Quilt As You Go

The two women spent an hour and a half at Foggy Point Fire Protection, poring through the badge books. To be Terry's father, the man couldn't have worked there in the last ten or twelve years. Terry had said his dad died when he was young, and since he couldn't be more than thirty and probably was younger than that, they concentrated their efforts on the books from the nineteen-eighties. When that didn't yield anything, they checked the first few years of the nineteen-nineties, but to no avail.

'This just confirms what I already believed,” Harriet said. “Terry is here for some reason, but finding friends of his dead father isn't it.'

'You're worried about Carla, aren't you?” Connie asked.

'Aunt Beth keeps telling me Carla's a big girl, but I have a bad feeling about this. Young people just don't come to hang out in Foggy Point.'

'You came back,” Connie reminded.

'Yeah, but I had a reason. I have a relative here, one who really exists.'

'Shall I drop you at your house?'

'Yeah, thanks. I need to think about what this means.'

Chapter 16

There was a car parked in the circular driveway when Connie dropped Harriet off.

'Oh, joy,” Harriet said, “that looks like Lauren's car.'

'Come on, honey,” Connie said. “Think positive.'

Harriet gave her a half-smile and thanked her for the lift.

'It took you long enough to get home,” Lauren greeted her as she came through the quilt studio door.

'I didn't know I was on the clock,” Harriet said.

'You asked me to do some research, and I got some results. I thought you were anxious to hear any news regarding Gerald.'

Harriet knew there was no winning with Lauren. However, the woman did know her way around a keyboard, and Harriet appreciated the fact that she'd taken the trouble to deliver the news privately.

'This took some work. You owe me big time.'

'Okay, already, I owe you. I'll name my firstborn child after you. Better yet, I'll give you my firstborn child.'

'Eww,” Lauren groaned.

'I've got to take my medicine-you're going to have to come to the kitchen to impart this earth-shattering news.'

When Lauren got up without further argument it piqued Harriet's interest.

'You want some lemonade?” she asked as Lauren plopped down on a bar stool.

'Sure,” Lauren said, and pulled a folded sheet of paper from her pocket.

Harriet filled two glasses from a pitcher in the refrigerator, handed one to Lauren and then used hers to down two pills. She opened a plastic bag of chocolate chip cookies and put half a dozen on a plate then set it in front of Lauren. She finally sat down at the bar, one stool between herself and Lauren.

'Okay, I'm ready. Amaze me.'

'You certainly know how to take the thrill out of things,” Lauren groused, and twisted a strand of her blond hair around her finger. “I searched for everything I could find on Gerald and didn't turn up much,” she said without waiting for Harriet to react to her accusation. “But when you gave me the Gerard Van Auken name, things started getting interesting.'

'How so?'

'Hold your horses, I'm coming to that.” She looked at her paper again. “Gerard surfaced in Amsterdam the year after he left here. He wasn't exactly hiding. He gave a paper at a small conference that had something to do with industrial products. I'm not exactly sure what-I had to use a language translation program, so it's a little rough. He definitely delivered a paper. He seems to have attended a number of conferences that year. Nothing too big, but it seems like he was networking in his field.'

'Is that the wow news?'

'No, that's not the big news. It is interesting, though, don't you think? He obviously wasn't concerned about hiding from everyone-just Foggy Pointers, or maybe just Americans.'

Harriet gave her an impatient look.

'Okay, already,” Lauren continued. “The big news is that he took out a patent on a fiber formula then sold it for lots of money to a company that makes body armor. So, I guess he could afford to work as a simple peasant. He's got a few mil in the bank. Double-digit millions.'

'Wow,” Harriet said in spite of herself. “You're right, I owe you for that.'

'Don't worry,” Lauren said. “You will pay.'

She stayed until she'd finished her lemonade and cookies. Harriet asked her a few polite questions about what she was working on for her ongoing class at the Angel Harbor Folk Art School. After a few smart remarks, she offered to show Harriet her latest project samples. Harriet followed her to her car, where Lauren pulled out a pizza box filled with ten-inch-square samples in a variety of techniques. Her final project would be a three-dimensional vine-covered cottage. She was trying out stitch combinations to make a thatch roof, vine-covered walls, wooden doors and windows and a rose bush. Harriet was amazed by the intricacy of the detail as well as the density of stitching.

'We had to dye our own thread and ribbon, too.'

'These are really cool,” Harriet said and realized she actually meant it.

'I gotta go,” Lauren said and got in her car.

'Thanks for the info.'

Lauren waved and drove off down the driveway.

Harriet went back into the studio where her aunt was still working on the show quilt.

'Mavis called while you were outside with Lauren,” Aunt Beth said.

'What did she want?'

'She wants you to call her. I told her you would call as soon as Lauren left.'

'Do you know what she wants?'

'Her boys are all coming to town for the funeral service. She's going to talk to Ilsa about going forward with whatever plans they need to make. The boys decided they're coming to support their mother no matter what happens, and if nothing else, they'll have a small private memorial of their own.'

'And that has what to do with me?'

'You know she only has two bedrooms in the cottage. She was wondering if you'd be willing to let a couple of the boys stay in your spare bedrooms.'

'I'm guessing that me calling is a mere formality,” Harriet said and tried to look serious. Her aunt didn't deny it, and Harriet ended up laughing in spite of herself. “You two are impossible.'

'You know you wouldn't have said no.'

'Of course I wouldn't say no, but it makes me feel like such a grown-up when I get to say yes, or heaven forbid, offer before I'm asked. And I would have as soon as she told me they were coming.'

'I know, dear,” Aunt Beth said, and patted Harriet's good arm.

'Do I at least get to pick which sons I get?'

'Call Mavis.'

Harriet went into the kitchen and called Mavis. After reassuring her it was okay with her to have the boys stay at her house, she listened while Mavis went into a detailed analysis of which of her sons would be the best house guests.

'Mavis, it'll be fine. Send whoever you want. I've got plenty of room… Send all three of them if you want. It'll take the pressure off you and your house… Okay, I'll await their arrival.” She hung up. “Get ready for company, Fred. The Willis boys are coming.'