An Elm Creek Quilts Sampler Read online

  An Elm Creek Quilts Sampler

  Chiaverini, Jennier

  Published: 2003

  * * *

  SUMMARY:

  Three Complete Novels, The Quilter's Apprentice, Round Robin, and The Cross-Country Quilters, from The New York Times Bestselling Author, Jennifer ChiaveriniHere's where it all began -- the three novels that first made beloved friends of the Elm Creek Quilters, who stepped out of Pennsylvania's idyllic Elm Creek Manor and into the heart of America. The Quilter's Apprentice: Master quilter Sylvia Compson shares the secrets of her creative gifts with her young assistant, Sarah McClure. During their lessons, the intricate, varied threads of Sylvia's life begin to emerge. It is the story of a young wife living through the hardships and agonies of the World War II home front; of a family torn apart by jealously and betrayal; of misunderstanding, loss, and a tragedy that can never be undone. As the bond between them deepens, Sarah resolves to help Sylvia free herself from remembered sorrows and restore her life -- and her home, Elm Creek Manor -- to its former glory. In turn, Sylvia helps Sarah confront her own troubled past. Out of their shared triumph is born a lifelong friendship and a fledgling business called Elm Creek Quilts. Round Robin: To celebrate the beginning of Elm Creek Quilts, Sarah, Sylvia, and their circle of friends name themselves the Elm Creek Quilters. As a gift to Sylvia, the others have begun a round robin -- a quilt created by sewing concentric patchwork to a central block as it is passed around a sewing circle. As each woman makes her creative contribution, she adds her story to the history of Elm Creek Manor. Resplendent in green, blue, and gold, the quilt serves as a symbol of the complex, lasting ties that unify mothers and daughters, sisters and friends. As they stitch together the sometimes harmonious -- often discordant -- scraps of their crazy-quilt lives, the Elm Creek Quilters learn that friendship is a most precious gift and that even in the darkest of times, love illuminates the way home. The Cross-Country Quilters: Five women arrive at Elm Creek Manor, hoping to find in their quilting lessons an escape from the problems they have left at home. This far-flung group becomes fast friends who pledge to complete a "challenge quilt" -- symbolic of each woman's personal goals -- in one year's time. Although the Cross-Country Quilters share a common creative goal, as the year goes by, their bonds are tested by the demands of daily life. But despite differences in age, race, and background, the friends' love for quilting and affection for one another unite them in a patchwork of caring and acceptance. The quilt they make reminds them of an everlasting truth -- friends may be separated by great distance, yet the strength of their bond can transcend any obstacle. "Endearing characters and pleasant vignettes render this series as charming and cozy as a favorite blanket," said Publishers Weekly of the Elm Creek Quilts books. Jennifer Chiaverini is at her heartwarming best in these three novels that launched a bestselling phenomenon.

  Simon & Schuster

  Rockefeller Center

  1230 Avenue of the Americas

  New York, NY 10020

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  The Quilter’s Apprentice copyright © 1999 by Jennifer Chiaverini

  Round Robin copyright © 2000 by Jennifer Chiaverini

  The Cross-Country Quilters copyright 2001 by Jennifer Chiaverini

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  First Simon & Schuster edition 2003

  SIMON & SCHUSTER and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  For information regarding special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-800-456-6798 or [email protected]

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Chiaverini, Jennifer.

  An Elm Creek quilts sampler : the first three novels in the popular series / Jennifer Chiaverini.

  p.cm.

  Contents: The quilter’s apprentice—Round robin—The cross-country quilters.

  1. Domestic fiction, American. 2. Compson, Sylvia (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 3. Female friendship—Fiction. 4. Quiltmakers—Fiction. 5. Quilting—Fiction. I. Chiaverini, Jennifer. Quilter’s apprentice. II. Chiaverini,Jennifer. Round robin. III. Chiaverini, Jennifer. Cross-country quilters. IV. Title.

  PS3553.H473A6 2003 813′.54—dc22 2003059192

  eISBN 978-1-43910-668-6

  These titles were originally published individually by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Plan of Elm Creek Manor by Nic Neidenbach

  Contents

  The Quilter’s Apprentice

  Round Robin

  The Cross-Country Quilters

  Elm Creek Manor

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I am deeply grateful to the many people who have made this book possible:

  My editor, Laurie Chittenden, for opening her heart to this story and helping to make it even better; and my agent, Maria Massie, for her help and advice.

  The members of QuiltNet, for their friendship and generosity.

  My teachers, especially Percival Everett and James Walton, who told me I could do this.

  The members of the Internet Writing Workshop, especially Lani Kraus, list owner, who supervises a wonderful forum for aspiring writers; Dave Swinford, administrator of the novels list and one of the nicest people on the net; Jody Ewing, for her kindness; and Candace Byers, Warren Richardson, and Lesli Richardson for their critiques.

  My friend Christine Johnson, who read every chapter and never failed to encourage me when I needed it most.

  Geraldine, Nic, and Heather Neidenbach; Virginia and Edward Riechman; and Leonard and Marlene Chiaverini, for their love and support.

