“Why’s that?” Zach pulled more Quilts of Valor Foundation swag from a box he’d carried from the shop.
“I’m not sure what she thinks I’m going to say to you that has her so worried.” She laughed softly. “I offered to swap, to take her place at the church’s bake sale and let her volunteer with you, but she refused.” Sophie paused what she was doing to look at him. “Can you believe that?”
Zach could. “How is it that you’re so involved with this organization and she’s not?”
“She blames the military for our father abandoning us.” She pulled another quilt from a box.
“But that’s not the case?” Zach needed to know more.
For finding her father. No other reason. Definitely not that he wanted to know more about what made Isabelle tick.
Rather than put the quilt she held onto the table, Sophie hugged it to her. “Dad loved everything about being a soldier. I think he didn’t know how to not be one and that’s why he struggled so much when he came home. When he left, I always imagined that he’d reenlisted or found some other way to serve.”
She could be describing him. Working at iSecure, often on military contracts, was as close as Zach could come to being a soldier without being directly on Uncle Sam’s active-duty roster. He needed to get straight to the point. He hadn’t considered that searching for Isabelle’s father might dredge up his own shortcomings.
“Do you know where he went?”
She sighed. “I wish I did. I’d tell him to come home so we could wrap him in love.”
“That’s why you do this?” He gestured to the booth. “Because of your father?”
“Every time I wrap a Quilts of Valor quilt around a soldier, I imagine Dad also being wrapped in love and welcomed home.” Sophie gave him a whimsical smile. “My sister thinks I’m a dreamer.”
“Are you?”
“Oh yeah.” Sophie laughed. “And so is she.”
“I know.”
Sophie studied him a moment. “Most people don’t recognize that quality in Izzy.”
“I’m not most people.” Isabelle wanted the world to only see her tough, logical, list-making, control-freak, always-responsible exterior.
Thinking about how she’d laughed and carried on, moaning even, during the candy cane wrap, he had to wonder if that protective exterior wasn’t unraveling. He longed to grab hold and spin her to freedom to laugh and embrace life, which seemed hypocritical since, until his vacation, he’d buried himself in work, rehab, and sewing blocks.
“Did you ever look for him?”
“More times than you’d believe over the years.” Sophie surprised him by saying. “Obviously, I never found him.” She shot a worried look his way. “You can’t tell Izzy. She’d be upset if she knew I took off to find him and had to call Rosie to help me get back to Kentucky.”
He put the pieces of what she was saying together in his mind. “How old were you?”
“Old enough to know better is what my sister would say. She’s forever reminding me how my impulsiveness gets me into situations. I can’t say she’s wrong, but… Anyway, the last time I looked for Dad was right before Izzy’s college graduation. I thought if I could find him, if he was there for her ceremony, that…” Sophie’s arms clung tighter to the quilt. “You really can’t tell her any of this. She wouldn’t understand. I love her with all my heart and don’t want her upset with me right before my wedding.”
Interesting that Sophie had wanted to give Isabelle the gift of having their father at her graduation and Isabelle hoped to find him for Sophie’s wedding.
“I won’t tell her, but you should,” he suggested, knowing it was true. “I don’t believe she could ever be upset with you for long.”
“Maybe not but knowing would upset her.” Sophie gave him a shiny-eyed smile. “Especially as I’ve been looking for him again. For my wedding. I want to invite him and to ask him to walk me down the aisle.” A tear slid down her cheek and she swiped it away. “Do you think I’m crazy for wanting him there when I’ve not seen him in so long?”
Yes. No. Maybe. How was Zach supposed to answer? He wanted to shake some sense into the guy at the pain he’d caused his daughters, but how could he judge the man when he knew, really knew, how one’s mind could lead a person astray?
“It’s understandable that you want your father at your wedding.”
“Not according to Izzy.”
“I imagine his leaving was hard on all of you.”
Sophie nodded. “Especially Izzy. They were very close. She’s never forgiven him. Mom and I have talked about it and, although the pain is real, we’ve both moved past that hurt. I’m not sure my sister ever will, but I want that peace for her so badly.”
