Second Chance Pass (32 page)

For Vanni and Paul, Joe designed a larger version of Paul’s house, but with changes that although slight, gave it a different appearance altogether, so it didn’t look like a copy and was better suited for a growing family. The features they loved were there—the wide hallways, spacious rooms, high ceilings, large garage. And it had to have more bedrooms—Paul was going to fill her with babies.

He spent the night in the cabin, then in the morning he drove out to Jack’s property—to the parcel he’d given to Brie and Mike. It wasn’t far from Jack’s—they’d extended his road another quarter of a mile to their homesite. Paul had already set up shop and was hiring construction crew, quite successfully. He had the requisite trailer for his office and a Porta Potty for his crews. Now that there were plans, Paul could have the foundation poured. The septic tank would go in and the well dug. Then the plumbing and frame and wiring. “Then it’s game on,” Joe said. “Let’s go walk your property at the general’s,” he said.

This, too, was ready to move. The first order of business
was the grading of the road, which would be a three-quarter-mile stretch, but no major excavation would be required, no trees to bring down. In ball cap and jeans, Joe paced off the perimeters of the foundation and pounded in some temporary stakes with red flags on them. He took a can of spray paint and outlined the house on the ground, bringing it up close enough to the river for a nice backyard view from a deck, far enough away to avoid problems with possible flooding. “I have indoor sprinklers in the design, which I recommend, but understand that in a wildfire, they aren’t going to do the job. It’s a precaution for a home fire.”

“I understand,” Paul said.

“You can pour both foundations at the same approximate time. Do Brie and Mike’s first, since they have a bun in the oven, then get over here and pour yours. You can get started on the extension at the bar and as soon as Preacher’s baby is a couple of weeks old, we can relocate them to the cabin. We’ll tear out some walls—and you should move fast on that one to keep the bar working. You can stagger your crews—move the framers from the Valenzuelas’ property to this property, et cetera.”

“I’ve built more than one house at a time.” Paul smiled.

“I know. Just talking,” he said, smiling back.

“We’re going to need finalized architectural drawings,” Paul said.

“Two weeks?” Joe asked.

“Perfect,” Paul said, sticking out his hand. “I’ll order concrete.”

Joe shook it. “Pleasure doing business with you. I’m going to head out.”

“You want to say goodbye to Vanni?”

“Tell her I said goodbye and thank-you, would you?”

“You know, this is probably none of my business—but
this thing we’re not talking about? It might help your case a little if you could just tell Vanni you’re sorry.”

Joe shook his head in a silent laugh, looking down. He put his hands in his pockets. “I couldn’t do that, pal,” he said. “Not honestly.” He took a breath. “The only thing I’m sorry about is how it turned out.”

Paul was quiet for a long moment. Then he said, “Gotcha.”

Vanni had nursed the baby and put him down for the night. She heard her dad walk down the hall to his room at about nine-thirty, but her husband didn’t come to bed. Finally she went to the great room to see if he was hooked on something on television. She found him sitting forward in a chair, his elbows on his knees, a drink in his hands.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

He sat back and patted the chair beside him. “Thinking.”

“Is it keeping you up?” she asked, sitting.

He gave her a wan smile. “Do you know how great my life is? How happy I am?”

She put her hand on his knee. “You’ve done a real good job of making sure I do, Paul. I’m just as happy.”

“I want to tell you something. Think back a few months. A long while back, the first night you surprised me by walking into Jack’s. When all the boys got together to hunt and I had no idea you were here, in Virgin River, and you surprised me. Remember?”

“I do.” She smiled.

“That very night, overcome just by seeing you, I might’ve had one too many.”

“I think you told me that, Paul,” she said.

“I got tanked. And I made this drunken confession to Jack, about how I’d seen you first but Matt got to you ahead of me. No one else heard me, thank God. But Jack
knew what was going on. Later, then, after Matt was killed and the baby was born and a certain pediatrician was chasing you, Jack called me one night and told me not to be an idiot. He said if I wanted you I’d better get down here and find a way to say so.”

