Free Love Still Stands by Kelly Irvin

his blessing, regardless of the cost of her treatment.
    “You’re not from around here, are you, darlin’?”
    Shawn’s voice sounded closer than it should. Bethel looked up to find him bearing
     down on her location. She pulled the clipboard close to her chest. “Nothing gets past
     you.” She swallowed the rest of her retort and tried to smile. “I mean, no, I’m from
     Kansas.”
    “Like Dorothy? I don’t think you and Toto are in Kansas anymore. I mean, you look
     like you’re from a different time.” He waved around his gnarled fingers. “Not that
     you don’t look sweet in that outfit, darlin’.”
    “Why do you keep calling me darling?” This time she couldn’t keep the tartness from
     her voice. “You don’t even know me.”
    “It’s a term of affection.”
    “You don’t know me well enough—or even at all—to have affection for me.”
    “Ever heard of love at first sight?”
    Heat billowed around her. She ducked her head, wishing she could run for the doors.
     But then, wasn’t that why she was here? To get her legs back so she could run again
     if she ever needed to do it?
    “Don’t look like that. I’m just joshin’ you.” He settled back in the chair, arms resting
     on the padded rails. “I’ll give you time to adjust to the idea. Don’t worry, darlin’.”
    “I wish you’d stop calling me that.”
    “There’s something about you.” The lighthearted humor disappeared from his voice.
     She looked up to see the first serious expression of the day on Shawn’s face. “You
     should be someone’s darling. Maybe not mine. Maybe that hayseed guy who brought you
     here. I don’t know, but someone’s.”
    Bethel’s unease grew. She didn’t belong in this place, talking to this man, even if
     he were in a wheelchair and posed not the least of a threat. She tottered to her feet.
     “I think I should go.”
    “Don’t chicken out on account of me.” A note of alarm in his voice, he held up one
     hand and rolled his chair back. “I’m sorry if I got ahead of myself. I’m always doing
     that these days. It just seems like there’s no time to waste.”
    “Why? Why would you be in a hurry to know someone like me?”
    “Easy. I saw a bunch of guys younger than we are fight and die in a war. I realized
     pretty fast that life is short.”
    “I don’t worry about life being short. We’re only passing through.” She stopped. She
     had no idea what this Englisch man might think about God. “Our time here is a few
     grains of sand, that’s all.”
    “Maybe so, but don’t you want to enjoy life while you’re here?” He cocked his head,
     his expression inquisitive, like a small child examining a lightning bug. “You want
     to get better, don’t you? You want to walk and skip and hop and run through this life,
     don’t you?”
    “Yes, but how do you know what I want?”
    “Because it’s what I want. It’s what everyone who comes through those doors wants.”
    Bethel contemplated his eyes. They were a deep chocolate brown and full of sadness
     she hadn’t noticed before in all his bluster and chatter. It was as if an old man
     looked out at her from behind the face of a young man. “You don’t think you’ll get
     that?”
    “I don’t know, but if you go back through those doors, I know you won’t.”
    He had a point. She sat.
    “Good girl. I’ll leave you alone now, I promise, and no more darlin’.”
    He wheeled the chair around. As he did, he glanced toward the long windows on either
     side of the sliding doors. “By the way, your farmer guy is still out there.”
    Bethel craned her head forward and followed his gaze. Elijah leaned against the wagon,
     arms crossed, staring at the building. What ailed him? Dropping her at the clinic
     had only been the first item on the list Luke had given him. “Ach.”
    She struggled to her feet again and swung to the door. There, she waved. Elijah straightened
     and started toward her. She shook her head and flapped