“I’ll think about it.”
Ethan nodded.
He did not push.
That mattered.
Two weeks later, June called Claire.
“Bring the dress.”
Claire arrived that evening.
They spread the quilt across the dining table.
June explained how she would need to open part of the border.
Claire listened carefully.
Ethan watched.
At one point June held up the green fabric.
“Here?”
Claire shook her head.
“Closer to the hockey square.”
June raised an eyebrow.
“You have strong opinions for somebody who called this flea-market.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“I deserve that.”
“Yes.”
Ethan laughed.
The new pieces changed the quilt.
Not dramatically.
But enough.
Ethan’s graduation suit.
Claire’s handmade dress.
A strip from the tie Malcolm wore at Ethan’s high-school graduation.
A small square from the Beaumont Hotel uniform June had worn for more than a decade.
Claire touched that one.
“You’re putting yourself in it.”
June looked at her.
“Apparently.”
Claire smiled.
Good, the smile said.
Not triumph.
Recognition.
June finished the new border in September.
She folded the quilt and placed it in her closet.
This time she knew exactly when she wanted to give it.
—
