Thread Reckoning (2 page)

“As you can see, the dress has some yellowing here near the neckline and a little around the hem,” she said. “It wasn’t stored properly or something.”

There was some significant yellowing on the bodice, especially near the neckline, so that would take quite a bit of work to cover up. I could also see where there would need to be embroidered lace or perhaps ribbon embroidery all around the hem as well.

“I see definite possibilities,” I said. “Are you wanting something elaborate or more subtle?”

“Elaborate. My mother-in-law is providing some pearls, crystals, and some other kinds of gems she thinks might look nice on the dress. So I’ll want elaborate, just not tacky.”

I smiled. “I can handle that.”

“Could you sketch out some design ideas that I could stop back by and look at tomorrow?”

“I sure can. Would you mind if I take a photo of the gown with my phone so I can use it for the designs?”

“That’ll be fine,” she said.

“Would you hold the dress up in front of you?”

With a sigh of impatience, the woman complied with my request. “I’m Cassandra Wainwright, by the way.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” I snapped the photograph. “I’ll work on the designs today and see what I can come up with. Can you tell me about how large the gems are?”

Cassandra shrugged. “All sizes. There are both larger and smaller pearls. The crystals are pretty uniform in size, and they’re—I don’t know—about a third of a carat maybe? Then she has a few sapphire-looking gems that are at least two carats apiece.”

“What do the pearls look like?” I asked. “Are they freshwater or saltwater?”

“Um . . . they’re round.”

“Saltwater,” I said.

“And they’re probably not actual pearls,” Cassandra said. “My mother-in-law doesn’t make that much money. In fact, she lost her job a while back and had to move here. I’m afraid she’s going to wind up living with us, because I’m not even sure she qualified for her pension.” She waved her hand. “But back to the dress. If I like the designs you come up with, I’ll give you a retainer and we’ll go from there. Provided I do hire you, I’d like you to start on the dress right away. My fiancé and I are getting married on Valentine’s Day.”

Nothing like loads of notice, I thought. “No problem,” I said.

Cassandra put the gown back in the garment bag and said she and her fiancé would be back tomorrow to look at my designs. I hurried to let Angus out of the bathroom as soon as she left.

I was thinking most women select their wedding dress on their own . . . or with their mother or their best friend. To me, it was unusual for Cassandra to include her fiancé in the dress design. Who knows? Maybe she was marrying a fashion designer.

When I’d almost gotten married a few years ago, I certainly hadn’t included David when I’d chosen my dress. My dress had been gorgeous—prettier than the plain ivory gown Cassandra had brought in. Mom had designed it, of course. My mother is Beverly Singer, a costume designer to many Hollywood A-listers. She’d done several wedding gowns for movies, but this was her first “real” gown. And since it was for her only child, she planned to go all out. And since I planned to be married only once, I let her.

We looked through one wedding magazine after another until I found two gowns I thought—or rather knew—Mom could combine into the one perfect gown. And she did. The bodice had a sweetheart neckline with silver metallic embroidery and intricate beadwork. The full organza skirt had a sweep train with beading that echoed and enhanced the beadwork on the bodice. At the waist was a cluster of pearls and crystals that looked like an ornate brooch.

I knew that it would absolutely blow David away. And it might have . . . if he’d ever seen it. He didn’t show up at the wedding. The best man, Sadie, Blake, and Mom were all calling everywhere. Mom was convinced David had been in some sort of accident. Sadie and Blake didn’t say anything that day, but they were thinking what I was thinking—the truth—that David had gotten cold feet.

The best man, Tony, was able to get in touch with David about an hour after the ceremony was to have started. He had been David’s best friend all through college and knew of a dive where David liked to hang out and drink. I was in the garden alone—still wearing the wedding gown—when Tony approached me. I remember how the wind was blowing my hair and how the gown was billowing, and I was thinking what a shame it was that there would be no wedding pictures and that no one would be able to admire this beautiful gown Mom had poured so much of herself into.

“You know, he could’ve called me yesterday,” I’d said to Tony.

He’d bowed his head.

