For Love of Eli: Quilts of Love Series by Lough Loree

Author:Lough, Loree [Lough, Loree]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Published: 2013-02-01T06:00:00+00:00

11

The day after the raccoon attacked Millie, Taylor rescheduled every guest, and to thank them for their courteous cooperation, promised to add three free days to their new reservations. Those who’d stayed with her before were so saddened when they heard what had happened to their favorite trail horse that they refused the offer, and all but one first-timer followed suit. Their kind words and offers to pray for Millie touched Taylor so deeply that she decided to follow through on the proposal anyway as they checked out of the Misty Wolf.

With one less item on her Worry List, Taylor wondered how she’d spend her nights. Her conscience wouldn’t allow her to ask Tootie or Isaac to keep an eye on Eli while she watched over the horse; didn’t feel right about leaving Millie with either of them while she tended to Eli. So she drove into town and bought a baby monitor. “I’m almost five years old!” he complained when she set it up. But he saw the sense in it when she explained how it would allow her to be in two places at the same time.

That first night, when Isaac saw her hunched over the tack bench, adding squares to the quilt, he stomped from the barn, muttering about eyestrain and backaches. When he returned a few minutes later, balancing a lamp and an end table atop one of the rocking chairs from the front porch, she wrapped him in a grateful hug.

Every night of the two weeks since, after listening to Eli’s bedtime prayers, she’d gone straight to the barn. The steady sound of his restful breaths, sighing through the receiver, had a calming effect on Millie. On Taylor, too, as she snipped patches from the shirts and skirts that had belonged to Eli’s loved ones. Tidy, color-coordinated stacks sat on her chairside table, their count dwindling by one every time she connected a square to those already put into place by her mother.

Yes, Eli’s gift was definitely beginning to take shape. And yet . . .

By the time she’d reached this point with other quilts she’d designed and sewn, anticipating what it might look like when finished kept her sewing, despite burning eyes and sore fingers. But this one? This one left her with the sense that she’d overlooked something . . . something fundamental. Wondering what it might be preoccupied her thoughts often enough to justify the playful taunts of Isaac and Tootie. She found herself dreaming about it, too, and on more than one occasion, the question woke her in the middle of the night.

So tonight, in the hope of getting to the bottom of it, Taylor carpeted the barn floor with an old blanket and laid the quilt on top of it. She examined it from every angle—standing, sitting, even on her hands and knees—but the puzzle remained unsolved. How could she continue working on the project—her most significant to date—without figuring it out?

Frustration drove her inside. Maybe a little time and distance would give her the perspective needed to solve the puzzle.

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