Love Still Stands (44 page)

“Knock, knock.” He pulled his chair in next to hers, forcing Crystal to back up and
adjust so their wheels didn’t bang together.

“Shawn.”

“You’re supposed to say
Who’s there?
”

“Who’s the present for?” Hers looked rather drab next to his. Flashy draws attention,
she reminded herself. “Didn’t you go to the party?”

“Knock, knock.”

“Who’s there?” Crystal interceded.

“Not you.” Shawn glared for a second, then gave in. “Your turn after Bethel’s.”

He turned to Bethel again. “Knock, knock.”

“Who’s there?” It couldn’t hurt to humor him.

“Doris.”

“Doris who?”

“Doris locked, that’s why I’m knocking.”

A chorus of groans filled the room. Bethel permitted herself a small giggle. He’d
worked so hard, he deserved it.

“Here. This is for you.” He shoved the box toward her and leaned back in his chair,
a pleased look on his face. “Open it.”

“Why did you—”

“I drew your name, silly.”

“Actually, he bribed me to let him have your name,” Crystal corrected. “I ended up
with Ed. Soldier boy owes me rides wherever I need them for the next six weeks.”

“Hey, that was our little secret.”

“Your little secret, you mean. I never agreed.”

“Okay, okay.” Bethel accepted the gift and set it on top of hers. “Don’t bicker, children.”

“I’m not a child.” Shawn pretended to bristle. “I’m a grown man giving a grown woman
a present.”

Bethel wavered. She should give it back if he was suggesting what she thought he was
suggesting.

“Just open it. I promise it’s nothing bad or whatever…
inappropriate
, like Doctor Jasmine is always saying. I’m capable of filtering and making good choices.”

Bethel hadn’t seen many of those good choices, but she believed in the innate goodness
of people. “Thank you for the gift.”

“Open it. Open it!”

Crystal and Mark joined in the chorus. Seeing that she had no choice, Bethel picked
at the tape and carefully removed the ribbon, trying to save the paper so it could
be used again.

“Rip it off. Come on!”

“This is my present to open as I see fit, isn’t it?”

He rolled his eyes and nodded. “Whatever.”

A moment later she lifted a heavy hardback book from its nest in white tissue paper.
The cover had a beautiful color photo of horses galloping across an open pasture.

“It’s a book of pictures.” Shawn leaned over and tapped the cover. “Pictures of Kansas.
Of wheat fields and farmhouses and, you know, landscapes.”

She smoothed her hand over the cover and opened to the first page. A pretty photo
of sunflowers running rampant alongside a dirt road that wound its way off the page.

“It’s beautiful.”

“I know you folks don’t take photos and there aren’t any pictures of people in there.
I know you don’t like those graven images.” He grinned, pleased at his own wisdom.
“But I figured since you don’t have any pictures from back home, this would give you
a way to remember what it looks like.”

She wanted to laugh at the way he said it, as if he was trying very hard not to express
his disagreement over the graven images idea, but she was touched at how much thought
he’d given to his gift. “It’s so very nice of you to have thought of this.” She turned
the page to a sweeping vista of rows and rows of cornstalks backlit by a sun sinking
on the horizon. “I will treasure it.”

“Good.” He turned and gave Crystal a high five followed by a fist bump. “Told you
so.”

Crystal returned the gesture. “You so nailed it, dude.”

“I wonder where Doctor Karen is.” Mark sucked in air, making his machine burble. “I’m
supposed to go to PT after group.”

“All of us are in that boat.” Crystal shrugged. “Except Miss Conservative over here
who does her therapy at the crack of dawn so no one will see her.”

All gazes turned on Bethel. Before she could share what Georgia had told her, Doctor
Jasmine bustled into the room, her usually smiling face creased with worry. “I don’t
think the rest will make it today. I’ve been listening to the radio in the PT room.
That storm they’ve been talking about—it hit early. They’re shutting down the highways
all over the state. Doctor Karen was driving in from St. Joe. I don’t think she can
get through.”

“So we should blow off the session and head home?” Crystal sounded disappointed. Apparently
she liked PT more than she let on. “We won’t be coming back until next year.”

“Next year is only two days away,” Shawn pointed out. “You can live without PT that
long, can’t you?”

“Be nice, Shawn.” Doctor Jasmine set the portable radio on an empty chair and fiddled
with some knobs. “Holidays are especially hard for a lot of folks.”

“Did they teach you that in touchy-feeling school?” His mocking tone took the sting
out of the words. “Should we have a group hug now?”

“Don’t tempt me.” Doctor Jasmine turned up the volume on the weather report. “From
what I heard, the snow is coming down so hard now and the wind is so bad, it’s a whiteout.”

“A whiteout?” Bethel wasn’t familiar with term. “Like a blizzard.”

“In other words, you can’t see your hand in front of your face out there.” Shawn settled
back in his chair. “I guess we’ll be hanging out together until it passes.”

Bethel chewed her lip. She hoped Ida stayed put at the Daugherties. Even with the
battery-operated heater, a buggy ride in the winter was cold enough without blizzard
conditions. And the older woman wasn’t familiar enough with the roads to find her
way in low visibility.
Gott, keep her where she is
. Even if that meant Bethel stayed here at the clinic with Shawn. And the others.

What was the worst that could happen? They could make hot chocolate in the break room
and have some of the snacks the staff made sure were kept handy for the people after
their hard work in the PT room. She would consider it a simple, extended, last session.

