Dakota Love (45 page)

Leaning so close to the window that the tip of his nose grazed the glass pane, Walt reminded her of a punished child.

“Why do you make a case out of everything? I’ll get the file for proof.” Lil started for the kitchen, longing for some fresh air and exercise, too.

The walker thumped behind her.

“Don’t get snappy. I’m trying to keep you out of trouble.”

Walt’s statement threw the light switch in her brain. She stopped short.

Walt didn’t. His walker bar grazed her backside, pushing her forward in a trip step. The toe of her plastic shoe sticking to the oak floor caused her to stumble a couple of steps before she could right her balance.

“Whoa there, Speedy. Don’t get faster than your feet will go.” Walt chuckled.

Ready to retort, Lil whirled around, finger in air, intending to coerce an apology out of him. Instead the merriment that waltzed on his features caused her heart to somersault.
Relaxed and happy, Walt Sanders is one handsome man
. She drew her brows together. Where had
that
come from?

“Sorry, Lil, but you looked a little like Jerry Lewis bumbling around in his movies.”

Thinking of the antics in the movie they’d watched yesterday afternoon, she grinned. “I imagine I did.”

Her admission gave Walt permission to release the laughter bubbling inside of him. The walker rattled with his shaking shoulders, competing with Walt’s baritone guffaws.

The good medicine of laughter eased the tightness in his shoulders. His body no longer tense, his stance resembled his nephew’s.

As Walt’s last chuckle died, he cleared his throat. “I think I needed that.”

“I think so, too. What do you say we try a walk around the inner circle of the RV park?”

Walt grimaced. “I’d really like to, Lil—”

Snapping her fingers, Lil interrupted him. “That’s why I stopped. Did a nurse at the VA hospital talk to you about home health care?”

Walt’s eyes rounded. “That’s
their
rules.”

Lil nodded. The private nursing company that she worked for allowed the patients more freedom than the other service.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Walt tipped his head toward the kitchen door. “After you. Just warn me if you plan to stop.”

Stopping outside of the door, Walt zipped his jacket to stave off the bite of the breeze. He inhaled, pulling in the crisp air spiced with faint diesel smoke and dry dirt.

Home. He never tired of the roar of eighteen wheels on pavement. He never tired of the tractors and combines manipulating the fertile soil. He never tired of the changing seasons.

Fall’s crisp air rejuvenated his soul just like spring’s warm breezes coaxed out the buds on the trees and flowers. Summer’s heat and humidity were nature’s perfect greenhouse for corn crops to flourish, while winter snows blanketed the slumbering ground like Gert’s warm quilts on a bed.

He never understood the folks who headed south in the winter. Although South Dakota winters could be harsh and unrelenting, the snowbirds missed so much. The stark red of the male cardinal balanced on the needled branch of a snow-kissed pine tree. The frozen crystal-crusted snow that glistened like sequined costumes under stage lights. The hushed solitude after the vicious blizzard winds died.

“Have a change of heart?” Lil stood at the end of the sidewalk where it met the gravel driveway.

Walt released a breath. “Just enjoying my home. The air is so invigorating. Let’s walk the outer loop of the campsite.”

Lil’s lips made a grim line. “I don’t think you have enough stamina for that. You’ll need to build it back up. As a matter of fact, our first stop is going to be my camper so I can grab a lawn chair to carry, in case you find you need to sit down.”

“Gonna be a waste of your time.” Walt rubbed his palms together before placing his hands on the walker and taking a step.
Heel to toe, heel to toe
. When he reached the end of the sidewalk, Lil fell into step with him.

“Careful of the loose gravel.” She stopped and tapped the heel of her shoe on the ground.

Walt stepped past her. From the distance of the house, he hadn’t noticed her top-of-the-line rig. “Whoa, two sliders. Fancy food and fancy camper.”

Lil passed him. Glancing over her shoulder, she raised a brow and gave him a grim look, but her eyes held a glimmer of merriment. Her emerald eyes. Thank goodness he hadn’t dreamed about them again. Funny how a dream could change when the dreamer was induced with medicine.

