Love Still Stands (46 page)

He nodded, his somber eyes unblinking and so knowing. “They’re fine. Crystal’s cranky,
but she’s always cranky. Elaine is worried about her kids. She can’t get any reception
on her cell phone. Neither can I, for that matter. And Ed is napping. He says it’s
nothing to get excited about.”

“At his age, he is the voice of experience.” Bethel picked up the lantern. “We should
stay together.”

“Huddle together for warmth, you mean?” His expression brightened at the thought.
“I like the way you think.”

“That’s not what I meant at all and you know it. I only meant for moral support—”

“I knew what you meant.” He wheeled closer. “I just want you to know I’ve stayed away
from the booze and pills since Thanksgiving Day. No more drowning my sorrows.”

“Good. That’s good.”

“I like to give you a hard time and I like talking to you, but I would never do anything
to you know, to get you into trouble.”

“Do you understand why we can’t date?” She stumbled for words he would understand.
“Like boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“I do. And I don’t want to ruin any chance of us being friends by being stupid.”

“You’re not stupid.”

“And you’re too nice to ever put me in my place the way you should. I’m thinking that
gets you into trouble with your family and I don’t want that.”

An emotion Bethel couldn’t identify touched her. Relief. A tinge of sadness. Yes,
she felt sad. She would concede that. But also a sense that they had moved to a place
where they could really be friends, as much as was possible for a Plain woman and
an Englisch man.

“Gut
. That’s
gut
. We can be friends, and then maybe other folks in New Hope will think more kindly
of us too.”

“We all like you.” Crystal rolled down the hallway to the foyer, moving faster than
she should, as usual. Georgia followed, wearing a long green coat that made her look
like a big cucumber. “I told my parents I think you’re really cool. All you bonnet
folks.”

“Me too.” Mark rolled right behind Georgia, like a parade. “I’m sorry I acted like
a jerk when you first got here.”

“You didn’t act like a jerk.”

“Yes, I did. I said stupid stuff.”

“Maybe a little.”

An awkward silence ensued. Georgia patted Crystal’s shoulder and started toward her
desk. “Look at you guys. Doctor Jasmine will be so proud. Your support group thing
is really working.”

“I’m still calling you darlin’, Bethel. I don’t care what anyone says,” Shawn broke
in with his usual bravado. “And I’m inviting your family to come to a barbecue at
my house one of these days.”

Bethel laughed. “Now wouldn’t that be interesting? I think—”

The double doors swung open and Sheriff McCormack stumbled in, dragging with him Elijah.
His head lolled to one side, eyes shut. “I need some help here.” He gasped for breath.
“He’s half frozen to death.”

Chapter 42

B
ethel dropped her crutches on the clinic’s tile floor. Sheriff McCormack disappeared
from her sight. Her gaze honed in on Elijah’s still, white face and his limp body.
She launched herself toward him. He couldn’t be gone. He couldn’t be. They hadn’t
begun yet. They didn’t have their new start. “Elijah! Elijah, please!”

“He’s not dead, just hypothermic.” Sheriff McCormack’s gruff voice penetrated her
fear. “And he may have a broken leg. I didn’t take the time to find out.”

Bethel grabbed Elijah’s free arm and helped the sheriff ease him to the floor. With
a grunt he dropped to one knee, unfurled his scarf, balled it up, and stuck it under
Elijah’s head. “He may have some frostbite. He definitely took a blow to the head—probably
when the buggy went cup over teakettle into the drainage ditch. We need blankets.
We need to warm him up.”

Bethel tugged a wet glove from Elijah’s hand and gripped it between her own warm ones
as Georgia whipped around the counter and scurried down the hallway. Elijah’s eyelids
fluttered and then closed again. His skin looked white and waxy. A nasty red and purple
lump swelled on his forehead. He groaned and mumbled something she couldn’t understand.
She glared up at Sheriff McCormack. “Why didn’t you take him to the hospital?”

