"I'm sorry-I wasn't trying to be critical. I just feel bad for the dogs."
"Well, I feel sorry for you. You were only trying to help a friend, and someone had to do this to you."
"I just wish I'd learned something that could help DeAnn."
"Well, superwoman, sometimes it has to be good enough that you simply survived to fight another day."
He was holding her hand when Aunt Beth and Mavis came back into the studio. Beth carried a tray with the guacamole and chips and Harriet's soup. Mavis followed with a stack of plates, utensils and the foil-wrapped burritos.
"I can't eat another bite,” Harriet announced when she'd finished all of her guacamole, her soup and half of her barbacoa burrito. “Jorge once again outdid himself."
"The man can cook,” Mavis said. “I'll give him that. He's nosier than my pappy's old bluetick hound, but he can surely cook."
"Can I quote you?” Aiden asked with a grin.
"Brat."
Aiden looked like he was going to say something, but his cell phone rang, interrupting their banter. He listened, letting his caller do the talking.
"Wow,” he said after a moment. “I do remember that."
He gestured toward Aunt Beth, making writing motions in the air. Beth got up quickly and grabbed a pen and pad from Harriet's desk, then put it into his outstretched hand. He lodged the phone between chin and shoulder and scribbled a name and address on the tablet.
"Thank you so much for getting back to me,” he said. He talked for another minute, pacing across the room as he asked how his caller was and listened for the reply before saying goodbye and ringing off.
The three women were looking expectantly at him when he turned around and returned to the sitting area.
"Ladies, I think we just got a piece of the puzzle.” He sat down and picked up the large cup of cola he'd brought with him from Tico's, taking a drink before continuing. “That was Nabirye Obote. She said she didn't have any half-sisters who could fit the bill, but she did have a cousin who had been adopted as a baby."
"What's the cousin's name?” asked Harriet.
"I'm coming to that. This cousin was adopted in America and…” He exaggerated the and. “…she happens to have visited Africa while I was there."
"And her name was Neelie Obote,” Harriet interjected.
Aiden looked at her but continued his story at his own pace.
"While she was visiting, I was working in the same village Nabirye was. It was the rainy season, and just before the visitors arrived we had a mudslide that filled the hut I was staying in with slime. I had to temporarily share Nabirye's tent."
"Ah, it all becomes clear,” Harriet said.
"No, it doesn't. I wasn't the only one who had to move to the water project tent, but maybe her cousin didn't realize that."
Harriet started to interrupt, but he went on speaking.
"Her cousin's name was-"
"Neelie,” Harriet guessed.
"No,” he said. “It was Nancy-Nancy Lou, to be exact. I'm sure she picked Neelie because it's an African name, and honestly, would you have believed her story about bringing her sister's child if she'd said her name was Nancy Lou?"
"Good point,” Aunt Beth said. “And who knows, maybe her birth name was Neelie."
"Did your friend say how old her cousin was?” Mavis asked.
"She said she wasn't sure. She was a child herself when the adoption originally happened. And the aunt who gave Nancy or Neelie up for adoption died from AIDS when Nabirye was a teenager. Given her age now and her memories of the incident, she's guessing Nancy Lou was probably in her late twenties when she visited."
"So, she went back to discover her roots or something,” Harriet said. “Then she saw her cousin and a man with distinctive eyes, who she presumed was her cousin's lover, and a plan was born."
"That's about it."
"Wait a minute,” Mavis said. “Aren't you forgetting something?"
"A big something,” Aunt Beth added.
Harriet looked at them without saying anything.
"Kissa,” Mavis said. “I think we've already established they don't hand babies out at the local Walmart. Somehow, that young woman came up with a blue-eyed baby of an appropriate age to be passed off as Aiden's offspring."
"Maybe that's the connection to Rodney,” Harriet speculated. “He seems like the kind of resourceful guy who could come up with a baby-his own or otherwise-on short notice."
"Well, we're not going to solve this tonight, and I've got to get back to the clinic and someone here needs to rest.” Aiden crumpled his burrito wrapper then stacked the used plates and carried them to the kitchen.
"He's right,” Aunt Beth said. “Let's get you upstairs so Mavis and I can come back down and sew."
Chapter 34
The next two days passed in a blur of stitching, movies and sleeping. Aunt Beth and Mavis let the Loose Threads know Harriet wouldn't be receiving visitors until the weekend, and everyone respected that, which was strange given Sarah could almost always be counted on to do the exact opposite of whatever the rest of the group decided on.
"Good morning, Merry Sunshine,” Aunt Beth said on Saturday morning when Harriet crutched downstairs.
"What's got you in such a chipper mood this morning?"
"I'm just being my normal cheerful self."
Harriet laughed. “Since when?"
"Okay, maybe I'm a little hysterical with relief that I finished quilting the last quilt this morning."
"You finished our applique quilt?"
Beth made a face. “Oh, please. It's not like it was a California king or anything. Get yourself situated in your chair, and I'll bring you some breakfast."
"You don't have to fix me breakfast on top of all the quilting you've been doing."
"Don't worry, Aiden stopped by with some breakfast burritos Jorge made us. He was on his way to work and said to tell you he'll be back in a couple of hours. He said all the clinic vets were going to have a meeting to decide if any of the hoarding victims could be adopted out in conjunction with the auction. I guess the fundraising committee is really pressuring the clinic. They think the hoarding story will bring in big-dollar donations and having a few survivors at the dinner and auction might help."
"I'd like to be a fly on the wall for that meeting. Aiden told me he feels it would be like abusing the dogs twice, making them go out in public so soon,” Harriet said. “I'm just glad we're going to have quilts finished to auction."
A knock sounded on the studio door, ending the discussion. Aunt Beth headed to answer, talking as she went.
"I volunteered to host the Loose Threads meeting here today, since you can't go anywhere yet.” She opened the door, letting Jenny, Connie and Carla in along with a crisp gust of wind.
"Oh, honey,” Connie said and came to stand by Harriet's chair. “We've been so worried about you."
"As you can see, I'm fine."
"You don't look fine."
"The doctor put me in an over-sized cast to force me to stay off my ankle, but it really is just an ordinary sprain. And my kidney is much better."
"I'm glad to hear that, but you just take it slow for a while anyway."
Carla brought Connie a cup of tea then pushed one of the wheeled chairs from the desk area to the space beside the gray chair and sat down.
Mavis and Lauren arrived together, each carrying a pillowcase that appeared to be holding a quilt.They set their bags on the large cutting table and continued on into the kitchen to prepare their drinks.
Everyone was surprised when DeAnn arrived with Robin. They, too, were carrying bags with quilts in them.
"I take it things are going better with Iloai,” Harriet said when DeAnn had pulled a chair into the circle and sat down.
"Quite a bit has happened since…” She nodded at Harriet's foot.
"Since my accident?” Harriet suggested.