“Isn’t that so?”
“I expect it is.”
Ellen stared at the scissors a moment. “Wait. You were married, what, in 1902? Dad was born in 1899.”
Ellen nodded. “That’s about right.”
“That means … I mean…” June said, looking away, too embarrassed to continue. “Did you know when you left the Rockin’ A?”
Ellen shook her head. “By the time I knew I was going to have a baby, I thought Buddy had married Alice. I was too proud to let him know about my condition. Lucy might have told me he hadn’t married, but she was dead.” Ellen smiled at her granddaughter. “Why did you think I was so anxious to find a husband?”
Ellen looked down at the quilt in her arms, then held it to her face, her cheek against the white cotton square. She added, “I have to say those men were awful good about it when they found out I had a son. They wanted me anyway. James”—she shook his head—“I guess he just loved children and didn’t care how he got them. And Wade might have needed to replace his daughter. Funny thing is, Wade was the one who told your grandfather about John. He said he was marrying a woman who had a three-year-old boy. He just let it slip out. Buddy always was pretty good at math.” Ellen smiled, remembering. “I didn’t have to tell Buddy about John at all. He just walked into my classroom and said we were getting married and he was taking his family home to Colorado.”
Ben came out of the house onto the porch then and put his arm around Ellen’s waist. “Come on, honey. Supper’s ready. Maria’s got it on the table.”
Ellen leaned over to her granddaughter. “Your grandfather was wrong about one thing. I did think back then that he was the whole herd. I still do.”
ALSO BY SANDRA DALLAS
The Last Midwife
A Quilt for Christmas
Fallen Women
True Sisters
The Bride’s House
Whiter Than Snow
Prayers for Sale
Tallgrass
New Mercies
The Chili Queen
Alice’s Tulips
The Diary of Mattie Spenser
The Persian Pickle Club
Buster Midnight’s Café
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
SANDRA DALLAS is the author of fifteen novels, including The Last Midwife, A Quilt for Christmas, Fallen Women, True Sisters, The Bride’s House, Whiter Than Snow, Prayers for Sale, Tallgrass, and New Mercies. She is a former Denver bureau chief for BusinessWeek magazine and lives in Denver, Colorado. Visit her at www.sandradallas.com, or sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chaper Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Also by Sandra Dallas
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE PATCHWORK BRIDE. Copyright © 2018 by Sandra Dallas. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Cover design by Kerri Resnick
Heart © Reilika Landen / Arcangel
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Names: Dallas, Sandra, author.
Title: The patchwork bride / Sandra Dallas.
Description: First edition. | New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2018.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017056739 | ISBN 9781250174031 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781250174055 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Quilting—Fiction. | GSAFD: Love stories.
Classification: LCC PS3554.A434 P38 2018 | DDC 813/ .54—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017056739
eISBN 9781250174055
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First Edition: June 2018