Arlene Sachitano - Quilt As Desired

"Thanks,” Harriet mumbled. She pushed her suspicions aside and closed her eyes, knowing she was being weak but unable to fight it.

The grey light of dawn made a pale rectangle of light on her bed the next time she woke up. A different nurse with a digital thermometer and a blood pressure cuff stood by her bedside.

"This'll just take a minute,” she whispered. “I'll try not to wake your boyfriend. He can't have gotten much sleep wadded up in that chair.” She nodded her head toward an upholstered chair near the window.

"He's not my boyfriend.” He could be the reason I'm here, she added to herself.

"If he's not your boyfriend, he should be,” she said. “He hasn't left your side since you've been here. That's not easy to find in a man.” She wrote some numbers on Harriet's chart and left again.

Harriet knew all about men who left. But the nurse was wrong. She didn't need a boyfriend, especially one who kept showing up without an excuse.

She lay in her bed and listened to the rhythmic rise and fall of Aiden's breath. She must have dozed off again, because the next time she looked at the window bright light was streaming in.

"Welcome back,” Aiden said. He was sitting in the wheeled chair beside her bed again. He held a cup of something steaming in his right hand. He swept the hair off her forehead with his left hand, his fingers trailing along the side of her face. “How do you feel?"

She moved her head away from his hand. The area of the lump was still tender, but no nausea greeted her movement.

"Better,” she said. “What happened to me?” she asked for a second time. “This time I want the long version."

"I'd like to hear that one, too,” Officer Nguyen said from the door. “I stopped by to question you last night, but you were…” He paused. “…busy."

Harriet moaned. She didn't remember much about last night, but she did know it had taken more than one dose of the anti-nausea drug before she had fallen into a drugged slumber.

"Let's start with Ms Truman's story. You can wait in the hall till I call you,” he said to Aiden. He pulled the visitor's chair up and sat down. His spicy cologne filled the room with its masculine scent.

Harriet recounted the events from the night before. She started with her arrival at Aunt Beth's house and ended with waking in the hospital.

"So, let's back up a little further,” Nguyen said. “It would seem that a lot of people knew you were staying with Ms Willis. Who knew you were going back to your house?"

She thought for a minute. “Mavis, of course. Lauren Sawyer-I was there to work on her quilt. Someone had damaged it at the show in Tacoma, and we were repairing it.” She closed her eyes. “Sarah Ness. I had just taken her quilt off the machine when…” She trailed off.

"When you were attacked?” Officer Nguyen suggested. “Was there anyone else?"

"Aiden Jalbert. Mavis called him when she couldn't get hold of me-wait. I told him at the memorial that I was going to be working on Lauren's project. Oh, and Harold Minter. I went to coffee with him after the memorial service.” And Misty, she thought. She'd told her she had fabric for her at home. Maybe Misty had decided to take her up on it.

"Can you think of anyone else?"

"The quilt group all rode to the memorial service together. It wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility that they talked about it on their way home."

"So, what do you have that someone wants bad enough to break into your home twice for?"

"If I knew that, I'd be the first to tell you. As near as I can tell, they didn't take anything when they trashed the place. They ruined a few quilts and messed up a bunch of stuff."

"Who would benefit if the quilts were damaged?"

"No one. Well, the other quilt groups in the show, I guess. Lauren, maybe. I just can't believe anyone wants to win the competition that bad. It's not like there's some big prize. It's mainly about bragging rights."

"Someone wanted something bad enough to come back for a second look.” He stood up. “Okay, Mr. Jalbert, you can come in now."

Aiden returned and sat in the visitor's chair. Officer Nguyen moved to the wide windowsill.

"Start with what you were doing before you went to Ms Truman's."

"I was at my apartment-I have a studio over the vet clinic on Main Street. I was picking up my dog. I'd left her in the outside kennel at the clinic while I was at my mom's funeral. I took Randy for a walk around the block and had just poured her some kibbles when my phone rang."

"Did you talk to anyone, see anyone?"

"Only the dog,” he said with a tight smile. “The phone rang, I put Randy back outside and went to check on Harriet. I passed the ambulance on my way up the hill. I'm sure your buddies told you what I did after I got to the house."

Officer Nguyen shut his notebook. “They did,” he said. “I'm sure we'll have more questions for you later, but this is enough for now.” He turned back to Harriet. “We'll have patrol cars swing by your house a couple of times a night, but I strongly recommend that you continue to stay with Ms Willis until we catch the guy that did this to you."

"Okay, everybody out,” a square-shouldered doctor with a thin sandy-colored ponytail said from the door. “How are you feeling this morning, young lady?"

Harriet tried to smile. “Better than when I came in."

"You were lucky your friend found you so quickly. Ether is nasty stuff. It's pretty easy to overdo it. And they apparently left you facedown. You weren't breathing too well when we got you. Luckily, it wears off with time, and we gave you a few things to help the process. You should have no lasting effects. You were fortunate you didn't hit the bump on your head again.

"You did pop a stitch, though, which probably happened when they were putting the oxygen mask on you. I'd like to go ahead and do a little repair on that, and then I think we can let you out of here."

A nurse came in, and the doctor did a more thorough check of her vital signs then repaired the wound on the back of her head.

He left, and Mavis came in, alone. Apparently, Aiden had gone without a backward glance.

"Oh, honey,” Mavis said. “I knew I shouldn't have let you go to your house alone."

"It's not your fault. I'm a big girl. Besides, it makes no sense that someone would come and drug me. How could you have anticipated that?"

"My mama radar was working overtime. I knew you shouldn't go there, and I went ahead and let you go alone. Your aunt Beth is gonna kill me."

"It's done and I'm fine, so how about we work on getting me out of here?"

Mavis held out a paper bag. “The police took your clothes as evidence. The nurse said I should bring you an outfit, or they would be sending you home in scrubs."

Harriet took the bag. She pulled out a new pair of jeans, a pink T-shirt and a purple sweatshirt. She could see packages of new socks and underwear in the bottom of the bag.

"What's this?” she asked.

"I wasn't about to go back to your house alone. I took a run to the Wal-Mart. You needed more clothes anyway."

Harriet appreciated the effort, but she vowed to go shopping somewhere else as soon as she was able. Her old clothes may have been loose and black, but they were designer label loose and black.

"You didn't need to go to so much trouble, but thank you."

She eased herself to the edge of the bed and stood up. She'd been to the bathroom with the nurse earlier and had learned after a few missteps that moving slow was the key. She slowly changed out of the hospital gown and, with a little help from Mavis, got dressed.

"Doctor wants to see you in a week,” the nurse said when she came with the requisite wheelchair. “And you need to take it easy for a few days. Try not to come in through the back door again,” she said with a smile.