A Quilt for Christmas by Sandra Dallas Read Free Book Online

wish I could have brought my scrap bag with me, but the Starks would have knowed for sure I was leaving if I’d taken that along to church. They know it means more to me than anything. Mean as they are, they probably’ve used it for kindling by now.”
    â€œThe idea!” Eliza gasped. Then she asked, “You quilt then?”
    â€œOf course I do. I’d rather quilt than eat cake on Sunday,” Missouri Ann replied.
    â€œThen we will make quite a pair. I’ve got enough scraps for both of us. We’ll spend the winter piecing. It’ll be like when I was young and sat with my mother and sisters over the quilt frame after the supper dishes were done and the bread set. There’s nothing I’d rather do than quilt with another woman. I’ve got quilts in the house you can use until we’ve made some for you, although what I have is a poor offering.”
    â€œOh, I wouldn’t think so,” Missouri Ann said. “You have the reputation of being the best quilter for miles around. Ain’t nobody can quilt like you—except maybe me on my best day.” She gave a sly grin that was almost a challenge.
    â€œThen together, we’ll make the best quilts anybody in Wabaunsee County’s ever seen.”
    â€œThat’s a fact.”
    â€œI made a quilt for Will—my husband—for Christmas, you know,” Eliza said, then wondered, how would Missouri Ann know?
    â€œI do know. I met Enoch on the road as he was going back to the Kansas Volunteers. He told me.”
    â€œWas he eating divinity candy?” Eliza had to ask.
    â€œHe was at that.”
    â€œWell, at least Will got the quilt, and in time for Christmas. My husband wrote me. That was the letter I received yesterday.”
    â€œA letter from your husband. Ain’t that romantic? I never got a letter in my life, except the one saying Hugh was dead.”
    Eliza found that strangely moving. She took her friend’s hand and said, “I’m so sorry about Hugh, Missouri Ann.”
    â€œHe was all right. I told Nance that. She’ll be raised with the knowing that he was all right.”
    â€œHe was, indeed,” Eliza agreed, thinking there was nothing wrong with telling a little lie.
    â€œHe wasn’t like the rest of the Starks. He wouldn’t have treated me the way they did,” Missouri Ann insisted.
    â€œOf course not,” Eliza replied. “I don’t suppose he left you anything.”
    Missouri Ann shook her head. “Anything he had, Dad Stark’s taken the possession of it.”
    Eliza nodded. “Then next week, we’ll go to the postmaster and find out how you apply for a pension.”
    â€œA what?”
    â€œA pension. When a man dies in the war, the army pays his widow a sum of money every month in compensation. Of course, money doesn’t compensate for the loss of a husband. And it isn’t much, maybe three dollars a month.”
    Missouri Ann thought that over. “I guess maybe that’s another reason the Starks wanted me and Nance to stay. Three dollars a month is a fortune to them. To me, too.”
    â€œBut it’s not as much as Hugh was paid for being a soldier.”
    â€œHugh got paid?” Missouri Ann’s mouth dropped open. “I never saw a penny of it.” Then she added quickly, “The Starks must have got it. Hugh wouldn’t have left his wife and daughter without no money.”
    *   *   *
    The children had gone to sleep as soon as supper was over, Luzena sharing her bed with Nance and the new doll, which she had named Miss Cat, for her pet who had died the year before. Missouri Ann had offered to sleep on the floor “like I done at the Starks’,” she’d said, but Eliza insisted her friend share her own bed. “We’ll keep each other warm,” she’d told Missouri Ann, realizing how cold her bed had been with Will away. When she had