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Balloons in every color were tied on every available chair and table leg (likely to keep the balloons from flying up to the steep ceiling of the barn). There was a table of gifts off to the side, all in bright wrapping paper. And everyone seemed to be there, including her too-busy, misty-eyed daughter, Piper. Even Miss Sissy was there, probably pulled out of searching the woods, smiling at her. Beatrice felt herself tear up and blinked hard to fight the uncharacteristic tears.
Meadow bounced over to her. She carried a plate that was completely covered with food. Beatrice spotted stuffed mushrooms, deviled eggs, sausage bites, brie with pepper jelly, and cheese straws. Beatrice laughed shakily, “And now, suddenly, I’m starving. And trying not to cry at the same time. How can I thank y’all? What a lovely surprise!”
Meadow said, now dabbing tears herself, “We knew you wouldn’t let us give you a shower if you knew about it. So we had to give one in secret!”
Savannah and Georgia both gave her hugs, Georgia very effusively and Savannah with her usual restraint (but with a warm smile and an unusual twinkle in her eye). Georgia said, “We wanted to do something and figured this was the only way to do it!”
Savannah said, “I’m glad you didn’t lug a quilt here! I was worried that you were going expect us to be doing some quilting.”
Beatrice laughed. “I actually only needed quilt inspiration today. But I bet I can get that at my shower, too. I can’t thank y’all enough.” She saw Piper grinning at her, near the refreshments table. “And you’re here, too! You didn’t give me any hints at all that this was in the works.”
Piper said, “I don’t think you’ve ever really been truly surprised by a party before. I wanted to see if we could pull it off! I remember a group of us tried to surprise you when you turned fifty, but you saw right through it. You’re way too good at figuring out mysteries.” Then she blushed a little and pinched her mouth shut, remembering that Sadie and Della, who had a mystery of their own, were standing close nearby.
But before Beatrice could say anything to them, Meadow engulfed her in another hug. “Go ahead and sit down and start eating so that the rest of us can eat!” she demanded, still wiping a stray tear or two away as she gently pushed Beatrice toward a chair. “And so we can move on to the cake! It looks like one of June Bug’s best.”
June Bug smiled shyly. Most of the women headed in the direction of the kitchen to help themselves to a plate.
Beatrice sat and was soon joined by Savannah, who perched stiffly in a wooden armchair.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so surprised in my life,” said Beatrice. “I was sure it was going to be a guild meeting. It’s a good thing that I didn’t bring a bunch of quilting things with me.”
Savannah said in a pleased voice, “I’ve never been part of a surprise party before. It’s surprisingly difficult to execute. You have to be prepared to lie about the reason for the party, which keeps you on your toes.”
“Well, I was surprised enough to invite two guests to our meeting,” said Beatrice with a laugh. “So you and everyone else did a good job. I suppose Meadow must have mentioned to them that it wasn’t a real guild meeting? At least, I hope she did!”
Savannah gave a quick nod. “She did at that. Told them if they wanted to experience a real guild meeting, they should come to the next one.” Savannah shifted uncomfortably. “This isn’t officially a guild meeting, of course. Although we set it up as one. We’re definitely not following our guild bylaws.”
This seemed to trouble Savannah a bit. Savannah was always a stickler for the rules.
“Sometimes it’s good to deviate from the regular guild program to do something fun,” said Savannah’s sister, Georgia, joining them with a smile.
Savannah said quickly, “Although, if you wanted it to be more of a guild meeting, Beatrice, I could discuss quilting whilst others are filling their plates. That way, we might cover all the bases.”
Georgia winked at Beatrice surreptitiously. “Savannah does like to go by the book.”
Beatrice decided it might be a good idea to soothe Savannah a bit. “Sure. Tell me what you’re working on now.” She took a big bite of deviled eggs. She decided that she’d have to ask Meadow what she put in them to make them so good.
Georgia said, “Oh, Beatrice will never guess what you’re working on now, Savannah.”
“A geometric pattern?” asked Beatrice innocently.
“Yes, yes, but you don’t know what type of geometric pattern. I chose something quite different this time.”
Georgia winked again at Beatrice.
Savannah continued with dignity, “It’s a Tahoe pattern with very cheerful colors. Lots of reds and greens.”
“And a lot of diagonals!” said Georgia.