After a few minutes, they reached the camper. Lil reached up to open the door.

“I’d invite you in, but that entry step isn’t stable enough. I’ll be right back.”

Walt grabbed the edge of the door. “Can I peek inside?”

“Sure.” A little grunt escaped Lil as she used the door edge to help hoist herself up. “I’ll only be a minute.”

Maneuvering the walker as close to the opening as possible, Walt leaned into the doorway. Rich brown paneling covered the walls of the living room area where a matching love seat and two overstuffed chairs upholstered with a green-and-brown leaf pattern sat bolted to the floor.

A purple-backed quilt with embroidered blocks rested over the back of the love seat. Sprigs of various-colored lilacs finely stitched onto lavender fabric blended well with the earthy furniture and walls. Her blanket appeared to be as loved and used as the quilt covering his bed.

The kitchenette’s counter jutted out about a foot, and with the living room slider out, it created a homey feel of actual rooms, unlike the campers from years ago. A sewing machine sat on the tabletop visible through the open area between the cupboards and the counter.

Scattered in the chairs were several plastic sacks stamped with various fabric-store logos. Walt smiled, thinking of Gert, Mark, and Sarah.

The purr of a plastic roller on a closet door reverberated through the small space. Lil appeared with a blue canvas folding lawn chair in hand.

“What do you think?” She stopped, holding her arm out and slowly turning her body as if she were a showroom demonstrator.

“Nice. Cozy.” Walt stepped back to allow Lil’s exit. “How long you had it?”

Lil pushed the door shut. “I bought it just before I turned sixty, so almost two years now. Usually about this time I head to Texas for the winter.”

Walt pursed his lips and shook his head. “Didn’t peg you for a snowbird.” He lifted the walker and took a step.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Lil fell in beside him.

“Don’t you miss the change of seasons?”

“I leave in late October and come home at the end of April. The only season I miss is winter.”

“Then don’t you miss the holidays with your family?” His peripheral vision caught the slight shrug of her shoulders.

“Without a family of my own, I’m kind of like my camper. A fifth wheel.”

“I can relate to that, but…” Walt stopped to rest a minute. They’d only gone about a third of the way around the inner driveway. “Gert, Mark’s mom, always included me even after my only brother, Duane, abandoned them.”

He seldom talked about his brother because he was so ashamed of what he’d done. The concern in Lil’s eyes prompted him to go on. “He left right after Gert was diagnosed with MS. Mark was five. None of us ever heard from Duane again. One day in 1997, I got word that he passed away. I just hope God forgave him for what he did, because I didn’t.”

“God is in the forgiveness business if you’re right with Him.”

Throat choked with emotion and mist forming in his eyes, Walt nodded and stared out at the interstate. He hoped her words were true. He’d been right with God for years, but he’d been to Nam. Terrible things happened during war, and he came back to an unforgiving nation, an unforgiving woman. His hope lay in the promise of the scriptures. It’s what got him through his terrible ordeal.

“Do you need to sit?” Lil asked with a whisper of a voice.

Walt sniffed. “No.” He moved the walker and took a step. He’d have to cut back on the pain medicine if Lil would allow. He liked his emotions buried in the depth of his heart, not hanging around the surface, spilling out anytime they felt like it.

“Was your brother younger or older?”

“Younger.” Duane was a lucky one; his number never came up.

“I have an older sister. By three minutes.” Lil giggled. “I never let Lily forget it either.”

Gripping the walker, Walt started to angle around the circular part of the driveway. A rivulet of sweat trickled down his back as his breaths came quicker. “I think I’d better sit a minute.”

Lil pulled open the chair and placed it behind him. “I’ll hold it while you sit so it doesn’t tip.”

Carefully, Walt lowered into the chair. Not the best support for his sore hip, but it would do. “So there are two of you with the same name?”

