Paradise Valley (Virgin River #7)(76)

He couldn’t remember a time he’d been happier. And it was in that frame of mind he placed the call to his parents.

“Mom?” he said. “How are you?”

“Great, Cam. How’s the little town?”

“Perfect. Pour a glass of wine, Mom. I have something important to tell you.”

“Really?” she said. “Go ahead….”

“Doctor’s orders,” he said. “Come on now, I have a surprise. A very nice one.”

“Okay, okay,” she laughed. “I hope you found yourself a wonderful woman in that little town….”

He paused, hoping she’d taken his advice about the wine. “Well, as a matter of fact…”

“Really? Who is she?”

“Actually, I found her last year. Last fall, in Grants Pass.”

“You never said anything,” she said.

“I didn’t think there was much to say. I really fell for her, but she had complications in her life. When I met her, she’d been separated from her husband for almost a year and they were getting divorced. It wasn’t too soon for her to think about another man, but it was too soon for her to get involved. At that time, at least. She had to get her legal affairs straightened out. So, as much as I hated it, we lost touch for a while. We connected again in January, her divorce final. Her name is Abby and, Mom, she’s wonderful. Beautiful and sweet and perfect.”

“Aw, Cam, I’m so happy for you. Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Lots of reasons, one being that I wanted some time with her first. And of course, Abby having been married once, she wanted to take it slow. You understand.”

“I suppose. Where does she live, Cam? When can I meet her?”

“She lives here now, Mom. With me. And it won’t be long before you can meet her, but there’s one more thing. During that short time we knew each other in Grants Pass, we had a little…ah, a little…blessing, that’s what it was. We had a blessing. Well, actually a couple of blessings. On the way. Soon.” Dead silence answered him. “It came as a shock to poor Abby at first, and I admit—I was pretty surprised, but we’re very happy about it. Happy and excited.” Silence. It stretched out. “Mom? Twins. We know one is a boy, but the other one is hiding.” Again, a vacuum.

Then he heard his mother shriek, “Edward! Come here! Cameron got some girl pregnant!”

“Mom! Just have a little sip of that wine!”

“I think it’s going to take something a little stronger! Twins? You got some girl pregnant with twins?”

He couldn’t help it—he laughed. “Mom,” he said. “She’s not some girl—she’s not a girl. Her name is Abby and she’s thirty-one.”

“Cameron, how in the world—”

“Now, Mother, I’m not going to explain. You’ll just have to trust me, I’ve never been careless and neither has Abby. So—here’s the deal. She’s probably going to go early, though the babies are due the second of July. Anytime, Mom. Abby wants to have her mother come as soon as they’re delivered, so I hope you can be a little patient. Twins is a pretty big—”

“Cameron! Are you married?”

“Not yet, Mom. Even though we’re in this together, completely, we just haven’t had time to get married. That will come—we’ll take care of the details. No point in rushing it now. Besides, we’re not going to be fooling anybody, including the great-grandmothers and great-aunt Jean, by rushing into it right now. They’re nearly here.”

“Dear God in heaven,” his mother said. And in the background he could hear his father, Ed, saying, “What? What? What?”

“I’ll call you the moment they’re born. Tomorrow, when I’m at the clinic, I’ll get Mel to take a picture of me and Abby and e-mail it to you. By then you will have calmed down.”

“But, Cameron,” she said, “you haven’t given me time to knit anything!”

He laughed again. “Well, get started. Abby’s really ready to unload. She just has to make it a couple more weeks to be completely safe.”

“Oh, dear God in heaven,” she muttered. “You couldn’t have told me any sooner?”

“There were details to work out, Mother. This is how it is and you’re going to be gracious. Abby is understandably stressed.”

“Of course I’ll be gracious! Just answer me one question, and be honest with me, because I always know when you’re lying. Do you love this wo— Abby?”

He smiled. “Mom, I loved her the second I saw her. And I love her more every day.” He heard his answer in his mother’s heavy, satisfied sigh. “There now, go take care of Dad before he goes crazy, and I’ll e-mail a picture tomorrow sometime. Mom, congratulations. I love you.”

He hung up and got himself a beer out of the refrigerator. He popped the top and went to the bedroom, leaning in the open doorway. Abby was sitting cross-legged, her iPod earphones plugged into her ears, deep breathing with her eyes closed. He just watched, smiling at the sight. She was a vision.

She opened her eyes, took the plugs out of her ears and looked at him expectantly.

“She was very surprised,” he said. “And a little pissed off that I didn’t give her more time to knit something.”