“That’s what makes it challenging,” said Savannah. “And fun. It’s made with a ton of fat quarters ... I’m sure Posy was happy to see me shopping as much as I was.”
Georgia laughed. “Savannah, I’m seriously hoping that this conversation shifts to wedding planning, even if it is supposed to be a guild meeting. I’m going to get some of Meadow’s delicious food—be right back.”
Savannah waited until Georgia had gotten out of earshot and then glanced swiftly around them. Everyone else was still loading their plates. Savannah leaned closer to Beatrice and said conspiratorially, “You know what? I am making something that’s not geometric.”
Beatrice exclaimed, “Another quilt at the same time? Now I’m really feeling like a slacker.”
Savannah said, “It’s a special quilt. You know—a special project. It’s all hearts and flowers.”
“For Georgia and Tony?” said Beatrice, smiling. “Oh, Savannah. She’ll love it.”
Savannah turned pink and looked pleased. “I hope so,” she said modestly. Then she frowned. “It’s not my usual type of project at all, you know. I’m used to all the straight lines and perfect angles. This quilt is a lot trickier than I thought it would be, although it’s coming along.”
“How has everything else been going for you, Savannah?” asked Beatrice. “How is Smoke?”
Smoke was Savannah’s young cat. He was absolutely adorable, especially when Georgia made outfits for him. And he was the apple of Savannah’s eye. Beatrice had reflected before that it was really a blessing that Savannah had Smoke to dote on, especially since Georgia had been so preoccupied with Tony: first with dating him, then with their engagement.
Savannah said, “Smoke is doing all right, but I honestly think he’s sad about Maisie being missing. You know that he and Maisie were friends and that I’d even bring Smoke over to visit Maisie at the shop or at Miss Sissy’s house. You wouldn’t think cats would be that social, but these two are. Now we haven’t visited Maisie for a while and Smoke seems really sad.”
Beatrice nodded. “I’m hoping Maisie turns up soon. Maybe it won’t be long now that she ends up back with Miss Sissy.”
“I hope so.” She glanced at the refreshments and then said with a bit of alarm, “I’d better hurry over there before all the food is gone! Meadow’s food goes too fast.”
“Especially with Miss Sissy eating,” noted Beatrice wryly.
Savannah’s eyes grew wide. “Indeed!” She rushed to the kitchen, passing Miss Sissy and her tremendous plate of food on the way.
As Miss Sissy plopped down next to Beatrice, Beatrice saw that her plate was laden with foods of all kinds. And Beatrice had no doubt that the old woman would go back for both second and third helpings, if there was any food left. She wondered if Miss Sissy had eaten regular meals at all since Maisie had disappeared.
“Do you have any updates on Maisie, Miss Sissy?” asked Beatrice.
Miss Sissy looked down at her food and her lip trembled just a bit. She shook her head.
Beatrice said in a rush, “But everyone in Dappled Hills is looking for her. I’m sure she’ll be found soon.”
Someone cleared their throat behind them and they turned to see little June Bug standing there. She looked earnestly at Miss Sissy, “I’m sure I saw Maisie today on the way over here.”
Miss Sissy’s eyes grew wide, “Where?” she gasped.
“In the woods between Beatrice’s house and Meadow’s. It looked just like Maisie. I stopped the car and hopped out and called her, but she ran away,” said June Bug looking sorrowful.
Miss Sissy said, “But she was okay?”
“She looked great. She just didn’t want to come to me,” said June Bug.
For a moment Miss Sissy looked as if she were about to leap up, leave the shower, and head off into the woods again. But then she hesitated, looking at her plate of food.
Beatrice said quickly, “Miss Sissy, Maisie can wait. She’ll probably have moved on by the time we get there. Besides, I’m wondering how often you’re eating meals. Why don’t you finish eating, take a break, and then we can look some more?”
Miss Sissy nodded slowly and then attacked her plate of food with vigor.
June Bug cleared her throat and shyly said, “Everyone? I want to introduce you to my niece, Katy.”
Now Beatrice saw that a small girl was hovering behind June Bug. She was very thin, had straight brown hair, and serious blue eyes. She gave a tentative smile as everyone greeted her.
Meadow said, “Katy, I bet I know what might be fun for you. I still have some of Ash’s toys here. How about if you come over to the other side of the kitchen and I’ll set up a play area for you? It might be more fun than listening to a bunch of old women gossip.”
