Crazy as a Quilt (A Harriet Turman/Loose Threads Mystery Book 8) (9 page)

Aiden got out of his vintage Bronco and walked over to Harriet’s SUV.

“What are you doing here?”

She turned her engine off and opened her door.

“I came to pick up Lainie for our quilting lesson.”

“That’s why I’m here.” Aiden pushed Harriet’s door closed behind her. “Lainie called me and asked if I could take her to your place. Michelle’s car is in the shop.”

“Michelle had already asked me to come pick her up.”

Aiden’s jaw tightened. “My sister must have forgotten to tell her daughter what the plan was. I’m not surprised. She’s not the most organized person. We’re really slammed at the clinic. I only came because it was Lainie asking.”

“You can go back. I’ve got it covered.”

He looked at his car and then toward the house.

“I better go in and at least say hello and tell Lainie it isn’t her fault. She’s a sensitive kid and will be upset if she thinks she took me away from something important.”

“Uh, she
did
take you away from something important.”

“I know, but she doesn’t need to know that.” He took a deep breath and looked at her. “Okay, I’m calm, cool and collected. No stress here at all.”

Harriet shook her head.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with her learning to be considerate of other people, but what do I know.”

He put his arm around her shoulders.

“Come on, back me up here.”

“Lead the way.”

They found Lainie with her mother, brother and Marine. Their houseguest had either gotten over her illness or found something to cure what ailed her. The group was clustered around a book that lay open on the dining room table.

“Look, Uncle Aiden,” Lainie called out. “Here’s your picture with Marine at the prom.” She spun the book around so he could see the picture.

Aiden smiled, but it looked more than a little forced to Harriet.

“That was a long time ago.”

Lainie grinned. “You looked really handsome, Uncle Aiden.”

“I looked handsome?” he said with mock horror. “You mean I’m not the most handsome guy you know now?”

Lainie’s face turned crimson, and she looked to her mother for help.

Marine seemed to be somewhere else.

“We did look good didn’t we?” she said to no one in particular.

“Don’t worry, Lainie,” Harriet said. “Uncle Aiden in teasing you. Do you have your quilting bag ready?”

Lainie glanced at her with obvious relief.

“My bag is by the front door, I’ll go get it.”

She hurried out of the dining room, followed by her brother. Harriet watched until the dining room door closed then looked at Aiden.

“I didn’t realize you two were an item.”

“They were more than an item,” Michelle said before Aiden could answer. “She was the love of his life. They went steady for most of high school.”

Aiden turned abruptly. “I’ve got patients to see.”

Harriet watched as he strode across the dining room and into the kitchen. The nerves of her spine bristled. She took a deep breath and reminded herself most people had dramatic teen romances that didn’t stand the test of time.

“I’m going to go lay down,” Marine said. She left through the door Lainie had used.

Michelle closed the yearbook.

“Marine and I were having a little trip down memory lane. If I’d known he was coming, I would never have gotten the book out. She broke his heart when she went to LA after high school. Everyone, including Aiden thought she was going to go to the community college near here until he graduated and then they were going to go off to university together. I know my mom thought they would eventually get married. We all did.

“I think Mom thought there was still hope when Marine came back from LA and stayed with her, but Aiden had just left for his research trip to Africa for three years. But you know all that.” She picked the book up. “Why was he here, anyway?”

“Lainie called him to take her to my house.”

“I’ll have to talk to her. I told her you were coming to get her.”

Harriet was ready for this conversation to be over before Michelle dropped any more revelations about Aiden that he’d not chosen to share with her.

“Speaking of Lainie and her lesson, we better get going. My houseguest is waiting for us.”

“Lainie,” Michelle screeched. “Come on, you’re making Harriet wait after she’s been so nice, coming and getting you.”

As if on cue, Lainie returned, her bag clutched to her chest.

“I’ll feed her dinner,” Harriet told Michelle as she followed Lainie out to the car before Michelle could reply.

Lainie shivered.

“I don’t like Marine. Madame du Cloutier says we’re not supposed to talk about people unless it’s something nice, but she’s really weird.”

Harriet backed up and then turned down the driveway.

“Weird how?”

“Well, she gets sweaty when it’s cold in the house. And she smells a lot of the time. She wears a lot of perfume to cover it up, but that makes it worse. She talks to herself.”

“What does she say?”

Lainie puffed her chest out and deepened her voice.

“You can do this, Marine, it’s just dinner. You just have to make it through dinner.” Lainie’s voice returned to normal, and she relaxed her shoulders. “Stuff like that. It seems like she’s always giving herself a pep talk. She doesn’t really seem to like quilting, either.”

“Well, now, that’s downright sacrilegious.”

Lainie’s brows pulled toward each other and furrows formed between them.

“Is it really?”

“Honey, no. That’s just a figure of speech.” What sort of education were these poor children getting with their French tutor and nanny? Harriet wondered. Her own education was largely European, but she’d still learned English, including slang and idioms.

Lainie’s cheeks turned pink.

“Sweetie, it’s okay. Every language has figures of speech that don’t make sense. Let’s get back to Marine. Is there anything else that makes you uneasy? She hasn’t said anything inappropriate to you or your brother, has she?”

Lainie shook her head. “She ignores us, just like everyone else in that house, except our nanny and tutor. Our nanny says we are to be seen but not heard.”

“That doesn’t sound like much fun.”

The girl chewed on her lower lip.

Harriet thought for a moment. Her desire for information was at war with her desire to protect Aiden’s niece.

“Tell you what. You listen to what Marine says—to herself or to others. If she says anything you think is weird, or even just a little off, you can tell me at our next lesson. If it’s something big, you can call me on my cell phone. I’ll give you the number when we get to my house. I think you’re very smart, and I’d like to hear what you have to say.”

