Second Chance Pass (22 page)

“God, you’re incredible… After what I tried to do to you!”

He smiled at her. “I was wrong to call you when I got back to Grants Pass. It set up a series of events that were unfair to you. But I remember it so damn well—I was in a lot of pain. It was a bad, bad time for me. That night, I was a pretty miserable, desperate guy and you got me through a rough spot. You were kind to me. Sympathetic and sweet. Loving. At the time, I was very grateful. I wouldn’t be a gentleman if I didn’t tell you that.”

She leaned against him, the tears dry now, and he put his arms around her in comfort. She sighed. “I thought I loved you, that I could make you happy if I had a chance,” she said. “I didn’t lie about that.” She lifted her head and looked up at him. “You’re an easy man to fall for.”

He tightened his arms a bit. He knew something about love now. It filled him up inside, made him feel like the luckiest man on the planet to have Vanessa. He would do anything for her, and if she had come to him with another man’s baby and asked him to take her with that burden inside her, he wouldn’t even have to think about it.

“Is there anything you need?”

“Yeah,” Terri said with a sad little laugh. “I need to find a man like you. Then I’ll be set.”

He sat with her for a long while, his arms around her, giving what small comfort he could. He dropped a tender kiss on the top of her head. “You’ll find the right man,” he said. “And you’ll be a good mother. This will work out.”

“Paul, I’m sorry if I hurt you, if I complicated your life. It was so selfish of me….”

“We’ll get past that, no problem. Desperate times sometimes bring out desperate measures—I’m not angry. And I know a really good pediatrician, if you’re looking for one…”

V
anessa had just finished nursing the baby when the doorbell at Paul’s house rang. Holding the baby, she went and glanced out the window beside the door. There stood Carol, looking every bit the chic and sophisticated businesswoman she always did. Vanni opened the door somewhat reluctantly.

“I didn’t know if you’d be here,” Carol said. “I didn’t want to call. I wanted to see you and I wasn’t sure you’d agree.”

Vanessa opened the door. “I haven’t been in touch, Carol, because I thought we could use some time to think things through. Both of us.” Vanni held the door open. “Come in, since you’re here.”

“Is Paul at home?” she asked, stepping across the threshold.

“Not at the moment.” She looked at her watch. “I guess he should be coming soon.”

“I’m sorry, Vanessa,” Carol said uncomfortably. “Lance is furious with me. Terrified we won’t see much of the baby because of what I did.”

“Come in and sit down,” Vanni said, leading the way
to the dining room. She put Mattie in his bouncy seat on the table and pulled out a chair. “So,” she said bravely. “Lance didn’t like that little meeting you tried to arrange?”

Carol was caught looking around at Paul’s house. By the rather surprised expression on her face, maybe she wasn’t expecting anything quite so beautiful, so tasteful. Maybe she thought Paul made his home in a construction trailer?

“Carol?” Vanni asked.

She shook her head. “No,” she said. “Not from the beginning. He blustered about it, but I didn’t think I was doing anything harmful. You know we care about Paul for many reasons, but after getting to know Cameron, I just thought the world of him. And… Oh hell,” Carol said. “I didn’t know about you and Paul.”

“That’s exactly why you should make it a policy to ask if your plans are acceptable. Had you asked me in the first place if I’d like you to invite a single man to dinner, I would have asked you to wait on that. I was missing Paul, wanting to see him. Cameron’s a great guy, but I’m not interested in him romantically,” Vanni said. “In the end, both men were hurt. You have to stop doing things like that.”

“I always think I’m helping,” she said. “I always feel like I have the perfect solution. Really—I wouldn’t…” Her voice trailed off. “You and Paul…?”

“That’s right. We’re getting married. I love him. He’ll be a wonderful father to Mattie. You can’t imagine how much he adores this baby. How grateful he is that there’s a little piece left of his best friend.”

“And you’re happy?” Carol asked, her brow furrowed. “This is what you want?”

Vanni reached out a hand to touch Carol’s. “When we lost Matt, the pain was so great for both me and Paul—
for everyone—I didn’t know if I could ever be happy again. I imagine there were times you felt the same way.”

“Sometimes I miss him so much,” she said, and her eyes glistened. She reached for the baby. “May I?”

“Sure. Go ahead.”

Carol picked up the baby and held him against her, her eyes wet. “You have no idea how fast the time goes, and how much goes with it.”

“When Matt had that videoconference before his death, Paul was at the house. God, Matt was so happy to see his face, to talk to him. I think he was as happy to see Paul as me. Carol, this would make Matt happy.”

Carol laughed through some tears. “Oh, I’m sure that’s true. Matt and Paul always spent more time at the Haggerty house than ours. A whole crowd of messy boys with big smelly feet never threw Marianne. She somehow knew just what food to toss at them. Our house was too sterile. I was strict about neatness.”

