Free Calico Brides by Darlene Franklin Page B

the beginning of Passion Week. Ruth led her schoolchildren in a reenactment of Jesus’ triumphal entry, waving pine branches instead of palms, and Jesus riding a pony instead of a donkey. Ruth had recruited Gladys’s brother Gordon to hold cue cards for the congregation.
    With Gordon’s encouragement, the rafters of the church rang with shouts. “Hallelujah! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Heart lifted in praise and worship, Gladys could hardly believe the same crowd had cried, “Crucify Him!” less than a week later.
    On Monday morning, the doctor from Langtry pronounced Mr. Keller well enough to get up if he wanted to. Speaking with Gladys and Haydn in the front parlor, he said, “You’ve done an excellent job, both of you.”
    “It was all Miss Polson’s doing.” Haydn reflected the credit back to her.
    “All I did was follow the suggestions in my mother’s medical book.” Telltale heat raced into Gladys’s cheeks.
    The doctor nodded. “Since I’m not needed here, I’ll go check on a couple of Dr. Devereux’s other patients.”
    Gladys’s valise waited under her cloak by the front door. “I’ll say good-bye to Mr. Keller before I leave.” She headed up to his room, where they had moved him earlier when he improved enough to climb the stairs. Knocking on the door, she called, “Mr. Keller?”
    “That you, Gladys? Come on in.” Mr. Keller sat up in bed, a pillow at his back. “It’s about time I said thank you for all you’ve done. That young doctor said you had a lot to do with me getting better.”
    Gladys sat beside him, hands crossed in her lap. “It was God. I was only His instrument.”
    “You healed more than my body, young lady. You healed my heart. This next Sunday is Easter, isn’t it?”
    Gladys nodded. “My favorite time of year. I love Christmas, but Jesus’ resurrection completes the story.”
    “You may be right.” Mr. Keller patted her hands. “I plan on going to church with Haydn next week. We’ll be looking for you.”
    “You will?” Joy spread through Gladys’s body from the inside out. “That’s the best news I’ve had since the first time I came to visit.”

    Gladys called the sewing circle together to finish one final project for Mr. Keller. Late Saturday night, she knotted the final stitch on the surprise and wrapped it in plain brown paper with string.
    Early Sunday morning, about the same time the women headed to Jesus’ tomb, Gladys put the package in the bottom of a basket and added several of her mother’s hot cross buns in a towel. Ma hugged her. “Have I told you lately how proud I am of you?”
    “Too many times.” She returned her mother’s hug. “I’ll see you at church if not before.”
    “If they invite you to stay for breakfast, go ahead and eat with them.”
    As Gladys headed out the door, her mother said, “He is risen!”
    “He is risen indeed!” Gladys returned the greeting then picked her way down the street, a muddy morass from the melted snow. She knocked boldly on Mr. Keller’s front door, none of the fear that had troubled her on her first visit stopping her this time.
    She was about to knock a second time when Haydn opened the door, surprise evident on his face. “Gladys! What are you doing here so early?”
    She followed him into the parlor. “I come bearing gifts. Ma sent boiled eggs and hot cross buns for your breakfast.”
    “That wasn’t necessary.”
    “We wanted to.” She continued into the kitchen, where Mr. Keller sat at the table. “Happy Easter, Mr. Keller.” She removed the food from the basket and then lifted the package from the bottom. Feeling suddenly shy, she laid it in front of the old man. “This is for you.”
    Mr. Keller smiled. He
smiled
. “I got a present, and it isn’t even Christmas. Get me some scissors, Haydn, so I can cut the strings. They’re in the drawer next to the silverware.”
    He stripped the strings away and unwrapped the brown paper. “It’s a quilt of