Virgin River (25 page)

“This is nice, June. Thank you,” Mel said. “It’s so relaxing, low stress, for me if not poor Susan. Does everybody in the valley have such simple, uncomplicated lives?”

June surprised her by laughing, after which Susan joined in. Sydney, Susan’s seven-year-old, burst through the door, blond curls flying, and ran down the steps with Sadie, June’s collie chasing her into the yard. She ran to her dad and hung on his leg for a minute, then continued racing around the yard with the dog in pursuit, the collie trying to herd her back to the group.

“Something’s funny?” Mel asked.

“Things haven’t exactly been uncomplicated around here. A couple of years ago I was pretty sure I’d never get married, much less have a baby.”

This caused Mel to scoot to the edge of her chair. “It seems like you and Jim have been together forever.”

“He came into my clinic late at night a little over a year ago, looking for help with a comrade’s gunshot wound. Jim’s now a retired law enforcement officer. When I met him, though, he was skulking around the countryside, working some case—and in the dark of night he’d sneak into my bedroom. I kept him my little secret for quite a while—until my tummy started to grow.”

“No way.”

“Oh, yeah. No one in town knew I even had a man in my life, and then suddenly I’m pregnant. And not a little pregnant—by the time I realized it, I was already pretty far along. We’ve only been married a few months. We didn’t get it done before the baby came.”

“In a small town like this?” Mel was flabbergasted.

“People were decent about it. I mean, we did have a flood, lost our preacher for a while, there was a huge drug raid out in the woods, one thing after another. And probably because they all took to Jim so quickly. But my dad almost had a stroke.”

“And maybe because Jim moved right into your house and wouldn’t let you out of his sight until you agreed to marry him,” Susan added.

“I had been single a long time,” June said. “I was a little nervous about the whole thing. I mean, we hadn’t even been together all that long—and my God, not very often. I don’t know how it happened,” June said. “But it sure happened fast.”

“No—you know how it happened,” Susan said. “This,” she said, petting the giant mound that would soon be screaming to be changed, “is the great mystery. We had to try for a long time to get Sydney. We needed a little help, in fact. I just don’t get pregnant.”

Maybe in time Mel would join in, share her secrets. For now, though, she just wanted to hear theirs.

“John and I were having a big fight,” Susan said. “We were barely speaking. I had him sleeping on the couch—he was such an ass. By the time I forgave him and let him back in bed with me, he was packing quite a punch.” She giggled. Her eyes twinkled.

“At least you’re married,” June put in.

“Tell us about your man,” Susan said.

“Oh, Jack’s not my man,” she said automatically. “He is the first friend I made in Virgin River, however. He runs a little bar and grill across the street from Doc’s—as much a meeting place as a restaurant. They don’t even have a menu—his partner, a big scary-looking guy named Preacher who turns out to be an angel—cooks up one breakfast item, one lunch item and one dinner item everyday. On an ambitious day, they might have two items—maybe something left from the day before. They run it on the cheap, fish a lot, and help out around town wherever needed. He fixed up the cabin I was given to stay in while I’m there.”

The women didn’t say anything for a moment. Then Susan said, “Honey, I have a feeling he doesn’t think of you as a friend. Have you seen the way he looks at you?”

She glanced at him and as if he could feel her gaze, he turned his eyes on her. Soft and hard all at once. “Yeah,” Mel said. “He promised to stop doing that.”

“Girl, I’d never make a man stop doing that to me! You can’t possibly not know how much he—”

“Susan,” June said. “We don’t mean to pry, Mel.”

“June doesn’t mean to pry, but I do. You mean to say he hasn’t…?”

Mel felt her cheeks flame. “Well, it isn’t what you think,” she said.

June and Susan burst out laughing, loud enough to cause the men to turn away from their conversation and look up at the porch. Mel laughed in spite of herself. Ah, she had missed this—girlfriends. Talking about the secret stuff, the private stuff. Laughing at their weaknesses and strengths.

“That’s what I thought,” Susan said. “He looks like he can’t wait to get you alone. And do unspeakable things to you.”

Mel sighed in spite of herself, her cheeks growing hotter. He can’t, she almost said. And ohhhh…

June took the baby off her breast and put him on her shoulder to burp him. The group of men seemed to turn as one and head for the porch, Jim first. “Sounds like trouble up here,” he said. He reached for the baby and took over the burping.

