Fall to Pieces

"I KNOW A SECRET!"

Beatrice stared wearily at her friend. She hoped Meadow didn't expect her to play a guessing game. Beatrice was already running a little behind with her day. Having Meadow drop by with her tremendous dog wasn't helping her get caught up. She carefully moved her foot away when she saw that Boris's mouth was open and a wad of drool looked as if it might fall at any moment.

Meadow, red glasses slightly askew and gray hairs coming out of her long braid, gave Beatrice an impatient look as if she were falling down on her end. "Don't you want to know what it is?"

Beatrice's corgi, Noo-noo, gave her a concerned look and nudged Beatrice with her nose. She was hoping that Beatrice could escort their visitors out so that she and Beatrice could resume their lovely nap.

Beatrice knew that Meadow would end up spilling her secret any second. One thing in life was certain: Meadow Downey could not keep a secret. It would eat her alive.

Sure enough, Meadow had a mini-explosion and reached out to grab Beatrice's arm. "Promise you won't say anything to anybody?" Seeing Beatrice's consenting nod, Meadow said, "Oh Beatrice! My Ash is going to ask your Piper to marry him. Isn't it wonderful? And you and I will be related!"

Beatrice felt a warm glow course through her. It was indeed good news. She knew her daughter loved Meadow's son and was happy that Ash wanted to spend his life with Piper. Better yet, Ash had moved to North Carolina so Piper would be staying in Dappled Hills.

"How is it, though," asked Beatrice, "that you and I know about this proposal before Piper? Doesn't that seem a little backward?"

"Not really," said Meadow in a casual way. "Ash asked for my help."

Beatrice blinked at her. "Excuse me?"

"My help," said Meadow a bit louder, in case Beatrice was becoming hard of hearing.

Beatrice tilted her head to one side. "Why on earth would Ash need your help with a proposal? This isn't some sort of Cyrano de Bergerac type of thing, is it? You don't need to feed a script to Ash, do you?"

"Of course not! As if Ash couldn't come up with his own wording of his proposal. For heaven's sake, Beatrice! But it's clear that you don't know about modern proposal culture. Proposals now are events. There are all these incredibly creative and fabulous ways to ask someone to marry you. Ash needed a little help from us to make this meaningful for Piper," said Meadow.

"From me, too?" Beatrice was rather horrified. "But I wouldn't want to be part of something very personal for Piper. I'd think that Ash would just pop the question."

"And she'd probably say no to such a revoltingly boring proposal!" scoffed Meadow.

"We're not going to be there, but we're going to help out. Ash wants to make his proposal part of a quilt-a future heirloom. And he wants our loving hands making it for it to be especially special," said Meadow.

"I see," said Beatrice slowly. And, thinking of it, it did sound like a lovely idea. Piper would be very touched to think that so much thought and time went into his proposal.

"As you can imagine, I need your help," said Meadow briskly. "She reached down and patted Boris, which made his drool production increase significantly.

"Of course," said Beatrice. "Should we go to the quilt shop to take a look at some possibilities?"

"First things first," said Meadow, producing a notebook and a pen. "I want to get everything exactly right. What are Piper's favorite colors?"

Beatrice shook her head. "I've no idea."

"What about her favorite quotations or maybe part of a favorite song?" asked Meadow, pen hovering expectantly over the notebook.

"I'm not really sure," said Beatrice with a shrug.

Meadow snapped her notebook closed. "What kind of a mother are you?" she demanded. "I suppose you're going to have to be a detective again and uncover some clues that we can use to make this quilt beautiful for Piper. Then maybe you can contribute a few squares to the project. I'm really going to try to power through this-maybe pull an all-nighter. And I could use your help in keeping Piper's schedule free so that Ash can actually pop the question."

Beatrice, who'd gotten a good book lately from Meadow's husband, Ramsay, stifled a sigh. "I can see my quiet afternoons of reading in the hammock with Noo-noo drifting away," she said dryly.

"Phooey. When do you ever sit still longer than fifteen minutes, despite your best intentions? You'll probably get more relaxation time by scheduling more things to do," said Meadow, standing up. She stopped short, staring across the room. "What on earth is that?"

"That's a plant," said Beatrice, hearing a defensive edge creep into her voice.

"Is it?" asked Meadow doubtfully. "It looks as if it needs to be on life support."

Beatrice glanced over at the philodendron. Its trailing stems looked dry and stressed. "You know that I always have a problem keeping houseplants alive. I have a lot better luck with everything outside."

"I'm sure your outdoor plants are grateful for that!" said Meadow fervently. "I'm surprised you keep trying to sustain life indoors, considering the victims of your experiments."

"This was a gift from Wyatt," said Beatrice with a sigh. "I tried hard, but the harder I tried, the sicklier it got."

Wyatt and Beatrice had been seeing each other for a while. Beatrice loved their dinners and picnics and listening to him preach at church on Sundays. But somehow he'd never really picked up on the message that she wasn't wonderful with houseplants.

Meadow surveyed the plant, hands on her hips. "Would you mind if I took it with me? I can try to give it CPR once I get back home. Then, if I can nurse it back to health, you can take it back home."

"Meadow, you've got a deal," said Beatrice, feeling relieved. She paused. "Now what were we talking about?"

"How you can relax better by adding more to your schedule," said Meadow

absently, still critically studying the plant. She walked over briskly and picked it up, making a face.

"How do you figure that?" asked Beatrice.

"Because you'll genuinely be tired! And less restless," said Meadow.

"I can see your point, although I don't think this quilt is exactly going to use up all my free time."

"Which is why Posy's upcoming activities are so perfect for you," said Meadow.

"Posy's upcoming activities?" echoed Beatrice weakly. Posy was the quilt shop owner and another friend of Beatrice's.

"Exactly. She'll explain everything at the quilt shop. I'm going to encourage the entire guild to get involved. Posy has always been such a good friend to the Village Quilters," said Meadow. "Let's head over there now. We can pick up some materials for Piper's quilt and can talk to Posy about her plans at the same time."

"What about Boris?" asked Beatrice as the giant beast stuck his tongue out at her, grinning.

"Let's stuff him in your car and drop him and your plant off at my house before we go. That will give you the opportunity to call Piper and ask some nonchalant questions about her favorite colors," said Meadow, heading for the door, holding the leash with one hand and awkwardly balancing the plant on her hip with the other.

"How on earth is someone nonchalant about favorite colors?" muttered Beatrice as she grabbed her purse and gave Noo-noo a soothing pat.

"Oh, you know. Just say you were thinking about painting your living room or something and you wondered what Piper's favorite colors were," said Meadow absently as Boris lunged forward, jerking her behind him.

"Don't you want me to hold the plant for you?" asked Beatrice, watching as it bobbled on Meadow's hip.

"Certainly not! Don't you think you've done enough damage to it?" said Meadow with a sniff.

Beatrice gave up arguing about both the plant and the favorite color conversation, realizing when there was no way out. She started dialing Piper as Meadow and Boris clambered into her sedan. She put the window down and Boris immediately stuck his massive head outside it, continuing to grin.

As usual, the sound of her daughter's voice made Beatrice smile. Beatrice had retired to the village of Dappled Hills after many years as an art curator in Atlanta to be near her Piper, who taught school here and lived close by.

"Hi Piper," said Beatrice.

"Oh, hi, Mama!" said Piper. "I was just about to call you."

"Really? Did you need me for something?" asked Beatrice as she started up the car. She put the phone on speaker....