‘You should,’ Ginny urged. ‘I don’t think I can remember the last time you took a holiday.’
Loretta thought hard. ‘July, seven years ago.’
Daisy laughed. ‘You remember the specific month and year and you haven’t been since?’
‘I went to a sewing exhibition in Edinburgh.’
‘So work-related,’ Fern concluded. ‘Not a holiday.’
‘It was for me. I loved every minute of it.’ She sipped the cool orange juice. ‘Perhaps I should think about a holiday.’
Fern tipped her fork in her mother’s direction. ‘Don’t think about it, do it.’
‘Talking of taking a break,’ Loretta said to her eldest daughter, ‘I saw you brought your laptop with you.’
‘I’m hoping I don’t have to do much,’Fern replied. ‘But it’s there just in case. I’m due a lot of time off so it worked out well that you wanted us home.’ She looked at both of her sisters and then Loretta.
Daisy finished her juice. ‘Mum, did you hear what happened to Grandad’s Christmas quilt?’
Loretta stopped on her way over to the stove. She had heard, but she wanted to see where Daisy was going with this. ‘What happened toit?’
‘It’s ruined.’ She reiterated the story to her sisters, how Carrie, who helped out at the lodge, had told of Ivor’s upset, how he hadn’t wanted to make a fuss. ‘Carrie suggested we give him a new one for Christmas.’
‘We’ve got some beautiful quilts in the shop,’ said Loretta.
‘I did mention to Fern that perhaps we should make one.’ Daisy looked at her sister. ‘I know we agreed it was insaneto try to do it so close to Christmas what with the shop and neither you or Ginny having done anything sewing related in a long while, but I woke up this morning wondering whether we could make it happen. I’d really like to.’
It seemed Daisy had been rehearsing her spiel and she took a deep breath. ‘What do you think?’ she asked, looking at her sisters.
Judging by their faces each of her daughterswas remembering the time and effort it had taken to make those quilts at the ends of their bed and every other quilt that had ever been in the family.
Fern for once looked unsure of herself. ‘I told you I don’t sew anymore, I wouldn’t have a clue where to start.’
‘I suppose we could,’ Ginny began. ‘It’ll be a lot of work, but it’ll mean everything to Grandad.’
‘Are you three really going todo this?’ Loretta looked at each of them, this big commitment looming.
‘If we all do it together we can have it finished for Christmas, can’t we?’ Daisy asked before looking at Loretta. ‘I’ll obviously work in the shop, but I can bring my quilting in and do it between customers or on my breaks.’
‘I’m in,’ said Fern all of a sudden. That was the Fern they were all used to – decisive, an action-taker.‘But I’ll warn you, I’m rusty.’
‘Where do we start?’ Ginny asked.
Fern frowned. ‘I don’t remember it being a problem when we were younger.’
‘That’s because you all just leaped right into it,’ Loretta said. ‘None of you held back. And I didn’t care whether things matched or colours complemented one another, I was a great believer in letting you make your own choices.’
‘Leave those,’ said Ginnywhen Loretta began to clear plates. ‘You go to the shop. Fern and I can clear up while Daisy walks Busker.’
Loretta left them to it. No broken china at breakfast this morning seemed a good start.
And to see them planning a quilting project, together, was more than Loretta could’ve wished for this Christmas.
‘Fern’s making a leek and chicken pie for dinner,’ Loretta told Daisy later on thatday when they were in the shop. Daisy was by the shelves of material that, lined up, resembled a bookshelf with a set of colourful book spines. Loretta was dusting the counter, which she always kept spotless and ready for opening out beautiful fabrics.
‘She’s probably missing cooking for the men in her household,’ Daisy replied as she found what she was looking for and pulled out the yellow materialwith even paler yellow checks.
‘I don’t think so.’
