They finished the chicken and they started down the hall.  She tried on a couple of pieces of clothes and a shoe.  They stopped at a beauty shop and she had her hair washed and styled.  By the time they got back to the truck she had bought nothing.  He asked if she forgot something.

“No.  I got exactly what I wanted.”

“What was that?”

“An evening with you.”

“We could have gone to a movie or something like that.”

“And I would have had you watching it, not me.  And you did watch me.”  She smiled impishly.

“Fine.  So I watched you.  I liked what I saw.  The view from behind alone was worth the evening.  I wish you had both legs but you sure look good with one.”

“Thanks.  Let’s go home.  I have something there for us.”

He backed the truck into the driveway so she would no have as far to walk.  She chided him and he laughed.  “If I had done that six months ago you would have called it nice.  Now you get angry.  Please just treat things I do that are nice as if I wanted to do something nice.”

“OK.  I’ll try, but I don’t want to be considered a cripple.”

“Trust me, I love you.  I don’t want to be with a cripple.  But I want to be with you.”

“Let’s go inside.”

She slid down and crutched into the house.  She went to the kitchen and a few moments later she crutched back to the bedroom and came back in a wheelchair with the crutches in the rack.  She wheeled to the kitchen and came back with a tray on her lap.  It had two large ice cream floats, what they had the first night they dated.  He looked down.

“Thanks.  Thanks a lot.  Not just for the float but what this means.”

“Do you remember what else you did on that first date?”

“Well, I felt your legs and you told me as long as my hands stayed on the legs it was fine.”  He smiled impishly, “And I stayed on the legs, most of the time.”

She pushed herself up with her crutches under her arms.  “Well, I told you we were starting over.”

He got up and held her, his right hand went down the front of her left leg, back up and then around her butt, then tentatively he started his left hand in the same pattern.  At the end of her stump he caressed it, then came back up the leg like he did the other one.  Slowly he repeated it as she put her arms around him and held him.

“That doesn’t hurt, does it?”

“No.  It feels great.  I had some phantoms earlier tonight.  They are gone now.  One of the doctors who lost a leg told us that sex sometimes relieves them.  I think this does too.”  After a few minutes she released him.  “Can you sit down on the sofa, near this end?”

“Sure.”  He released her and sat down.  She sat next to him, turned so her legs were on his lap with her stump toward him.  “Can you massage it?  Please be really gentle.”

“Sure.”  He spent the next half-hour talking to her as he massaged her stump.  She lay back on the pillow and watched him.  He was a good man.  He made one mistake.  She could forgive.

If you wish to read more of this novel click on the link below.  It is the first chapter and it contains links to the other chapters. 

The Night Sniper Chapter One: On the Beat

The Night Sniper: Ch. 029 Barb Meets Margie’s Boyfriend

The Night Sniper: Ch. 031 Dean Sadler Comes Home