Quilt As You Go

'What are you guys talking about?” Elfie asked, and when Marit held the swing still, she hopped back to her place beside her new aunt.

Harriet was saved from having to answer by Aiden's arrival.

'Hi,” he said, and kissed her on the top of her head. “I thought I'd come by and see if I could help with the clean-up.” He looked around at the clusters of people. I guess I'm a little early.'

'Your eyes are very strange,” Elfie said. “Are you wearing contacts?'

'No, I'm not wearing contacts, and my eyes are just like yours, I just don't have quite as much color as you do.'

'Can you see the same as me?” Elfie pressed.

'How do you see?” Aiden asked. Harriet could tell he was fighting to keep from smiling.

'I see the regular way,” Elfie answered.

'Me, too.'

'I've got to continue my rounds,” Harriet said, and tugged awkwardly on Aiden's sleeve as she walked away with her pitcher.

'Give me that,” he said and took the lemonade from her. “How's it going?” He gestured toward the assembled Willis clan.

'I think the boys were a bit shocked to find out their father had another child, but everyone is being civil. Marit was just telling me her father was coming to ‘stop a man who was doing something bad.’”

'That covers a lot of ground, approximately half of the world's population being male.'

'Can you help me bring a garbage can from the garage to the edge of the patio?” She needed to think about the implications of what Marit had said, and working was a good way to think. She began gathering paper plates and crumpled napkins from the tables. Aiden brought the can then helped her.

'Would anyone care for dessert?” she asked.

Everyone but James's and Pete's wives nodded or murmured assent.

'What are we having?” Aiden asked.

'Jenny made two pies and a chocolate cake.” She'd also brought two half-gallon cartons of vanilla ice cream.

'How do we know who wants what?'

'We're going to cut pie and cake and put it on plates and put the plates on a tray and then carry the ice cream and scoop with us. We will offer cake or pie and then add ice cream if they want it. You think you can handle it?'

'I think my two hands will handle it better than your one,” he said with a smirk.

Harriet, however, surprised him with her show of one-handed scooping, and they quickly served the dessert and returned to the kitchen.

Aiden's phone trilled with the low tones of Blake Shelton's rendition of the song “Home.” He pulled it from his pocket and pressed the green answer button.

'Calm down, I can't understand what you're saying… No, don't go anywhere… Don't do anything until I get there.” He turned to Harriet. “I gotta go.'

'Trouble?'

'Carla needs me,” he said.

'Oh, well. You better go then.'

'I'm sorry,” he said. He put a finger under her chin and tilted her face up, then kissed her gently on the lips. “She's really upset about something, and I need to go see what's going on.'

She put her good arm around his shoulder and leaned into him, twining her fingers through his silky hair. “Of course you do-go. You can tell me all about it tomorrow.” She said this last with false enthusiasm and hoped he was distracted enough not to notice.

He stepped away.

'I'll call you tomorrow,” he said as he headed for the door. He glanced back at her, and she tried to convince herself it was a look of regret she saw on his face.

'Where's he going in such a hurry?” Mavis asked. Harriet hadn't noticed her enter the kitchen.

'Carla called. He said she was upset, so he had to go find out why.'

'You do know she's not a threat, don't you?'

'That knowledge doesn't excuse his behavior,” Harriet complained and sat on a stool at the bar.

'That youthful lack of finesse is one of the things that attracts you to him, isn't it?'

Harriet didn't want to think about that, so she got up and started loading silverware into the dishwasher. She could justify the use of paper plates for a group dinner-they tended to start the bio-degrading process before dinner was over. Plastic silverware was a whole different thing, though. She imagined post-apocalyptic scenes with all living things gone and plastic forks sticking their tines skyward out of landfills everywhere, silent reminders of man's stay on earth. Because of this, she avoided them and opted to use her stainless flatware, even when the meal was eaten outside.

'I have to wonder what Carla's so upset about,” Mavis said, and Harriet realized she had missed out on the whole “spy on Terry” mission.

'Aiden didn't say, but my guess is it's something to do with her new friend, Terry.'

'Why would she call Aiden about man troubles?'

'She's not having typical man troubles. Terry has proven to be a bit unreliable, which by itself might just mean he's a flake, but in reality, he's a man with an agenda. His claim that he's looking for people who knew his father doesn't ring true, especially in light of our recent discovery that he's sitting on a hill using binoculars to spy on Carlton's company.'

'That doesn't sound like the usual genealogy search, does it?” Mavis said.

'No, I think he's investigating something else. It's not clear if the something else has to do with his father at all. He could be working for a person or persons unknown, or even an organization. He said he'd explain it all, and now he's playing hard to get.'

'What do you mean?'

'He was supposed to meet Carla this morning for coffee, and he didn't show up. That alone makes me want to wring his neck. But if he's working for someone else, I'm sure his work, whatever it is, has to take priority over everything.'

'Something else must have happened,” Mavis said and took over the dishwasher loading process. “Move over, it's going to take you all night, working with one hand. Our Carla gets resigned and dejected, but she's had too much experience with disappointment to become agitated over a missed date. And to call Aiden, she must have been real upset.'

'I don't think so. They've become pretty close since she's been living there. You're right, though, she's not the hysterical type.'

Mavis shut the dishwasher and turned it on. “Well, we aren't going to be able to figure it out until one of them tells us something, and that's not likely to be tonight.” She glanced at her narrow gold wristwatch. “Goodness, look at the time. I'm going to run my bunch out of here so you can get some rest. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your letting me use your house like this.'

'After all the times you've helped me? Don't give it a second thought.'

True to her word, Mavis went outside and encouraged her guests to call it a night.

Chapter 23

Harriet's hand was caught in the drive chain of the conveyor belt at Foggy Point Fire Protection, and she was being dragged toward two giant rollers that compressed two layers of fiber into one. She tried to scream, but no sound came out of her mouth. She thrashed from side to side, but the belt kept moving. She awoke tangled in her