“He did? I never knew that.”

“And I came as fast as I could. Because if I hadn’t, I was going to lose you. And I loved you. God, I loved you.” He took a breath. “Before I ever held you or kissed you, I was so in love with you, sometimes it was awful. I try to imagine what it might have felt like if we’d been a couple, for even one night, and you didn’t want me anymore.”

“You don’t have to ever imagine that, sweetheart,” she said.

“I have what every man wants—a woman he’d die for. A woman who owns him, every piece of him. I really never thought I’d be this lucky….”

“Stop,” she said. “Don’t go crazy on me.” She put her hand along his cheek. “Just pick up your dirty underwear like a good boy and I’ll reward you in many remarkable ways.”

But Paul wasn’t laughing. “Did you see my friend Joe? The guy is in pain. He’s dying. He had one night with a woman who obviously fulfilled every wish buried in his subconscious. She put a hex on him, then rejected him. Did you see him?”

She took a deep breath. “Paul, his timing was bad. We can’t help that….”

“So was hers. I’ve known the man for fifteen years. He might be smooth, but he’s not disreputable. He wouldn’t take a woman to bed if she didn’t want to go. If Nikki had expressed the least hesitation, he wouldn’t have touched her. I know him. I know him as well as I knew Matt.”

“So? She made a mistake. What are you getting at?”

“She shouldn’t make a bigger one,” he said. “They just don’t come any better than Joe. There must have been some reason she said yes that night.”

“I’ve sent the little notes from him. She hasn’t changed her mind. You want me to talk to her?”

“No, honey. I’m going to talk to her.”

“I don’t know if you should do that,” she said nervously.

“But I’m going to. I’ve been thinking about it all day and I’m calling her. Right now. You want to listen in or go put your head under the pillow?”

She sucked in a breath. “I’ll listen,” she said. “But please, don’t let on I’m here. I feel really strange about this.”

“I want you to trust me,” he said, picking up the phone. He dialed the number. “I have to do this.”

Nikki could no doubt see the number on the caller ID because she picked up. She answered, “Hi, sweetie.”

“It’s not sweetie,” Paul said. “It’s Paul.”

“Oh. Hi.”

“I have to talk to you. About Joe.”

“I thought we settled that,” she said.

“Yeah, I guess it’s pretty much settled for you,” Paul said. “Not quite settled for me. Just for my peace of mind, Nikki, I have to ask you something. See, I’ve known Joe a long time now and I’ve trusted him with my life. Literally. I went to war with the guy. I’ve seen him with women, and this guy—he’s always been a classy guy. I’ve never known him to treat a woman badly….”

“He didn’t treat me badly, Paul,” she said softly.

Paul let out a breath. “Well, thank God. That’s a relief. I was afraid, I don’t know… Afraid I didn’t know him as well as I thought I did. I mean, you were really upset—and then I found Joe to be just as upset to hear you left
here in tears. He wouldn’t tell me what went on between you two, but he insisted he hadn’t done anything to hurt you.”

“It’s okay, Paul. You can let this go.”

“Good. Because I just couldn’t stand to think he’d treat a woman wrong. He’s not that kind of guy. You’ll be glad to know, finally he seems to be putting this whole thing behind him. It was killing him for a while there, but I think he’s getting better.”

“Better?”

“Yeah, a little bit. Trying to get over it. Over you. He was up here this weekend. There were architectural plans he had to bring me—I’m going to build three of his houses. Vanni told me he was writing notes, leaving messages. I guess he had it pretty bad, but it’s not like Joe to bother a woman who doesn’t want to be bothered. You’ll probably be shed of him pretty soon. Maybe you already are.”

“Oh,” she said quietly. “Good. Then.”

“I don’t exactly know what has him so jammed up. I’m sure he gets the message by now. That you don’t want anything to do with him. Ever. Again.”

“Maybe he wanted to apologize. It’s not necessary,” she said.

