The Quilter's Scandalous Past by Patrice Lewis

Author:Patrice Lewis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2023-01-26T19:15:02+00:00

Chapter Ten

“How did your aunt take it?” Miriam asked.

“She was shocked, of course,” replied Esther. “Though in some ways, I don’t think she was surprised. She knew Uncle Paul had high blood pressure and refused to take any medicine to control it. I think she expected him to have a stroke or a heart attack someday.”

Esther and Miriam sat in the hospital’s cafeteria the day after Uncle Paul’s stroke. Her uncle was doing much better—so much so that the doctor was confident he would be released the next day.

Miriam invited Esther to the cafeteria during her lunch break so the two women could finally have a chance to catch up.

“Aunt Anna will be here this afternoon to visit,” continued Esther. “Joseph said he would drive her in the buggy so she wouldn’t have to walk.”

“How has it been, working with Joseph?” Miriam sipped her tea.

Esther was silent a moment. “Awkward, at first,” she admitted. “I had a lot of bad memories to overcome. To be honest, when I first heard it was him who was buying the store, I was horrified. Why him, of all people?”

“It does seem ironic.”

“What’s ironic is how all of you, as well as myself, ended up here in the same town. I mean, what are the odds?”

“I just wish Thomas hadn’t shown up.” Miriam made a face.

“Joseph said you decided not to bail him out?”

Miriam’s grimace deepened. “Welllll, I changed my mind. He’s begging me to post bail for him.”

“Won’t he just get into trouble again?”

“Of course, he will.” Miriam put a hand over her face. “But the thought of leaving my own brother in jail just...just...”

Esther touched her friend’s hand with sympathy. “It’s a difficult choice, I know.”

“Ja.” Miriam rewrapped her hands around her mug of tea, her face troubled. “It’s this crowd he’s hanging with. Some of them are doing serious crimes. To his credit, Thomas hasn’t involved himself in the really bad stuff, but I worry he will at some point. Or that they may use him as a scapegoat. And you want to know my dark hope?”

“What?”

“That he finally hits rock bottom in a way that won’t permanently harm himself or anyone else, and then gets redeemed.”

“Redeemed spiritually or socially?”

“Both.”

“Joseph wondered the same thing after you came into the store to tell us he was in jail. But he didn’t sound hopeful. He said Thomas has been messing up his life for twenty-four years, so why should he change now?”

“Yet, people do change. They change all the time.” Miriam took on an expression of anticipation. “The hospital offers all kinds of services and counseling he could take advantage of. And of course he could return to the church...”

Her friend seemed so filled with eager optimism that Esther became chilled. Was Miriam so blind to her brother’s faults that she actually thought he could be redeemed? Is that why she was willing to bail him out of his latest scrape?

“Why did he turn out the way he did?” Esther mused. “You and Joseph aren’t anything like him.

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