Free Love Thine Enemy by Patricia Davids

shifted her until she was lying alongthe seat with her head on his leg. He sat for a moment and let his fingers linger on her cheek. Yes, he would be sorry to see her go. He put the truck in gear and drove slowly home.
    At the ranch, she stirred as he lifted her out of the pickup, but she didn’t wake. He carried her into the house and laid her gently on his bed, then he stood back and watched her as she slept. She was a tough little character. He reached down to smooth a lock of hair from her face, and she smiled in her sleep at his touch.
    He liked her, Sam realized. He liked this tough, sassy, graceful-as-a-willow young woman. She stirred him in so many ways. She was beautiful, true, but her quick mind drew him more than her pretty face. She made him laugh, but at the same time she made him feel strong and protective. He tried to be objective about his feelings toward her, but she gave a soft snore, and it chased his objectivity away. He smiled but it was touched with sadness. She wasn’t for him.
    She wouldn’t stay, he knew that even as he found himself wishing for a way to keep her here longer. He wanted time to sort out his feelings. To see if this was an infatuation or something deeper. He’d tried to harden his heart against her, but in spite of his best efforts, she’d hobbled right into the one spot that had been lonely and empty too long.
    Why had God brought her here? To test him, or to heal him? He might never learn the answer. He simply had to have faith in God’s plan for him. He closed the bedroom door and headed for his office.
    Bonkers lay stretched out along the back of the sofa in his favorite spot, but suddenly, he jumped up and took off for the front door. An explosion of sound camefrom the entryway. Squeals, giggles and the sound of running feet.
    A pair of identical five-year-old girls flew into the room and wrapped themselves around Sam’s legs.
    “Did you—” one girl began.
    “—miss us?” the other finished.
    Sam shook his head. “Nope.”
    “Yes, you did.”
    “You missed us.”
    Sam looked up to see his mother smiling indulgently from the doorway. “Okay, maybe a little.”
    “We had lots of fun at Grandma’s,” Lindy said, clearly excited by her time away from home.
    “Can we go outside and play now?” Kayla asked.
    “Can we get—” Lindy began.
    “—our sled out?” Kayla finished her sister’s sentence as the twins often did, much to the bemusement of those who knew them.
    Sam lifted them up, one in each arm, and looked into the two most important faces in his life. “Kisses first,” he said. Two sturdy sets of arms circled his neck, and smacking kisses covered his cheeks. His heart expanded in his chest until he thought it might burst. God had been good to him.
    Eleanor Hardin walked in and began pulling off her gloves. “If I had known they were going to be snowed in with me, I would have been busy when you called and asked me to watch them.”
    He smiled and shook his head. “No, you wouldn’t have. You loved every minute of it. Come in.”
    “I can’t stay. I’ve got to get on the road.”
    “You’re driving to Denver now? Is I-70 open already?”
    “Yes, to both questions.”
    He could see her searching the room with her eyes. “Cheryl is resting right now,” he said. “The doctor set her broken foot this morning, and she’s sleeping off the sedation.”
    Eleanor looked perplexed. “I thought her name was Cheri.”
    “Who’s Cheri?” the twins asked simultaneously.
    “It’s Cheryl,” Sam answered.
    “Her foot really is broken? The poor dear.” A slender woman with a short gray bob, Eleanor was dressed in jeans and a bulky green sweater. She swooped in and took charge as usual.
    She plucked the girls out of his arms and set them down. “Go change into your snowsuits. Daddy will take you outside, but not until you’re dressed, including mittens.”
    “Who’s Cheryl?” the twins insisted, jumping up and down.
    “Girls, listen,” Sam