Temptation Ridge (Virgin River #6)(108)

He stared down at the baby for a second in awe, in wonder, and then he lifted his eyes to Brie’s and broke into a huge smile. “She doesn’t feel like anything!” he said softly.

“I know. It takes some getting used to.” She sat down right beside Art, just in case he needed her.

“Can I get you something to drink, Luke?” Mike asked. “And Art, when you’re done holding the baby?”

“I’ll hold the baby,” Art said. And then very quietly he said to her, “Shh. Don’t let the bedbugs bite.”

That dug into Luke. It left him speechless for a moment, seeing Art so tender and sweet with the baby, echoing Shelby’s words. Then he recovered himself and said, “Ah, no thanks, Mike. But we did have another reason for coming to visit. Me and Art, we might need a little advice.”

“Sure,” Mike said, sitting down. “What can we do?”

Luke sat forward a little in his chair. “I haven’t explained the details about how Art and I were introduced,” he began. To curious townsfolk, he had said that Art “turned up” and could use some work. So he told the real story, from finding him sleeping in one of the cabins, a black eye, on the run, to how he gave him shelter for chores. Then he ran down his visit to Eureka, to the grocery store and the group home. “Art’s mother’s gone now and he doesn’t want to go back to that group home, doesn’t want to work for Stan at the grocery store, and I’d like him to stay where he is. He’s a good friend and a big help. But we don’t want to break any rules or laws. I need to know who to talk to, how to proceed, so we do it right.”

Mike said, “Whew. Complicated.”

“If he has to go back to a group home, it can’t be that one. And if there has to be a next one, I’ll visit him every day to be sure it’s all right, if I have to. I’d really like to make arrangements for him to stay in Virgin River where he’s pretty happy. But we have to do it right.”

Brie gave her attention to Art and very gently asked, “Art, how old are you now?”

“Thirty years old. November seventeen. We had a cake, me and Luke and Shewby.”

“Did you earn money at the grocery store?”

He nodded.

“And did you sign your paychecks so they could be cashed?” Again he nodded. “Did you sign any other checks?” He nodded again. “And who did you give the checks to?” Brie asked him.

“Shirwey or Stan,” he said.

“And did they give you money?”

He smiled and nodded. “Fifteen dollars every week.”

“Okay, Art—do you happen to know—are you a ward of the state? A ward of the court?”

He furrowed his brow.

Brie, a former Sacramento prosecutor and currently a consultant to the Humboldt County D.A.’s office, looked at her watch and then turned her attention to Luke. “I can run this by the district attorney, but here’s my guess—Art is a thirty-year-old man. An adult. He might be collecting social security benefits because his parents are deceased and he’s disabled. He could be in a group home that’s subsidized by the state through social services, but if he’s not a ward of the state, he’s not obligated to stay there. If he leaves, the subsidy ends and he gives a change of address for his benefit checks. The D.A. can find out his status.

“That other matter,” she went on, “should probably be turned over for investigation. I can still get the D.A. on the phone. Do you have some names for me?”

Luke pulled a piece of paper out of his jacket pocket—names, addresses and phone numbers for Shirley and Stan—and handed it to Brie.

“Mike?” she asked, standing. “You’re in charge.”

“Sure,” Mike said, but he waited until Brie left the room before he very casually and unobtrusively moved himself to the chair near Art, just in case there was a reason to be close, though Art was doing great with the baby. He balanced his elbows on his knees, clasped his hands together and leaned toward Art. “So, Art. That your first baby?”

Art grinned. “Uh-huh. Is it your first baby?”

“It is my very first. We did very good for our first, wouldn’t you say?”

“Very good,” he agreed. “I like how her hair stands straight up like that.” Then he focused his eyes on Mike’s. “I can stay with Luke now?”

“Everything’s going to work out fine,” Mike said. “You asked the right person. Brie knows everything about everything.”

Twenty minutes passed and Art didn’t tire of holding the sleeping baby at all. Then Brie came back into the room. “Well, it’s all good. Art can live wherever he wants to. You’ll have to go to Social Services and collect copies of some of his vital papers—birth certificate, social security benefit change, new picture ID in case he ever wants to travel via airlines, a whole bunch of stuff. He should start receiving his benefit checks a few weeks after you complete that. If you want a subsidy for giving him housing…”

“I don’t need that,” Luke said immediately.

“Rethink that—health care is part of the subsidy and that’s important. Unless he becomes your dependent and you can put him on your military health care. In any case, you’ll have to apply to either one. A little paperwork will tidy things up.” Then she grinned. “Okay, a lot of tiresome paperwork.”