Free Loving Promises by Gail Gaymer Martin Page A

chair.
    “No, Mom, please, you relax. This won’t take long.”
    “I’ll help her,” Dale said, rising and piling the soiled plates into a stack.
    Mildred didn’t argue and settled back into her chair. Bev gathered an armload and Dale followed.
     
    Al watched them clear the table. He’d covered his feelings all day while Dale and Dotty were there. WithMillie he could be honest. He watched Dale and Bev disappear into the house, and his heart lifted. He wondered, hoped that maybe the Lord had brought the two together for a deeper purpose. When he shifted his gaze to Millie, he let out a sigh so ragged it rattled through him.
    “It’s getting so difficult, Millie. It hurts me right here,” Al said, pressing his hand against his chest. “I love her so much.”
    “I know you do.” She reached out and patted his arm. “I felt the same when I lost my husband, but you know, life goes on, as they say. In time you adjust.”
    Al looked at her, remembering how pretty she was as a young woman. Yet he could still admire the matured version she was now. “Sometimes it’s unbearably lonely.”
    “It is,” Millie agreed.
    “I’ve wanted someone to talk with for so long. Then you came back into my life.” He shifted in his chair. “I can’t talk with Dale very well. He doesn’t want to deal with the emotion. Yet, he’s been a good son. So faithful to us. So concerned.”
    “I’m happy to see Bev and Dale get along so well, but Bev tells me they’re only friends.”
    Al gave her a grin. “The best marriages are made of friends first, then romance. You agree, Millie?”
    “I agree.”
    “Funny, we never got serious about each other,” Al said. “Dotty said the same to me.”
    “I valued your friendship more than romance. Those were a dime a dozen. Good friends are a blessing. And speaking of friendship, I’ve been thinking.”
    He listened as Millie read his heart. She knew he needed her, and here she was volunteering to care for Dotty.
    “I’d like to relieve your mind,” she said when she was finished.
    “Millie,” he said, searching her eyes. “You’re a gift from the Lord. I don’t know how long she has, but…” He choked on his words and couldn’t finish.
    “I’d feel blessed to help you if you’ll have me.”
    “You’re the answer to my prayers. I’ll talk it over with Dotty. She’s always been our orchestrator, the one who made sure everyone was taken care of. Nowadays she has so little control over anything, I want to let her make every decision I can.”
    “Yes, that’s the right thing to do.”
    “So little I can do,” he said. He rested his palm against Millie’s arm and gave it a squeeze. His words of thanks had caught in his throat and if he forced them out, he’d embarrass himself with tears.
    The Lord is my strength, Al repeated in his head as they sat in silence.
     
    Bev glanced out the Levins’ kitchen window to check on the children. She saw her mother and Al deep in conversation, and though she was curious, she wentback to the sink. She scraped and rinsed while Dale slid dishes into the dishwasher. Occasionally, she glanced out the kitchen window to check on the children and was pleased to see them playing peacefully.
    “Kristin’s birthday is coming up. I think I’ll look for that toss game. They seem to enjoy it.”
    “They’re being good,” Dale said, so near her he made her jump.
    She turned and found him close enough to breathe in his distinctive aftershave. She needed to guard herself. “By the way, thanks for playing catch with Michael.”
    Dale shifted back a little, giving her breathing room.
    “He needs a lot of attention,” Dale said. “I watched him eat it up today when my dad and I were playing with him.”
    Bev felt herself shrink with his words. She could be a good parent, but she could never replace Jesse.
    Dale tilted her chin upward and looked in her eyes as if he knew what she was thinking. “You can’t be everything to him, Bev.