Free In Every Heartbeat by Kim Vogel Sawyer Page B

more would be ludicrous.”
    Yes, ludicrous. How could she possibly see him as anything other than Petey, her childhood buddy? How could any woman— especially one as bright and beautiful and alive as Libby—see a crippled man as whole and desirable?
    He reached Landry Hall and, unconcerned about disturbing any other students in the building, hopped up the stairs on his good leg as quickly as possible. Ignoring the handrail, he put every bit of effort into launching himself, one step at a time, to the second floor. His muscles burning and lungs heaving, he reached the landing. Without a pause, loath to use the despised peg leg, he continued hopping until he arrived at the door to his room. With a vicious twist on the crystal knob, he threw the door open and stumbled inside, finally allowing his artificial leg to touch the floor.
    Sinking onto his cot, he rolled up his pant leg and wrenched the form from its leather bracing. For a moment, he considered throwing it out the window. But he hated using crutches even more than he hated the wooden leg. Releasing an agonized groan, he pummeled the mattress with the turned length of wood, swinging it with all of his strength again and again and again.
    Finally, exhausted, he flopped sideways on the mattress with the peg leg still gripped in his trembling hand. He stared at the empty pant leg dangling over the edge of the bed. Odd how his body still believed a foot was there. A dull, never-ending ache did its best to convince him he had two feet instead of just one. But the drooping fabric exposed the truth—he was a cripple.
    Closing his eyes, he whispered a halting prayer. “God, I know I can’t grow another leg, but please . . . please . . . won’t You help me feel complete?”

C HAPTER E IGHT
    A lice-Marie slipped her hand through Libby’s elbow as they neared the women’s dormitory. “Elisabet, may I call you Libby, the way Bennett and Pete do?”
    Libby, only half listening, shrugged.
    “Very well. Libby from now on.” She drew back on Libby’s arm, bringing her to a halt. “Libby, please don’t be sad. This is an exciting time! Just think”—she leaned close, her blue eyes sparkling— “tomorrow our classes start, we can begin pledging to Kappa Kappa Gamma and make many friends, the college campus is swarming with handsome men, there are no parents with watchful eyes keeping us from having fun . . .” Alice-Marie’s voice rose in enthusiasm with each addition to her list of reasons to celebrate.
    Libby heaved a huge sigh.
    Alice-Marie shook her head. “. . . and yet you sigh and frown.” She took hold of Libby’s hands. “Tell me—why are you so downhearted?”
    With a little huff of impatience, Libby pulled free of Alice-Marie’s light grasp. “Didn’t you see Petey’s face when he left the dining hall? I . . . I hurt him.” She swallowed, regret a bitter taste on her tongue. “He’s been my best friend for . . . well, forever, it seems. He’s the only one who’s always accepted me just the way I am. And I’ve always accepted him.”
    “You mean his wooden leg?”
    Is that all Alice-Marie saw when she looked at Petey—a peg leg where a foot should be? Libby shook her head. “Petey’s special. He’s not like other boys.”
    She’d never forgotten her first conversation with Petey, less than an hour after being deposited at the orphans’ school. She had climbed a tree and refused to come down, proclaiming the people at that dumb school didn’t really want her and she didn’t want them, either! While Aaron Rowley and his hired hand pleaded and cajoled and finally threatened, Petey calmly limped to the storage shed, dragged a ladder across the scraggly grass, and shocked her by hopping up the rungs to join her.
    There, perched beside her on a sturdy branch, Petey had asked why she thought no one wanted her. Even after all these years, she remembered her angry response: “My parents died an’ left me, my uncle sent me away, an’ all