Katy hesitated, and then nodded slightly, eyes trained on the floor. Meadow reached out a hand to Katy and she took it, walking away to get the toys.
Beatrice asked June Bug in a low voice, “How is everything going with Katy?”
June Bug’s round face looked worried. “Oh Beatrice, I don’t know. She doesn’t ever say a word. She’s so quiet and serious.”
Katy sounded, actually, quite a bit like June Bug, herself.
Beatrice said, “I’m sure she’ll be fine. She just has a lot to adjust to ... especially the loss of her mom. It may just take her a while.”
June Bug nodded, but the anxiety remained in her eyes as she watched Katy carefully building block towers in a corner of Meadow’s kitchen. Then Piper came over to talk with June Bug about Katy’s adjustment to school and Beatrice visited with Posy.
A few minutes later, Piper teasingly said to Meadow, “Your food is just too good. You’re going to have to teach me how to cook some of Ash’s favorite meals. Otherwise, after the wedding, he’ll be over here all the time to be fed instead of at our house!”
Meadow waved her away, “Oh, I’m sure your mother has taught you a lot about cooking.”
Beatrice choked a bit on her deviled eggs.
Piper said diplomatically, “Well, Mama has always been so busy. We ate out a lot, didn’t we?”
Beatrice nodded, grateful for the life buoy. Beatrice had indeed been busy after her husband passed away. But it probably would have been good to teach Piper how to cook. If, that is, she’d figured it out a bit better, herself.
Meadow grinned over at Sadie and Della. “We’re so glad that you two came to join us today! Although it’s a most-unusual guild meeting for us. Will y’all come back again when we have a real meeting? We have a lot of fun.”
Sadie said to Meadow, “That’s a deal. Will it be next month?”
“No, we won’t wait that long, especially since this was a faux meeting just to lure Beatrice here.” Her eyes opened wide. “Wouldn’t it have been awful if Beatrice had had some kind of conflict or forgotten to come? I’d have had to run over to her cottage and kidnap her.”
“That wouldn’t be the first time that happened,” said Beatrice dryly.
Meadow and Sadie started talking about the nuts-and-bolts of the guild and the kinds of things they’d done lately: charity quilt drives, mystery quilts, fabric swaps, and show-and-tells. Della smiled, but didn’t seem to be engaging in the conversation much.
Beatrice said to Della, “Thanks for coming—that’s really sweet of you, considering that you’ve already helped host something for me earlier.”
Della perked up a bit at the compliment. “Oh, I didn’t mind. Anything to get out of the house at this point. It’s pretty grim there.”
“I can imagine,” said Beatrice. “At least you’ve got the funeral plans set, it sounds like. And I hope you’ll come out to the next, real guild meeting. We do have a lot of fun, and I get a lot of inspiration from the other women.”
Della nodded, looking around the room. “They’ve all been quilting for a while?”
“Some of them, like Miss Sissy, their whole lives,” said Beatrice, nodding. “But I know you’re just starting out with the craft.”
Della seized on this. “Exactly. I’m not even sure if it’s something I want to spend a lot of time doing. I might be more interested in doing lots of different crafts instead of focusing on just one. And I wouldn’t want to end up having to be an officer in a guild or something like that. I don’t think I’d have enough time.”
Beatrice nodded slowly. “I can understand that. You’re just trying different crafts out and trying to find a good fit. But do come to a guild meeting—I think it’ll give you a good overview of what being involved in the quilting community can be.”
She smiled at Della and Della smiled back. If Della only knew how lucky it was that Beatrice had been the one to recruit her and not the heavy-handed Meadow.
Meadow was now busy commandeering the bridal shower. She clapped her hands. “Ladies? There seems to be a little food left over, if anyone wants seconds.”
Miss Sissy immediately got up and started heading to the kitchen.
“And now it’s time for presents! My favorite part!” said Meadow, eyes gleaming.
Beatrice felt herself blushing a bit. “You’re all too kind. You really didn’t have to. At my age, I’m not exactly going from my parents’ home to my new husband’s. I have a good bit of stuff.”
Meadow said, “Pooh! A no-gift shower is no fun at all. And this shower is all about fun. Starting off with the fact that it was a surprise. How many surprise showers have you been to?” she demanded.
Beatrice laughed. “I’ve never, ever been to a surprise shower. All right, you’ve convinced me. On to the gifts!”