Shelley glowered. “She’s tiny. It’s a wonder she doesn’t blow away when she flies her kites.”
“Oh, that’s rich.” Madison snorted. “You’re jumping on me?”
“Stop it,” Gia said. “Both of you. If you’re really sorry, you’ll help me finish the quilt.”
“That’s a big ask,” Madison said.
“Look at us fighting.” The wind tossed Shelley’s unfettered hair into her face and she battled it back, stabbing her fingers through the mess. “How do you expect us to sit across from each other quilting for hours on end, Gia?”
“Why does this mean so much to you and Grammy?” Madison asked.
“Because the quilt is a symbol of when we were together. When things were good,” Gia murmured, sadness in her eyes.
“Gia, I don’t mean to be contrary, but we’d be sewing a quilt for a ruined wedding. To finish it would rub salt in my wounds.” Maddie bit her bottom lip. “Is that what you want? To hurt me?”
Fear lit up Gia’s eyes. Why? If Madison didn’t want to finish the damn quilt, even for their dying grandmother, then fine.
“There is a reason for us to finish the quilt beyond Grammy’s request. More than just getting us back together.”
“What’s that?” Madison rocked on her butt in the sand. “Why?”
“Why?” Gia said. “Because I’m getting married.”
Chapter Six
Gia
EMBELLISHMENT: Adding decorative items or stitches to a quilt top.
YOU’RE ENGAGED?” SHELLEY’S gaze flew to Gia’s bare ring finger. All three sat cross-legged on the sand in an unintentional circle.
“Uh-huh.”
“Who’s the groom?” Maddie asked.
Finally, Gia had their full attention, and they weren’t at each other’s throat. She could yank the plug on her lie and tell the truth, put a stop to this before it got out of hand, but both her larger-than-life older sisters—who’d tucked her in the sweet-girl-family-cheerleader-don’t-rock-the-boat box years ago—were suddenly watching her with surprise and respect. It went to Gia’s head like the dandelion wine she’d first gotten drunk on when she was eighteen.
Still, the deception went against her code of conduct and the rules she lived by. Treat others the way you want them to treat you. Don’t lie if you don’t want to be lied to.
“You didn’t just make this up to stop us from fighting?” Shelley’s mouth slanted in suspicion.
“Um . . .” Gia gnawed her bottom lip, and she anchored her gaze on the quilt. A fresh lie came to her fully formed. Not a small white lie, but a great big fat golden one. Shining like the Holy Grail. A solution. “Mike. He’s the one. He’s my fiancé.”
“Mike Straus from next door?” Madison’s mouth dropped open and her eyes lit up. “You’re kidding.”
“Why? What’s so weird about that? Yep, it’s Mike. Mike’s the one. But it’s new. Really, really new. We-haven’t-told-anyone-else-yet new.” Her lie shifted like quicksand dragging her into boggy depths with nothing to latch on to but more sand.
“How new?” Madison asked. “A day? A week? A month?”
“Um . . . a few days.”
“How did he propose?”
“With a ring.”
Shelley tapped her chin with a sand-dusted finger. “Where’s the ring?”
“Oh, that.” Gia waved her left hand as if she’d forgotten her ring wasn’t there. “It’s being sized.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Madison said. “How did he propose? Did he get down on one knee? Where did it happen? Were you completely surprised? Deets. I need deets.”
Damn Madison’s dogged persistence and her attention to details.
Gia barely shook her head. She let her gaze settle on the pattern of three intersecting rings in the quilt. Just as those rings sewn into the squares composed within them the promise of comfortable union, so, too, her lie, if elaborated upon, composed . . .
What?
The mending of their family?
Or the end of it?
Her sisters stared at her expectantly.
“Um . . . right here on the beach. At sunset. He got on one knee. I was surprised, but not entirely shocked.”
Madison eyed her as if she did not believe Gia’s story. “When were you going to tell us?”
“Now. So, you can see why finishing the quilt means so very much to me . . .” She inhaled audibly, then pushed the lie further. “And Grammy. It’s more than just her dying request. Finishing the wedding quilt also means the world to me. I’ll bring the last quilt Grammy ever sewed into my marriage.”
“Why didn’t you say so?” Madison scratched her shin where the leg of her pants had risen, leaving faint pink scratch marks from her long, manicured nails.
Gia raised her shoulders and dropped them hard and quick. “I guess I was waiting for the right