Shelter Mountain (Virgin River #2)(39)

Connie’s sister had sent Liz to her from Eureka last spring, right around the same time Mel had come to Virgin River. March. The reason was that Liz was a handful, too much for Connie’s sister to handle. She’d been reportedly running wild in Eureka. Both Connie and her sister thought Virgin River might calm the girl down, or at least prove to have fewer opportunities for getting in trouble than were available in the much larger town of Eureka. But when Connie had a heart attack in May, Liz was sent home to her mother.

“Hey there,” Mel said cheerfully. This was Mel’s work—she knew how to get beyond the shock, the panic. “Welcome back. How are you?”

“Not totally great,” Liz said.

“Well, it’s good to see you, anyway,” Mel said, reaching out and taking her hand. “I bet you’re here for an exam. Why don’t you come with me.”

Liz let herself be led to the exam room. The girl looked quite a bit different than she had last spring. She came into town looking like a hussie; she wore skirts no bigger than napkins, high-heeled boots, abbreviated tops, belly button ring, glossy lips and thick black mascara on her sexy long lashes—like an ad for Playboy. And at the time she was all of fourteen, a very beautiful, provocative fourteen who looked more like eighteen. No wonder her mother had been terrified. Now she was clad in jeans and a bulky sweatshirt that was pulled down to cover her tummy, but it was still evident she was pregnant. Her makeup was much more natural looking and conservative than it had been, but she really didn’t need it at all. She was lovely. And she actually looked younger today than she had last spring. Younger and more vulnerable.

Rick had taken one look at Liz last spring and went bonkers. Jack and Preacher had been looking out for Rick for years, kind of surrogate big brothers or dads. According to Jack, he’d had a serious talk with Rick about the dangers of intimacy, especially with such a young girl. After Liz went home to her mom, Rick had told Jack that they were no longer seeing each other. Knowing Rick, the kind of young man he was, Mel couldn’t imagine that he would get her pregnant and abandon her. He just didn’t seem like that kind of boy. Mel thought perhaps Liz had wasted no time in finding herself a fella back in Eureka.

“So,” Mel said to Liz. “Want to tell me why you’re here?”

“I’m pregnant. Obviously.”

“Have you been examined by a doctor yet?”

“No. I wasn’t sure I was until…I thought I was just getting fat.”

“Liz, how many periods have you missed?”

She shrugged. “Who knows? I hardly ever got any, anyway. I never knew when I was supposed to.”

“Do you have any idea how far along you might be?”

“I have a perfect idea. Since there’s only been one person. One guy. One time.” She lifted her clear blue eyes and looked directly into Mel’s.

Mel had a brief and delusional hope that Rick had escaped this mess. She asked, “If that’s the case, if you can remember the approximate time of conception, it will help us set a due date.”

“May 7th,” she said, and her eyes grew moist.

Rick, she thought. Damn. Two days before the heart attack that sent Liz home to her mom. And it made her even further along in her pregnancy than Mel was. “Well, first things first. Let’s examine you and see how you’re doing. Can you put on his gown for me? Everything off, bra, panties, the whole bit.”

“I’ve never…I haven’t ever had one of these….”

“It’s okay, Liz. It’s not terrible. I’ll give you a few minutes to undress and when I come back, I’ll explain everything as I go. I promise you’ll be fine. Once you’re sexually active, it’s very important to have regular exams, pregnant or not.”

Even if Liz hadn’t delivered that date of conception, any of Mel’s curiosities would have been quickly answered when she found Connie in the waiting room. “My sister,” Connie said with an ounce of disgust. “She said, she got knocked up in Virgin River, she can go back there and have the baby. You’d think I did it.”

Mel shook her head. “It happens, Connie. Too often.”

“I don’t know which one of them I want to kill most.”

“No killing,” Mel said, reaching out and giving her hand a pat. “Let’s just get them through it and see if they can have their young lives back.”

“Stupid idiots,” Connie said. “What were they thinking?”

Mel sat down beside Connie for a second. “What gives you the impression they were thinking? If they were, they were thinking below the waist. How are you feeling? We don’t want your blood pressure up.”

“Ach, I’m fine. This just took me by surprise.”

“I have a feeling it’s going to take everyone by surprise.”

“How the hell could she not know?”

“Oh, Connie, you’d be amazed at how tight denial can keep those fourteen-year-old tummy muscles.”

“She’s fifteen now. Not that it matters too much.”

Mel heard herself laugh, though humorlessly. “It’s slightly less stunning. Let me take care of my patient while you practice deep breathing. Hmm?”

Liz was already more than five months pregnant. Almost six. She might’ve felt the baby move already, but she wasn’t sure. She thought it was just gas. She thought her br**sts were sore because her period was coming. This was so typical of a young girl, especially a young girl who wasn’t getting regular periods. She was oblivious to the changes in her body, combined with an overwhelming desire for it not to be so.