No! she fussed at herself. I’m here for that rebirth stuff, not to think about all the times I’ve failed in the past.

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Nessa walked around the edges of the patchwork quilt that was stretched on a wooden frame. She’d never tackled anything this big, and it was a little scary, especially when she thought about the Blossom Quilting Club passing judgment on the thing when they were finished. She remembered that two other women had made up the club with her grandmother, but it had been years since she’d seen them. Nanny Lucy had talked about them—Stella and Vivien—when Nessa called her.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Even after being closed up for six months, the shed still smelled like roses. Nanny Lucy had always kept a rose-scented candle burning on top of the filing cabinet in the corner. She glanced over that way, and sure enough, a large jar candle with three wicks was waiting to be lit. Nessa wondered if rose-scented sachets were still tucked away in Nanny Lucy’s dresser drawers, too.

“Wonder what’s so important that we need to finish this thing?” she muttered. “And why do we have to work on it together? I wish I had faces to go with their names—Stella and Vivien, two sisters.”

“Guess we’ll have to get it finished to find out why,” April answered. “It’s sure not something I’m looking forward to doing. I hate anything that has to do with needles. Stella and Vivien had been friends to Nanny Lucy since they were all just kids.”

“Didn’t you ever get to help quilt?” Nessa asked.

“Get to help?” April’s chuckle was brittle. “More like had to help. Don’t worry about me messing things up so we don’t pass the test. I can do the job, but I won’t enjoy it.”

Nessa couldn’t imagine not enjoying sitting beside Nanny Lucy and quilting. She was amazed by the quilt in the frame, though. Nanny Lucy’s quilts were intricate and fancy, like the one hanging behind the sofa. For that matter, Nessa loved every step of making a quilt. Cutting the pieces out was like the beginning of a friendship when two people are getting to know a little about each other. Sewing those pieces together was like building all those little shapes into a quilt top. Then the final step was putting the backing, batting, and top all into a frame, where it was stretched tight. That was the tedious part of a hand-quilted piece of work. One stitch at a time to hold everything together. That process reminded Nessa of life.