Page 85 of This Heart Of Mine (Chicago Stars 5)

A flicker of movement caught Molly’s eye, and she saw Lilly sitting off to the side on an iron bench. At first Molly thought she was reading, but then she realized she was sewing instead. She thought about Lilly’s coolness toward her and wondered if she were reacting personally or to the bad publicity from the wedding?… the Chicago Stars football heiress who dabbles in writing children’s books… Molly hesitated, then rose and let herself out the back door.

Lilly sat near a small herb garden. Molly found it odd that someone who played the diva so convincingly hadn’t objected to being stuck away in an attic. And despite that Armani sweater tossed so casually around her shoulders, she seemed remarkably content simply sitting by an overgrown garden and sewing. She was a puzzle. It was hard for Molly to warm up to someone who was so cold to her, but she couldn’t quite dislike Lilly and not just because of her old affection for Lace, Inc. It took courage to stick around in the face of Kevin’s hostility.

Marmie lay at Lilly’s feet next to a large sewing basket. Roo ignored the cat to trot over and greet her owner, who leaned down to pat him. Molly realized she was working on a piece of a quilt, but it didn’t look like anything she’d ever seen. The design wasn’t a neatly arranged geometric, but a subtly shaded medley of curves and swirls in various patterns and shades of green, with touches of lavender and a surprising dab of sky blue.

“That’s beautiful. I didn’t know you were an artist.”

The familiar hostility that formed in Lilly’s eyes gave the summer afternoon a January chill. “This is just a hobby.”

Molly decided to ignore the freeze-out. “You’re very good. What’s it going to be?”

“Probably a real quilt,” she said reluctantly. “Usually I do smaller pieces like pillows, but this garden seems to demand something more dramatic.”

“You’re doing a quilt of the garden?”

Lilly’s inherent good manners forced her to respond. “Just the herb garden. I started experimenting with it yesterday.”

“Do you work from a drawing?”

Lilly shook her head, attempting to put an end to the conversation. Molly considered letting her do it, but she didn’t want to. “How can you make something this complicated without a drawing?”

Lilly took her time responding. “I start putting scraps together that appeal to me, and then I pull out my scissors and see what happens. Sometimes the results are disastrous.”

Molly understood. She created from bits and pieces, too—a few lines of dialogue, random sketches. She never knew what her books were about until she was well into them. “Where do you get your fabrics?”

Roo had propped his chin on one of Lilly’s pricey Kate Spade sandals, but Molly’s persistence seemed to bother her more. “I always have a box of scraps in my trunk,” she said brusquely. “I buy a lot of remnants, but this project needs fabrics with some history. I’ll probably try to find an antique store that sells vintage clothing.”

Molly gazed back at the herb garden. “Tell me what you see.”

She expected a rebuff, but, again, Lilly’s good manners won out. “I was drawn to the lavender first. It’s one of my favorite plants. And I love the silver of that sage behind it.” Lilly’s enthusiasm for her project began to overcome her personal dislike. “The spearmint needs to be weeded out. It’s greedy, and it’ll take over. That little tuft of thyme is fighting to survive against it.”

“Which one is the thyme?”

“Those tiny leaves. It’s vulnerable now, but it can be as aggressive as spearmint. It just goes about it more subtly.” Lilly lifted her eyes, and her gaze held Molly’s for a moment.

Molly got the message. “You think the thyme and I have something in common?”

“Do you?” she asked coolly.

“I have a lot of faults, but subtlety isn’t one of them.”

“I suppose that remains to be seen.”

Molly wandered to the edge of the garden. “I’m trying hard to dislike you as much as you seem to dislike me, but it’s tough. You were my heroine when I was a little girl.”

“How nice.” Icicles dripped.

“Besides, you like my dog. And I have a feeling that your attitude has less to do with my personality than it has to do with your concerns about my marriage.”

Lilly stiffened.

Molly decided she had nothing to lose by being blunt. “I know about your real relationship with Kevin.”

Lilly’s fingers stalled on her needle. “I’m

surprised he told you. Maida said he never spoke about it.”

“He didn’t. I guessed.”

---