Shelter Mountain (Virgin River #2)(81)

She touched the necklace, a huge and lovely surprise from her man. Who knew Preacher could buy jewelry? Who knew Preacher knew what jewelry was! “I feel badly, Mike. We had nothing for you.”

“Being here with you three is Christmas enough for me,” he said, meaning it.

“Did you talk to your family today?” she asked him.

“Oh, yeah—about a hundred of them. All at Mom and Dad’s.”

Preacher set about carving the duck. “You don’t miss being there, with them?”

“Not yet,” he said. “Not until I get a little something back, you know? I need the space. They’re Latino and Latina—very demonstrative. Close. Intense, you know? Anxious and annoyingly well meaning. I want to at least be able to cut my meat with my right hand before I visit.”

“I get that,” Preacher said. “You watch. You’ll have it in no time.”

After dinner Paige left the men to a game of cribbage in front of the fire while she cleaned up. A little while later Christopher was downstairs, all scrubbed with one of his old books in his hand. He crawled up into Preacher’s lap as if he’d been doing it since he started walking. And Preacher drew him up like a father would. “This the one you want?” he asked Christopher.

“Horton,” he said.

“You don’t want to try a new one? We read Horton every night.”

“Mazy the lazy bird…” Christopher pointed out.

Mike turned his chair toward the hearth and put his feet up, enjoying the sound of Preacher’s voice telling the story by heart, Christopher adding lines that Preacher deliberately left out just for fun. My man Preacher, he was thinking—all soft and sweet, his voice rough and gravelly as sandpaper, holding a kid on his lap like he’d been doing it all his life. This was a guy who you didn’t want to see coming at you with a scowl on his face and his fists up. A picture of him in fatigues, toting an M16, a snarl on his face…The guy could take down a whole army. Mike looked at him now with new eyes. Transformed into a big, cuddly bear. Committed. Devoted. All in.

It wasn’t long before he stopped reading, dropped a kiss on the head of his sleeping boy and said to Mike, “Pour us a little something. I’ll be right back.”

Mike picked out the whiskey Preacher seemed to favor—a nice mild Canadian—and brought the bottle and two glasses to the table. When Christopher was tucked in and Preacher back, Mike lifted his glass to Preacher. “To you, old man. I think maybe you have it all.”

“I have to drink to that,” he said, sitting down. “Thing is—I really am going to have it all. When all that crap with Lassiter is settled and behind her some more, we’re going to talk about making a lifetime commitment. And children. More children, you know, because we already have a perfect family.” He took a breath. “Man, I never thought this would happen to me.”

Mike was shocked at first, but recovered quickly. “Well, hey,” he said. “Congratulations. I guess everything worked out like it was supposed to.”

“Whew,” Preacher said before he could stop himself.

Mike chuckled. Good for him, he thought. It’s not as though Preacher hadn’t waited long enough to find this kind of happiness. “She’s a great girl, Preacher.”

“Have you seen how good that kid is?” Preacher asked. “Because she is just an awesome mother, that’s why.”

“And she’ll be an awesome wife, too,” Mike said.

“We have a few issues to work out. That business with her ex—it’s still pretty ripe,” Preacher said.

Mike sat forward. “How so?”

“Well, he’s called here. He’s not supposed to, but he’s called.”

“You tell anyone about that?” Mike asked, sitting up straighter.

“Yeah, we got in touch with her lawyer, who will get in touch with the judge. She didn’t talk to him, but I had to tell her. I’m not going to be keeping things back from Paige. He called a few times, thinking she’d talk to him. He wants to know if anything can be worked out, if he can at least have Chris for weekends or something. Jesus, man—I’d be scared to death of that. I can’t imagine that.”

“Paige doing okay?” Mike asked.

He shrugged. “Stirred her up pretty good, but she never caved. The woman is brave. I see it grow, more every day. She refused to get sucked in, even if it did make her shake a little bit. But I gotta tell you—I’d be tempted to take Paige and Chris and run for it if there was any chance the court would turn him over to that brutal lunatic.” He took a sip of his drink and said, “I couldn’t let that happen. I have to do better by Paige and Chris than that.”

“Yeah,” Mike said. “I sure understand.”

“Yeah? You do?”

“Of course I do. You have to take care of your woman. Your family. Whatever that takes.”

“Right after Christmas gets handled, we’re going to call Brie. She knows everything about this kind of monster. And, she knows everyone in California. She’ll have advice.”

“Good idea,” Mike agreed.

“Yeah,” Preacher said. “You know, I never figured myself for a family man. I thought I’d be fishing and cooking it up for the other fishermen in this little bar for the rest of my life. There aren’t any women around here, not to speak of. What are the chances some woman wanders in here and needs me.”