Virgin River (Virgin River #1)(64)

Then, as the dinner hour approached, so did a heavy and cool summer shower and they ended up at Jack’s, where the drop in temperature had prompted the laying of a friendly fire. Word had apparently gotten out, because the bar was busier than usual—so untypical of a rainy night. Some of her favorite people were present. There was Doc, of course, and Hope McCrea. Ron brought Connie for a little while and where Connie went these days, Joy was nearby with her husband, Bruce. Darryl Fishburn and his parents stopped by and she introduced Darryl as the daddy of her first Virgin River baby. Anne Givens and her husband were there, a couple from out on a big orchard—their first baby was due in August. Preacher treated Joey to his rare smiles, Rick was his usual grinning, adorable self, joking about how the whole family must be gorgeous, and Jack charmed her thoroughly. When he went to the kitchen to get their dinners, Joey leaned close to Mel and said, “Holy crap, is he a hunk or what?”

“Hunk,” Mel confirmed.

They were served a delicious salmon-in-dill-sauce dinner, which Jack ate with them, and Mel regaled her sister with tales of country doctoring, including the two births she had attended on her own.

It was a little after seven when Doc’s pager sent him to the phone in Jack’s kitchen. Then he dropped by Mel’s table. “Pattersons called. The baby seems to be having trouble breathing and is getting a little pale and blue around the gills.”

“I’m going with you,” Mel said. She stood and told Joey, “I delivered that baby and he had a slow start. If I’m late, can you find the cabin?”

“Sure. Want to give me a key?”

Mel smiled at her sister. She kissed her cheek. “We don’t use too many keys around here, sugar. It’s open.”

Mel rode with Doc in his truck, just in case some of the dirt roads had gotten soft from the rain. She didn’t want her BMW stuck in the mud.

They found Sondra and her husband in a state of panic, for the baby did seem to be wheezing. His respirations were accelerated and shallow, but he had no temperature. After a little oxygen, he cleared right up, which did nothing to tell them what was wrong. Mel rocked him for a good long while. Doc sat at the kitchen table and talked to the Pattersons, drinking coffee. “He’s too young for something like asthma. Might be some kind of allergic reaction, a symptom of an infection, or it could be more serious—a problem with his heart or lungs. Tomorrow you’re going to have to take him over to Valley Hospital to the outpatient clinic for tests. I’ll write down the name of a good pediatrician.”

“Is he going to be all right through the night?” Sondra asked tearfully.

“I expect so, but I’ll leave the oxygen. You can drop it off tomorrow. It wouldn’t hurt to spell each other and stay awake, just in case. If you have any problems or you’re worried about him, call me. That little foreign thing of Mel’s isn’t worth a crap on these roads in the rain. Besides, Melinda has company from out of town.”

Two hours later, Doc was ready to take Mel back to her sister.



By eight o’clock, all the patrons had left Jack’s except Joey. Jack had sent Ricky home, Preacher was cleaning up the kitchen, and he brought Joey a cup of coffee and sat down with her again. He asked about her kids, what her husband did, how she liked living in Colorado Springs, and then, “She didn’t know you were coming.”

“No, it was a complete surprise. Though it shouldn’t have been.”

“Your timing couldn’t be better. Something’s been eating at her.”

“Oh,” Joey said. “I guess I thought you knew what was going on. Because she said that you and she…” She stopped and looked into her coffee cup.

“We what?” he asked.

Joey raised her eyes and smiled sheepishly. “She said you kiss.”

“Every time she’ll give in a little.”

“In a place like Virgin River, does that make you a couple?” she asked.

He sat back in his chair, willing the bar to stay empty. “Yeah, something like that,” he said. “With a big hunk of something missing.”

“Look, I don’t know that I have the right…”

“To tell me who ripped her heart out and crushed it under the heel of his boot?” he finished for her.

“Her husband,” Joey said bravely, lifting her chin.

That caused Jack to sit up straighter. Joey hadn’t said ex-husband. “What did he do to her?” he asked, a definite angry edge to his voice.

Joey sighed. In for a penny, in for a pound, she thought. If Mel hadn’t told him, she didn’t want him to know. She was going to be pissed. “He got himself murdered in an armed robbery that he happened into by accident.”

“Murdered,” Jack said weakly.

“He was an emergency room doc. He’d worked an all-nighter and stopped into a convenience store for milk on his way home in the morning. The robber panicked and shot him. Three times. He died instantly.”

“God,” Jack said. “When?”

“A year ago. Today.”

“God,” he said again. He leaned an elbow on the table and rested his head in his hand. He massaged his eyes. “She knows it was today?”

“Of course she knows. She’s been heading for it. Painfully.”

“In L.A.,” he said. It wasn’t a question. “And to think I wanted to punch him in the face a few times for hurting her.”