Emma's Story

In The Wedding Dress Quilt, remember how, after leaving her small town, Texas home 30 years before, strong-willed, 18-year-old Emma Clayburne vowed never to return? After all, her mother forced her to divorce Jack McDonald, the love of her life, and give up her baby, Savannah Mae, for adoption. What was there to go back home for? So, she stayed in Savannah, Georgia. Eventually, she met and married a nice, boring man, Larry Jenkins. And I mean he was:

• BORING! How?
• He wore a lot of plaid 
• And loafers. His entire closet was full of loafers in every color. 
• In the summer, he wore plaid shorts with white tube socks and loafers. Who does that?

And while Emma didn’t love Larry like Jack, she made a comfortable life with him in an uninspired, plain brick house. He didn’t own a single pair of cowboy boots, but she didn’t hold that against him; after all, they were living in suburban Georgia. Marriage to Larry was like sipping on a cup of weak tea, when you really preferred a cup of strong cappuccino laced with a shot of whiskey.  

You see, Emma had a fiery personality, and she never forgot Texas, or her family. She also never talked about it, but truth be told, she missed home like one would miss an arm or a leg. A vital part of her was absent. And then one day, her sister Ruth and her daughter, Savannah Mae, showed up on her doorstop, shocking her. They insisted on taking her back to Texas. Larry had long since died; she didn’t resist. She’d been waiting for this moment for God only knows how long, for someone to take her home, to rescue her for years. Now, dear reader, if you had found yourself in her position, wouldn’t you have done the same?

Emma couldn’t pack fast enough, and with the help of Ruth and Savannah Mae, Emma flew home, where she reunited with her other siblings and moved back into the beautiful family Victorian home where she grew up. Even the many ghosts that have inhabited the house for generations welcomed her back. 

Fast forward to The Mercy Quilt and life has pretty much returned to normal, or did it? She settled in, but something didn’t feel quite right. It took a while, and finally her best friend from childhood, Stella, nailed it. Emma was feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt for having left, for having bolted on the people who loved her. Stella isn’t one to put up with nonsense and tells her to get over it. Easier said than done. Stella, a nurse, decides she'd better wrestle the demon out of Emma before it eats her alive, and that’s what she does because this isn’t just a cozy novel about a quilt, it’s also about love, family, and ultimately forgiveness, especially finding a way to forgive yourself. 

Stella is more ingenious than you think. She’s never forgotten Emma’s fondness for baking and gets Emma into the kitchen baking cookies. Seems simple, right? Not so much. It brings Emma back to her old self. Eventually, Emma comes around, and it gets her creative juice flowing, specifically to thinking about what to do in the old house now that her daughter has married a drop-dead gorgeous rancher and Emma has the big house to herself. When Emma decides to turn the old house into a quilt retreat, she opens a can of precarious worms full of unexpected challenges such as construction upgrades to the house, hiring a contractor, running a retreat, something she hasn’t got an inkling how to do, and putting together quilting classes, and, just when she thinks she’s figured out all the annoying wrinkles she’s got to deal with a murder on the premises. Not exactly what she had in mind when she dreamed of a sweet quilting retreat!

What would you have done if you found yourself in Emma’s position? Taken the first flight back to Savannah or weep until you haven’t a tear left in you, or dug in your heels and decided to fight your way back?