Chapter 4
W hen the doorbell rang, Shona wiped her hands on a dishtowel and checked her watch. Joseph and Adele were on time.
Nate was busy outside, cooking the meat on the grill. She hoped their dinner guests liked the simple meal she’d prepared. It wasn’t a fancy birthday dinner but, hopefully, that didn’t matter.
She opened the door and smiled. Joseph had changed into a different shirt. Her heart gave a nervous flutter as she studied his clean-shaven face and amused eyes. Mabel often joked that he was the most handsome man in Sapphire Bay—and she wasn’t wrong.
She cleared her throat, hoping he hadn’t noticed her unexpected brain freeze. “Welcome to our home. I’m glad you didn’t get lost.”
“We only got a little bit lost,” Adele said with a grin. “But Dad worked out where we had to go and turned around.”
Joseph held up a cooler. “I brought some dessert with us. Where would you like it?”
Shona pointed to the kitchen. “Come with me. There’s plenty of room in the refrigerator.”
Adele looked around the open-plan living room. “I like your home.”
“I like it, too.” Before they’d arrived, she’d raced around the house, picking up scraps of fabric and half-finished quilting projects. Nate loved seeing what she was working on, but sometimes it could look messy.
Nate walked through the large set of French doors. “The meat’s cooked. Hi Adele and Mr. Adams.”
Adele grinned. “Hi, Nate. What did you cook?”
“Steak and chicken. You can help me bring it inside, if you like?”
Joseph stepped forward. “Before you collect the meat, I’d like to thank you for the birthday present you made. It’s a great replica of the tiny homes.”
“I’m glad you like it.” He took two plates out of a cupboard. “Come on, Adele. We’d better bring in the meat before it gets cold.”
She went with Nate, asking him questions about the model of the tiny home he’d made.
Joseph followed Shona into the kitchen. Three bowls of different salads sat on the counter, and two loaves of bread were cooling on a rack. “You’ve been busy.”
“I’d already prepared most of the food before we went into town. I like trying different recipes when Nate’s home.”
“It’s more fun cooking for two people.”
“Exactly.” Shona opened the refrigerator and moved some food around. “Will that be enough room?”
“Plenty.” Joseph placed a cheesecake on one of the shelves and added two cartons of ice cream to the freezer. “Do you enjoy living out here? It’s a long way from town.”
“When my husband and I bought the property, I never considered how far it was from the stores. All I saw were the wide veranda with the gingerbread trim and the view of the mountains.” She poured Joseph a glass of lemonade and handed it to him. “It wasn’t until we lived through our first winter that I realized it might have been better to be closer to town.” Her heart ached at the memory of Chris trudging through thigh-high snow. Living here was different from anything she’d known, but they’d had a good life.
She poured a glass of lemonade for Adele. It gave her a chance to gather her thoughts and focus on the here and now. “Do you enjoy living in town?”
“We do. Adele’s school is only a ten-minute drive from our house and it takes me about the same amount of time to drive to the old steamboat museum. When I lived in Los Angeles, it took more than an hour to get to work.”
Shona opened the cutlery drawer. “It sounds like coming to Sapphire Bay was a good idea.”
Joseph’s smile disappeared. “It was the only thing I could do.”
Before she could ask what had happened, Nate came into the kitchen with Adele.
“Here’s the meat, Mom.”
“It smells delicious. Leave it on the counter so we can help ourselves.”
It didn’t take long for everyone to choose what they wanted to eat. By the time they sat around the picnic table, their conversation was flowing from one topic to the next. Nate kept them amused with stories from college. Adele’s eyes were full of wonder as he talked about the design projects he was working on. When she told them about the after-school programs at The Welcome Center, her voice was full of enthusiasm.
Nate picked up his glass of lemonade. “You should show Adele the quilt you’re making for The Lakeside Inn, Mom. If she enjoyed the flower arranging class, she’ll like that one. It looks like a bouquet of roses.”
