Page 72 of Sew Matcha in Love
I still had so much to sort out.
Instead of flying, Zaki decided it would be fun to drive to Quebec, stopping along the way to see the US. Flynn and Meggie were getting married in Maine at the end of July, and I planned to meet them up there.
From my sewing machine in the front window, I watched the girls and pups go inside the RV. This would be a fun adventure for them. Amelie had been making lists for weeks. What to see, what to pack, what to do.
I lost track of how long I stared at the RV. When the girls exited it and headed for the house, Zaki was right behind them.
“Wynnie!” Amelie was first in the front door and almost tripped over her green princess dress running to me. “Come see it!” She opened the doggie gate and let Isla in, then ran over to me.
“Yes, come see.” Isla took my hand and pulled at it.
“Okay.” I looked up at Zaki, and he waggled his eyebrows.
Silly man.
With an almost-six-year-old tugging each of my hands, I let them pull me out of the house and to the RV.
Then they let go and ran up the steps, disappearing inside.
So much for my tour.
I looked back at Zaki, and he shrugged.
I walked the remaining distance and ascended the stairs slowly. Amelie was waiting between the front seats. “This is where the driver sits”—she pointed to each in turn—“and where the navigator sits.”
I turned toward the main living space, where Isla stood by the sink. She gestured to the loft over the front seats. “Up there is where me and Amelie will have our quiet time. And here”—she pointed to the table and booth-style benches—“turns into our beds!”
“Very nice,” I said approvingly.
“But,” Amelie said, “we can sleep up there, too. If we have aguest.” She looked at her sister.
“I see. Like your aunt Sofi,” I filled in.
Amelie grinned. “Sure. Follow me.”
She led me past the bathroom and to the main bedroom at the back. “This is Daddy’s room.” She walked around the bed to the side wall, which featured a freestanding closet and a built-in set of drawers under the window. “These are fake drawers. Pull here.”
I approached the small dresser and pulled at the side as instructed. It swung open, barely missing the corner of the bed.
“The top is fake, too.” Isla joined us and lifted the surface upward and over to the left side.
I gasped. It was a sewing machine table.
“But—why?” I asked.
“We won’t need a nanny anymore,” Zaki said. I spun around. I hadn’t heard him enter. “But we need you. Will you come with us?”
Amelie pulled at her braids. “It’s a bend in the road, Wynnie. Like when Anne had to leave Green Gables, the place she loved the most in the world, to follow her dreams.”
Her perception and wisdom were right on.
A bend in the road, indeed.
“I—don’t know.”
“We got you a gift!” Isla opened the closet and pulled out a small blue leather box and lifted the lid. Inside was a beautiful cameo brooch.
I ran my finger over the smooth faux ivory silhouette and coral base. “It’s beautiful. Zaki Marsch, are you bribing me with jewelry?”