  And most of all, to my husband, Marty, for everything.

  For Geraldine Neidenbach and Martin Chiaverini with all my love

  One

  Sarah leaned against the brick wall and tried to look comfortable, hoping no one walking by would notice her or wonder why she was standing around in a suit on such a hot day. She shaded her eyes with her hand and scanned the street for Matt’s truck—their truck—but she didn’t expect to see it. He wasn’t late; she was early. This interview had been her shortest one yet.

  A drop of perspiration trickled down between her shoulder blades to the small of her back where her silk blouse was tucked into her navy skirt. She removed her suit jacket and folded it over her arm, but she knew she wouldn’t feel comfortable until she was back in her customary T-shirt and shorts. A barrette held her hair away from her face, and the back of her neck sweltered beneath the thick, brown waves. The people who slowly passed on their way to jobs, shopping, or summer classes at nearby Waterford College looked as uncomfortable and as drained by the humidity as Sarah felt. In a few months, she knew, she’d be griping about the snow like everyone else in central Pennsylvania, but today she longed for autumn.

  The handle of her briefcase began to dig into her palm. As she shifted it to her other hand, she glanced at the revolving door half a block away. With her luck, some of the interviewers would leave early for lunch and spot her lingering there. They’d probably urge her to wait inside in the air-conditioning, and then she’d have to figure out some polite way to refuse. That, or slink back inside like a reprimanded child. The thought of it made her shrink back against the wall.

  Two staccato beeps of the horn sounded before Sarah saw the red truck pull up and park along the opposite curb. She pushed herself away from the wall and hurried across the street.

  “How’d it go?” Matt asked as she slid into the
passenger’s seat.

  “Don’t ask.”

  Though she had tried to keep her voice light, Matt’s face fell. He started the truck, then reached over and patted her knee. “I guess you already know how sorry I am about all this.”

  “Sorry about what? You’re early.”

  “You know what. Don’t pretend you didn’t understand. If not for me and my job, we never would’ve moved here.”

  “It’s not like you dragged me here by my hair.” Sarah closed her eyes and sank back into her seat. “It’s not your fault I don’t have a clue how to make it through a job interview without sounding like an idiot.”

  “You’re not an idiot.”

  “And you’re not responsible for my unemployment.”

  “Well, I feel bad anyway,” he responded as he pulled into traffic. “I mean it, Sarah. I’m really sorry.”

  Of course he felt sorry. So did she, but feeling sorry didn’t make her any less unemployed. Apparently, neither did working her tail off to graduate with a great GPA and sacrificing every other available moment to part-time jobs and internships to gain work experience. Even the years she had invested in her last job apparently did her more harm than good. Potential employers took one look at her résumé, noted all the accounting experience, and refused to consider her for any other kind of work.

  Sometimes Sarah thought back to those first years after college and wondered how she and Matt ever could have been so hopeful, so optimistic. Of course, their prospects had seemed brighter then, colored by newlywed joy and professional naïveté. Then the newness faded from her job as a cost accountant for a local convenience store chain, and the days began to follow each other in an unrelenting cycle of tedium. Matt enjoyed his job working on the Penn State campus, but just after he had been promoted to shift supervisor, the state legislature slashed the university’s budget. College officials decided that they could do without new landscaping more easily than library books and faculty salaries, so Matt and many of his coworkers found themselves out of work.

  They soon learned that open positions were hard to come by in a medium-sized college town in the middle of Pennsylvania. Matt couldn’t find anything permanent, only occasional landscaping jobs for some of his former agricultural science professors. One by one, his former coworkers found jobs in other towns, sometimes in other states. But Matt was determined to find something in State College, the town where he and Sarah had met, where they had married, and where one day they hoped to raise children.

  Eventually even Matt’s natural optimism waned, and he grew more discouraged every month. Soon Sarah found herself slinking off to work every morning, wondering if she should be doing something more to help him find a job and fearing that if she did get more involved he’d think she doubted his ability to find a job on his own.

  As time passed, the sharpness of her worries dulled, but they never completely faded. Matt made the best of the part-time work he managed to find, and Sarah was proud of him for it. She watched him persevere and tried not to complain too much about the drudgery of her own job. Instead, year after year, she put in her hours and collected her paychecks, and thanked her boss for her annual bonuses. She knew she should be grateful, but in her heart she felt something was missing.

  One December, as she and Matt decorated their Christmas tree, Sarah counted the number of Christmases they had spent in that apartment.

  “Has it been that many?” Matt asked. His eyes grew sad. “I thought we’d have a house of our own by now.”

  Sarah placed another ornament on a high branch and thought quickly. “Lots of people wait much longer than this before they buy a house. Besides, I like it here.”

  “So many years in this apartment, and too much of that time without steady work.”

  “So many years of bean counting. It’s amazing my brain hasn’t melted into mush.”

  Matt tried to grin. “Maybe we’re just having a midlife crisis.”

  “Speak for yourself. I don’t think I’ve hit midlife just yet.”

  “You know what I mean. Wouldn’t it be nice to get a fresh start, knowing now what we didn’t know then?”