Paul hmmed. “No, I don’t think so. I suggested he might get some points with Vanni if he said he was sorry. He said he couldn’t do that—he wasn’t sorry. Just disappointed by how it turned out.”

“I thought it was best,” she said. “After all, it was brief…”

“Yeah. God forbid something like that should ever happen again…”

“Paul, I gave a man five years and he was lying to me the whole time. He kept saying he needed more time before making a commitment and then finally admitted he’d never
get married, never have a family. It was like I didn’t know him at all.”

“I know, Nikki. That was bad, I’m sorry. My friend Joe? He’s not that kind of guy. A lie would turn into acid in his mouth. If he wasn’t going the distance, he’d say so.”

“It’s better this way. Better to let it go now, before… I wouldn’t want to go through something like that again.”

“I guess you know what you’re doing. Joe, he’s still a little roughed up, but he’ll get over it. You probably know better than anyone how that feels, right? Trying to get over someone?” He lifted his eyebrows toward his wife.

“Yes,” Nikki said.

“There you go. He said we all have to move past it, get it behind us. That’s what you want, right? For him to forget about you?”

“Yes,” she said, her voice weak and quivering a little.

“God, I hope you’re right about this, Nikki,” he said. “That this is a man to put behind you. I did that once, you know. Different circumstances—I was up against Matt. But I fell in love with Vanni so fast it was ridiculous. No one would believe it—that I took one look at her and man, it just hit me. When Matt made his move, I backed right off. I let her go, I wasn’t going to compete with my best friend for a woman. I have to tell you—I started to regret that ten minutes later. For years all I could think was why the hell didn’t I walk right up to them and say, ‘Out of my way, buddy—I saw her first!’”

Silence answered him.

“But I guess we don’t have much in common there, huh? There was no competition, except maybe Joe was competing with a rotten memory. If there was anything about him you thought was worth a damn, you never would have let him get away. So. I just hope you’re right….”

She whimpered a little bit. “It was one night….”

“I think maybe the crazy fool loves you,” Paul said.

“That’s impossible,” she said, but there were tears in her voice.

“Nikki,” Paul said softly. “You said yes, right?”

“Of course I said yes,” she sniffed. “He didn’t
force
me. He didn’t even insist. He’s not that kind of guy.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. You know, it’s probably none of my business, but it just doesn’t make sense to me—two people trying to get over each other because something good happened, something both of you wanted to happen. But I guess you know what you want. And don’t want. Huh?”

“I don’t want to get hurt again.”

“I hear ya, Nikki. I understand, I do. You’ll be strong enough to take a chance again someday. When you are, I’m sure you’ll stumble on a good man. There are probably a million of ’em out there. Just wanted to be sure nothing bad happened.”

It took her a minute to respond. “Nothing bad happened.”

“That’s good enough for me. You take care, Nikki.”

He hung up the phone and looked at his wife. He smiled.

“That was very sneaky,” Vanessa said.

T
he dry heat of July brought passionately anticipated action to the Middleton family—labor pains. Preacher was back and forth from the kitchen to his quarters no less than every ten minutes. “How is it now?” he asked Paige.

Paige was reading to Christopher. “John, it’s going to be a very long day for you if you can’t relax a little. I’m still having contractions ten minutes apart.”

“But it’s going to be today, right?”

“This could go on for twenty-four hours,” she said. “They’re not real hard.” Then she turned to Chris. “Why don’t you read this page, honey. You can do it.”

“’Kay,” he said, and proceeded to read, but whether from identifying the words or from memory, it was hard to tell.

Preacher went back to the kitchen, his head hanging. “Still ten minutes,” he told Jack.

“I have an idea, buddy. Let’s get some food ready for dinner tonight and tomorrow night, just in case you don’t feel like cooking. I’ll hold down the fort.”

“Should we call Mel again?” he asked.

“No,” Jack said. “We should let her catch a nap, in case she has to be up all night with you.”

“Okay,” he said.

