Quilt By Association

was back a moment later with a small stack of blocks she handed to Harriet.

'These are great,” Harriet said and passed them one-by-one to Aunt Beth after she'd looked at them.

The two women had made several variations of doghouse blocks. They had started with a basic schoolhouse- type traditional block and then, in some cases, put miniature pieced blocks on the building side while on others they had fussy-cut dog faces from novelty fabric and stitched them in window frames in the side of the doghouse.

'We're still working on it,” Connie said. “We tried using landscape prints, so the grass was green and the sky had clouds, but they looked too busy. Lauren is working on that idea still, seeing if she can minimize the problem by making the blocks bigger.

'All of these look good,” Harriet said. “Don't show them to anyone.'

Beth peered over the top of her reading glasses.

'Until we figure out how the Small Stitches are stealing our ideas, we need to be careful.'

'Lauren and I were talking about that,” Connie said. “She thinks we should leave Sarah out of the next meeting.'

'What?” Beth said.

'That's not a bad idea,” Harriet said.

'We can't start accusing our own members of being a spy,” Beth protested. “Especially without any evidence.'

'Think about it a minute,” Connie said. “The Small Stitches meet where Sarah works. They could be getting into her stitching bag when she leaves the front desk.'

'If they're clever, they could create a diversion so she'd have to leave the front,” Harriet added.

'Lauren and I were just thinking if we meet somewhere other than Pins and Needles, and leave Sarah out of the loop, we can find out if our ideas really are being stolen. We can check and see what they do next, and then we'll know. Lauren said she can make up a reason to go check the computers at the senior center when the Stitches have their next meeting.'

Connie sat down and picked up the cup of tea Beth had made for her.

'Lauren and I were also talking about DeAnn's little girl,” she said, cutting off any further discussion of Sarah and spying. “I told her about the quilt the baby brought with her. She wants to research it and see where it leads.'

'Sounds like a good idea,” Harriet said.

'Maybe you can call and tell her that, chiquita,” Connie said with a hopeful look.

'Fine, I'll call her when I get home.'

Talk turned to a wedding quilt Connie was making for her niece and continued until they were interrupted by the arrival of Rodrigo and the now-sleeping Kissa. He wheeled the stroller gently into the kitchen.

'She's out cold,” he said in a stage whisper.

'She's the happiest little baby.” Connie shook her head. “Too bad DeAnn's new little one isn't the same.'

'Maybe we should send Rodrigo over to work his magic.” Aunt Beth said.

'Rodrigo is good,” Connie said, and patted her husband's arm, “but Kissa is a goodnatured, happy little one. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for DeAnn's daughter.'

Rodrigo wheeled Kissa through the doorway to the living room. He looked back at the women.

'Excuse me, I have a baby to take care of.” He was humming as he disappeared into the next room.

Harriet's brow furrowed, and her gaze became unfocused.

'What are you thinking?” Aunt Beth asked.

'I was wondering if DeAnn's daughter is having a language problem. She's old enough to be talking, but no one here can understand her and vice versa. Kissa doesn't have that problem because she isn't of an age to be speaking, is she?'

'Kissa should have a dozen words or so,” Connie said thoughtfully. “But, you're correct-Iloai should be using simple sentences by now. Maybe she's upset because she can't communicate.'

'This must be a fairly common problem in international adoptions,” Harriet said. “I wonder how they handle it.'

'We can check with Phyllis tomorrow,” Aunt Beth suggested.

'There might be another way,” Harriet said slowly.

Aunt Beth and Connie stared expectantly at her.

'Iloai is from Uganda, isn't she?'

'I think that's what they said,” Beth said.

'Aiden is fluent in the main language there. Even if Iloai is from a different region, the language would probably be similar enough the sound of it might be calming to her.'

'It's worth a try,” Connie said. “At this point, DeAnn is probably willing to try anything.'

'I'll give him a call and see if the waters are continuing to thaw,” Harriet said.

'I see,” said Connie. “You have ulterior motives.” She smiled at Harriet.

'I hadn't thought about that,” Harriet objected, but she could see neither her aunt nor Connie believed her.

Beth looked at her watch. “We better get going if you're going to talk to Lauren and Aiden.'

'Thanks for the tea,” Harriet said.

'De nada,” Connie replied and ushered them out of the house.

Chapter 22

'You call Aiden, and I'll call DeAnn,” Aunt Beth suggested as Harriet drove up the driveway and parked. “I'm guessing Aiden will want to help, so I'll just give her a heads-up.'

Harriet unlocked the door to her studio and led the way into the kitchen. Fred jumped off the bar and started weaving through her ankles. She picked up the kitchen phone and dialed Aiden's cell number. She cradled the handset between her left ear and shoulder while she opened the refrigerator and put the flan away then retrieved Fred's can of cat food.

'Hey,” she said tentatively when Aiden finally answered.

'What's up?” he asked, his tone neutral.

She quickly described the problems DeAnn and her husband were having with their new daughter and asked if he'd be willing to try talking to her in Lugandan, to see if she'd respond with anything but tears.

'As it happens, this is your lucky day,” he said with a hint of his previous charm. “The dogs were all stable when I left, and Dr. Johnson has the vet tech spending the night with them. I assume you've got me scheduled to appear already.'

'Not yet,” Harriet said and tried not to laugh. “Aunt Beth's working on it, though.'

'Give me the address, and I'll meet you there in a half-hour.'

'Thank you,” she said, and when he didn't say anymore, she hung up.

We're on, she mouthed to her aunt, who was talking on her cell phone in the hallway that led from the kitchen to the stairs.

'Okay,” Beth said into her phone. “Looks like we're good to go-we'll see you in a few minutes.” She said her goodbyes to DeAnn and hung up. “They're ready to try anything, as we suspected.'

'Hopefully, it will help,” Harriet said. “I wonder if we should have Connie bring Kissa over to DeAnn's?'

'What for?'

'I know the two babies are different ages and stages of language, but Kissa should still react to Aiden speaking her native tongue. I was just thinking it would provide a sort of control for our test.'

'We don't know where Kissa is from, really, do we?” Beth asked.

'All the more reason to have her there-we can kill two birds with one stone. If Kissa doesn't react at all to Aiden, it would go a long way toward proving she has nothing to do with Africa.'

Aunt Beth called Connie, and she quickly agreed to bring Kissa to DeAnn's.