Free Operation Mail-Order Bride by Elnora Field Page B

happen around me for awhile.”
    “I’m relieved I got to you before anyone else did, then.” He extended a finger toward the bubbling gravy.
    “Watch it, David, that’s hot!” I grabbed his wrist and pulled it back. He spun me around and we kissed as his hands caressed my back. We stopped when the timer sounded to indicate that the rice was done.
    “More of this later,” he said. “Now, I want to eat your pot roast. Oh!” he cried, holding me at arm’s length while I grinned at him. “I couldn’t ask for a finer woman: you’re gorgeous, you’re talented and you can cook.” Unexpectedly, I felt a chill run through me as he let me go and went to the counter to slice the roast. Later that night I recognized it as an occurrence of déjà vu: Blair had made a similar statement before things began to go wrong between us.
    Our new commitment didn’t change our life much. We were already spending as much time together as our jobs allowed. What changed were some of our conversational topics. Carefully, we examined each other on our feelings about having children and how they should be raised and educated. We even discussed the things we might want to do on family vacations and during the years after we retired. Knowing that my faith was important to me, David began to attend Sunday morning services with me. Each time he did so, we lingered on the church lawn after service was over, as he talked with old friends and introduced them to me.
    “We keep seeing the two of you together,” Larry Stone told me one Sunday. He always donned his only suit for morning service, and I was, as always, bemused at the incongruity between formal business attire and his burly welder’s body: a body that contained the gentlest of souls.
    “We spend more and more time together,” I confessed. We were standing in the shade of a big live oak that dominated the church’s side yard, for the late spring sun was beginning to hint at summer’s impending ferocity. David was some yards away, telling a lengthy story about one of his Air Force experiences to a couple of men. Knowing he was out of earshot and distracted, I went on. “He’s so nice, he seems almost too good to be for real, Larry. Do you know if he has any bad traits?”
    He chuckled. “He has little patience for fools, but he’s good at concealing it. Now, that doesn’t mean,” he hastened to say, “that if you haven’t noticed any impatience when you two are having a discussion that he’s hiding it from you.” I said nothing, waiting for him to explain himself. “You’re no fool, Cassie, and I’m sure David is well aware of it.”
    “Thanks,” I acknowledged the compliment.
    “Now, if David and Blair got together, David might have a hard time controlling his temper, and I don’t mean because of the way Blair treated you.”
    “Go on,” I urged. I had not filled David in on the details of our estrangement, but Larry didn’t know that.
    “You are not the only person who has been on the receiving end of Blair’s arrogance, Cassie.”
    “You two look thick as thieves,” called Debra as she approached. She pulled a book out of her tote that I wanted to borrow, then reminded Larry that they had a luncheon engagement. I stood alone for a moment under the great tree, feeling the warm breeze in my hair, and marveled. A few months ago I had felt so alone. Now, I seemed to be surrounded by congenial people who were eager and willing to befriend me. My eyes turned to David, whose story was drawing to its end, and I smiled. I even had a new boyfriend—a boyfriend greatly superior to the one who had rejected me. I had not felt so blessed in a long time.
    David’s audience burst out laughing at the conclusion of his story. One of the men caught me watching and drew David’s attention to the fact that I was alone. He immediately turned and headed in my direction, calling “See you next week” over his shoulder.
    “I’d better run you home,” David said, putting