“Or even this morning. Actually, anytime before the guests got here would have been nice.” I knew Tony wasn’t to blame—after all, he’d shown up for the wedding—but I also knew David would ask Tony what I’d had to say.

Tony simply nodded. “He said everything just happened too fast and that it dawned on him that he wasn’t ready for marriage.”

As tears burned my eyes, I’d turned away from Tony. He put his hands on my shoulders, but I didn’t turn back toward him. I didn’t want to fall into his arms and weep. I didn’t want to give David the satisfaction of knowing he’d hurt me that badly.

“He wants to know if he can call you tomorrow.”

“We have nothing to say to each other,” I said.

“He thinks the two of you could still have a future . . . someday.”

I’d shaken my head. “Tell him we have nothing . . . and not to ever call me again.”

And he didn’t. At least, so far he hadn’t. It hadn’t been forever yet. But I wasn’t expecting to ever hear from him again.

Shortly after the breakup, I adopted Angus. That had been over a year ago, but Mom still believed I left San Francisco to avoid running into David or any of our mutual friends. Maybe that was part of it, but I was happy with my new life here in Tallulah Falls . . . for the most part. I’d had my share of bad luck—beginning with finding the man who had leased the shop before me dead on my storeroom floor the first week I was in business. But I’d met a lot of terrific people, business was going well, and my embroidery classes were full every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evening.

I’d even started dating again. Sadie had fixed me up with Todd Calloway, who owned the Brew Crew, a craft brewery next door. Todd was handsome, witty, charming . . . and he had chocolate brown eyes and a voice that could make you go weak in the knees. We’d been on a few dates.

I’d also been on a couple dates with Detective Ted Nash, who’d investigated the murder of the man found in my storeroom. Our first date was way after that investigation had ended. Ted was handsome, too. He had black hair with some premature gray threaded throughout. It made him look distinguished. Of course, he was a pretty distinguished guy, so the look worked for him.

I was trying to play it cool with both guys at this point rather than rush into a relationship with either one. Todd was recovering from a bad breakup when I met him, and Ted had been through a divorce. And, of course, you know about all the heartache that wedding dress drummed up from my own past.

Putting those thoughts firmly aside, I stepped into my office and booted up the computer. I checked my e-mail first and was pleased to see there was a message from Reggie with photos attached. Reggie Singh was the local librarian, and her husband, Manu, was the sheriff. They were vacationing for two weeks in their native India. They were staying with family in Gujarat, and Reggie had passed along some fantastic photos of her and Manu at the Laxmi Vilas Palace.

Smiling to myself, I sent a note back to Reggie telling her not to let Manu get too comfortable in the palace.

Next thing you know, he’ll want to install a throne similar to the raja’s in your living room! Seriously, the palace is gorgeous. Enjoy it . . . but come home soon. I miss you guys! We all do.

I printed out the photographs to share with the other members of Reggie’s embroidery class. They’d be happy to see she and Manu were having such a good time.

I then uploaded the wedding dress photo to my computer. The dress was a simple sleeveless A-line gown. I enlarged the picture, so I could add embellishments using drawing software. Cassandra didn’t seem to be the easiest person in the world to please, so I wanted to give her more than one example.

In the first example, I placed pink silk ribbon rosettes and pastel green ribbon leaves at twoinch intervals along the hem of the dress. I added seed pearls to the upper portion of the skirt. To pull the skirt and bodice together—and to hide the significant yellowing on the bodice—I covered the bodice in pearls and made a more elaborate embroidery ribbon flower and leaf design at the waist that incorporated the crystals. I printed this photograph, saved the file as “Look One,” and gave the dress another go.

With the second example, I used the pearls and crystals to make triangular shapes from the hem to about seven inches up the skirt all around. At the top of each triangle, I placed one of the sapphire gems Cassandra had mentioned. To adorn the bodice this time, I used the crystals, the pearls, and one large sapphire at the top center of the bodice. This design, of course, would depend on how many “gems” Cassandra’s mother-in-law was bringing to the table. I printed and saved “Look Two.”