“Well, I guess if you have three of them, one more hardly matters,” Vanni said.

“They were just boys,” Carol said. “Who can blame them. They weren’t interested in how hard I had to work to buy a certain lamp or how much trouble it was to keep up the landscaping. Before the Haggertys built that big house, while the boys were young, they could barely keep grass in the yard.” She smiled a bit forlornly. “All the boys played soccer.”

Whew, Vanni thought. It wasn’t just that Carol thought Cameron was a better choice for her. She didn’t want to compete with Marianne and her mother-earth qualities. “I suppose Marianne always had cookies when they got home from school, too,” Vanni said, testing out her theory.

“I’m sure. A trampoline, drum set, all kinds of stuff. They let the boys set up a kind of band in the garage—
electric piano, guitars, the whole bit. Noisy enough to split your skull.” She laughed a little. “Not one of them had a lick of talent, thank God. Or else they’d all be tattooed rock stars.”

With his usual fabulous timing, little Mattie barfed curdled milk right down Carol’s back and predictably she said, “Ewww.”

“Oh no!” Vanni shot to her feet, a diaper she used as a burping cloth in her hand. She reached for the baby.

“No, please don’t take him,” Carol said. “Just put that over my shoulder.”

“Carol, it’s silk!”

“Oh the hell with it. There are dry cleaners, you know.”

Vanni wiped her off as well as she could, then draped a clean diaper over Carol’s shoulder. She was pretty stunned that Carol didn’t fling the baby away from her, but she held him close, snuggled him.

Vanni chewed her lip for a second.
Carol’s afraid of another generation that belonged to her by blood preferring the Haggerty family. Because she’s rigid, not warm and fuzzy, and she knows it.
Then Vanni said, “Each one of those Haggerty men turned out to be successful and hardworking. Someone in that house must have insisted on study.”

“Probably Stan. He’s always been business-minded.” She cuddled and kissed the baby. She seemed to have already forgotten about the wet patch running down her back. Facing the thought of being separated from her only grandson had created a shift in Carol. Maybe not a total personality change, but definitely a small conversion.

“There’s something I want to talk to you about,” Vanni said. “It’s early, I know, but Paul and I, when Mattie’s a little older—we want more children. I really want more children. I’d like it if you welcomed them as much as little
Matt. Along with us, of course. I know Mattie’s special, your biological grandson, but it would be so nice if we could count on you and Lance to open your hearts to any of his siblings.” Carol raised startled eyes to Vanni’s face. “Don’t worry—I certainly don’t expect you to turn your beautiful home into a clubhouse. I don’t intend to live that way, no matter how many boys come along. But of course, there could even be girls. I hope so—you’d be perfect for little girls…”

“Do you mean that, Vanessa?” Carol asked, her eyes a bit wide.

“There will be boundaries,” Vanni said. “You have to check with me before you make any plans that affect me, my son, my life, my relationship, my—”

“Of course.”

“If you get any little granddaughters’ ears pierced without my permission, you’ll pay,” Vanessa said, lifting one brow meaningfully.

“Oh heavens, of course I wouldn’t…”

“And you’d better show Paul the gratitude he deserves—he’s
still
a wonderful friend to Matt.”

“I’m sorry I said that,” Carol said. “Thinking a doctor would be better for my grandson…”

Vanni surprised herself with a laugh. “I guess you’re not the first mother or grandmother to try to hook up your loved ones with someone as prestigious as a doctor. And Cameron is wonderful—smart, sensitive, kind. What I’d like you to see is that Paul is at least his equal. And that you have a great gift in Paul as Mattie’s stepfather—because Paul will do everything to keep Matt alive for him. Paul was so loyal to Matt, so committed. That’s something no other man can give us, Carol.”

“I guess I can see that. Are you still angry with me?” she asked.

Vanni shook her head. “You should make amends with Paul.”

“Is he furious?” Carol asked, snuggling the baby close.

“He hasn’t said a word. But still—he deserves much better than he got. Long before I fell in love with him, he was wonderful to me, to your grandson. You should apologize.”

“You’re right, though I dread it,” she said. And as if planned, the door from the garage to the kitchen opened and Paul came in.

“Well, this is a surprise,” he said when he saw Carol. He went first to Vanni, dropping a kiss on her forehead and again, that possessive hand on her shoulder. “How are you, Carol?” he asked.

“Repentant,” she said. “I’m sorry, Paul. I didn’t realize what was happening.”

Paul gave Vanni’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “It’s behind us, Carol. Let’s move on.”

“That’s decent of you under the circumstances. Any chance I can squeak in another attempt at dinner before you leave town again?”

“I’m afraid that isn’t going to work out,” he said. “We have plans and I’d rather not cancel them. But we’ll be back next week and try again then. Of course you’re always welcome in Virgin River—you know the general would make you welcome anytime.”

