that she was angry with Ted because he died.

She stuffed remnant pieces of fabric in a drawer to neaten her workshop before she sat down to work on Rodney’s quilt.

“What’s your story”—she ran her hands over the top of the quilt—“other than reminding me to stop worrying because God’s in control?”

She’d separated the top from the back, thrown out the old cotton batting, and cut the worn hemline from the quilt back. The back fabric, now ready for reassembly, lay folded on the corner of her worktable.

The time had come to remove the damaged block from the quilt top. She could rip it all apart and straighten the blocks and seams, but that wasn’t what restoration was all about. To her it was about preserving the quilt in most of its original form, and as it was, she had to alter it quite a bit. The thread was intact in most areas of the damaged block; the large, choppy hand stitches were easy to see and cut with the seam ripper.

She found a pattern for the Lily of the Field online, an exact match to this one in size. She’d feared that she’d have to use the old tattered blocks as the pattern for the replacement block. Not that it couldn’t be done, but getting the seam measurement right could be tricky. By using the new pattern, she would have straight lines to cut around and sew.

Since the quilt was old, she didn’t want to rip or stretch the fabric by pulling the loosened block free. Instead, with the last thread snipped, she plucked at the broken threads until they were free of the fabric; then she gently removed the block from the top.

Engrossed in her tedious process, she jumped when Jason hollered, “Mom, where are you?”

She went to the door by the stairway. “Down here.”

Angela poked her head around the landing. “Is it safe to come down there, or will I see something I shouldn’t?”

Caroline smiled. “It’s safe. What would make you think there was anything down here for you?”

Angela patted her belly and giggled. “I don’t know.”

Caroline waited at the bottom of the steps as her daughter-in-law held the handrail and descended at a step-by-step pace.

“Sorry, not taking any chances.” Angela rubbed her protruding belly.

Caroline wrapped her arm around Angela’s shoulders and gave her a hug; then she guided Angela to a chair. “I wouldn’t want it any other way. Do you mind if I finish up? I’m expecting a customer.”

Angela eased into Caroline’s sewing chair. “Not at all.”

While Caroline pinned Rodney’s quilt top to her project board, she caught the inconspicuous glances Angela made at quilts or fabric lying around the workshop. She’d be surprised to find out that the two baby quilts posted on the website were made with Caroline’s new grandchild in mind. But the grandma-to-be had found a different pattern she liked and was now working on a new one, tucked safely away in a drawer.

“Mom!” Jason’s shout, followed by thunderous thudding down the stairs, caused Caroline to straighten from her work. Now what was it? Feet firmly planted and her shoulders braced back for confrontation, she exchanged a look with Angela. Caroline really didn’t need this just before a customer appointment.

Jason raced into the room, neck turning until he spotted his mother. “What’s this?” He raised a family picture in front of her face. Jason held a picture taken by Angela on the day of his college graduation.