The Quilt Read online

  Reverend Louis led the congregation through a hymn and a prayer and a short talk about a woman everybody knew, and all the while gave the little white terry-cloth towel he carried in his pocket a real good work out. He thought of something he’d have to share with his wife once it was all over, which was that one could have found more breathing space in an unopened can of sardines than there in that church.

  By the time Jody got up, the church was one big fidget. A basket full of week-old puppies would have been calmer. She had a time finding the place in her Bible, what with the perspiration in her eyes and the clammy feeling that left her fingers clumsy. To keep the trembling from showing, Jody slid one finger on the page and grabbed that hand with the other and squeezed. She looked up at the crowd and tried to speak above the fretful babies and the rustling fans and the quiet noise that a crowd makes when it’s ready to get up and out but is too polite to say so.

  “I know it’s gonna sound a little crazy to read a passage of thanks at Momma’s funeral,” Jody began, and found herself getting all choked up. It was kind of strange, because she hadn’t really felt that much grief during the past twenty-four hours. The day before yesterday had been touch and go, but yesterday hadn’t been too bad. There’d been one moment in the bathroom last night when she was afraid she was going to drop her youngest, she’d started crying so hard. And that had scared the poor little one so bad she’d been forced to get control over herself. After that she’d been pretty much okay until she was in bed with Jonas, and then the good man had had to rock her to sleep like a little girl.

  Jody swallowed real hard and made her eyelids flutter and pinched her hand real good, and fought back the burning behind her eyes. She went on, “But all of us who knew Momma knew she would never want anything else.

  “This passage comes from Philippians, chapter four, verses four through seven:

  Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

  Jody raised her eyes from the Book and saw that the church had settled. Her own nervousness was lessening, the pressure in her throat totally gone. “There’s a lot I could say about the mother of my husband,” Jody began. “The lady the world knows as Miss Mary, and who became as close to me as my own mother. But it would just be repeating what you already know. So I’ll say what Momma would want me to say, and that is to give thanks to the Lord your God every day. She taught me a lot, more than I could ever say to anybody, but this last lesson of hers is the one I’ll fight hardest to keep. It truly is the way to knowing the peace that surpasses all understanding.”

  Everybody who came to Mary’s little house on the hill after the service stopped by to tell Jody how well she did. It wasn’t just nice, someone said, it was like something I’d expect to have Mary say. Wise and sweet and short, somebody else told her, just the thing that Mary would want said. You’ve given me something to carry with me for a long time, another friend said, one last little gift from Mary.

  Lynn came up as she was refilling the punch bowl and said, “Better watch out, honey, there’s a delegation in the corner over there ready to put you up for Mary’s place.”

  Now that it was over, the hole was back in Jody’s heart. She struggled to make a smile, said, “They’ve got to be scraping the bottom of the barrel, then.”

  “I don’t know,” Lynn said, wearing the same smile she’d had since the service. “It really was a little like Miss Mary, the way you stood up there and talked from the heart.”

  Jody decided it was time to change the subject. She pointed with her chin toward the quilt stand, said, “Just look at that, will you.”

  The back wall of Mary’s sitting room was hidden by the upright quilt frame. It dominated the room, drawing every eye toward it as soon as the outer door was opened.

  It was as though the reason for the gathering had to be put aside until the newcomer had gotten up close to the quilt, touched it, admired it, talked to a couple of neighbors about it, gotten lost for a moment in the beauty of the design. Every lag in the conversation was filled with a comment about the quilt.

  “It’s hard to believe I ever worked on anything that pretty,” Lynn agreed.

  “I wish there was some way you could see the prayers we sewed into it,” Jody said, mostly to herself.

  Lynn looked around the room, saw the sadness leave faces as they looked back to the quilt. She turned toward the back wall, saw her neighbors wipe away tears and smile as they reached out and touched the circular flowers.

  She patted Jody’s arm, said, “Maybe you can.”

  Books by Davis Bunn

  The Book of Hours

  The Great Divide

  Winner Take All

  The Lazarus Trap

  Elixir

  Imposter

  Lion of Babylon

  All Through the Night

  My Soul to Keep

  ACTS OF FAITH*

  The Centurion’s Wife • The Hidden Flame

  The Damascus Way

  SONG OF ACADIA*

  The Meeting Place • The Sacred Shore

  The Birthright • The Distant Beacon

  The Beloved Land

  HEIRS OF ACADIA†

  The Solitary Envoy • The Innocent Libertine

  The Noble Fugitive • The Night Angel

  Falconer’s Quest

  *with Janette Oke †with Isabella Bunn