Page 61 of Nashville Cowboy
If Daisy had no luck today, Lillian would have to help Brenda turn her place upside down. Then she’d help Sadie do the same. After all, Lincoln and Sadie weren’t coming back to the cabin after their honeymoon. They were set to move into Lincoln’s cabin once the kitchen was complete.
A few minutes later, Lillian had Daisy in the attic while she stood at the bottom of the ladder instructing.
“How do you know it’s not at Brenda’s?”
“I’ve got her lookin’, too.”
“I curse the day you broke your arm!” Daisy said, shoving a box. “There are a lot of boxes up here. Oh, and a tricycle. Is that mine? Good Lord, do we ever throw anything away around here?”
“Hush now. Look for boxes with Eve’s handwriting on them. It should be in one of them.”
“Great. That’s a lot of help!”
“Look against the wall.”
Lillian heard shoving and pushing, grumbling, and a curse word or two. “Sadie said itmightbe in one of these boxes. She said Eve kept it.”
“Then maybe Sadie should come up here and look.”
“I’m sure she would if I asked her, but I’maskin’my only granddaughter.”
Daisy squealed. “Oh my gawd!”
Lillian hardly dared hope. “You found it?”
“I think I saw a spider! Help!”
“What’s up?” Jackson’s voice said from behind Lillian.
She jumped. He’d snuck up on her. And as luck would have it, Eve was right behind him. Of course she was.
“Good mornin’. We’re just…lookin’ for something old for Sadie’s weddin’.”
Jackson quirked a brow. “I thought you already found something when you broke your arm.”
“Ohmygoodness. You’re right, I did. Guess I’m gettin’ forgetful.” To be convincing, she tapped her temple.
Jackson cocked his head and studied her, his forehead creased in concern. She was apparently too good of an actor.
“Notthatforgetful!” Lillian swatted him.
Daisy came down the steps and brushed her hands together. “I’msodone. I just had a traumatic experience up there with a spider and his entire family.”
“Aw, Daisy,” Eve said, putting her arm around Daisy’s shoulders and leading her toward the kitchen. “Let me make you some blueberry waffles for lunch. Breakfast for lunch used to be your favorite thing.”
“I thought you had the day off,” Daisy said.
“I do, but I don’t mind cookin’.”
Eve was in an awfully good mood this morning. Then again, so was her grandson as his smiling gaze followed Eve’s movements. And there had been an awful lot of smiling and lingering looks between those two. Progress had been made. Now she simply had to open up Eve’s eyes to the facts. Jackson loved her plain and simple, and if she asked him to stay in Stone Ridge, by golly he would. He wouldn’t be the first country musician to live in Texas. The fans and all the other musicians could have Nashville. Jackson needed the privacy and relative anonymity of his hometown. He needed his family close. What he needed more than anything was unconditional love and acceptance and to never be abandoned again.
“Want to tell me what’s really going on here?” Jackson turned his gaze back to Lillian.
“Spending time with my granddaughter, keeping her away from that no-good Wade. Why? You suspect me of committing a high crime or somethin’? Hiding a body in the attic?”
His eyes crinkled with a smile. “I could see you hiding a lot, but definitely not a body.”
Lillian could hear the sounds of pans and the mixer going. Daisy chatting with Eve, recovered from the trauma of a spider. The moment felt normal. But nothing felt business as usual since she’d started her search for that quilt. It was ridiculous to think that a piece of cotton could bring two people together, permanently, but Lillian was convinced if she could locate it, everything else would fall into place. They would both remember that, once, they’d had forever in their sights and could have it again.