“Because I got here first and because he insisted from the second I pulled him from
under the buggy that he needed to find you. He seemed to think you were dying or something.”
Sheriff McCormack sneezed into the crook of his arm. He wiped his face on the sleeve
of his coat. “I couldn’t see anything through the windshield. Nothing. There could’ve
been a semi in the intersection and I wouldn’t have known until I hit it. Plus he
kept saying your name over and over again. I tried to talk to him and he mumbled something
about the clinic. The guy who called me—”

“Someone called you?”

Sheriff McCormack looked beyond her. He didn’t answer. She swiveled to follow his
gaze. Shawn stared at the sheriff. Neither spoke.

“Sheriff, please.”

Sheriff McCormack shoved his hood back, revealing a stocking hat pulled down over
his hair almost to his eyebrows. “I got a call from Silas Christner.”

“Silas called you?”

“Do you want me to tell the story or do you want to keep interrupting?”

“Tell us.”

“He called and said his brother Elijah had gone to look for you and his sister-in-law
Ida. They were worried because you hadn’t come home yet, and they were afraid you’d
started out from town and gotten caught in the storm.”

Elijah had put himself in danger in order to find her. To rescue her. It was so like
Elijah to come galloping to her rescue, even if she didn’t need it. Because he cared.
He cared for her enough to risk everything. “I was here the whole time.” She swallowed
back tears at the thought. He’d risked his life for her and she’d been safe and warm.
She breathed through the ache in her throat. “I’m sure Ida stayed with the Daugherties.”

“I told him you didn’t seem stupid enough to do something like that. They apparently
don’t give you enough credit. You’re smarter than this here idiot—”

“He’s not an idiot. I’m sure he was just—”

Elijah groaned again. His arms flailed. Bethel caught his other hand and hung on.
“It’s all right. We’ll get you warmed up in no time. I’m here.”

He thrashed about, his free hand nearly connecting with her cheek. “Bethel. I need
to find Bethel.”

“It’s okay, I’m here. You found me. It’s okay.”

“She’s out there. She’s cold. So cold.” His entire body convulsed in shivers. “I can’t
find her. She’ll die out there before I have a chance to tell her I love her.”

Bethel stopped, her hand suspended in air. Everything came to a halt around her. She
heard someone say something, but the words were far away, in a distance place. She
leaned over Elijah, rubbing his hand. “What did you say?”

“He’s delirious,” said Sheriff McCormack. “It happens with hypothermia. He’s got all
the symptoms—shivering, confusion, slurred speech, fumbling hands.”

Elijah had said he loved her. Delirious? “It’s okay. I’m here, Elijah. The sheriff
found me. I’m not going to die. I’m right here.”

His hands fumbled until they found hers. His eyes opened. “Is it you?”

“It’s me.”

His eyes closed again and he sank back to the floor. “Thank You, Gott, thank You.”

She ripped her blanket from her shoulders and laid it over him, tucking it up under
his chin. “Elijah, stay awake. Stay awake.” Her heart pounded with the fear that she
might lose him before she’d ever really had him. She scrambled to her feet, swaying
without her crutches. “We need to get him into the back rooms. It’s warmer there.
I’m sure Doctor Jasmine has medical supplies—”

“The break room is the warmest room in the building.” Doctor Jasmine bustled down
the hallway ahead of Georgia. “I have extra blankets. We can run some tepid water
and stick his feet in it. I wish we had some way to heat coffee or hot chocolate.”

“I have the thermos of coffee I brought with me this morning in the car.” Sheriff
McCormack struggled to his feet, his knees cracking, and pulled his hood back over
his head. “I have a little Coleman stove in the trunk too.”

“Always prepared.” Shawn’s tone didn’t make it sound like a compliment. “That’s my
pops.”

“Some things a guy can’t prepare for.” Sheriff McCormack’s jaw jutted out. “Sometimes
it takes a guy a bit to adjust to some things. You know, to figure out it’s something
he can’t fix.”

“Yeah. Well.”

“What are we talking about?” Mark asked, his face bewildered.

“Nothing. Let’s get him back to the back and I’ll go for the thermos.”

“What about his leg?” Bethel took the crutches Doctor Jasmine thrust at her. “Should
we splint it before we move him?”

“How do you know about this stuff?” Shawn didn’t look surprised, only curious. “You
were a teacher.”

