Free Double Wedding Ring by Peg Sutherland Page B

in her heart and head.
    She automatically opened her arms to the crying little boy who sought her comfort, although she was too disoriented for a moment to remember why he called her mommy. But she held him, anyway, certain she could have no comfort for him when she so plainly had none for herself.
    The only thing clear in her mind was the raging darkness in the eyes of the man.
    She had wanted so desperately to help him, to tell him what he wanted to know. But his sudden appearance, his vague familiarity, had created a jumble of thoughts and sensations in her. Joy and excitement and pain had whirled through her. Nothing was clear to her, while he stood there shouting at her, except the small, still voice that said if she could reach him, if he held her in his arms, everything would be all right again.
    But he was gone and nothing was all right.
    Susan wished she could cry, the way Cody was, with relish and abandon.
    â€œOh, for heaven’s sake! I just knew something like this would happen!”
    Betsy’s sharp voice broke through Susan’s misery. She looked up, feeling inexplicably guilty.
    â€œDidn’t I always tell you, Susan Marie Foster, that young man is trouble?”
    Betsy snatched Cody out of Susan’s arms, set him on his feet and looked him in his watery eyes. “Nothing to cry about, little man. Susan is just fine and so are you. No thanks to Tag Hutchins.”
    Betsy bent down to help Susan back into her chair.
    â€œTag?” Susan asked, remembering the word that had come into her mind so many times since returning to Sweetbranch.
    â€œTag Hutchins is nothing but trouble. Never has been anything but trouble. He’s not to come into this house again. Is that clear? I won’t have him disrupting things.”
    Susan was breathless now, both from the excitement and the struggle to return safely to her chair. But she had to know. “Who is Tag?”
    Betsy looked down at Susan, her square hands on her square hips, her lips drawn into that thin, unyielding line that made Susan wish Yolanda was around to help her pop a wheelie in her wheelchair.
    â€œTag Hutchins is nobody you need to concern yourself with. If you don’t remember, so much the better.” Betsy marched around to the back of Susan’s chair and pushed her toward her bedroom. “Now, why don’t you have a nice rest. Working so hard at all this therapy business isn’t good for you. Rest is what you need.”
    â€œHave to work,” Susan insisted as her mother prepared to close the door to her room and leave her alone once again.
    â€œWhat you have to do is accept reality, Susan. You’ll never be the way you were before. Get used to it.”
    The words chilled Susan to the bone. Before the door closed, she called out, “Quilt.”
    Betsy sighed heavily. “What now?”
    â€œQuilt. I want my quilt.”
    Betsy pointed at the bed. “There’s a quilt on your bed.”
    â€œNo! My quilt.”
    â€œThat’s the only quilt you’ve got, young lady. Now, calm down and rest yourself for a while.”
    The door slammed shut. Susan felt tears at the back of her eyes again and gave one of her wheels a spin, sending her chair whirling in a circle. She spotted the quilt folded at the foot of her bed, a blue and green Log Cabin she had made for her parents’ thirtieth wedding anniversary. But it was not the quilt she wanted. In that incomplete part of her mind that was memory, she could see the one she wanted, a quilt of interlocking circles made up in the colors of pink-and-white azaleas she had seen somewhere.
    Susan closed her eyes tightly shut and tried to hold the image in her mind. If she only had that quilt, everything would be better. If she couldn’t be held in the man’s arms, the quilt would help. She just knew it would.
    * * *
    T AG HIT THE BRAKE , spinning his rear tire and spitting out a shower of gravel. His bike stopped a half foot