something out. Promise you won't say anything.'
'I can't promise that, Carla. You need help.'
'Please, let me be part of the group this week without feeling like everyone's stray puppy. I know I'm here because Margaret paid for it, but she said it would make me a better employee so it was job training.” She turned back to the trail and started to walk again. “I just want to be normal.'
Harriet slowed, giving Carla time to enter the Tree House and pull herself together. As she approached the porch, she heard a familiar voice from the trail behind her.
'Les, if you have something to tell me, say it. If you don't, we'll have to have this little reunion later. I've got work to do.'
She glanced back. Lauren stepped onto the porch as someone moved back down the path.
'Who was that?” Harriet asked.
'No one. And it would be none of your business if I were talking to someone.” Lauren pulled the door open and went in. Harriet followed her, turning left into the common area while Lauren went straight up the stairs.
'Remind me again why I'm here,” she said as she flopped onto the worn leather sofa. Mavis, Aunt Beth and Connie were seated in easy chairs around the river-rock fireplace. “And by the way, are we staying?'
'Yes, mija, we're staying,” Connie told her. “DeAnn wasn't out of line with putting a stop to Selestina's behavior, but leaving is a little extreme. We've all spent a lot of money and made a lot of arrangements to be here. I don't think we should throw it all away.'
'It's not like we didn't know about Selestina's behavior before we signed up,” Mavis pointed out. “Robin's right-she is worse than she used to be, but she's always been over the top. DeAnn knew that.'
'More important than all that,” Aunt Beth said, and lowered her voice until it was barely above a whisper, “you need to find out more about Lauren's exhibition piece. She swore she was doing original work. I asked her about it last week, and she was pretty convincing, but I know what I saw and it was that exact piece.” She stood and picked up her handbag. “I've got to go. I still have to meet up with DeAnn. I'll figure out a way to send a copy of that picture to you guys.'
Harriet walked her aunt to the door. Then, she went to the kitchenette and poured hot water from over a peppermint tea bag she put in a pottery mug. She carried it into the common room and sat down again.
'Something strange happened when I was coming in tonight,” she told Mavis and Connie. She related her encounter with Lauren, including Lauren's insistence she hadn't been talking to anyone.
'Honey, that doesn't necessarily mean anything. In spite of Selestina's behavior, this isn't a jail,” Mavis said. “Maybe Lauren has a boyfriend. Maybe she's met someone in Angel Harbor. She's been taking classes for a while now.'
'I've got my first class with Selestina tomorrow.” Harriet took a drink of her fragrant tea. “I could feign ignorance and ask her about the European exhibit Aunt Beth saw. It wouldn't be much of a charade, since I don't know anything about it.'
'I'll see if I can get anything more out of Lauren,” Connie said. “We're taking a machine embroidery class together tomorrow.'
'You'll be in hand quilting tomorrow morning, won't you, honey?” Mavis asked Harriet.
'I'll be hand quilting all day tomorrow-Carla, too.'
'Don't worry,” Mavis assured her. “Selestina likes to intimidate people in the orientation session, but she really is an expert in her field, and a good teacher to boot.'
'Well, it can only go uphill from here. What will you be taking?'
'Tomorrow…” Mavis read from the schedule lying in her lap. “…I will be dyeing.'
'Let's hope not,” Connie teased with a smile.
Chapter Seven
The next morning dawned clear and cool, and the Loose Threads walked briskly through the dark woods from the Tree House to the fiber arts pavilion. The women had opted for toast and tea in the Tree House; no one had wanted to chance an encounter with Selestina or Patience before they'd fortified themselves.
Harriet pulled the sleeves of her gray hooded sweatshirt over her hands. She glanced at Carla; the younger woman was dressed in new-looking blue jeans and a gray hoodie with the hem of a red T-shirt hanging out below. Harriet glanced at her own jeans and slightly-too-long red T-shirt and realized they had the same personal shopper. She was definitely going to buy some new clothes when she got home, and not at Wal-Mart, either.
'Okay, everyone, shall we meet back here at eleven-thirty and walk to the dining hall together?” Mavis asked.
Lauren declined, saying her class had arranged for a local delicatessen to bring sandwiches in. Harriet could understand that, if you were here once a month for a period of months, you could get tired of soup, even if it was really good soup. Everyone else, however, agreed to the plan, and the group broke up to find their various classrooms.
Sarah and Robin turned left to go to their class in fusible techniques. Lauren went on to the right, but Connie stayed with Harriet and Carla.
'Here we are, chiquitas,” she said when the trio reached the stitching classroom. “Good luck,'
Patience Jacobsen was waiting inside the door when Harriet and Carla entered. The classroom held a dozen two-person tables with chairs arranged in two rows with an aisle down the middle. Several students were already there, unpacking notebooks, scissors, needles and thread from their bags. At the front was a single table. A flannel curtain hung behind the table, and several examples of hand quilting were pinned to its surface. The side walls displayed a variety of hand quilted pieces in various sizes, colors and materials. Harriet and Carla went over for a closer view.
'Look how small and even the stitches are,” Carla said, and for once didn't follow her comment with a downward glance or a face-burning blush.
'Yeah, and the fabric looks like it might be silk or something similar.” Harriet turned over the corner of the wall hanging. A label read
Three more students had entered and taken places at tables. The only table left where Carla and Harriet could sit together was in the front, to the left of the teacher's table. Carla looked around like a caged animal.
'Come on,” Harriet said and nudged her forward. “We'll be able to see better up here.'
Carla looked doubtful but went to the front table, setting her sewing bag on the side away from the teacher.
Patience took roll and had the students introduce themselves. She described what they would be doing in class that day, told them where the restrooms were and asked if anyone had questions. No one did, so she walked down the aisle, went around the curtain and disappeared. She reappeared five minutes later with Selestina in tow.
'The entire art of handcrafting multi-layer constructions, frequently for the purpose of making bed covers, is referred to as quilting by the lay population,” Selestina began. “Among skilled craftsmen, however, quilting is understood to refer to stitching with thread through a top cloth, a stuffing or batting and a back cloth to create a single joined unit. Quilting in its purest form is always performed by hand.” She went on to explain the role of quilting throughout history, including the quilted garments seen in medieval times and the padded cloth armor utilized by the Japanese samurai. After an hour, Harriet had to bite the inside of her cheek to stay awake.
Selestina finally concluded her introductory lecture at ten minutes before eleven. Patience stood up and, in a well-choreographed move, unfurled a lap-sized sample. She held it up and carried it slowly down the center aisle. A simple feather pattern had been stitched on cream-colored muslin.
'When a quilt is made using a single, continuous piece of fabric on the top and another single piece of fabric for its backing, we call it a
Harriet was afraid Patience's arms were going to break before Selestina got them through the Industrial
