Shelter Mountain (Virgin River #2)(28)

“You need to work on your sportsmanship,” she told him.

“I need to work on my cheating,” Doc returned, heading out of the kitchen.

Mel got her coat and walked outside with Jack. “Where are we going?” she asked again.

“Just for a ride. Tell me about your morning.”

They held hands as they walked out to Jack’s truck and he opened the door for her. When he was in beside her and driving, she said, “We haven’t had anything very interesting. This nasty weather we’ve been having seems to be bringing out the viruses—lots of runny noses, coughs, fevers. We’re running through the decongestant. I think I feel a cold coming on.”

“Are you sick?”

“No, but my head is stuffy and one ear is plugged. And I can’t take the decongestant because of you-know-who.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be working in a doctor’s office right now. All those germs,” he said.

“Oh, stop.” She laughed. She smoothed her hands over her little pooch of a tummy. “You’re going to be a little on the overprotective side.”

They drove out of town to the west for about ten minutes and Jack turned off the road, then he stopped. “It’s bumpy. The road sucks. That okay?”

“As long as I don’t hit my head on the ceiling, we’re okay. What is this?”

“Something I came across and wanted to show you. Hang on and I’ll go slow. We’re going up.” And up and up, along a winding dirt road wide enough for only one vehicle, through the trees. Then momentarily they broke out in a big, grassy clearing from which you could see for miles. “I thought you’d love this view.”

“Oh. My,” she said, taken with it. She looked across fenced pastures, ranches, farms, orchards, a vineyard. Behind them the pine-covered hills rose and in front of them, the hill sloped down to the valley.

“Come on,” he said, opening his door.

They got out and stood on this grassy knoll, looking out across the foothills and valley below. Off in the far distance what appeared to be clouds rolled in from the Pacific Coast. Jack put an arm around her shoulders and she leaned against him. “Jack, this is beautiful. I didn’t even know this place was here.”

“Me, neither. Mel, what if this spot, right where we’re standing—what if this spot was your front porch?”

She snapped her head up to look at him, her mouth open slightly, her eyes wide. She said his name in a breath. “Jack!”

“I think I can get it. It’s the Bristols’ land—too craggy for planting, too far from their pastures and too much forest for grazing. And we don’t need much—just a couple of acres, maybe.”

Tears filled her eyes. “Oh, Jack,” she said again. “You’ve been looking for land.”

He laughed. “I’ve been sneaking around the back acreage of neighbors’ properties, looking for a good piece someone might be talked out of. A view, a good yard, somewhere where the deer might wander right up to the house, destroy your vegetable garden…”

“I’ve never had a vegetable garden.”

“You like it?”

“I love it,” she said. “I love you.”

He moved behind her and slipped his arms around her. His hands went under her jacket, under her sweater to where the jeans she could no longer close were gaping open. He put his large hands over her tummy and she put her hands over his, leaning back against him. They stood and looked out across the beautiful land, and then there was a little movement within her. These tiny flutters had just begun. “I’m sorry you can’t feel that yet,” she whispered. “The baby just fluttered.”

He bent to kiss her neck. “She likes it.”

“How can you not? Oh, Jack, you shouldn’t have shown it to me. Now if you can’t get Fish and Carrie Bristol to part with it, my heart will break.” She pressed down on his hands.

“Think positive,” he said. He gently massaged her tummy. “I thought men were supposed to get all freaked out when their wives were pregnant. Not want to touch them. Not want to have sex.”

“Not all men,” she said.

“God, I want you more than ever,” he said, kissing her neck again.

“That—” she laughed “—is simply impossible.”

“Want to christen the new home site?”

She laughed at him. “I’m not going back to Doc’s with grass stains on my butt. Control yourself.”

“I’m going to build you a house here,” he said. “First thing I’m going to do is get the road graded and widened, then have the land excavated. I can’t do that myself. While that’s happening, we’re going to have some plans drawn up. I’ll need help with the foundation, but after that—”

“Jack, stop. You have to buy the land first.”

He turned her around. “I’m going to build you a house here, Mel.”

“Okay,” she said. “You just do that.”

Eventually, they went back to the truck, but they sat there a long while, silent, looking out over the valley. Mel was remembering last March when she arrived, a recent widow looking for a fresh start, and the first thing she thought was that she’d made a terrible mistake in coming to this washedout little town. She wasn’t made to live in the woods—she was a city girl. Now she looked out at the most glorious landscape in America and knew she would never leave it.