Lainie smiled.

A few minutes later, they pulled into Harriet’s driveway.

“Can I take Scooter out when we get there?” Lainie asked.

“I think he’d like that.”

Sharon lay her four-patch block beside Lainie’s on Harriet’s cutting table. Carla had picked Lainie up after Harriet had fed everyone a simple stir-fry with rice. She shook her head.

“Hers looks so much better than mine.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. This isn’t her first lesson, and I’ve been giving her homework. She’s had practice cutting precisely and sewing a straight line.” Harriet picked up Sharon’s lopsided block. The two women looked at each other and laughed.

“It’ll get easier with practice,” Harriet told her when they could speak again. “No one who hasn’t sewn before just sits down and starts making perfect quilt blocks. Don’t pressure yourself. You can practice while you’re here. We spent most of this lesson on cutting. It will be better when you can just sew for an hour or two at a time.”

Sharon raised her eyebrows. “If you say so.” She looked at Harriet and blew air out of pursed lips. “Since my modeling career ended, I’ve been mostly a bust at everything I’ve tried. I designed our kitchen and the refrigerator spot was too small for a normal-sized unit. I got that corrected and took up gourmet cooking. That lasted until I blew up the pressure cooker in the kitchen.

“Rick banned me from the golf course when I over-swung and hit him in the eye with my club.” She smiled. “I was hoping this would be a success. Your quilts were always so beautiful. I knew I couldn’t do anything like that, but I’d hoped I could create something.”

“I don’t know about all that other stuff, but I do know you can do this. You told me before you learn quickly, and I believe it. Your work shows promise. You’ve a good eye for color, and crazy quilting allows for a lot of irregularity. Lainie is learning the basics, but much of that doesn’t apply to crazy quilts.”

“Are you going to be working with Lainie again tomorrow?”

“I’ll have to check with Michelle. We’re only scheduled to meet weekly, but I was hoping to have her over after class tomorrow before our group dinner.”

“I’d like to try my corner technique again tomorrow, if that’s okay.” Sharon tilted her head and looked past Harriet’s shoulder. “I think your friend is waiting outside for you.”

Harriet turned around and looked out the front window of her studio. Aiden was leaning against his Bronco in her driveway.

“I better go out.”

Sharon smiled. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Harriet waited until Sharon was out of the studio and the connecting door was shut. She opened the outside door.

“Are you coming in, or do I have to come outside and freeze with you?” It was springtime in Foggy Point, but evenings were still cold.

“I didn’t want to interrupt you and your roommate. I figured you’d take Scooter out eventually.”

She stepped aside and held the door open.

“Sharon is upstairs for the night. How long have you been waiting out here?”

“I just got here. I had nothing better to do, since I can’t go to my real home, so I volunteered to do the evening hours at the clinic tonight.”

“I’m guessing you didn’t have to ask twice.”

“Yeah, Ron was glad to go see his kid’s soccer game.”

She looked at his face. He wasn’t smiling.

“What’s wrong?”

He was silent for a moment.

“I didn’t want you to get the wrong impression about me and Marine.”

Harriet shut the door behind him and sat in one of the two wingback chairs in her client reception area. She pointed to the other one, and he sat down.

“I didn’t have any impression, right, wrong or indifferent.”

“Even when Michelle said Marine was the ‘love of my life’?”

“I would have been more surprised if a guy as good-looking as you still are didn’t break a few hearts in his youth. Besides, I’ve learned not to believe most of what your sister says, even this reborn version. Having said that, she does seem to be trying. I get the impression she didn’t really want to invite Marine to stay at your house.”

Aiden leaned his head back against his chair.

“So, I’ve been worrying for nothing?”

“I wouldn’t go that far, but you don’t have to worry what I think. Even the kids can see Marine’s a troubled soul.”

He let out a big breath.

“She always has been. Contrary to my sister’s romantic notions, Marine wasn’t the love of my life. I’d always brought home stray kittens and puppies. She was my first stray human. I realized later what was wrong with her would take more than a few normal dates and some of my mom’s home cooking. She wasn’t that easy to get rid of once I’d figured things out.”

Harriet stood up and went over to his chair. He opened his arms, and she sat down in his lap. She stroked a lock of silky black hair back off his face.

“How so?”

“You name it, she tried it. She threatened suicide. She scratched my car door with a key. She left long rambling messages on our phone machine. One time, she called all my friends and said she and her fictitious baby couldn’t live without me and then hid and wouldn’t answer her phone. The whole town was searching for her. I looked like a schmuck for ditching her in her hour of need.”

“But you did take her to the prom?”

“Only after she bought a dress and told everyone she was going with me. Half the town still believed I’d made her get rid of the pretend baby at that point. I hadn’t asked anyone else—I’d been planning on going to a program at the University of Washington with Julio that weekend. Jorge was taking us. It was a pre-college thing. Julio and I were big science nerds back then.”

“What did Jorge say about it?”

“To no surprise, he thought I was making a big mistake giving in to her demands. Peer pressure was intense, and I caved in. He was right. It only got worse.”

“How did things end?”

“I went off to college. After she’d spent some time trying to get acting jobs in California with no training, she came back to Foggy Point and tried to trap me into marrying her. Remember, she’s a couple of years older than me—I was in high school when she went to LA.

“Eventually, she got a scholarship to a drama program at a junior college. I guess she got involved in that and forgot me. There were rumors she got into drugs at that school, but I don’t really know. I didn’t want to know anything about what she was doing or where she was doing it.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest. She leaned her head on his shoulder.