A Very Special Delivery by Linda Goodnight Page B

now,” he said as he looped an arm around her waist and
assisted her to the ground.
    With little feeling in one leg, her balance was off and she
slid a bit.
    “I’ve got you,” he said, blue eyes shining down at her in a way
that made her wish it was so.
    “Thanks,” was all she could manage as they navigated the slick
surface.
    The minute they rounded the front of the brown van, Miss Patsy
recognized her, saw the bandage, and set up a fuss.
    “Oh, my darling girl is hurt. What’s happened?” She shoved the
storm door wide. “Get in this house right now.”
    “I’m okay, Auntie. Don’t fret.” Assisted by Ethan’s strong arm,
Molly hobbled through the door to the small mauve couch and eased down. “Ethan
took me to the ER and I’m all patched up now.”
    “Ethan did?” Patsy bustled around the sofa, pushing pillows
behind Molly. “Don’t suppose that should surprise me any, the way he looks after
folks around here.”
    Hadn’t Dr. Jamison said something similar? As she settled back
onto the couch, she looked up at Ethan, curious.
    He gave an answering shrug. “Miss Patsy and the other ladies
are the ones who do the looking after. I’d starve to death if they didn’t feed
me once in a while.”
    Molly could see he was downplaying her aunt’s compliment. She
gingerly slid both hands under her knee and lifted her wounded leg onto a
pillow.
    “Nonsense,” Patsy said. “A meal now and again is nothing
compared with all the handyman jobs he does around here. Last week he fixed my
leaky faucet and cleaned out Margie’s chimney so she’d quit fretting about the
house burning. It’s always something around these apartments, and Ethan’s
Johnny-on-the-spot if we need him. We old people can’t do everything we once
could.”
    Molly’s esteem for the delivery man, already high, went up
another disturbing notch.
    “Aunt Patsy, you’ll never be old.”
    “Tell that to my knees.” To prove the point, she shuffled to an
ancient recliner, grasped the arms, and sat. “My hinges are plum worn out.”
    “The knees may give you trouble, Miss Patsy, but you’ve got
enough heart to go on forever,” Ethan said.
    Patsy chuckled and shook her head toward Molly. “See how he
goes on? Got all us old hens clucking over him and his chick.” She stretched her
arms out. “Give me that baby.”
    Ethan lifted the kicking Laney from her carrier and placed her
in the older woman’s arms. “We ran out of plastic diapers. She might get you
wet.”
    “Wouldn’t be the first time. That one there,”
she
indicated Molly, “did the same when she was a tyke.”
    “Aunt Patsy!” Molly lifted up, mortified.
    “Oh, sorry. Some things shouldn’t be told.” But the sparkle in
her aunt’s eye said she wasn’t sorry at all. She held Laney to her ample bosom
and patted the diapered behind while rocking back and forth. “I’ve had you on my
mind—and on God’s mind, too—ever since this weather started. Worst ice storm
I’ve seen in years. I knew something wasn’t right out at the farm. No phone. No
way of getting out there. And no word from anybody. What happened?”
    Between the two of them, Molly and Ethan told the story while
Patsy rocked and patted, rocked and patted. Molly envied how natural her aunt
was with the child. She had been like that once.
    “I don’t like to think,” Ethan concluded, “what might have
happened if Molly hadn’t taken us in that night.”
    Patsy waved the notion away. “I wouldn’t expect her to do any
less. That’s the way she was raised. Take care of your neighbors.”
    “I would have been in a fix without Ethan, too, Auntie. The
electric line across the garage probably would have killed me if Ethan hadn’t
been there to notice the danger.”
    Patsy stopped rocking. “I should have known the Lord would work
everything out. And sure enough, he put you two together to look after one
another.” She resumed rocking. “What a blessing.”
    For Aunt Patsy, life was that