Sister's Choice by Judith Pella

basket. It wasn’t the hexagons she often worked on when she was feeling melancholy. The new project was a quilt for Maggie. Ellie had often thought she had plenty of time to make a wedding quilt for her sister, but lately she was feeling time might be shorter than she imagined. Why, it was very possible that she would “tie the knot” before Ellie and Zack. Maggie had set her sights on Colby and seemed serious about it, so things could happen very quickly. It would be sad if Maggie had no finished quilt tops in her hope chest for a quilting bee.
    Ellie turned the half-completed quilt block over in her hand. Grandma had let Ellie raid her box of scraps, and so had Mama. She was using muslin in the background and for the main part a different color fabric in each block. The pattern she had selected was a design called Sister’s Choice. It was a nine-patch surrounded by triangles that made it look like a star. She thought it was perfect for Maggie, not only because she was coming close to making a choice for a husband, but also because, knowing Maggie, her choice might surprise them all.
    Ellie was happy and excited for Maggie, and when she imagined that she and her sister might marry and enter this new phase of their lives together, it simply thrilled her. Despite the fact that they were so different, they had always been close, and the prospect of sharing the adventure of marriage and having babies together was wonderful to look forward to.
    Ellie prayed nothing would upset this dream. It wasn’t Maggie who worried her as much as herself. Ellie’s mind rehashed the reason Zack had left early that evening. It hadn’t been entirely because he was tired. She had mentioned that he didn’t need to spend so much time at her house. She enjoyed his company but not at the cost of his health. He’d taken it all wrong.
    “All right, I’ll go if you are bored with me,” he had replied with a hurt tone.
    “That’s not what I said, Zack. You just look so tired—”
    “Why don’t you let me decide when I am tired?”
    “I don’t know why you are getting so touchy.”
    “Oh? Perhaps it is because you as much as told me to leave,” he had snapped. “That really does make a fellow feel good.”
    She couldn’t help her devastated expression.
    Then he’d been sorry and tried to apologize. “I’m sorry, Ellie! Maybe I am tired, too tired to think straight. And maybe it’s true what everyone says—I mean how can a girl like you continue to have patience with a man who has a dark future and few prospects?”
    “What?” she’d gasped. “Who is everyone ? Oh, never mind. I can’t believe you’d think such a thing.”
    “Well, it’s true I have nothing to offer you, and you are so much better than me—”
    “Stop speaking such hogwash!” she’d cut in sharply, scolding him as Mama might scold her children.
    “Maybe it is the first time I am being sensible,” he said, his tone more even. “The one thing I would truly like to do is become a minister, but what kind of life is that for you? You have dreamed about it but not in a practical way, not considering the life of near poverty, the days and weeks you would be alone while I rode a circuit. Think of it, Ellie! What kind of life is that?”
    “It’s the perfect life if that’s what God wants for us,” she replied. Maybe her response was idealistic, but how could it not be the truth?
    He ran a hand through his hair, sighing. “I don’t know. Maybe it is just fatigue. My mind is just . . .” He let his words trail away, unable to find the words to complete his thought.
    Gently, she said, “Go home, Zack. Sleep is probably all you need.”
    “And the one thing I can’t seem to find.”
    Now she understood, and her heart ached for him. “Zack, know this—I fall asleep every night praying for you.”
    “That is what I truly need,” he said. “Thank you. I suppose I will go home.”
    She walked him to his horse, and he gave her a hug, but she felt a