A Thousand Little Blessings by Claire Sanders

Author:Claire Sanders
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: christian Fiction
ISBN: 9781611164084
Publisher: Pelican Ventures Book Group
Published: 2014-09-20T04:00:00+00:00

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On the first Saturday in April, Sara Benson led Etta into her front parlor. Etta’s quilt top was affixed to a wooden frame in the center of the room. Sara placed a friendly arm around Etta’s shoulders. “You did a fine job stitching the squares together.”

Etta doubted the sincerity of Sara’s praise, but appreciated it nonetheless. “It’s kind of you to say so.”

Sara moved two straight-backed chairs from her kitchen table to the quilt frame. “Sit by me and I’ll show you the basic stitch. The women from the ladies’ circle will be dropping by during the week. The quilting will go much faster with their help. You don’t mind if we work on it without you, do you?”

“Heavens, no. If you waited until I had time, this quilt could take a decade to finish.” Etta settled herself next to Sara. Why hadn’t she ever taken the time to attend the quilting bees with her mother? A quiver of guilt passed through her heart as she realized the answer. Etta knew little about sewing because she’d always chosen her father’s horses or working in the bank over spending time with the ladies. “Gabriel told me he used to hide whenever the ladies from church came to your house.”

Sara laughed softly. “I know he did. Whenever he’d see me getting the house ready for a meeting of the Ladies’ Circle, he’d suddenly remember a chore he had to do or someplace he had to go. His father isn’t much better.”

Etta watched Sara thread several needles. During Gabriel’s absence, her brain had swarmed with thoughts of the bank and her father, but Gabriel was ever-present in her mind and in her prayers. She longed to hear his voice or to see him. As though it had a mind of its own, her skin recalled the feel of his hand in hers. His palm was calloused and the fingers strong, but he’d held her hand with the gentleness of a mare cleaning her foal.

“I don’t know when Gabriel will make it back home,” Sara said, “but I hope he gets whatever’s bothering him out of his system. My son was the most even-tempered, agreeable baby ever born in Texas. But he came back from the Army as grouchy as a ninety-year-old man with rheumatism. Of course, one reason he’s been so irritable is because he hardly sleeps at all. I hear him up and about almost every night.”

How was it that mothers knew everything? Gabriel thought he’d kept his insomnia a secret, but even so, Sara worried about him.

“Now get a thimble,” Sara instructed, “and I’ll show you how to do a rocking stitch.”

Etta slipped a thimble over the tip of her finger and watched Sara. Then she imitated the stitch.

“That’s it,” Sara said. “You’ll get it in no time. Now, tell me how things are going at the bank.”

Mothers might know everything, but Sara didn’t know about the embezzler. Etta had been right to believe Gabriel would keep her secret, and since her mother had relied on Sara, Etta would as well.

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