“We’ll be fine,” Doctor Jasmine said as if in agreement with Bethel’s unspoken thoughts.
“Who wants hot chocolate?”

“I do—”

The room went dark.

Elijah sopped up the last of the savory brown gravy with a ragged chunk of bread.
He stuck it in his mouth fast, but the gravy still dripped down his fingers and onto
the tablecloth. He looked up to see Katie shaking her head. She handed him a fresh
napkin.

“Some example you set.”

“It’s mighty good gravy. Lots of beef flavor.” He grinned. “Besides, cold weather
makes me extra hungry. And this pot roast was extra good.” He elbowed William, who
sat next to him at the Christner table. “Besides, we worked up a powerful hunger throwing
snowballs and skating before the snow picked up. Didn’t we?”

William nodded, but didn’t talk. His mouth was full of mashed potatoes.

“Weren’t Ida and Bethel supposed to be here to eat with us?” Joseph didn’t have a
handle on manners the way his brother William did. His words were muffled by a mouthful
of beets. “She said she would bring us some elephant ears from the bakery.”

Elijah considered. He’d taken a few hours after the daily chores to carouse with the
kinner at the pond and had lost track of the time. Ida and Bethel were to come here
after the trip into town so they could pick up the boys and take them home after the
noon meal. Then he’d get back to mending tack in the barn. “It’s probably taking them
a little longer because of the snow.”

He dropped his napkin next to his plate and stood. Something in Silas’s gaze made
him follow his brother into the kitchen, leaving the boys to chatter with their cousins.
“What is it?”

Silas nodded toward the window over the sink. “Look out there.”

Elijah moved to join him. He couldn’t see anything. Just white. After all the chatter
and laughter at the table, the kitchen seemed quiet. The house creaked and groaned.
Wind whistled through the eaves. Pellets of snow pinged against the window’s glass.
“The storm came early.”

“Yep. A blizzard.”

“On top of the sleet we had overnight. The roads are a mess out there, I imagine.
Ida and Bethel should be here by now.”

“Maybe they stayed in town once they saw how bad the storm was getting.” Silas’s expression
didn’t match his optimistic words. “Surely they knew better than to start for home.”

“What if they thought they could beat the storm and took off before it got really
bad?”

“Then why aren’t they here?”

“It would be slow going.” Elijah didn’t want to think about just how slow the going
would be. Best to think positive. And pray. “They’ll be here in time.”

“Right. They’ll be here in time.”

An hour later, his head tired from so much praying, Elijah paced the floor in front
of the fireplace, trying to decide how much longer the trip would take in these conditions.

Silas sat reading his Bible, his wire-rimmed bifocals perched on the tip of his nose.
“Stop pacing. I’m trying to get into the right frame of mind for the prayer service
Sunday.”

“What if they got lost?” He did as his brother commanded, but his mind continued to
wrestle with worry no matter how hard he insisted that Bethel and Ida were in God’s
capable hands. “The roads are icy. What if they slid off and are stuck in the ditch?”

“What if they’re in town, waiting for the storm to pass?”

“If they’re in trouble and we wait too long, they’ll freeze to death out there.” Saying
the words aloud made it all the worse. “We need to look for them.”

Silas closed the Bible and laid it gently on the end table. “If we go out there, we
may end up lost or in a ditch as well.”

“That’s a chance I’m willing to take. I’m going.” Elijah marched to the door and snagged
his coat from the hook.

“Then I’m going with you.” Silas removed his glasses and stood. “I don’t need you
getting lost out there too.”

“No, you go to the phone shack and see if you can get through to the sheriff’s office.
Maybe he knows something. Or he can use one of those snow pushers and go look for
them.”

“Are you taking the buggy or going on horseback?”

Elijah considered. “Better the buggy for some shelter from the wind and snow.”

“Best wear your long johns.”

It took another half hour to don their warmest clothes and then string a guide rope
from the house to the barn. Silas gave Katie strict instructions to keep everyone
in the house, but he strung a rope from the house to the woodshed in case they were
gone so long more firewood was needed. Katie heated the warming stones in the oven
and wrapped them in towels for both men to stick under their feet on the floor boards.
They threw blankets on the seats for added warmth and said their goodbyes.

“Take this.” Katie handed them each a tall thermos. “Hot kaffi.”

She looked as if she might say more but instead opened the door. The wind nearly took
it from its hinges. They trekked through and together managed to slam it shut. Bent
against the fury of the storm, Elijah trudged down the porch steps. He looked back
and saw Katie peering though the window, her worry evident in her face. He waved.
She waved back and disappeared from view.

Silas took off for the Shirack farm while Elijah headed the other direction. In addition
to the battery-operated lights, he’d stuck flashlights in the front of the buggy in
hopes oncoming traffic wouldn’t veer into him. He was so swathed in woolen scarves
and coats he could barely raise his arms to snap the reins. It only took him a few
minutes to realize his preparations did little to insulate him from the piercing wind.
Snow crusted on the scarves around his mouth and eyes, his lips turned icy, then numb.
He could only imagine how Ida and Bethel were faring if they’d ventured out into this
whirling mass of furious snow. They weren’t prepared for such an onslaught of wind.
The thought propelled him past the stop sign and onto the highway.

He peered to the left and to the right, seeking some sign of life. If they were out
here on the side of the road, he would never see them. “Bethel? Bethel! Ida!” He shouted
the names, but the wind whipped the words away and lifted them uselessly into the
gray sky. They wouldn’t hear him but he couldn’t give up. “Bethel! Ida!”