John lowered his lips to Susan’s forehead and gave her a kiss. His other hand ran smoothly over her belly. “How are you doing, honey?” he asked solicitously.

“Great. Right after dinner, I want you to get it out of me.”

He handed her his beer. “Here, have a slug and mellow out.”

Jack stood behind Mel and put his hand on her shoulder. Without even realizing it, she reached up and stroked his hand.

“I’ll start the grill,” old Doc Hudson said, going through the house.

They all sat around a picnic table in the backyard, talking about their towns, their cases. Mel got some tips from John on home births—he explained that he was
an OB before doing a second residency in family practice. He’d never done a home birth in Sausalito, but once he’d arrived in Grace Valley he’d become the local midwife. He liked the hospital but couldn’t convince all the women to leave their homes to deliver. Small-town stories were told, laughter was shared, and too soon it was growing dark.

As Jack and Mel were leaving, Mel took an opportunity to speak with June about the baby—Chloe. She expressed her concern that they still hadn’t heard anything from social services.

June was frowning. “It’s true that the county has a lot of ground to cover, but they’re usually pretty good. One of my closest friends is a social worker, although she’s in Mendocino county. I could run this by her—get her impression.”

“Maybe you should. Especially if you think this is irregular,” Mel said.

“I’ll do it, and give you a call. Meanwhile, if you consider the baby your patient, you can assess the situation. See if you can find out anything. Doc Mullins is smarter than he lets on,” June said. “He’s a crafty old devil. Find out if he’s got something up his sleeve.”

Mel hugged June while Jack waited at the car. “Thank you. For everything. It was a perfect day.”

Driving back to Virgin River, Mel was lost in one of the most serene moods she’d felt in a long time. Her connection to this place had deepened with the new friendships, and no small part of that was their acceptance of Jack.

“You’re awfully quiet,” Jack observed.

“I had such a good time,” she said dreamily.

“Me, too. Nice people, your friends.”

“They liked you, too. Did you know that Jim is a former cop?”

“I got that, yeah.”

“And John and Susan came up here from the city a couple of years ago. And Elmer—the old doc—he’s a riot. I’m so glad we did that.”

They drove in companionable silence until they neared Virgin River. Jack said, “What do you want to do tonight? My place?”

“Would you be terribly hurt if we took a night off?”

“Whatever you need, Mel. Just so long as nothing’s wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong. In fact, I’ve never felt more right with the world. I just thought I’d go home, shower off the picnic and get a good night’s sleep.”

“It’s up to you.” He reached across the front seat and grabbed her hand. “It’s always up to you.” He drew her hand to his lips and pressed a soft kiss into her palm.

He pulled up to the bar and they traded places so she could drive home. After a kiss good-night, she left him there and went out to the cabin.

As she entered the clearing in front of her home, the first thing she noticed was a big, dark SUV parked in front of her cabin. The driver, the big nameless man with the ball cap and hair that curled beneath it was leaning against the passenger door. When she pulled up, he straightened and slipped his thumbs in his front pockets. She recognized him and the vehicle at once. This was the big guy who’d stopped by Doc’s several weeks ago, and what flashed through her mind was “someone’s pregnant.” Then she took note of his sidearm—a big gun, with straps holding the holster to his thigh. But his hands stayed away from it.

In a place like this, she was never sure how to feel about a person toting weapons. If she’d seen this in the city, she’d have ducked for cover. But out here, it didn’t necessarily mean anything. She could play it safe and make a run for it, though she didn’t handle the Hummer so well yet. Besides, the man had already approached her in the clear light of day to ask about a delivery. She pulled up, keeping her headlights on him, and he seemed to straighten expectantly, stepping away from the SUV. She opened her door and stepped out. “What are you doing out here?”

“That baby’s coming,” he said.

No matter what the circumstances, the same thing seemed to happen to her when she heard that—she stopped thinking of herself and began to concentrate on the work at hand, the mother and child. “That was pretty quick,” she said.

“No. I was pretty slow,” he said. “She kept it to herself for a long time and I didn’t realize she was this ready, this—look, I need you to come. To help.”

