Thimbles and Threads: 4 Love Stories Are Quilted into Broken Lives - Softcover

Davis, Mary; Hitchcock, Grace; Norquist, Suzanne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1643520512 ISBN 13: 9781643520513

Verlag: BARBOUR PUBL INC, 2019

Inhaltsangabe

Love Stitched into Four Women&;s Lives
Enjoy four historical romances that celebrate the arts of sewing and quilting. When four women put needle and thread to fabric, will their talents lead to love?

Bygones by Mary Davis
Texas, 1884
Drawn to the new orphan boy in town, Tilly Rockford soon became the unfortunate victim of a lot of Orion Dunbar&;s mischievous deeds in school. Can Tilly figure out how to truly forgive the one who made her childhood unbearable? Now she doesn&;t even know she holds his heart. Can this deviant orphan-train boy turned man make up for the misdeeds of his youth and win Tilly&;s heart before another man steals her away?
 
The Bridal Shop by Grace Hitchcock
Charleston, South Carolina, June 1886
Alice Turner, the owner of one of Charleston&;s finest bridal shops, is determined never to be dependent on a man for anything after the disgrace of her father&;s prison time. When her best friend requests Alice to be her maid of honor, she reluctantly sets aside her feelings on marriage and dons a stylish bridesmaid&;s gown, never intending to catch the eye of the handsome groomsman. Will he be able to convince her to open her heart again and finish the quilt once intended for her father?
 
Mending Sarah&;s Heart by Suzanne Norquist
Rockledge, Colorado, 1884
Sarah doesn&;t need anyone, especially her dead husband&;s partner. With four brothers to mentor her boys and income as a seamstress, she seeks a quiet life. If only the Emporium of Fashion would stop stealing her customers and the local hoodlums would leave her sons alone. When she rejects her husband&;s share of the mine, his partner Jack seeks to serve her through other means. But will his efforts only push her further away?
 
Binding Up Wounds by Liz Tolsma
Regent, Wisconsin, 1865
Melissa Bainbridge is a quirky designer of rag dolls who raises raccoons and never really fit into the small farming town. When Lance Witherspoon arrives in town to thank her for the Sanitary Commission quilt she made that saved his life, she is shocked to learn Lance is a Confederate. Can she and Lance confront the town&;s prejudices &; along with their own?
 

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Thimbles and Threads

4 Love Stories Are Quilted into Broken Lives

By Mary Davis, Grace Hitchcock, Suzanne Norquist, Liz Tolsma

Barbour Publishing, Inc.

Copyright © 2019 Mary Davis
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-64352-051-3

CHAPTER 1

Texas December 1884

Matilda Rockford knew life ebbed and flowed on an ever-changing current. But had enough changed in her absence?

She pressed her cheek against the cold glass of the train window. She had delighted in the green landscape of eastern Texas, awaiting her first glimpse of Dallas in four years. Her skin tingled all over. Ma and Pa would be waiting to take her home. She licked her dry lips. The train clacked along, gently rocking her back and forth.

When the train rounded the last bend, the first buildings of town came into view. She sighed.

Home.

Though she didn't live in Dallas, she would see Ma and Pa and welcome the two-hour wagon ride to their nearby town of Green Hollow.

When the station came into view, she gathered her belongings and clasped the waist-length cape around her neck. The train clattered and screeched to a stop, jerking her forward in her seat.

She pinned on her wide-brimmed hat, stood, and smoothed down her wrinkled green traveling suit. Carrying her reticule in one hand and a hatbox in the other, she made her way up the aisle. Her backside ached from days of travel, coming from the East Coast. She stepped off the train and onto the platform, searching for Pa and Ma. She sucked in the cool December air, crisper than she remembered.

Her gaze went from face to face in the crowd. Where were they? They knew her train and arrival time. They wouldn't have forgotten.

"Tilly!"

She froze at the familiar voice, and dread coiled around her spine. She hadn't been called Tilly in the four years since she'd left. Her aging great-aunt abhorred sobriquets, stating they broke etiquette, and never allowed their use. When the person shouted out the nickname from her youth again, she turned slowly.

In brown trousers and a tan canvas duster, Orion Dunbar strode toward her, more handsome than when she'd left. His wavy, coffee-colored hair touched his collar, and his shoulders seemed broader. He nearly took her breath away. Nearly. Too bad he didn't have a good disposition to go along with his looks. She forced herself not to wince and pulled her mouth into a congenial smile. "Good day, Mr. Dunbar."

He furrowed his brow. "Why so formal? It's just Orion."

