The Christmas Quilt by Patricia Davids Read Free Book Online Page A

filling the back of the sleigh drove past him. Their eyes were bright with the excitement of the ride.
    The man digging out his car met Gideon’s gaze and grinned. “I’ve got one hundred and fifty horses under the hood for all the good they are doing me at the moment while the Amish go flying by with only one horse. I reckon the simple life has some advantages, after all.”
    Gideon grinned as he stood in front of the inn with no particular destination in mind. He just wanted to be out. Out in the clean fresh air of a snow-covered small Ohio town. Hope Springs was a lot like Berlin. A little bigger, but not by much. The same type of stores crowded together off the tree-lined streets.
    He noticed antiques for sale and a touristy Amish gift shop down the street. The merchandise there likely came from China and not from the local craftsmen. Across the street was a hardware store. A pharmacy sat sandwiched between the hardware store and a clothing store. A little farther on a gas station sat at the corner.
    Hope Springs wasn’t that different from a hundred other Ohio towns. Oddly, after ten years in the city, Gideon felt right at home on these streets. Time to explore a little. Left or right?
    Before he made up his mind he heard the door of the inn open behind him. To his surprise, Rebecca came out. She was bundled up against the cold in a heavy, dark blue woolen coat. A black bonnet covered her head. In one hand she clutched her purse. In the other hand she held her white cane. With little hesitation, she turned left and began walking down the sidewalk swinging her cane lightly in front of her.
    He should have spoken, but he wasn’t sure how his voice would sound this morning. What if she recognized him when he spoke?
    Gideon followed her and watched as she tested the height and depth of a snowdrift in her path at the corner. She wasn’t really going to try and find her way around town in these conditions, was she? Where was her aunt? Why wasn’t someone with her?
    To his astonishment, she made her way over the snowdrift easily and continued across the icy street. It was then he saw an obstacle she couldn’t detect with her cane. There was no way for her to know the snow-laden branches of thetrees that lined the avenue were hanging at shoulder level. She was about to walk into a cold surprise. He tried calling out a warning but his voice failed him.
    Galvanized into action, Gideon hurried after her. He raced across the slick street as fast as he dared. Rebecca would get a face full of snow in another few steps. He tried again to call out. This time he managed to croak, “Rebecca, stop.”
    She paused and turned her head as if searching for the source of the pitiful sound he’d made. He reached the curb but hit a patch of ice on the sidewalk. His feet flew out from under him and he landed with a painful thud at Rebecca’s feet.
    He moaned and rubbed the back of his smarting head. When he opened his eyes, she was standing over him, her face silhouetted against the cloudy winter sky. He knew from memory that her eyes were the blue of a bright summer’s day but she held them closed now behind her dark glasses.
    He wanted her to open her eyes so he could see them. He wanted to see all the memories they held of their time together.
    He wanted her to see him.
    Two words, his name, would be all it would take to let her know who he was. If he said those two words would she turn away? Would she shun him? He couldn’t take that risk.
    “Are you all right?” She located him with her cane and bent down to assist him.
    He gave a groan as he managed to leverage himself to sitting position. “I think so,” he whispered.
    “Booker?”
    “Yes.”
    She slipped her hand beneath his elbow. “You poor man. Let me help you.”
    “Thanks.” He accepted her assistance as he rose to his feet and dusted the snow from his clothes.
    “Are you sure you aren’t hurt?”
    “I’ve got a pretty hard head.”
    “You shouldn’t rush on