  She reached out for his hand and squeezed it to show him she understood.

  A few weeks later, a group of their friends gathered at their tiny apartment on College Avenue to welcome the New Year. They spent the day watching bowl games and proclaiming the superiority of the Nittany Lions, and in the last half hour before midnight they watched the ball drop in Times Square on television and took turns announcing their New Year’s resolutions. Everyone burst out laughing when Sarah resolved to take the CPA exam so she could go into business for herself. They quite rightly noted that a CPA’s life wasn’t much of a departure from the work she already knew and despised. She saw their point, but any change, however slight, would be a relief.

  Then Matt stood up and announced his resolution: to find a permanent job even if it meant leaving State College.

  Sarah raised her eyebrows at him, a silent message he immediately understood. He quickly added, “As long as that’s okay with you, honey. As long as you don’t mind moving.”

  “I’d rather not, if you want to know the truth.”

  “But we both want a fresh start. You’ve said so.”

  “I think it’s time to cut you off.” She smiled to soften her words as she took the beer can from his hand. It wasn’t his resolution that troubled her so much as the way he had presented it, springing something that big on her so unexpectedly—and in front of an audience. Matt was methodical and patient, never one for surprises. It wasn’t like him to make decisions that affected them both without talking to her first.

  She waited until the guests had left and the mess from the party had been cleared away. Then she cornered him in the bathroom as he brushed his teeth. “Do you think you could warn me next time before you make major life decisions for us, especially if you’re going to do it in front of all our friends?”

  Matt spat out his toothpaste. “I’m sorry, Sarah. I spoke without thinking.” He rinsed his mouth and spat again. “Actually, that’s not entirely true. I’ve been thinking about this a lot.”

  “About moving?”

  “About getting a fresh start somewhere else. Come on, Sarah. You hate your job; I can’t find one. It couldn’t be any worse in a new place, and I’m willing to risk that it would be even better.” He studied her for a moment. “Are you willing to risk that?”

  Sarah watched him, and thought about how long he had been looking for permanent employment, how he sometimes scraped together a full day’s work out of a few odd jobs, and how her own career bored her so senseless that she hated to get up in the morning.

  “I’ll sleep on it,” she said.

  In the morning she told him she was ready to risk it, too.

  A few weeks later, Matt finally landed a job—a job in a town more than two hours’ drive away. Sarah celebrated with him and tried not to be too dismayed when he described Waterford, an even smaller college town in an even more remote location in Pennsylvania with an even tighter job market than State College. But how could she refuse when Matt was so elated at the chance to work again? And how could she not side with Matt after her mother had shrieked into the phone, “You mean you’re giving up your professional job to go with that—that—that gardener?”

  Sarah had curtly reminded her mother that “that gardener” was her husband and that he had a bachelor of science degree in landscape architecture, and added that if her mother didn’t approve Sarah wouldn’t bother to leave a forwarding address. Her mother had never understood about Matt, had never tried to understand. She just set her mouth in a prim line and refused to see what Sarah saw, that Matt was an intelligent, thoughtful, caring man with a good heart and a love for earth and rain and all growing things. If Sarah’s mother wailed and moaned to think that her daughter was yoking herself to a country bumpkin, she had it all wrong.

  Sarah reached over and stroked Matt’s curly hair. From April thro
ugh October he had sunstreaked blond hair and a perpetually sunburned nose. “It’s only been eight weeks. I didn’t expect to find something as soon as we rode into town. That’s not realistic.”

  Matt glanced at her before returning his gaze to the road. “I know you said not to ask, but how did it go?”

  “Same old thing,” Sarah grumbled. “The more I talked, the more his eyes glazed over. And then he said, ‘Frankly, we’re looking for someone who conforms better to our company persona.’ And then a smile and a handshake and he was showing me the door.”

  “What’s a ‘company persona’?”

  “I think he meant I wouldn’t fit in.”

  “They usually at least think about it for a day or two before rejecting someone.”

  “Thanks, sweetheart. Now, which part of that remark was supposed to make me feel better?”

  “You know what I mean.” Matt gave her an apologetic look. “Did you tell them that you don’t want to work in accounting anymore?”

  “Yeah, but that didn’t help. I feel like I’ve been typecast.”

  “Well, don’t give up, honey. Something will come along.”

  “Yeah.” Sarah didn’t allow herself to say anything more because she wasn’t sure she’d be able to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. Something will come along. That’s what she had told Matt at least once a week while he was unemployed, and he’d never believed it. But now that he was the one repeating the refrain, it took on the status of gospel. She loved Matt, but sometimes he drove her nuts.

  Matt signaled for a left turn and pulled off the main street onto a gravel road. “I hope you don’t mind a detour.”

  “Where are we going?” Sarah asked as the truck jolted unsteadily down the narrow road, leaving a cloud of dust behind it.

  “A new client stopped by the office yesterday to set up a contract. She brought a few photos of her house, but I need to take a look at the grounds myself before Tony can finalize the agreement. It’s just a little place, just some lady’s little cottage. I thought maybe you could help me find it.”