Virgin River (Virgin River #1)(79)

Mel hugged June while Jack waited at the car. “Thank you. For everything. It was a perfect day.”

Driving back to Virgin River, Mel was lost in one of the most serene moods she’d felt in a long time. Her connection to this place had deepened with the new friendships, and no small part of that was their acceptance of Jack.

“You’re awfully quiet,” Jack observed.

“I had such a good time,” she said dreamily.

“Me, too. Nice people, your friends.”

“They liked you, too. Did you know that Jim is a former cop?”

“I got that, yeah.”

“And John and Susan came up here from the city a couple of years ago. And Elmer—

the old doc—he’s a riot. I’m so glad we did that.”

They drove in companionable silence until they neared Virgin River. Jack said, “What do you want to do tonight? My place?”

“Would you be terribly hurt if we took a night off?”

“Whatever you need, Mel. Just so long as nothing’s wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong. In fact, I’ve never felt more right with the world. I just thought I’d go home, shower off the picnic and get a good night’s sleep.”

“It’s up to you.” He reached across the front seat and grabbed her hand. “It’s always up to you.” He drew her hand to his lips and pressed a soft kiss into her palm. He pulled up to the bar and they traded places so she could drive home. After a kiss good-night, she left him there and went out to the cabin.

As she entered the clearing in front of her home, the first thing she noticed was a big, dark SUV parked in front of her cabin. The driver, the big nameless man with the ball cap and hair that curled beneath it was leaning against the passenger door. When she pulled up, he straightened and slipped his thumbs in his front pockets. She recognized him and the vehicle at once. This was the big guy who’d stopped by Doc’s several weeks ago, and what flashed through her mind was “someone’s pregnant.” Then she took note of his sidearm—a big gun, with straps holding the holster to his thigh. But his hands stayed away from it.

In a place like this, she was never sure how to feel about a person toting weapons. If she’d seen this in the city, she’d have ducked for cover. But out here, it didn’t necessarily mean anything. She could play it safe and make a run for it, though she didn’t handle the Hummer so well yet. Besides, the man had already approached her in the clear light of day to ask about a delivery. She pulled up, keeping her headlights on him, and he seemed to straighten expectantly, stepping away from the SUV. She opened her door and stepped out. “What are you doing out here?”

“That baby’s coming,” he said.

No matter what the circumstances, the same thing seemed to happen to her when she heard that—she stopped thinking of herself and began to concentrate on the work at hand, the mother and child. “That was pretty quick,” she said.

“No. I was pretty slow,” he said. “She kept it to herself for a long time and I didn’t realize she was this ready, this—look, I need you to come. To help.”

“But why are you here? Why didn’t you go into town, to the doctor’s office? I almost didn’t come home tonight…”

“Lucky for me you did. I couldn’t go to town, couldn’t run the risk of someone wanting to come with you, or someone telling you not to come with me. Please, let’s go.”

“Where?”

“I’ll take you,” he said.

“No. I’ll follow you. I’ll just go inside, make a call and—”

He took a step toward her. “We can’t do it that way. It’ll be better for all of us if you don’t know exactly where you are. And really, it has to be just you.”

“Oh, gimme a break,” she said with a short laugh. “You expect me to get in that car with you? Without knowing you or where we’re going?”

“That’s the general idea, yeah,” he said. “She thinks she’s doing this alone, having the baby. But I’d rather you come with me, in case…What if there’s a problem? Huh?”

“I can call Doc Mullins, maybe he’ll go with you. I don’t make a habit of getting in a vehicle with a stranger to be driven to some mysterious birthing…”

“Yeah, I wish it was mysterious. I wish it wasn’t happening, but it is. I don’t want to have to do this at all—but I also don’t want anything stupid to go wrong that we could prevent. I don’t want any unnecessary trouble. You should probably be there. In case.”

“This your baby?” she asked him.

He shrugged. “Yeah, could be. Probably.”

“I don’t even know there is a baby coming. I’ve never seen the mother,” Mel said.

“What if there is no baby?” she said.

He took a tentative step toward her. “What if there is?” he asked. She looked around her. It was obvious if he wanted to hurt her, he wouldn’t need to take her anywhere. He wouldn’t even need to draw that weapon. They were completely isolated. He could take ten short steps toward her, whack her across the jaw and it would be done.

He spread his arms wide. “I just have to keep the place covered. It’s a place of business, all right? Could we please go get that baby born? I’m not kidding, it freaks me out. She says she’s been hurting all day. And there’s blood.”