Free Angel In The Saloon (Brides of Glory Gulch) by Jeanne Marie Leach Page A

else do you
sense?”
    “I smell flowers. There must be hundreds of them for
their fragrance to be so strong.”
    “Try thousands. This is the only field like this for a
hundred miles. There’s just about every kind of mountain wildflower imaginable
growing here within about a square mile of meadow. Nobody knows why or how they
all got here, but they just keep on blooming all summer long, every year.”
    Bending over and reaching toward the ground about
knee-high, Amelia felt for the silky flowers all around her. She impulsively
laid down on her back and inhaled deeply as a smile of delight lit up her face.
Not even the busy buzzing of bees and constant chattering of humming birds
seemed to bother her.
    “I thought you’d like it here.” Paul sat down beside
her.
    “Oh, I do! I do!” She sat up. “Paul, do you know the
names of these flowers? Would you please show them to me?”
    “Sure.” He picked a small flower and placed it into
the palm of her hand. “This is a purple bachelor’s button. This one is a yellow
lady’s slipper. This one is an anemone, and here is some hawkweed.”
    He continued one by one to pick the flowers and place
them in her hand for her to touch and sniff and familiarized herself with them.
    Somehow, watching her delight in the simple beauty of
the flowers gave him deep pleasure. He wondered if God felt that way about him
sometimes. Ever since Paul had opened his eyes and his heart and accepted that
God existed, he often felt as if the heavenly Father smiled down on him in
pleasure. The more he learned about God, the bigger, yet more personal God
became to him.
    Bringing Amelia here turned out to be the best thing
he’d done in a long time.
    › › ›
    It amazed Amelia that Paul knew the names of so many
of these flowers. He identified wild lilies, butterfly weed, Indian paintbrush,
wild columbines, creeping phlox, bluebells, larkspur and shooting star. By the
time he finished, her lap was blanketed with a quilt of sweet scented
wildflowers.
    She had never been in such an enchanting place as this
and wished she could savor this luscious bouquet forever. This place was exhilarating
to the point that she could hardly contain herself. In a moment of spontaneous,
youthful whimsy, she sprang to her feet and ran through the field. Paul had
said this was a meadow so she wasn’t concerned about the terrain. It would be
flat. It had been so long since she and Molly had run across the spacious lawns
of the Dodson plantation, and she wasn’t about to let anything stop her from
her jubilation.
    She heard Paul’s heavy footsteps quickly catching up
with her, and as quick as she could take a breath, Amelia turned and ran in
another direction. She felt him grab hold of her arm, but she was able to slip
through his fingers. Paul chased her to and fro, and every time he thought he
had her, she eluded him as skillfully as a sighted person. Finally, he caught
her and they both tumbled to the ground, laughing and out of breath. They lay
in the flowers until their respiration quieted and returned to normal.
    “Amelia Jackson, you never cease to amaze me.” He sat
up and she could almost feel his gaze on her.
    “Paul, would you mind if I felt your face to see what
you look like?”
    “I’ve never heard of such a thing, but I guess it
makes sense. Go ahead.”
    She sat up, moved very close to him, and reached
upward toward his face. He caught her hands and gently guided them to his
cheeks. Amelia slowly touched her way around every inch of Paul’s face to gain
a sense of what he looked like.
    The delicate whisper of her fingers traced his wide-set
eyes, moved about his forehead, then along his cheekbones. She could feel his
breath upon her palms. Her fingers continued to follow the contour of his face,
across his nose, and then brushed over his lips. His breathing intensified, and
by the time she ran her fingers through his long, wavy hair, he was nearly
holding his breath.
    “You have a very nice