Her great-aunt had drilled into her that a lady always addressed a man by his title, but Tilly wasn't in Baltimore anymore. She dipped her head. "Orion." When he smiled, something inside her melted. He'd always had a captivating smile. Ever since that first day fourteen years ago when he'd arrived in Green Hollow.

"You're looking as lovely as ever." His Texas drawl poured over her like warm molasses.

She had missed the easy way people spoke here. Unlike the tight, rushed speech back East. Everyone in a hurry to do nothing of importance.

How uncharacteristic of Orion to pay her a compliment. "Thank you."

"Where's your luggage?"

"My pa and ma should be here somewhere." She scanned the people, desperate to find her folks and have an excuse to part from his company.

"They sent me."

She snapped back around to him. Her folks wouldn't do that to her. Orion had tormented her and teased her when they were in school. And ruined her new dress. "Why would they do that?" No, they would not do this to her. They knew the pain and torture he'd caused her in their youth.

"Your pa hurt his leg, and neither he nor I felt it fitting for your ma to travel by herself. So I volunteered."

Neither her pa nor him? Since when had he become companionable with her folks?

"What happened to Pa?"

"Nothing serious. Just a broken leg."

"Nothing serious!" People had lost limbs with less of an injury. "Has the doctor seen him?"

"Of course. He'll mend fine. He's not fit to travel just yet."

Concern laced her voice and gripped her throat. "I want to see him."

"I have a buggy over here. But let's get your baggage first."

She pointed to a trunk being set onto the platform and an oversize green-and-blue tapestry carpetbag. "Let the baggage handler help you with that."

He gave her a lopsided smile. "I can manage it."

That smile. She inwardly sighed.

Manage it? He hoisted it up as though it were her reticule. She grabbed hold of her carpetbag and had considerably more trouble with it than he had with the heavy, bulky trunk. She waddled along behind him with the carpetbag weighing her down on one side. Her hatbox didn't provide much of a counterbalance.

He heaved the trunk onto the back of the buggy. The burden caused the conveyance to dip and the frame to creak. He turned. "You should have let me get that." After relieving her of the carpetbag, he strapped the pair to the back of the buggy then slung her hatbox onto the floor in front of the seat. "Only one trunk?"

"I have several more that should arrive tomorrow."

"Why didn't they come with you?"

"Those trunks weren't ready for the train. I was anxious to be on my way home." Since her parents regularly came to Dallas to pick up orders for the store, she hadn't seen it as an inconvenience, but now she realized it would be.

Orion stood next to the buggy and held out his hand. "Let me help you up."

Who was this Orion who was being so cordial? When she'd left, he'd scowled at her as she rode out of town. And growing up, he had teased and tormented her then ignored her. She wasn't sure which had been worse — being teased or ignored.

Taking a deep breath, she placed a hand in his broad, strong one. Would he squeeze her hand until she cried like when she was a child?

No, he held it gently, helping her into the buggy. He laid a quilt across her lap to keep her warm on the ride.

Her breath caught as she recognized the covering. This wasn't just any quilt. This was hers — or rather the first she'd made as a girl. An appliqué tulip pattern. She'd been so proud of her yearlong work, practicing her sewing. Now she could see how the stitches were uneven and the seams crooked.

When Orion had arrived on the orphan train from the East and been adopted by the blacksmith, her mother encouraged her to give him something. She had chosen her prized work. No wonder Orion had taunted and persecuted her. She'd given him a quilt with big red flowers on it. A girl's quilt.

Now, soft from wear, it had a few holes clear through it. Did he remember from where this had come? She chanced a sideways glance at him as he climbed aboard and took the reins. When would this Orion vanish and the one from her youth return?

The bumpy ride did nothing to quell her concern for her pa and fueled the ache in her backside.

"Why didn't Ma come with you?"

"She's looking after the store and your pa."

That made sense.

Orion cleared his throat. "I'm sorry about your aunt."

Her aunt passing away had released Tilly from her duty to care for her aging relative. "Thank you."

After that, neither spoke for the nearly two-hour ride. She didn't know what to say to him, and obviously he didn't know what to say to her either. What was there to say? So they rode with only the creaking of the buggy springs for conversation.

When the buggy crested a hill and her little hometown of Green Hollow came into view, excitement welled up in her.

Home.

Finally.

Orion guided the buggy through a very cold-looking...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: BARBOUR PUBL INC
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2019
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1643520512
• ISBN 13: 9781643520513
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 448
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Buchpark GmbH; gpsr@buchpark.de; ; Krügerweg 1; Trebbin; Brandenburg; 14959; Deutschland