Jack chuckled under his breath. His own experience with his firstborn had definitely lacked this edge of anticipation, it having come upon him so fast. Maybe the nice slow buildup wasn’t so great after all. Preacher was going to be a wreck by the time this baby finally made an appearance.

As the afternoon dragged out, and the contractions not any closer together, Jack gave Brie a heads-up when he saw her. “I have a feeling I might need some child-care assistance at the house,” he said. “If Paige needs Mel during the night, can you and Mike come out to my place, stay with the kids, so I can stay here with Christopher? When Mel’s working at Doc’s, I like to be close by.”

“Sure. How’s Paige doing?”

“Early labor. She’s been trying to rest to save her strength, but I think Preacher’s driving her crazy,” Jack said.

“Aw, he’s excited.”

“Excited doesn’t touch it.”

Jack was jotting all this down in a letter for Rick, between serving drinks and meals to his customers. He thought he was turning out a very humorous running commentary on Preacher’s nerves, Paige’s slow progress and growing annoyance with her husband. The dinner hour came and Preacher, who had never held frequent or long conversations with patrons, told everyone who came in that her pains were down to eight minutes apart.

Mel arrived, carrying Emma and holding David’s pudgy little hand as he toddled in the door. He spied Jack and said, “Da!”

When Jack saw her, his eyes grew warm. It hadn’t changed for him since the first day she’d walked into his bar. She was so damn beautiful, so sexy, even with a baby
on her shoulder and a toddler in hand. And though she was still complaining about her figure since Emma was born, the jeans she was wearing sure didn’t look any larger to him—those jeans just set him on fire. He was pretty sure that when she was old and gray, he still wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off her.

He walked around the bar and crouched for David. He put out his hands. “Come on, cowboy. Come to Dad.”

Mel let go of the hand and watched as Davie literally flew into his father’s arms. She laughed at his eagerness, his clumsiness, and her eyes glowed as he fell into his father’s arms. “So,” she said, “I heard someone’s trying to have a baby around here.”

“I hope you were able to get a little nap,” he said.

“I slept for a couple of hours. It was nice. Can you hang on to him so I can just look in on Paige?” she asked.

“Sure. Take your time.”

When Mel got to their quarters, she found Paige pacing back and forth. “How’s it going?” she asked.

“I’m trying to walk them down to five minutes,” she reported. “But I’m not moving very fast. It was like this with Christopher. A long early labor, all in my back.”

“That’s the way some women like to do it,” Mel said. “Are you uncomfortable?”

“Nah, not really. I can walk and talk through them. If they’re no different after dinner, I’m going to bed early and see if I can get a little sleep, but with John asking me every five minutes how I’m doing, that could be hard.”

She smiled. “Please, clear soup for dinner. Nothing heavy. Just on the off chance you get sick during delivery. That happens to some women during transition.”

“I had John make up some broth and Jell-O.”

“Good idea. May the Force be with you.” Mel laughed.

Sensing it could be a middle-of-the-night event, Mel
got her children and herself settled early. At about ten o’clock she roused briefly as she felt her husband slip in beside her. She instinctively turned into his waiting arms, cuddling up against him. He slipped his big hand under the T-shirt she wore and she said, “You have to let me sleep. You know Preacher is going to get me up soon.”

“I’ll let you sleep,” he said, kissing her brow, pulling her close.

“Did you happen to get an update as you were closing the bar?”

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “We’re still at eight minutes. And Preacher is growing weak from the strain.”

She laughed in spite of herself. “God, this is going to be a fun one,” she said. “Now snuggle me close and put me to sleep.”

The call came at midnight. When she heard the phone ring, she rolled over and moaned. “I knew she was going to do this. Some women just aren’t happy unless they labor all night.” Jack lifted the phone and passed it to her. “Evening, Paige.”

“I’m sorry, Mel,” she said. “I’m at five to seven minutes now.”

“How do you feel?”

“Pretty good, but they’re getting nice and strong, lasting a minute.”

“Hmm. It sounds like I might have time to nurse Emma while I wait for Mike and Brie to come.”

