The Healing Quilt (9 page)

“Take this napkin and wrap it around your glass. It will soak up some of the moisture.” Emma smiled and then continued. “Even though Anna didn’t want to come to the class at first, eventually she liked it, and she learned to quilt.”

Erika didn’t respond, just wrapped the napkin around the glass and finished her drink. She hoped the others would get here soon so they could get on with the class, because the sooner it was done, the sooner she could go home to the solitude of her room, which was fast becoming her only safe place.

Maybe I’ve said enough
, Emma thought.
It might be better to just show Erika kindness and do the best I can at teaching her to quilt. Once she discovers that she can do it, she might find it enjoyable and realize she can do something useful
.

“If you’ll excuse me a minute, Erika, I need to go back to the kitchen,” Emma said. “Lamar’s still in there, and I need to make sure he isn’t sampling the snack I prepared for our quilt class today.”

“Go right ahead,” Erika responded in a sullen tone.

Emma hurried to the kitchen, where she found Lamar at the table, peeling an orange. “I was hoping you weren’t testing the coffee cake,” she said, taking a seat beside him.

He wrinkled his nose. “Nope. I knew better than that. Don’t want to do anything to get my
fraa
riled at me.”

“It would take a lot more than you eating a piece of my coffee cake to get your wife riled,” Emma said. “Now, if you ate the whole thing that would be an entirely different matter.”

“Figured, to play it safe, I couldn’t get into much trouble if I just had an orange.” He glanced at the doorway leading to the other room. “Is everything okay with Erika? She seems pretty down-in-the-mouth today.”

“I’m afraid you’re right,” Emma agreed. “She doesn’t want to be here, but I think the real problem may lie in the fact that she has no self-esteem.”

“Guess that might be the case, all right.” Lamar bit into a piece of orange, sending a spray of juice in Emma’s direction. “Oops! Sorry about that.”

“No harm done.” Emma grabbed a napkin and blotted the juice that had sprayed her apron. “Getting back to Erika, I can understand why she’d be depressed and feel as though she has no self-worth, but there are other people in the world who are worse off than her.”

“That’s true,” Lamar agreed.

“I feel as though Erika has come to us for a reason, and I hope there’s something we can do to help her.”

“God will give us the right words at the right time; He always has,” Lamar said. “And who knows, Emma, a breakthrough for Erika might come about because of something that someone else says or does, rather than through one of us.”

Emma nodded. “I’m fortunate to have married a man as
schmaert
as you.”

Lamar grinned, bouncing his bushy eyebrows up and down. “Well, I did convince you to marry me, so I must be fairly smart.”

“It’s nice to see you this morning,” Kim said as she and Noreen stepped onto the Millers’ front porch.

“Same here,” Noreen said with a nod.

“I’ve been wondering if you were able to get that tea stain out of your slacks,” Kim said.

“As a matter of fact, I was,” Noreen replied. “I used cold water and some Stain Stick, and it came right out.”

Kim blew out her breath. “That’s a relief.”

“Would you like a friendly piece of advice?” Noreen asked.

“Sure.”

“During my college days, I worked as a waitress for a while, and one thing I tried to remember was to be careful with the food and beverages I carried to and from the table. Some customers wouldn’t be as nice as I was about a waitress spilling something on their clothes, and if you want to keep your job, you have to be on your toes.”

“Yes, I know, but accidents can happen.”

“And it’s your job to make sure that they don’t.” Noreen pursed her lips. “Otherwise, you could end up getting fired. In my day, I saw that happen more than once.”

Kim cringed. While Noreen had kept quiet about her spilling the tea, she figured if something like that should happen to Noreen again while Kim was waiting on her, she would tell Kim’s boss. Kim had a hunch that Noreen wasn’t one who gave people a second chance.

Kim wasn’t normally so klutzy—only when she got nervous or overly stressed. Hopefully things would go better for her at the restaurant once she relaxed and felt more comfortable with her new job.

“Guess we’d better get inside,” Kim said, knocking on the front door. “I don’t know if everyone else is here or not, but we don’t want to hold up the quilting class.”

Soon after Kim and Noreen showed up, Jennifer arrived.

“Are you feeling all right? You look tired today,” Emma said, feeling concern when she noticed the dark circles beneath the young woman’s brown eyes.

“I didn’t sleep well last night,” Jennifer said. “The baby kept kicking, and I couldn’t seem to find a comfortable position.”

“I remember when I was carrying my youngest daughter, Mary,” Emma said. “She used to get the hiccups, and that would wake me out of a sound sleep.” She gave Jennifer’s arm a tender squeeze. “Once that
boppli
comes, you’ll forget about any discomforts you had before she was born.”

Jennifer tipped her head curiously. “Boppli? Is that another name for baby?”

Emma’s face heated as she slowly nodded. “It’s Pennsylvania Dutch, and even when I’m talking English I sometimes forget and say something in our traditional Amish language.”

“It’d be fun to learn a few Pennsylvania Dutch words,” Kim spoke up. “Would you teach us, Emma?”

“I’d be happy to,” Emma replied. “Maybe I can do that during our refreshment time. Right now, though, I think we need to get started with our quilting lesson.”

