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of Thackary Holmes, but as I understand it, he’s never even seen the man. I’m sure he’s a gentleman.”
    “Duncan’s letter said he was something akin to a stable boy,” Harrison pointed out, one eyebrow raised.
    “Stable master,” Colin corrected. “More like Logan Kincaid than a street urchin, I’d imagine.”
    “The unfortunate fact is that we know almost nothing of our distant cousins,” Harrison said. “Something we should remedy.”
    “Belle and I will start with Nettie,” Sadie told him. “In fact, it’s almost time for the sewing circle to meet, so you two had best scoot.”
    “You’re quite right, dear wife, as always.” Harrison kissed her on the cheek, then turned to Colin. “Shall we be off, then?”
    Colin went to Belle and kissed her as well. “Until tonight, beautiful one,” he said and bowed.
    Belle giggled and gave him a playful shove. “Oh, get out of here!”
    Colin and Harrison gazed at their wives, bowed as one and left the mercantile to the sound of Belle and Sadie’s giggles.

Three
     
    “… and this is Fanny Fig,” Sadie concluded with a smile.
    Nettie sat in the circle, full of trepidation. Maybe she was imagining things, but she swore everyone looked at her as if she were an oddity in a curiosity shop. She had to fight the urge to wipe her sweating palms on the skirt of her dress. Of course, if they weren’t staring at her, they were staring at Newton, who had planted himself near the front counter. He and the shopkeeper, Wilfred, spoke in low tones as the women prepared to get down to business.
    “You joined our wee group just in time,” Mary Mulligan the saloon owner’s wife said. “We’re ready to start a new project.”
    “Oh?” Nettie acknowledged. “What might that be?”
    “You have to ask?” Mary said with a giggle. “Your wedding dress, of course!”
    Nettie blanched and swallowed hard.
    “I think Miss Whitman could use some time to adjust to her new surroundings,” Sadie said diplomatically. “And I’m sure she and her intended will want to court.”
    “Yes,” agreed Constance Jones, Ryder Jones’s wife. “Some courting is usually a good thing. Take it from me.”
    Nettie fought to find her voice. “You … you courted a long time then?”
    “She didn’t court at all,” Eloise chimed in. “That’s how she knows.”
    “And what about you?” Nettie asked, her voice emotionless. Well, at least she was talking to them.
    “Me?” Eloise said and pointed to herself. “Seth and I courted for a few weeks.”
    “Barely two,” her older sister Penelope added.
    Nettie looked at each in turn. She was related to them and to the three sitting across from her … what were their names again? Lena, Fina and … Apple?! She’d only heard stories about them from her mother, and was meeting them for the first time. She glanced at the oldest, Imogene, a middle-aged woman who sat and scrutinized Nettie as if she were an insect pinned on a board. She sat straighter in response. “Is there something else your group can work on other than …” Nettie gulped. “… a wedding dress for me?”
    “A wedding quilt,” Irene Dunnigan said, looking annoyed. “You’ll need one of those.”
    Nettie sighed as she saw the look on the woman’s face. “Perhaps something that has nothing to do with my wedding. After all, we don’t know when that will be. I’ve not yet met my intended.”
    “That don’t matter around here,” said an old woman – Mrs. Waller the doctor’s wife, though everyone called her Grandma. “Land sakes, child, we all know you’re gonna get hitched. It’s only a matter of time, and these are things you’ll need regardless.” She looked around the circle. “We’ll start with the quilt, then move onto her dress.”
    “Who made you boss, Grandma?” Fanny asked. “Maybe we ought to sew something for Belle’s baby.”
    “Miss Whitman will be getting married long before the baby comes. We should take care of her first,”