Out of all her projects, that was Shona’s favorite. Quilted in small blocks of soft pink, apricot, and pale yellow fabric, it was a tribute to the Terry sisters’ grandparents. They’d loved their rose garden, spending hours looking after the delicate blooms. After they died, their granddaughters turned the gorgeous home overlooking Flathead Lake into an inn. The roses flourished, and Shona’s quilt would be placed on a rocking chair overlooking the garden.
Adele frowned. “How does a quilt look like flowers?”
“It depends on the fabric and the pattern you make.” Shona lifted a cob of corn off her plate. “If you want to see it, I’ll show you after dinner.”
“Yes, please. Did it take a long time to learn how to quilt?”
“Not too long. My grandma showed me how to make the fabric squares and add the filling that makes the quilt nice and warm. Once I learned those two things, I tried other ways to make the designs special.”
“Mom wants to open a store that sells quilts,” Nate told Joseph. “She’ll teach people how to make them, too.”
Shona saw the surprise in Joseph’s gaze. He wouldn’t be the only person who thought she was crazy. “I’d never thought of owning a business, but I know it will work. I have enough pre-orders to keep me busy for the next two years but not enough space. My sewing room is bulging with fabric and supplies.”
Joseph wiped his hands on a napkin. “I’m not surprised people want you to make quilts for them. The ones you make for the tiny homes are lovely.”
A spark of gratitude filled her heart. She made the quilts to help people, but it was nice for someone other than her son to appreciate what she did. “I’m applying for a start-up loan from the bank. If that’s approved, I can buy the furniture and other things I’ll need.”
Adele frowned. “Will your store be here or in town?”
“In town,” Shona replied. “There are two cottages on Anchor Lane available for small businesses like mine. Paris and Andrea, the owners of the businesses that have already opened, have helped me get the paperwork ready.”
“I know Paris and Andrea,” Adele said. “They help at The Welcome Center.”
Nate pulled out his phone. “I took some photos of the cottage.” With his head bent toward Adele, he showed her the building Shona wanted to rent.
Adele’s eyes widened. “You should see the cottage, Dad. It’s awesome.”
Joseph moved to the other side of the table and looked over his daughter’s shoulder. He lifted his gaze to Shona’s. “It looks similar to The Starlight Café.”
“They have the same floor plan.”
Adele grinned. “Dad loves the café’s chocolate chip muffins.”
“I do, but I like taking you there even more.”
“We go there on Saturdays,” Adele told them. “Can you show us your quilting room, Mrs. Milligan?”
“I’d love to. If it’s okay with your dad, you can call me Shona.”
Joseph picked up Adele’s empty plate. “That’s fine as long as Nate calls me Joseph. I keep thinking he’s talking about my dad when he calls me Mr. Adams.”
“Dad doesn’t look anything like Granddad,” Adele told Nate. “Granddad has a big, bushy beard and pretends he’s Santa Claus at Christmas.”
“That sounds like fun.”
Adele nodded. “He goes to the hospice and gives everyone presents. It makes him happy.”
Nate looked confused. “Why does he go there?”
“Grandma stayed there before she died. Granddad said it makes him feel like he’s making her smile when everyone sees him.”
Shona glanced at Joseph. There was a stillness about him that made her want to reach out and make sure he was all right.
His eyes collided with hers. “Mom died when I was twenty-two. She had cancer. Dad’s gone to the hospice each year since then.”
“He must miss her.”
“We all do. She was the glue that held our family together.” He looked at the plates in his hand, as if he’d only just remembered picking them up. “I’ll take these through to the kitchen.”
Shona picked up her and Nate’s plates. “Do you want to see my sewing room before or after dessert, Adele?”
“After,” she said quickly. “Guess what? We brought Nate’s favorite ice cream with us.”
“In that case, I’ll take the ice cream out of the freezer. I’ll be back soon.” She balanced a bowl of salad on top of the dinner plates and carried them into the kitchen.
Joseph was rinsing the plates to load them into the dishwasher.
“Thank you for doing that. Are you okay?”
“I’m better now. Mom died two days before my twenty-second birthday.”
“I’m sorry. Is that why you don’t like celebrating your birthday?”