“But why are you here? Why didn’t you go into town, to the doctor’s office? I almost didn’t come home tonight…”

“Lucky for me you did. I couldn’t go to town, couldn’t run the risk of someone wanting to come with you, or someone telling you not to come with me. Please, let’s go.”

“Where?”

“I’ll take you,” he said.

“No. I’ll follow you. I’ll just go inside, make a call and—”

He took a step toward her. “We can’t do it that way. It’ll be better for all of us if you don’t know exactly where you are. And really, it has to be just you.”

“Oh, gimme a break,” she said with a short laugh. “You expect me to get in that car with you? Without knowing you or where we’re going?”

“That’s the general idea, yeah,” he said. “She thinks she’s doing this alone, having the baby. But I’d rather you come with me, in case… What if there’s a problem? Huh?”

“I can call Doc Mullins, maybe he’ll go with you. I don’t make a habit of getting in a vehicle with a stranger to be driven to some mysterious birthing…”

“Yeah, I wish it was mysterious. I wish it wasn’t happening, but it is. I don’t want to have to do this at all—but I also don’t want anything stupid to go wrong that we could prevent. I don’t want any unnecessary trouble. You should probably be there. In case.”

“This your baby?” she asked him.

He shrugged. “Yeah, could be. Probably.”

“I don’t even know there
is
a baby coming. I’ve never seen the mother,” Mel said. “What if there is no baby?” she said.

He took a tentative step toward her. “What if there is?” he asked.

She looked around her. It was obvious if he wanted to hurt her, he wouldn’t need to take her anywhere. He wouldn’t even need to draw that weapon. They were completely isolated. He could take ten short steps toward her, whack her across the jaw and it would be done.

He spread his arms wide. “I just have to keep the place covered. It’s a place of business, all right? Could we please go get that baby born? I’m not kidding, it freaks me out. She says she’s been hurting all day. And there’s blood.”

“A lot of blood?”

“What’s a lot? Not puddles, but enough to make me get in the truck and come for you. Pronto.”

“You have a gun,” she pointed out to him. “I hate guns.”

He rubbed a hand along the back of his neck. “Protection for you,” he said. “I’m just a businessman, but there’s some crazy people stuck out there in the woods. I’m not going to let anything happen to you—that would make my life way too complicated. I don’t want any attention from the sheriff. We really gotta go. There’s a baby coming. Real soon.”

“Oh, shit,” she said. “Don’t do this to me.”

“I’m doing something to you? I’m asking. That’s all. I want to get a baby born without anything stupid and wrong happening to the baby or the mother. Get me?”

“Why didn’t you just take her to the hospital?” she asked him.

“She works for me, okay? And she has warrants. They ID her at a hospital and she’s going to jail. You can’t take care of a baby from jail. That’s why it’s gotta be this way.”

“Look, go get her and take her to town, to Doc’s. We’ll do it there and no one will ask any questions about—”

“I’m telling you, there isn’t
time!
” he shouted. The look on his face was desperate and he took a pleading step toward her, arms wide, palms out. “It’s gonna happen soon, and we’re almost an hour from her! We might not make it as it is!”

She took a deep breath. “We should take the Hummer…”

“Can’t,” he said. “Can’t leave my vehicle here in case someone comes looking for you and finds only my truck. Sorry.”

“I’ll get my bag,” Mel said, reluctantly.

She grabbed her bag out of the Hummer and got in his SUV. He held a black sash in his hand. “You should blindfold,” he said.

“Get real,” she answered. “I’m not doing that. Hurry up. If she’s been hurting all day, just hurry up.”

“Put it on. Come on.”

“So I won’t see what? Where we’re headed? I’m from L.A., buddy. I’ve been here three months and I can hardly get myself to town in the daylight along these mountain roads. It’s pitch black. Just move it—I’m never going to be able to tell anyone where we went.” And more softly, “Besides, I wouldn’t. The only thing that would make me do that is if I needed to find you, or her, to save a life.”

“This some kind of trick?” he asked.

“Oh, please. Now stop scaring me. I might panic and throw myself out of the car, and then where would you be?”

He put the SUV in gear and peeled out of the drive and headed east. “I hope you’re not lying to me, setting me up. Because after this is taken care of, you don’t have to see me again. Unless…?”