Whispering Rock (Virgin River #3)(62)

Walt pushed his way in. “Who says I need looking out for?”

“Hey, man! How you doing, sir? You watching over your grandbaby?”

“By the time you get home, I’ll have him standing at attention!”

Matt laughed, clearly enjoying the small reunion. “Tommy around?” Matt asked.

“I’m afraid he’s late, Matt. I can’t imagine why—he’s been looking forward to this. There’s someone else here,” Walt said, pulling Paul into the frame.

“Haggerty! What the hell? What are you doing there?” Matt asked.

“I’m finishing up Jack’s new house for him. He’s got a kid and another one on the way….”

“Jack’s got a kid?”

“Yeah, can you think of anything crazier? He needed some help. How’s it going over there, bud?”

“Aw, it sucks. Big surprise, huh?”

“You making any progress?”

“Slow, miserable progress. You going to be around there a while?”

“Couple of months maybe, on and off. But I’m never very far away, you know that. When you get back here, I’ll just come—”

“Hey, Paul… Buddy… Listen, if anything happens…”

“We don’t talk that way, come on.”

“Paul, if anything goes wrong, you look after Vanni, huh? I think she always liked you best anyway.” Then he laughed. “We’re going to kick some ass here, don’t you worry.”

“I’m not worried. Hey, we don’t want to steal this time from your wife. We’re going to step out, leave the two of you alone, okay?”

“Thanks, buddy. Paul? Buddy? Hey, you know I love you, man.”

“Hoo-rah,” Paul said. “You hang in there. Give ’em hell! Vanni—get back here,” Paul said.

And like an exodus, everyone left the great room for the kitchen so that Vanessa and Matt could have what was left of the air time alone. From the kitchen they could hear the voices in the background. Walt quietly passed out drinks while they whispered. “He looks good,” Jack said.

“For a jarhead,” the general joked. “Tommy was supposed to be here. Late again.” Then to Mel he said, “That was perfect, what you did. Getting the ultrasound before this video conference.”

“They didn’t have anything like this when I served,” Preacher said. “This is good, this Internet conference. Too bad they can’t talk every day or every week.” He draped an arm around Paige’s shoulders, pulling her near. Clearly he wouldn’t be able to bear being away from her, separated like Matt and Vanessa.

After a few minutes had passed, there were no more voices coming from the other room. Paul had seemed to be on alert and it was he who first poked his head around the corner. The screen was dark and Vanessa sat in front of it with her head lowered to her folded arms, crying.

Paul approached her. “Vanni, come on, Vanni,” he said, down on one knee, his arms enfolding her. She turned in his arms and with her head on his shoulder, she just wept. “Oh, honey, that was hard, wasn’t it? But he’s okay—you saw that! He’s tough, Vanni. He’s going to be fine. He’ll be home before you know it.”

She lifted her head and met Paul’s eyes. “At least I held it together while he was online,” she said.

“Yeah, you did good. Come on,” he said, pulling her to her feet. “Let’s get your face washed. I don’t want you all upset. We don’t want to get the little critter upset. Come on,” he said, arm around her shoulders, leading her away from the computer, down the hall toward the bathroom.

Walt was the next one out of the kitchen. “It’s probably going to take her a few minutes,” he said. “I knew the whole thing would be good and bad all at the same time. But with all of you here, she’ll come around quicker, enjoy herself, have some good feelings just from seeing him again, seeing he’s okay.”

The front door crashed open and Tommy rushed in. “Did I make it?” he asked, eyeing the gathering.

“You missed it, son. Where’ve you been?”

“Aw, man, I’m sorry, Dad. I tried to get back….”

Walt walked toward his son, frowning. The boy was as tall as his dad, though leaner. He had a split lip and some dirt on his clothes. “What’s this? You’ve been fighting?”

“Not really,” Tommy said. “Maybe a little bit. Dad, I’m sorry I missed him. I’ll explain later, but I promise, I’m not going to let you down again. I promise.”

“Just tell me one thing—did this have anything to do with Jordan Whitley?”

Tommy grinned. “Yeah. And he looks worse than me. I’m through with him, Dad. Honest.”

“Well, that’s something, I guess.”

Paul was spending a few nights at the general’s house following the video conference while Walt was in Bodega Bay, and he decided to do little big-brothering. He found Tommy in the stable, mucking the stalls. “Hey, pal,” he said. “How’s it going?”

“Okay. What’s up?”

“I’m staying out of the kitchen. Believe me, Vanessa doesn’t want my attempts at food preparation. I was wondering something…”