Joseph rinsed the dishes she’d left on the counter. “For the first few years after she died, it was. But then it became easier to bury myself in work and anything else that was happening.”
Shona leaned against the counter. “After Chris died, I used to visit the cemetery each day. I thought it was helping me, but it wasn’t. When Nate told me he missed the person I used to be, I cried all over again.”
“I’m sorry about your husband.”
Shona put the plates inside the dishwasher. “Thanks.”
“I can’t imagine what it must have been like.”
Usually, she would have said it was hard, but they got through it. This time, there was something about Joseph’s steady gaze that made saying those words feel like a lie. “Our world fell apart. I was in the car with Chris when a drunk driver hit us. My injuries kept me in the hospital for weeks. Nate stayed with some friends, but he retreated into himself. It took a long time for him to come to terms with his dad not being here.”
Joseph’s gaze softened. “What about you?”
“I still have moments when grief sneaks up on me, but those times are becoming less frequent. I don’t know what I would have done without Nate. When I couldn’t work because of my injuries, he went to school and had three part-time jobs. It gave us enough money to buy groceries and pay most of our bills.”
“What about your family? Were they able to help?”
“I don’t have any family. My mom died before I got married, and I never knew my dad. Chris’ dad did what he could, but he lived on the other side of the country.” Shona saw the compassion in his eyes. “I was lucky. I had great friends.”
“When my wife left, I couldn’t understand why. I thought we had a good marriage, but I had no idea what was happening in her life. Or Adele’s.” Joseph put the last of the plates into the dishwasher. “Hillary wanted to find herself. That meant leaving Adele with me. When she went overseas, she met someone else. She married him after our divorce was finalized and made her home in Australia.”
Shona’s eyes widened. “She didn’t want Adele to live with her?”
“No. Looking back now, it was the best thing that could have happened. I was so involved in work that I never made time for my wife or Adele. It wasn’t until we were working out our divorce settlement that things got messy.”
“Even the most amicable divorces can become a minefield.”
Joseph looked through the window. “She threatened to take Adele to Australia if I didn’t give her what she wanted. Using Adele as a bargaining chip wasn’t going to happen, so I signed the divorce settlement and moved to Sapphire Bay.”
He looked so sad that Shona placed her hand on his arm. “Adele’s happy and you’ve made a wonderful life here. All you can do is look forward.”
“It took a long time to realize that.”
They both turned around at the sound of footsteps on the wooden floors.
Nate and Adele were holding the rest of the dinner dishes.
Adele placed hers straight into the dishwasher. “Nate and I want to help make dessert.”
Joseph smiled. “Were we taking too long?”
“Only a little bit.”
Shona sighed at the tender way Joseph looked at his daughter. It was clear he loved Adele with a strength that would withstand anything life threw at him. Including celebrating birthdays he’d sooner forget.
She opened a cupboard and smiled at Adele. “In that case, you can scoop the ice cream into these bowls. The candy sprinkles, chocolate sauce, and chopped nuts are in the pantry behind you, Nate.”
Shona loved the sound of everyone talking and moving around the kitchen. After Nate went back to college, her home would fall silent.
All she could do was enjoy tonight and try not to think about tomorrow.
After they’d finished dessert, Joseph stepped into Shona’s sewing room and stared at shelves filled with a rainbow of colored fabric.
Adele turned in a slow circle. “Wow. This is amazing.”
Shona smiled. “It’s my favorite room in the house.”
Joseph could see why. For anyone who enjoyed quilting, it would be like an Aladdin’s cave of treasure. As well as floor-to-ceiling shelves dedicated to color-matched fabric, there were containers of glittery thread, ribbons, sequins, and beads.
Adele ran her fingers along a wooden table. “Do you make all your quilts in this room?”
“I sew all the quilts in this room, but sometimes I use the kitchen table to cut the fabric and design the patterns.”
Nate stood in the doorway. “Mom has customers all around the States.”
Shona smiled. “One of the reasons my quilts are so popular is because of Nate. He built a website for my business and showed me how to use Facebook and Instagram. We post photos and videos of the quilts as I’m sewing them. People see them and order either that quilt or something similar.”