“Sure,” Paige said. “I’ll meet you across the street in a half hour. How’s that?”

“It’s a date. If anything changes, call me. I can always rush and get there in ten minutes.”

They were in motion, the midwife and her partner. While she headed for the nursery, Jack called his sister and put fresh linens on the bed so the babysitters could crawl
in and sleep. No reason for them to sit up all night. And while no one expected Jack to be up all night, it was his routine to be awake and available when Mel was delivering at Doc’s house. About thirty minutes later, they pulled up to the bar. They kissed goodbye and Mel went to Doc’s while Jack went into the bar, which was lit up like a church.

Preacher was pacing. “What took you so long?” he asked.

Jack looked at his watch. “We’re right on time, Preach.”

Paige stood up from the table. “Jack, I’d like you to pour John a shot.”

“No, baby. I want to be alert.”

“John, you’re way beyond alert. And I don’t think I can take another minute. Do as I say!”

Jack went behind the bar. “My man, when a woman is having a baby, you do everything she says, and you do it fast.” He brought down a bottle. “Just a little something to take the edge off.”

“I don’t know,” Preacher said.

“Preach, you’re six-four and weigh at least two-fifty. A shot isn’t going to do nearly enough good. Mel should probably have you on Xanax.” He tipped the bottle of Preacher’s preferred whiskey over a glass. Reluctantly, Preacher picked up the drink and threw it back.

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s go.”

“Christopher all tucked in and asleep?” Jack asked.

“He is. He’ll be fine till about seven.”

Jack walked around the bar. He leaned down and kissed Paige on the head. “Have a good delivery, honey,” he said.

She smiled up at him. “I’ll do my best.” Then she dropped back into the chair, holding her tummy as a contraction got her. She started out breathing slowly, then as the pain threshold heightened, she began to pant and her face took on that look. She was starting to struggle. Jack smiled, watching. As the contraction eased, her features
relaxed and finally, taking a deep breath, she smiled up at him. “They’re getting pretty good.”

“You’re doing great,” Jack said, putting out a hand to bring her to her feet.

“Aw, man,” Preacher groaned. He walked over to Paige and swept her up in his arms to carry her to Doc’s.

“Ah, Preach, don’t do that,” Jack said. “The minute she gets to Doc’s, I bet Mel is going to have her walking. It helps speed up the baby.”

“Fine,” he said. “Mel will do what Mel will do, I will do what I will do.” And out the door he went, carrying his wife to have their baby.

Jack’s shoulders shook with laughter. He hoped Mel didn’t knock Preacher over the head with a big club before morning.

Paige’s labor was not fast, but it was efficient and perfect in many ways. It took until three in the morning to get to six centimeters, but then the action picked up. Mel broke her water and by 5:00 a.m., she was almost fully dilated. She managed the discomfort very well.

Preacher, however, grew paler and weaker with every contraction. Before letting Paige begin to push, Mel brought a chair into the room. “John,” she said, “I want you to sit, and if you start to feel the least bit light-headed, put your head between your knees. If you faint, there’s nothing I can do for you—I’m busy with Paige.”

“I’m not going to faint,” he insisted. “I’ve been waiting forever for this.”

“John, you don’t have to stay,” Paige told him. “I’ll be fine.”

“I’m staying,” he insisted.

For a man like Preacher to see his little wife struggle and have pain was obviously torture. He was much more
comfortable in the role of protector. Mel knew immediately that he wasn’t going to be much help.

When Paige finally delivered the baby’s head at 6:00 a.m., Preacher leaned over his wife, took a look and collapsed into the chair with a groan. He put his head between his knees.

“Okay, Paige, pant. Give me just a second, we have a little cord issue. I’m going to be able to handle it fine. There we go—just pant for me, honey.” Mel slipped the cord over the baby’s head easily. “Okay, small push now. We’re there.”

“You sure?” Paige asked.