“But B.J. and Phyllis aren’t here yet,” Lamar said. “Don’t you think we should wait for them?”

Emma touched her hot cheeks. “Of course. How silly of me.” She didn’t know why she felt so flustered this morning. Maybe it was because of the scare they’d had earlier with the alligator in their yard. That was enough to put anyone’s nerves on edge.

Emma glanced at the clock, and noticed that it was almost ten. She hoped her last two students weren’t going to be late. If they didn’t get started soon, they would fall behind schedule, and she wanted everyone to finish their quilted wall hanging by the end of the sixth lesson. “I guess we can wait a few more minutes to get started,” she said, “but if B.J. and Phyllis aren’t here by ten fifteen, we’ll need to begin without them.”

“While we’re waiting, Emma, why don’t we tell these ladies about our exciting morning?” Lamar said.

“Since it actually happened to you, I’ll let you tell them,” Emma replied.

Everyone, even Erika this time, focused on Lamar as he proceeded to share the story about the alligator that had entered their yard and been captured by the two men. When he got to the part about Rusty sitting on the gator, Erika’s eyes widened. “That guy must have been very brave or incredibly stupid,” she said. “Even when I had two good legs, I would never have done anything like that.”

“Each of us has different fears and things we feel brave about,” Lamar said. “It’s just a matter of what we’re willing to do.”

“That’s right,” Kim agreed. “Some people are afraid to ride a motorcycle, but I’m not the least bit scared when I’m riding mine.”

“Two of our previous quilters from Indiana own cycles,” Lamar interjected. “I don’t think they’re afraid to ride, but they do use caution.”

Kim bobbed her head. “Same here. One thing I always remember is to wear my helmet. I’ve seen some bikers go without it, but in my opinion, that’s just asking for trouble.”

“Is there anything you’ve ever done that others might be afraid to try?” Emma asked, looking at Jennifer.

A wide smile spread across the young woman’s face. “Before Randy and I got married, I loved to water-ski. Of course, I’d never try that now. It wouldn’t be safe for the boppli.” Jennifer patted her stomach, and looking at Emma, she grinned. “Did I pronounce that word right?”

Emma smiled and nodded.

“Why don’t you go next?” Lamar said, motioning to Noreen. “Is there something you do that others might be afraid to try?”

“Not unless you count teaching high school English. Some people might be afraid of that.” Noreen paused, snickering quietly. “Now I recently did something that surprised even me. Imagine a sixty-five-year-old woman like myself buying a sports car. But I did, even though I’m still trying to figure out why.” She lifted her gaze to the ceiling, rolling her hazel-colored eyes.

Everyone laughed. Everyone but Erika, who sat staring at her hands, clasped firmly in her lap. Emma thought about asking the girl if there was anything she’d ever done that would seem frightening to others, but decided against it. If Erika wanted to open up, she would.

As if she were able to read Emma’s thoughts, Erika suddenly blurted, “I was never afraid of anything till I tried a new dive. It went horribly wrong, and I ended up with a spinal cord injury.” She lifted her chin in a defiant pose, although Emma noticed tears glistening in the girl’s pretty blue eyes. “Guess that’s what I get for showin’ off when I should have listened to my dad when he said I should get out of the pool. Some people might believe I got just what I deserved for doing the dive, and they’d probably be right about that.”

“Blaming yourself is not the answer,” Emma said. “In the Bible we are told to forgive others, and I believe that means we need to forgive ourselves as well.”

“I know what the Bible says; my dad and I go to church every Sunday,” Erika said with a huff. “So you don’t need to preach at me.”

Emma’s heart went out to Erika. It was obvious that she held herself accountable for the accident that had left her legs paralyzed. Worse than that, Erika thought she deserved her physical limitations. She saw them as a punishment for disobeying her dad. No doubt that was the reason for her negative attitude and cutting remarks.

I won’t say anything more to her about this right now
, Emma thought,
but I can certainly pray for Erika and ask God to bring healing to her young heart
.

E
mma was about to have the class begin sewing their quilt squares, when she heard footsteps on the porch. “That must be B.J. or Phyllis,” she said to Lamar.

“Whoever it is, I’ll let them in.” He moved toward the door.

When Lamar returned a few minutes later, B.J. was at his side.

“Sorry I’m late,” B.J. apologized. “Guess I was more tired than I thought last night, because I slept right through the alarm this morning.”

Seeing the look of exhaustion on the man’s face, Emma became concerned. “Are you feeling alright?” she questioned.

“I’m fine. Just tired is all.” B.J. took a seat at the table, next to Noreen. “Did I miss anything?’ he asked.

“Not really. Emma was waiting until you and Phyllis got here,” Noreen replied. “I wonder what her excuse is for being late.”

“Maybe something unexpected came up,” Emma was quick to say in Phyllis’s defense. “I’m sure if she wasn’t able to be here she would have called.”

Noreen shook her head with a look of disgust. “In the world we live in today, it seems that many people aren’t dependable and only live for themselves. Why, the other day my neighbor’s teenage son was supposed to mow my lawn, but he never showed up.”