Before I could begin “Look Three,” the bells over the door jingled, letting me know someone was in the shop. I helped the customer—a middleaged woman with a cheery disposition—find the cross-stitch pattern she was looking for, and then I wandered around looking for embroidery books that might help me decide how to approach “Look Three.” The two designs I’d already come up with were about the best I could do. I was pretty pleased with them, admittedly. And I needed to keep the design simple enough that I’d be able to finish it in time for Cassandra’s Valentine’s Day wedding.

I took two books featuring embroidery designs on clothing and sat down on the sofa facing the window. I opened the top book and began thumbing through it. Naturally, instead of seeing anything for the wedding dress, I saw things that would beautifully accentuate some of my own clothes.

Angus got up and walked to the door—the indicator that he needed to go outside. I set the books aside, grabbed Angus’ leash off the counter, and placed the clock sign on the door that promised I’d be back in five minutes. Angus hurried down the stone walk to the wrought-iron clock standing in the shopping center square. As we jogged past the aromatherapy shop, I happened to glance inside. Nellie Davis, the proprietor, can’t stand me, so I have no idea what prompted me to peek into her shop window. But what I saw made me stop in my tracks, causing Angus to nearly pull me off my feet.

I saw David.

Yes, the David. David who left me at the altar. David whom I’d never have dreamed I’d see in Tallulah Falls, Oregon.

I quickly regained my balance and followed Angus to the square. Sometimes extend-a-leashes are terrific. Sometimes not so much. I wanted to take another look into that shop or see who walked out of it without being terribly obvious. I was almost certain my eyes were playing tricks on me, because Cassandra and her wedding dress had dredged up emotions I’d been trying to tamp down for so long. But I wanted to be absolutely certain my eyes were playing tricks.

As Angus sniffed around the grass, I watched the shop. The man who came out turned so quickly that I couldn’t get a good look at his face. But he had the same sandy blond hair as David. He was the same height . . . had the same build . . . walked the same way.

“No way,” I whispered. “Please let me be wrong about this.”

If it was David and his being in Tallulah Falls was more than a mere coincidence—if he was here to see me—he’d stop at the Seven-Year Stitch. Right? But this guy strolled right on by without a second glance at the shop. It couldn’t be David. It couldn’t be.

Chapter Two

I
’d lost sight of the man by the time I’d cleaned up after Angus and started back to the shop. He and I went back inside, and I went into the bathroom to wash my hands. The bell jingled, and I looked at my pale reflection in the mirror.

The man I’d seen was David. He was here. Or at least, someone who looked very like him—unbelievably like him—was running loose in Tallulah Falls.

I gulped, and then went out into the shop. I sighed with relief when I saw Vera Langhorne making herself comfy in one of the red club chairs.

“Hi!” she said. “I thought I’d stop by and stitch for a few minutes and talk with you about the masquerade ball.”

The masquerade ball . . . right.

Vera was a little matronly, and she was currently dieting, exercising, and looking for a beau. In that state of mind, she wanted all her single, widowed, and divorced friends—me, included, natch—to live well and to look for love along with her. That attitude could get on your last nerve, but Vera was a wonderful alternative to finding David standing in my shop.

The latest attempt to “find us some men” was to take place at the masquerade ball next Saturday. The ball was billed as a Tallulah Falls Chamber of Commerce event to show its appreciation to all the local merchants, but in reality, anyone and everyone could come. I was having enough trouble choosing between Ted and Todd as it was without adding a huge event and expensive gown to the mix.

“Let’s stitch.” I sat on the sofa and picked up my Kuba cloth. It would do me good to work on the quilt and forget about wedding dresses for a few minutes.

Vera took up her latest project—quilt squares she was doing in redwork to match some pillowcases she’d made for her Victorian bedroom. “So, are you going to the ball?”

I inclined my head. “Probably not.”

“I knew you’d need some convincing,” she said, looking down at her belle-at-the-ball gown with fan and following the lines of the pattern with the red embroidery thread. “Why don’t you want to go?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to go,” I said, although that wasn’t entirely true. “I just don’t have anything to wear.”

“That’s ridiculous. Finding something to wear is half the fun of going to a ball in the first place!” She grinned. “And I just happened to see the most fabulous dress and mask in a little shop just outside Lincoln City. It’s maroon and black, and it would look magnificent on you.”