“We do a lot of our own doctoring. My brothers had plenty of broken bones. Life on
the farm, and all.”

Doctor Jasmine squatted and examined Elijah’s leg with quick efficiency. “It’s his
ankle. I can’t tell much without an X-ray. Right now, it’s most important to get him
warm and to do that, we need to move him.”

“We’ll get him.” Sheriff McCormack directed his statement to Bethel. “You lead the
way.”

In a strange procession, the folks in the wheelchairs led the way with the lanterns.
Bethel followed on her crutches, and Elijah came next, propped between Doctor Jasmine
and Sheriff McCormack.

In the break room, Doctor Jasmine pulled open one of several cots she’d found in the
storage room along with boxes of granola bars, energy drinks, bottled water, and dozens
of packages of peanut butter crackers. “Put him here,” she directed. “I’ve got plenty
of blankets. I wish we had heat packs, but we’ll have to make do.”

She brushed Elijah’s hair from his forehead and studied the massive, angry red knot.
“Didn’t break the skin. He’ll have a doozy of a headache.” Next, she examined his
hands. His fingers were the same waxy white as his face. “Bethel, get his boots.”

“Pardon me?” Bethel gripped her hands in front of her, uncertain. “What do you mean?”

“Get with the program, girl. Take his boots off. We have to see if he has frostbite.”
Doctor Jasmine looked up, her face full of concern. “Sheriff, how long do you think
he was out there?”

Bethel took a deep breath. Never in her wildest imagination had she pictured herself
removing a piece of clothing, not even shoes, from a man.

“Bethel, do you want me to do it?” Crystal put her hand, with its rings on every finger
and tiny butterfly tattoos flitting across the back, on the weather-beaten leather
boot, wet with melting snow. “You don’t look so good.”

“No, no, I can do it.” She would help Elijah just as he always helped her. “I should
do it. He’s my…”

“Give her some room, why don’t you?” Shawn wheeled back. “Come on, everybody. Doctor
Jasmine knows what she’s doing and he’s Bethel’s friend.”

Bethel tugged at the boot on his good leg. It was wet and cold and muddy. She couldn’t
get it off. She tugged harder. Elijah’s leg jerked and his foot kicked. She held on
tight and pulled hard, nearly going down in a heap when it came off in one abrupt
slide.

“His socks, too.” Doctor Jasmine’s tone made it an order. “They need to come off.”

Bethel swallowed hard and peeled away two pairs of black socks with their darned stitches
on both heels. Katie took good care of her brother-in-law. Just as Bethel would from
now on.

Doctor Jasmine examined his feet, which looked white and vulnerable sticking out from
his black pants. They shouldn’t see him like this. They shouldn’t look at his bare
feet. She moved so she stood between him and Crystal and the others.

“I don’t think he has frostbite. The wool socks and heavy boots were enough.” Jasmine
replaced the socks. “I’ll use an ace bandage on the ankle until we get some help.
How long do you think he was out there, Sheriff?”

“I have no idea. I found his buggy overturned in the drainage ditch just past the
last turnoff north of town.” Sheriff McCormack slapped his gloves back on. “I had
to let the horse go. I didn’t want to waste time getting this fellow into town. I’m
hoping he found his way home.”

Bethel hoped so too, for the animal’s sake, but also for the Christners. They’d already
lost one since moving to New Hope.

“How long after you got the call?” Doctor Jasmine persisted.

“Maybe an hour and a half. It was slow going out there. I was afraid to go more than
a few miles an hour for fear I’d hit something that I couldn’t see or start sliding
around on the ice and end up in a ditch.” The sheriff shifted on his wet boots. “I’ll
get the thermos. Could I have a second with you, Miss Bethel?”

Surprised, Bethel wavered. She didn’t want to leave Elijah. “I can’t—”

“Just one second. Please.”

Trying to ignore the curious looks on everyone’s faces—except Shawn, who looked suspicious
and a little mad—she hobbled to the hallway. Sheriff McCormack shifted from one foot
to the other. He removed the stocking cap and clutched it in his hands. His hair stood
up all over his head in ruffled tuffs like weeds in an overgrown field.