“You should like Shona’s Facebook page, Dad,” Adele said excitedly.
Joseph raised his eyebrows.
She patted his hand. “It’s okay. I don’t have an account, but plenty of my friends do. They showed me how to use Facebook.”
Shona unfolded a quilt. “A lady in Amsterdam saw a video of this quilt being made. She liked it so much that she bought it for her grandson.”
“It's beautiful,” Adele said. “I like the buttons.”
Inside each square of fabric was an animal-shaped button. Lions, frogs, fish, and dogs decorated the blue and green quilt. “Where did you find the buttons?”
“One of my friends is an artist. She made them for me when I told her I couldn’t find any that suited the fabric. Would you like to see the flower bouquet quilt?”
Adele didn't need to be asked twice, and neither did Joseph. “Do you sell many quilts to people who live in Sapphire Bay?” he asked.
“More than you’d think.” Shona opened a drawer and pulled out a large quilt. “Quite a few people buy them as gifts for their family and friends. But most of my sales come from tourists who are visiting Montana. They buy them as a reminder of their vacation.”
As soon as Shona opened the quilt, Joseph knew it was special. Somehow, she'd created a collage of tiny fabric squares that looked like a bouquet of apricot, pink, and cream roses.
Adele sighed. “It’s so pretty.”
He looked closely at the stitching. It dipped and swirled across the fabric, giving the quilt a depth that wouldn’t be possible with anything else. “It’s beautiful. How do you even start a project like this?”
Shona laughed. “With a lot of planning. It’s similar to what you do with the tiny homes. I need to imagine what it will look like when it’s finished before I start. Otherwise, I could run out of fabric or end up with something completely different.”
“And planning helps you know how much time to allocate to each project,” Nate said seriously. “The more orders Mom gets for her quilts, the harder it is to finish everything.”
Joseph frowned. “And you think opening a store will free up your time?”
Shona shook her head. “Possibly not, but other people have offered to help me make quilts for the store.” She pointed to another set of shelves. “I have ten quilts I can sell. The members of the church’s craft group have quilts they want to sell, too. Between us, I’ll have more than enough for when the store opens.”
Adele touched a flower on the bouquet quilt. “When will you finish this one?”
“I’ll add a little more stitching to the right-hand side tonight, and then it’s done.”
Joseph had made some furniture for the boutique Bed and Breakfast on the shore of Flathead Lake. The quilt would look perfect with the French farmhouse feel Penny and her sisters had created. “All I can say is that the Terry sisters are lucky to have this quilt. If you’d advertized it online, it would have been snapped up in seconds.”
“I’ve had a few inquiries about making similar quilts. I can’t make them now, but the people are happy to wait.”
“When do you want to open your store?”
“As soon as possible.” Carefully, Shona folded the quilt and left it beside her sewing machine. “I have an appointment with the loan officer at the bank on Monday. If they can lend me some money, I’ll be able to open my store in a few weeks.”
“And if they don’t?”
“I’ll have to rethink what I want to do.”
Nate showed Adele another quilt. “They won’t say no. I dropped off some decorations at The Christmas Shop, and most of your quilts have been sold. They’ll be even more popular if you have a store in town.”
“I hope so.”
Joseph didn’t know anything about making quilts, but even he could see that what Shona made was remarkable. “I’m with Nate. And if you employ other people to help you, it will be good for you and the community.”
Shona sighed. “I hope the loan officer is as positive as you and Nate.”
Adele bit her bottom lip. “You should bring the person from the bank to your house. They won’t say no if they see how pretty the quilts are.”
“That’s a great idea,” Shona murmured. “I won’t bring them here, but I could take some of my quilts into the bank with me.”
Joseph picked up the quilt Shona had made for The Lakeside Inn. “Take this one. They’ll love it.”
With a bemused smile, Shona placed it on her worktable.
Joseph looked at the shelf of finished quilts. If the bank turned down her application, he’d speak to Pastor John. The Christmas Wish Program had never given anyone money to open a store, but there was always a first time for everything.
And some things were worth a different type of investment. Especially if it could transform more than one person’s life.