Read Online Knit in Comfort by Isabel Sharpe - Free Book Online Page A

fork.
    â€œNo, definitely not.” Elizabeth realized how that sounded and flushed. “I’m sure the world is a lot different, though, than when you were young. Not that it was that long ago. I meant that things change so fast.”
    â€œWell yes, they do.”
    Elizabeth sighed, worn out by her floundering. If there was a career path for people who had a gift for saying the wrong thing she’d be a billionaire. She finished her pie, listening to the children chatter and laugh, thinking they probably had no idea how special this was. Her childhood meals had been mostly quiet at the dark table in the dark dining room—lonely widowed grandma, lonely single mother exhausted from a day at work and lonely only child Elizabeth. Why hadn’t they turned to each other in all that loneliness? They’d been too different. Ultra-conservative, iron-ruling grandma who lived in the past, grown-up ex-hippy mom waiting for rescue from the future and Generation-X daughter, concerned only with her present.
    The phone rang. Lolly leaped for it.
    â€œOh, hey, Grandad.” She sounded disappointed.
    Elizabeth glanced at Megan, who froze for half a beat, then calmly—always calmly!—put a sliver of pie on her own plate, rinsed her hands in the sink and waited for the phone, on which Lolly was speaking monosyllabically. “Yes. No. Okay. Yeah, here she is.”
    â€œHi Dad.” Megan walked to the kitchen doorway and stood with her back to the room.
    â€œThat’s Megan’s daddy.”
    Elizabeth nodded to Vera. She got that.
    â€œHe’s a widower. Aileen died a couple of years after Megan and Stanley got married.”
    â€œOh, I’m sorry.”
    â€œShe was a lovely person.” Vera folded her hands with the quiet superiority of someone enjoying spreading tragic news.
    â€œMegan had a terrible time. She and her mama were very close.”
    â€œHer mom—Aileen—taught her the lace.”
    â€œYes ma’am.” Vera sighed heavily. “Megan has a gift passed down through generations. It’s a terrible shame she doesn’t knit it anymore.”
    â€œShe stopped? Why? Because her mom died?”
    Vera looked uncomfortable, then surprised, then nodded gravely. “Yes. That’s why.”
    Elizabeth’s instinct kicked in. That wasn’t why.
    â€œCan I have s’more pie, Grandma?”
    â€œIt’s not s’more pie, it’s banana-cream pie.”
    Deena stuck her tongue out at her brother.
    â€œI think you’ve had plenty, Deena.”
    â€œ Again? ” Megan took another step out of the kitchen. Elizabeth smiled sympathetically at chubby Deena, wishing she could hear more of Megan’s conversation.
    â€œHey, Elizabeth.” Jeffrey put his fork down. “Do you know what gas makes Neptune look blue?”
    â€œSwamp gas?” suggested Lolly not-helpfully.
    â€œ Poo gas?” Deena giggled like mad and earned a scowl from Vera.
    Jeffrey ignored his sisters. “Do you know, Elizabeth? Take a guess.”
    â€œAll right, then, Dad.” Megan sounded impatient to be off the phone. “Yes, okay. Thanks for letting me know.”
    â€œI can’t even guess.”
    â€œMethane!” he announced triumphantly.”
    Lolly choked on a swig of milk. “That is poo gas!”
    â€œHa!” Deena turned on her brother, barely able to speak through her giggles. “I was right.”
    â€œOkay, kids, enough.” Vera watched Megan coming into the room. “Everything okay?”
    â€œYes, fine.” Megan spoke brightly, but put her piece of pie back into the serving dish, which she took to the counter. “Dad is moving again. To New Jersey this time. That’s all.”
    â€œGood heavens. No moss on that man.” Vera pushed her chair back. “I’m going to get my knitting and sit on the porch.”
    â€œI’ll help you with the dishes, Megan.” Elizabeth