Second Chance Pass (Virgin River #5)(85)

On the fourth such day, Brie sat in the big leather chair holding Emma close with her bottle while Mike was in the rocker with David and his bottle. The door opened and Jack came in, looking exhausted, carrying his little cooler that would contain the breast milk Mel had pumped. Brie lifted her chin in greeting and he lifted a hand in response, then went to the kitchen. It was easily six hours of driving each day, but he wouldn’t even consider not being with Mel every day. Brie had been very worried about him being sleep deprived as he drove over the pass.

Once Brie and Mike had their charges settled, they joined the gathering in Jack’s kitchen and found that Preacher had dinner almost complete and was setting up a couple of drinks for himself, Mike and Jack. “How’s our girl?” Brie asked.

“Feisty,” he said. “They’re going to kick her to the curb tomorrow. She’s giving them fits. Nurses make lousy patients.”

“If you don’t mind me saying so, you look whipped,” Brie said.

“Thank you, precious,” he said, lifting his glass. “Whoa, that helps. My thanks.” He put the glass down and said, “I’m going to go kiss my kids and I’ll be right back.”

The kitchen was quiet for a moment. Preacher broke the silence with, “I can’t believe how close we came to losing her.”

“It’s very unusual for something like that to happen,” Brie said, trying to reassure him, given Paige’s pregnancy.

“It reminds you, though, what a serious business this is.” He pulled Paige close. “We have to take this real serious.”

“I’m not going to let you do this, John,” Paige said. “We had a close call, everything is okay now, and we’re not going to panic. We’re going to enjoy this pregnancy. God knows we worked hard enough for it.” She turned to her son. “You about done there, buddy? Ready for your movie?”

“Yeah, Mom,” he said sweetly.

“Let me,” Preacher said. “Come on, cowboy,” he said, taking his little hand. “I’ll help you get comfortable.” As he walked out of the kitchen Preacher was heard to ask, “What are we watching tonight?”

“Incredibles,” Chris said.

“Don’t we watch that almost every night?”

“Almost.”

Joey looked at Paige. “He’s a wonderful father, isn’t he?”

“Just amazing. I still can’t believe how lucky I’ve been.”

When Jack came back to the kitchen, Joey said, “I’ve been wanting to ask you something, Jack. How’s Mel with the hysterectomy?”

He dropped his gaze and lifted his drink. “Disappointed,” he said. “For all her bitching about being pregnant all the time, she actually wanted to be pregnant some more. It defies understanding. She carried on about Emma coming too soon, threatened me with certain death if I did it to her again, kept reminding me how old I am, and yet—”

There was a moment of silence.

“Being able to reproduce is a funny thing,” Brie said. “We just want to control it.”

“And in my experience, it’s one of those forces of nature with a mind of its own,” Jack said. “When you want it, it doesn’t come. When you’d like to take a break, it’s all over you.”

“How are you with it?” Joey asked him.

“You’re kidding me, right?” He lifted his drink. “I’m so grateful to have Mel come through this, it doesn’t even cross my mind. Besides, I have two healthy kids. I’m a rich man. A very rich man.”

“To rich men,” Mike said, joining the toast.

Only a week after Melinda’s hysterectomy, she was getting around very well. She had some surgical soreness and tired easily; she didn’t wander around the house much. She dressed in a comfy sweat suit and stayed mainly on the big king-size bed, the cradle close at hand so she could nurse Emma as often as possible, trying to get her caught up. All she had to do was give Davie a little boost under the bum and he could climb up to the bed with her.

With Brie and Joey in charge of the house during the day, making sure Mel had everything she needed and was getting plenty of rest, Jack was able to spend a few hours at the bar in the afternoon. Then he could take dinner home to his wife.

He didn’t get a lot done at the bar. He didn’t dare go on supply runs, it would take him too far from Virgin River. But he added up receipts and inventoried, finding, unsurprisingly, the bar ran just fine under the watchful care of Paige and Preacher.

In that little space of time after lunch was finished, and before the dinner crowd began to drift in, when the bar was typically very quiet, often deserted, an old familiar ghost in his Shady Brady wandered in. Jack had had some traffic with this guy in the past; some good, some not so good. He was a known illegal grower from somewhere around the mountains and Jack had refused to take his money once because it stank of freshly cut marijuana. But he’d materialized out of nowhere one night when Paige was in danger and saved her life.

He came up to the bar and for once made actual eye contact with Jack. A first. “Hey,” he said somberly. “How’s the family?”

“Getting by,” Jack said.

“Heineken and Beam,” he said. “If it’s not too much trouble.”

Over the man’s shoulder, Jack saw Mike come into the bar. He stopped short, obviously recognizing their friend from the broad expanse of his back and the familiar hat. Jack looked back at his customer. “We’ve been over this,” Jack said. “You know what kind of money doesn’t work in this bar and I’m not comping you. I’m in no mood.”