The baby, not out yet, began to cry. “Hear that? I’m sure. Bring her out, Paige, easy does it.” The baby slid neatly into Mel’s hands and screamed bloody murder. “Oh boy, she’s strong! Listen to those lungs! And big!” She put the baby in her newborn towel, placed her on Paige’s belly to dry her off. That done, she clamped and cut the cord. Preacher stood on shaky legs, watched the cutting of the cord and slid weakly into the chair again, groaning. Mel tried not to laugh.

She rewrapped the baby and passed her to Paige. After a little snuggling, she helped Paige settle her baby to the breast, since Preacher wasn’t going to be able to do it. “John, I want you to keep your eyes up here, on your wife and baby. All right?”

“Why?” he asked.

“Because I still have delivery work to do, there will be blood, and I don’t want you to faint.”

“I won’t faint,” he said.

“You do as I say,” Mel told him.

“Here, John,” Paige said softly. “Look at your girl. Isn’t she beautiful?”

Mel was massaging the uterus when she heard a sound. She looked up over Paige’s raised knees and saw a most
stunning sight. Big old Preacher was resting his lips against the baby’s head and crying his eyes out. Huge tears ran down his cheeks and dropped onto the newborn’s head. He slipped a meaty arm under his wife’s shoulders, holding her and the baby as one, and sobbed.

Remarkable. Paige just smiled and touched her husband’s face with gentle, loving fingers. Mel was moved almost to tears herself by the big man’s emotion. He worshipped his wife, his little family, and he was so grateful, he was overwhelmed. It was so gratifying to help bring a child into a union of such devotion. It was what she lived for.

Her work was not done; the placenta had not delivered. A midwife friend who was older than Mel by twenty years had given her a tip years ago that seemed like sheer magic, yet worked. Mel looked at Paige and said, “Paige, time to let go of the placenta, please.” Then she got back in her position, massaged a little more and, remarkably, the job was done. She shook her head and chuckled to herself. People who didn’t do this all the time would simply never believe it.

Mel finished her work, let the baby suckle awhile to get the uterus contracting and stanch the bleeding. She examined her patient—no stitches necessary—then covered her and took the baby. “Let’s clean her up,” she said softly. “People will want to see her soon.”

Preacher sniffed back his tears, wiped at his face. But when he spoke, his voice was still weak with emotion. “God, Mel—thank you. Thank you so much. You took such good care of her. Of them.”

“They did most of the work. Help me, Preach. Help me wash the baby.”

She unwrapped the newborn and placed her in Preacher’s palms; his large, soft, gentle palms. Mel coaxed him to lower her into the bath and carefully ran a warm cloth over the little body, cleaning her off.

“Look at those big feet,” Preacher said. “Look at that tiny little head.”

“She’s gorgeous.” Mel held the towel. “Right here, Preach,” she said.

Preacher laid the baby in the clean towel and Mel wrapped her. “Take her out in the hall to show Doc. But please, stay upstairs for now. I’m going to do a little cleanup and you can bring her right back in.”

Mel didn’t want Preacher in the room when she handled the cleanup of his wife, the changing of bloody sheets. And she didn’t want him carrying the baby down the stairs in case he got light-headed again. She worked faster than usual. “How are you feeling?” she whispered to Paige.

“Like I’ve been up all night.”

Mel palpated her uterus. “You’re already contracting like mad. That uterus is getting nice and firm.” She smiled at her patient. “He’ll be okay now, I think.”

“Poor John. That was harder on him than me.”

“The bigger they are…” Mel laughed.

Her work was done by 7:00 a.m. Preacher was seated at Paige’s side, holding his baby daughter. Mel went downstairs and stepped out into the fresh, bright morning. She stood on Doc’s porch and heard the sound she loved.
Thwack, thwack, thwack.
Jack was splitting logs behind the bar. She walked across the street.

She leaned on the corner of the building, watching him. Her mind wandered back in time to her first delivery in this town—a one-hundred-percent-successful delivery much like the one she had just assisted. Then, as now, she had crossed the street and watched Jack as he hefted an ax over his head and brought it down. Watched the muscles in his arms and shoulders at work and admired his hard good looks.