Vanessa frowned, not knowing they had any plans before leaving town. She wondered if maybe Paul was more angry than he’d allowed to show.

“I guess I’ll have to live with that,” Carol said, jostling the baby close to her.

“I’m going to leave you women to your visit. I need a shower,” he said, heading for the master bedroom.

After about twenty minutes, Vanni felt for the first time
since she met Carol that they had reached an understanding. Pleading the need to get ready to go out—a complete lie—Vanessa escorted Carol out the door. She then carried the baby with her to the bedroom and put him in the port-a-crib. The shower had stopped and she stepped into the master bath. Paul had a towel around his waist and was brushing his teeth. When he saw her he gave a spit and a rinse, wiping his mouth on another towel.

“Something’s wrong,” she said.

He smiled. “Depends on your perspective. And how did you get to know me so well, so fast?”

She shook her head. “I feel like I’ve been with you forever. What is it?”

“It’s not mine. The baby. She’s closer to four months than three.”

“You know this for certain?”

He nodded. “We had an ultrasound. Your friend Cameron made arrangements for me. And he found the situation very humorous, by the way.”

“Wow,” she said, taking that in. “Did he hope you’d learn it was your baby and I’d toss you by the side of the road?”

“No, Cameron’s actually a much more decent guy than that. He has a real soft spot for responsible parents. He didn’t do it for either of us, but for the baby in question. A child deserves parents who care.” He opened his arms. “Come here. Press yourself against me.”

She walked into his arms.

“It was very sad,” he said, holding her close. “She was sorry, of course. I forced the issue of the ultrasound for positive proof even after she swore up and down it wasn’t mine. I threatened with legal action. I had to be sure.”

“You don’t seem relieved,” she said.

“Oh, I am. It wouldn’t have been easy to be a halfway-
decent father, not being partnered with the mother. But the fact is, she isn’t going to have any father for that baby. I don’t know her very well, so I don’t know much about her friends and family, about what kind of support she’ll have. But I know she doesn’t have a man in her life. That has to be hard.”

“It is,” Vanni said, a fact she knew only too well. “Maybe she’ll get lucky like me, and one will come to her.”

“I hope so. There’s no question—she stands a better chance of having that in her future without me in the mix.” He kissed the top of her head. “I can’t ever love anyone but you. I’m all in.”

“But you felt sorry for her. Even after she tried to trick you,” Vanni said.

“I did,” he admitted, holding her, tightening his embrace.

“Out here, you’re all muscle, a hide like leather,” she said, running her hands over his upper arms, shoulders and chest. “You have a soft underbelly. You’re a soft touch.”

“I know. Mush. Nothing but mush.”

“Tell you what I’ll do for you,” she said, looking up at him. “When Mattie’s a little older, I’ll have this IUD removed. We’ll get you started on your own small herd.”

That made him smile. “That would be nice, Vanni.”

“Will you be all right? No regrets now?”

“One regret,” he said, looking down into her eyes. “I wish I hadn’t told your father about it.” She laughed at him. “Now he’s got that on me forever.”

“Well, he tripped you up. I told you—he’s very good. Tom and I learned early not to try to slip anything by him. Welcome to the family.” She grinned. “You didn’t want to try to have dinner with Carol and Lance while we’re still in town?”

“Nope,” he said. “Believe it or not, I’m dead tired. I’d rather spend all day on a roof in the hot sun than do the
kind of business I did today. It wore me down. I feel better now, after a shower—if you’d like to go over there, we can call her, tell her we had a change of plans. Just say the word.”

Vanni thought briefly about explaining to Paul that she and Carol had turned a corner, that much of Carol’s attitude had to do with being afraid she might lose another generation of her offspring to Paul’s nurturing and homespun mom. Maybe someday, she thought. For now it would be enough to give Carol a chance to demonstrate she could stop controlling everything.

“No. I think it might be a good idea if Carol begins to understand she’s not in charge of everyone’s life. We’ll catch up with her early next week.” She smiled. “It isn’t likely I’ll ever pass up a night alone with you. Except,” she said, hearing a little fussing from the bedroom, “I do have another man in my life, and I think he’s drenched.”

Paul and Vanni were back in Virgin River Friday night for another weekend. Paul and Walt turned some hamburgers on the grill and Walt seemed especially jovial. For the first time in such a long time, Vanni asked herself if her dad was ever lonely. It had probably been a long, quiet week—she and Paul out of town and Tom spending every second with Brenda—and it seemed as though Walt was relieved to have them home.

After the dinner dishes were done, Vanni went to settle the baby in bed. Paul found the TV on in the great room, but Walt was out on the deck with a cup of coffee. Paul stuck his head out the back door and said, “Sir, if you can spare a few minutes from that sunset, I’d sure like to talk to you about something.”