Violetta Craft's Arc

Chapter 32 of 65

Sunday came fast. Violetta packed Elowen's bassinet into the back seat first, then the diaper bag, then a laundry basket of folded sleepers. Jordie stood on the porch with a box of his shirts and asked if they could talk one more time. He had asked twice already that week. He had said it was one kiss, that Lucy meant nothing, that he would do anything. Violetta had listened the first time and cried the second. This time she shook her head and kept loading. She closed the trunk and told him to leave the studio key on the counter when he was done. Then she drove to her mother's house with Elowen strapped in behind her. Lymber met her in the driveway and took the baby without asking. Paul carried the bassinet inside. Violetta sat at the kitchen table and said she needed a plan by the end of the day. She had eight months until the senior showcase. She had two thousand dollars, minus the deposit she still owed on an apartment she had not found. She had no one to hold Elowen while she cut fabric. Lymber set a mug of tea in front of her and said, "Then we build one here." They walked the house room by room. The office with the lock had a yard window and a wide desk. Paul measured the wall and said the sewing machine would fit under the window if they moved the filing cabinet. Lymber said Saddie was already here five days a week for the younger kids. One more baby was not more work, it was the same work. Violetta could drop Elowen at seven-thirty with the others, sew in the office until noon, feed the baby, and sew again until Saddie left. Paul offered the second office as overflow for the dress form and the fabric bolts. He said she could keep the studio downtown if she wanted, but she did not have to. Violetta did the math on a napkin. Rent on a small apartment, no studio, childcare covered by what her mother already paid. It worked. It only worked here. She drove back to the rental house that evening to get the sewing machine. Jordie's boxes were gone. The studio key sat on the counter next to the house key. Violetta unplugged the machine, wrapped the cord, and carried it out to the car. She came back for the dress form and the bin of thread. She locked the door behind her and put both keys in an envelope for the landlord. At her mother's house, Paul had already cleared the desk under the window. Violetta set the machine down and plugged it in. Elowen was asleep in the next room. She had a place to work in the morning.