Quilts, Tacos & Tattoos

The Big Build Up

My birthday seemed calm considering what happened over the next few weeks as Mom and the world around me prepared for the Dallas Quilt Show. Sheriff Berry and other police officers interviewed all of us. They came to the store and our homes to investigate the hot checks and the string of trouble at Mom's store. They believed it was all tied together.

Dad cancelled breakfast. He said he had to leave town again and would not be back for some time. He and Mom talked while he was away.

Since dinner had been put off for a month, I was able to spend a lot of time trying to figure him out, trying to remember any and all memories I had of him.

I remembered one time when he took me to the zoo. Then I had some memories that were more like flashes of feelings. I could not remember the whole story, just moments of sadness or fear. Some memories seemed almost fragile and others were sharp and painful. I had a hard time connecting the man of my memories with the man on my birthday.

Mom's store was told it would take six weeks to recover the hot check. She had to take out a loan and was doing everything possible to make it to the big quilt show, which had always been the best part of her sales year. In three days, she earned what she made in three months at the shop. She and all her staff sewed like mad to finish all the projects they'd started.

But all their work wasn't enough to get the job done. Mom wanted my help, too.

Mom begged me to help her get ready for the big Dallas quilt show. But after all the drama lately, I wasn't so sure.

"Cricket, I promise I will make it up to you," she said.

"You have said that my whole life."

"I know, but this year is so important. If we do not have a good year, I will loose the store. And if we have a good year, I will take you on a trip."

"A trip?"

"Yes. Somewhere fun," she was pleading with her eyes.

"Do I get to pick it?" I asked.

"We'll see."

I couldn't say no.

To make the most of our time before the show, we had quilting bees at Nana and Pa's house at night. We set up sewing machines on the dining room table, the kitchen's high bar area became the cutting surface, and the ironing boards occupied the yonder room.

In the living room in front of the two lazy boy chairs sat the big loom where everyone took turns working on 'the big quilt'. It was an amazing quilt, very old fashioned, made of true scraps from everyone's fabric trash. We lovingly named the quilt, "This Trash Ain't Ugly."

Mom designed the pattern and directed everyone who helped on the big quilt, "Don't use your brain for this one. Just pick up a random piece and make it work."

It was my favorite project because I could just sit and sew and not worry about doing anything wrong.

When we finished the projects, it took a whole week to pack for the show. We pretty much took the entire store with us. We packed up machines to use as demos and brought paperwork so customers could order them from us. We sorted, cut and stacked the fat quarters. We made up quilt kits for babies, cuddle blankets, seasonal wall hangings, and Christmas projects. We made a mock-up of each of the quilts as a demo. No one ever knew which kit would be the hot seller, which vendors would have something similar, or which project would sell out, leaving us wishing we had more. Then there was always the project that we just knew was going to be a hit, but didn't sell.

Mom made list after list for everyone to check, double-check, and triple-check. After all the merchandise was packed into boxes, we loaded it all on to a moving truck. Or, should I say I loaded it on to a moving truck. Those women couldn't lift much of anything! At the end of the day, I was exhausted.

Tyler picked me up after the moving truck left for the quilt show. After we went for a drive, Nana made us dinner and we ate it on the dock with our feet in the water. After we finished, we sat on the swing by the wading pool.

"Let's stay here forever. I am so tired," I said, putting my head on his shoulder. "Do you know how much stuff I had to lift today? I have no idea how Mom is going to do the show next year without me."

"I am sure she will manage just fine. No more talk about the show. I want to watch the sunset." He pulled me into his arms. He wrapped his arms tightly around me and held me close.

"I love you, you know," I said.

"I know. You'd better," he said as he pulled away and raced toward Granite Mountain. "Beat you to the top. The sunset will be better up there."

"No fair!" I shouted and chased after him. He went to the side and started to climb. I went around to the front and started to scale the wall. It was more like rock climbing.

I reached the top to see his hand held out.

"I almost beat you," I said.

"Yes, you did. I had no idea you could climb up the face like that."

"I used to love to climb this way. I would pretend that I was a cat of some kind who could climb anything."

"My little cat woman. Meow." He kissed me. Behind him, I got a glimpse of a quilt spread on top of the rock with a picnic basket on top of it.

"What is all this?"

"A little something special."

"You're sweet."

"I knew today would be a busy day. I wanted to have some time with you before you left for Dallas."

"What is in the basket?"

"Baby blueberry cream cheese pies from the Bluebonnet Cafe."

"No way! I hope you got enough. I love those."

"Cricket, I love you with all my heart," he said as he started to kneel.

"What are you doing, Tyler?" I panicked.

"I, Tyler Bowan, am asking you, Christine Reese Middlebrooks, to marry me. Not today and not tomorrow and not before college, but one day. I want to be with you, and I want to know you want to be with me now and always. We can go to college engaged. You can tell your mom or not. It can be for everyone to know or for no one to know right now. I just love you and want you to be my wife."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, now give me an answer because this mountain is hard and killing my knee."

I giggled, "Yes, Tyler Bowan, I will marry you." I knelt down beside him and wrapped my arms around him tightly.

"You are the prettiest fiancé I have ever had."

"Have there been others?" I pulled away.

"Gotcha! Mrs. Bowan." He pulled me over to the blanket and kissed me passionately on the mouth. After a few moments he raised up on his shoulder and opened the basket, "Now let's eat some pie."

"Aren't you supposed to give me a ring or something?"

"Yes, I guess a guy would normally do that. But I thought of something else." He reached in the basket and handed me a small red box with white ribbon.

"What is this?"

He smiled, "Open it."

Inside the box was a necklace with two circles with a hole in the center.

"I am the outside circle. You are the inside circle, and the hole in the middle is our love that will keep us together forever. I didn't want to get a ring until I could afford one. I also didn't want to give you a ring if it would cause problems with your mom. I wanted to get you something you could wear every day and hold and know that I love you."

"I love you so much. It is perfect." I paused. "Can we keep it our secret for a little while?"

"As long as you want. Mum's the word," he said as he lifted a spoonful of pie to my lips.