The year was 1942. For Maxine and Jean, college loomed just a few months away, and they counted themselves lucky to grab jobs as mail girls in a new Civil Service office in downtown St. Louis, Missouri.

Tom and Lee, two young lawyers sent out from Washington, noted the mailmen had suddenly gotten better looking and promptly struck up a flirtation. In the weeks that followed, Tom developed an eye for the short, blue-eyed blonde, Jean, while Lee? Well, Lee also developed an eye for the short, blue-eyed blonde.

"Too late, Lee. Already got a date with her," said Tom one afternoon, "but I think I can set you up with her friend, Maxine." Maxine was a very tall brunette. She was shy and equally pretty and laughed at Lee's jokes, and Lee got to thinking that might be all right after all.

Now, one thing you'll have to know about Lee, besides the fact he was the kindest man that ever lived, was that, just a few years before meeting Maxine, life had dealt him a terrible blow.

The summer after his freshman year of college, he'd taken a job at an ice house in his southern Virginia hometown. Lee had played football for the Hampden Sydney Tigers his freshman year, so he intended to keep himself in shape over the summer months.

One month into the job, he awoke with pain in his legs. The pain became excrutiating, and he was rushed to the hospital.

He had contracted polio.

Lee went through three months of wanting to die, followed by two years of painful physical rehabilitation. His mother came in every day to exercise his limbs to see if the muscles would come back. His father told him, "Get up and quit feeling sorry for yourself." Eventually he regained the use of his arms but never his legs. Braces were required to keep them straight, and he learned to walk with crutches.

But not the slow walk of the injured. No. Somewhere during those long two years, Lee made a decision about life. He walked like a young man who had somewhere to go.

He took himself back to Hampden Sydney College. Of course there were no handicapped facilities back then, so one of his old football buddies gave him a hand. He slung Lee over his broad shoulder and carried him up and down the college's stairs like a sack of potatoes.

When he finished college, he entered The University of Virginia Law School. In order to make ends meet, he worked in the Dean's office through one of President Roosevelt's youth job programs. After law school, he took a job with the government and found himself in St. Louis, Missouri.

Which is where he began to fall in love with the tall brunette.

Maxine, for her part, liked Lee from the start. Whenever she came through the offices, he put aside his paperwork to chat. She loved his laugh, his smile, his good looks, and the way he rolled his shirt sleeves up. By the time he stood up and she saw he was on crutches, it was too late to matter.

Some of life would be hard, yes, but what was the point of thinking like that when you could have those dark brown eyes to gaze into, and his laughter, and his heart. Really, what did anything matter when you were in love?

Well, the matter turned out to be Maxine's mother.

Maxine's mother, Virginia, was vehemently opposed to Lee. As they dated through Maxine's college years, Virginia continued to tell her what a poor choice she was making. "Only think what you're doing! Throwing your life away on a... on a LAWYER!" She couldn't admit Lee's handicap was a problem, so Virginia blamed his doctorate of jurisprudence. Eventually she demanded Maxine quit seeing him.

The months that followed were the most miserable of her young life.

The only thing Maxine looked forward to was the marriage of her best friend, Jean, to Tom. She was to be Jean's maid of honor. Lee was to be Tom's best man.

When the wedding day arrived, it had been twelve long months since Maxine and Lee had seen each other. After the ceremony, Lee approached Maxine, looked into her eyes and asked in his sweet southern drawl, "How you been, sugar?"

After that, Virginia was just going to have to find a way to get over it.

Maxine and Lee were married in 1949 at Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, Virginia. There's film footage of the moments before they left on their honeymoon. You can see Lee's parents, looking on with pride. You can even see the somewhat sour look on Virginia's face. And there's Maxine, smiling like the sun just rose for the first time, and Lee, with a lovely grin, rushing to the getaway car so quickly you wouldn't think he had crutches at all.

And now they're driving off together, a look of deep satisfaction on their young faces: my parents, Maxine and Lee Bean. My favorite Valentines.

"A Valentines Story" was first published in Meredith Bean McMath's "Good Neighbor Column" in the February 2001 issue of Gale Waldron's Loudoun ART Magazine.

Loudoun ART was purchased by Amendment One and now exists as a section within Loudoun Magazine. To McMath's dismay, "The Good Neighbor" column did not transfer to the new publication. She currently writes freelance for the Loudoun section of "The Washington Post."

Her mother, Maxine Bean, is actively involved in Loudoun County theatre.

To read another "Good Neighbor" column, go to Project Linus at Columbine.