Part 22 (1/2)

”Come up here! You've got to see what I found.”

Max's head popped up from the spot by the arbor where he'd been sleeping in the sun. He took off in a flash, heading for the kitchen door. He waited somewhat patiently for Gracie and Cardline to open the door and then bolted through the kitchen and up the back stairs.

Gracie moved a little slower. She was also glad she and Caroline had finally gotten a bit of hurt out of their systems. They were bound to argue again, but it would never last for long. Maybe they just needed to talk more, to be truthful about what bothered them.

Gracie hadn't been up in the attic since the end of the summer, but it looked like nothing had changed. Dust motes danced serenely in the sunlight from the window, and boxes were still stacked sky-high. Someday there might be time to tackle the mess, but that would be well into the future.

”This'd better be good,” Caroline said, laughing when Sam appeared before them, covered with dust and cobwebs.

”Oh, it's good all right.” Sam smiled. ”It's an old sampler, and it's beautiful. And here's the best part of all: I think it was st.i.tched by Hannah Montague.”

Sam had been hugging the dark wood frame to her chest. She slowly turned it around for Gracie and Caroline to see. ”Down here”-she tapped on the gla.s.s-”beneath the Bible verse, are the letters 'H.E.' That's got to be Hannah Elliott. It's dated 1864, the same as the inscription inside her hymnal.”

Gracie moved in closer for a better view. ”If that's really hers, she did awfully good work for, what, a ten-year-old?”

Sam nodded. ”I was thinking the same thing, although some of the letters are uneven, and some are darker and thicker than others.”

”Girls back then were always so precise.” Gracie added.

”What does it say?” Caroline asked.

Gracie read the verse the little girl had so lovingly embroidered: ”Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonis.h.i.+ng one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Colossians 3:16”

Caroline looked at it closely. Pink, white, and pale reddish-brown seash.e.l.ls zigzagged along the border, with musical notes scattered among them. ”What do you think the seash.e.l.ls and musical notes mean?” Caroline asked.

Gracie laughed. ”Here we go again, trying to find a meaning in something that might have no meaning at all. It's highly possible that Hannah might have thought the seash.e.l.ls and musical notes would look pretty together.”

”Well, I prefer to think there's more to it,” Caroline said. ”I have the feeling Hannah was a little girl who didn't like to take orders from her father, bucked him at every opportunity.”

”And what makes you think that?” Gracie asked. She thought her sister must be projecting her own personality on Hannah.

”Just a hunch,” Caroline said. ”All we really know is that she married beak-nosed Jedediah Montague, who had to have been much older than she. An arranged marriage-no doubt one she didn't want.”

”That's totally made up, Caroline,” Gracie said. ”We don't know the first thing about her.”

”But I want her to have a story. I want to bring her to life,” Caroline said. ”If I have to make up a life for her”-she shrugged-”so be it.”

Gracie shook her head, grinning. ”You're as incorrigible as Max.”

From somewhere in the attic, Max barked.

Gracie coughed, fanning away the dust motes in front of her face. ”You know where the sampler would look good? In the library.”

”Should we hang it now?” Caroline asked.

”We could do that,” Gracie said. ”The room's painted and papered, and we really need to start filling it with odds and ends to give it a homely feel. We can set out some of the knickknacks of Mom's that the two of you brought back to the island, and-”

”Was that a knock at the door?” Sam asked. ”I could have sworn I just heard a cane tapping away, trying to get our attention.”

The sisters heard a whimper. Max peered out from his hiding place, his brown eyes wide. He was doing his best to look innocent. ”Oh dear,” Gracie said. ”Now what has Max done?”

Since you didn't come over to say h.e.l.lo when you got back, I figured I'd just have to come say h.e.l.lo to you.”

s.h.i.+rley Addison strode through the foyer and into the parlor. Her cane tapped on the hardwood floor with every other step.

”We're glad you did, s.h.i.+rley,” Caroline said. She wondered when s.h.i.+rley would lower the boom and tell them what Max had messed with this time. ”But we've been a little busy since we got home. What do you think of all the work we've done?”

s.h.i.+rley made her way to one of the sofas that would be reupholstered in the next few weeks and gave it a whack with her cane. They were relieved to see only a little dust puff out and into the air. Using her cane for balance, she sat down. She looked around. ”I see you copied my parlor.”

Sam set Hannah's sampler on top of the piano for now. They had drawn inspiration from s.h.i.+rley's parlor. Their parlor had the same nautical theme, and they had used stripes and flowers to bring the theme out, just like she had. The walls were a light, calming blue. They had found and framed an old mariner map and hung it over the couch, which they were recovering in a cheery floral fabric. They planned to use pillows of blue and white stripes to set it off. They'd set a mirror in a bronze s.h.i.+p porthole by the piano, and there was an antique wooden buoy perched on a steamer trunk they planned to use as a coffee table.

”You know what they say, imitation is the greatest form of flattery.” Caroline smiled.

”In writing, it's considered plagiarism, but”-s.h.i.+rley finally allowed herself to smile-”the color is a tad different. Perhaps a little softer.” She frowned. Her lips twitched back and forth as she looked about the room. ”Actually, I rather like it.” She smiled. ”Good choice, girls.”

”Could I get you some hot chocolate?” Caroline asked, hoping to make amends before s.h.i.+rley had an opportunity to chew them out for whatever Max might have done. ”Some tea? Gracie and Sam brought some lovely flavors with them. Pa.s.sion fruit, mango, pomegranate.”

”I'm a Lipton fan, myself. Just plain old black stuff. With caffeine. Made with a tea bag.”

Caroline swallowed hard. Their neighbor was in rare form today. ”Is everything all right, s.h.i.+rley? Has something happened? Did Max do something?”

”Why, no, what makes you ask that?”

”Oh, no reason,” Caroline said. ”We sometimes worry about him going over to your place and getting into something he shouldn't.”

s.h.i.+rley harrumphed. ”Not today, as far as I know, although I'm sure he'll pay me a visit before the week's out. What about our Jamie? And George? Will they be visiting soon?”

”Jamie should be here in a little while. She has fall break this week. And George this coming weekend.”

”Then I suppose you'll invite me for dinner to celebrate your homecoming?”

”How about Sat.u.r.day night?” Sam said, but before Mrs. Addison could reply, Max bolted through the parlor, sliding across the floor. He had something big and oddly shaped in his mouth, and Caroline went after him.

”Max! What are you trying to hide?”