Lil scooted around the chair to look at him before she spoke. The breeze lifted her white curls, rearranging them in tangles on the top of her head. She reached up with both hands and smoothed the front edges behind her ears. The natural light of day revealed age’s effects—a few brown spots on her hands and vertical creases by her nose—but her ivory skin and twinkling green eyes gave her a youthful glow.

“I have a fraternal twin, so really not two of me. You can breathe a sigh of relief now.” The skin around her eyes crinkled with teasing.

Walt exaggerated an exhale then winked at Lil. “But you have the same name? I figured Lil was short for Lily or Lillian.”

“Well it’s not, and that’s my little secret.”

Sure, you can rummage through my dresser, closets, and cabinets like you own the place, but it’s okay for you to keep a secret
. Walt bit his tongue to keep from speaking his thoughts. After a week, Lil handled all the chores around his house like she owned the place.

“Lily is the good girl. She and her husband live in Brookings. They have two sons. My nephews each have two boys. They’ll celebrate their fortieth wedding anniversary next May. The quilt I’m cutting pieces for is my winter project and their anniversary gift.” Lil sighed then rubbed her reddening nose.

Time to get back inside. Neither one of them needed to catch cold. Walt started to rise.

“Hold on there.” Lil slipped under his arm, wrapping her right arm around his waist and holding the walker steady with the other hand. “Don’t worry about the chair. On three, stand.”

A week ago, Walt had hated having Lil’s help, but today her nearness and support comforted him.

“One.”

Walt made sure his knees were even and hip-width apart.

“Two.”

He fisted his hands in a firm grip around the walker handles.

“Three.”

He pushed up with his legs. The metal legs of the chair clinked against the gravel as the wind and Walt’s momentum caused it to topple over on its side.

Once he was steady, Lil folded the chair and carried it in the crook of her elbow.

“So you’re a quilter?”

“Yes, my grandma taught me.”

“Gert was a quilter. She made the one on my bed.”

“I wondered where you got that rail fence. It’s hand quilted. It’s a nice one.”

“Thanks. She said it was a manly pattern.”

Lil laughed out loud. “Guess I never thought of that. I’m making a Rose of Sharon quilt for Lily and Gale. I always liked the Song of Songs in the Bible, and they’ve been married so long, I thought it was a good fit.”

Walt smiled. “Gert said stuff like that so much it rubbed off on a neighbor girl, Caroline. She runs a machine-quilting business now.”

“Gert sounds like a great lady.”

“She was.” Just like his Nancy, the one he left, not the one he came home to.

“Mark runs the quilt shop that Gert started. He’s a quilter, too, and he sews better than most women.” Walt cleared his throat and gave his head a small shake. “I was his only male role model. Guess I didn’t do a very good job.”

Lil tsked and swatted the air. “Don’t say that. There’s nothing wrong with a man sewing or quilting. As a matter of fact, I could use your help with my quilt. Since you apparently have no hobbies, it’d give you something to do besides pacing.”

There she was, bossing him around again. First it was about his diet. Now he needed a hobby. He’d lived sixty-two years without a hobby; he didn’t need to start one now. “I don’t care if you bring it to the house to work on it, but I’m not going to help.” He used his best I-mean-business voice.

“Hmm…” Lil hummed her answer. “Do you need to sit again?”

“No,” he said, although he didn’t remember the inner circle of the driveway being quite this long. They were almost back to Lil’s camper.

“Then why are you limping?”

Walt stopped. He hadn’t even realized that he was. “Old habits die hard, I guess.”

Lil sniffled.

He pulled a red paisley handkerchief from his coat pocket and handed it to Lil.

She hesitated.

“It’s clean.”

Lil smiled. “Thank you. I think all the harvesting is messing with my allergies.”

“Do you want to take your chair back? I can wait here.”

“No, I’ll take it to the house. That way we have it when we walk tomorrow.”

Heel to toe
. Walt continued on.

“So I take it you never married?” Lil asked the question in a matter-of-fact way.