All Our Empty Places by Alicia G. Ruggieri

Author:Alicia G. Ruggieri [Ruggieri, Alicia G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Goodreads: 26234179
Publisher: Brighter Destiny Productions
Published: 2015-09-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Sarah felt her anxiety lessen when she realized that Emmeline planned to stick closely by her side throughout the gathering. Arriving early at the parsonage, they found two empty seats at the quilting frame and settled themselves in. Sarah recognized several of the other First Baptist women by sight only; she wouldn’t have been able to name them if they’d offered her a dollar to do it. Over the summer, during the handful of times she’d attended the Protestant church, she’d done her best to fade into the stark white walls – a hard task considering that she and Grace had been the most poorly-dressed attendees. However, other than a few curious greetings and introductions, Sarah had managed to escape notice by the other women. After all, when she had been poor and nondescript, she’d had nothing with which to tempt the other women’s interest.

Now, however, she was Doctor Samuel Giorgi’s wife. She’d pled illness last Sunday and slipped out the church’s side door before the sermon ended. But she’d known that the attention to her existence was coming, like it or not. That was part of her reason for not wanting to attend the quilting circle today.

Sure enough, as soon as Sarah eased onto the wooden folding chair’s seat, a woman in a pink-flowered dress chose to sit beside her. Sarah reached for her purse and rifled through it. You can’t look inside your pocketbook forever. The dread of facing the woman beside her – conversing with her! – smacked her afresh, and Sarah turned her body toward Emmeline. Is that rude? Maybe the lady’ll wanna talk to whomever is on the other side of her.

It was a futile hope. “Do I have the pleasure of addressing the new Mrs. Giorgi?” a voice inquired from her left. It had the low, smooth tone of a clarinet.

The moisture evaporated from Sarah’s mouth. There was no escape. But she found it impossible to turn toward the woman; all the muscles in her body had frozen, and her mind ran blank.

Dimly, she heard Emmeline speak up. “Yes, this is Sarah Giorgi, Vanessa. Sarah, I’d like you to meet a friend, Vanessa Rutger.”

Sarah forced her mind and body to cooperate – at least so far as to numbly face the woman on her left. Breathe. Just keep on breathin’! She jerked her head up and down in a semblance of a nod to acknowledge her new acquaintance. It wasn’t an overly friendly gesture, but it would have to do until her voice box decided to work again. She knew that if she tried for words right now, she’d only emit a croak.

“So nice to finally meet Sam’s wife,” Vanessa said, her green eyes widening like fishbowls. “I saw him on Sunday, and I thought that I glimpsed a woman seated next to him – and a boy and a girl, nearly-grown, but I didn’t get the opportunity to speak with you.”

Gotta say somethin’. You can’t just sit here like a bump on a log! Sarah swallowed hard but found that she’d forgotten exactly what Vanessa had said.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.