“Uh-huh. The whole town is standing by.” When they got to her room, Mel was slightly elevated in the bed, taking a sip of water through a straw. Doc seemed to be limping a little more than usual as he entered the room. He went straight to her and did something he’d never done before. He leaned over the bed and kissed her on the forehead. “You’re a lot of trouble, Melinda. I knew from the start you would be.”
“I keep you young,” she said tiredly.
“You do, at that. But I think you’re wearing Jack down.”
Taking care of the Sheridans was a family and community affair. Brie and Mel’s sister Joey took care of the babies so Jack could go to the hospital; Paige and Preacher made sure there was food ready for every evening meal. At the end of the day, Mike came to the house to be with his wife and wait for Jack to come home with his daily report. Jack got up very early to make that long drive over the mountains to Redding, stayed all day and came back to Virgin River late, after dark.
On the fourth such day, Brie sat in the big leather chair holding Emma close with her bottle while Mike was in the rocker with David and his bottle. The door opened and Jack came in, looking exhausted, carrying his little cooler that would contain the breast milk Mel had pumped. Brie lifted her chin in greeting and he lifted a hand in response, then went to the kitchen. It was easily six hours of driving each day, but he wouldn’t even consider not being with Mel every day. Brie had been very worried about him being sleep deprived as he drove over the pass.
Once Brie and Mike had their charges settled, they joined the gathering in Jack’s kitchen and found that Preacher had dinner almost complete and was setting up a couple of drinks for himself, Mike and Jack. “How’s our girl?” Brie asked.
“Feisty,” he said. “They’re going to kick her to the curb tomorrow. She’s giving them fits. Nurses make lousy patients.”
“If you don’t mind me saying so, you look whipped,” Brie said.
“Thank you, precious,” he said, lifting his glass. “Whoa, that helps. My thanks.” He put the glass down and said, “I’m going to go kiss my kids and I’ll be right back.”
The kitchen was quiet for a moment. Preacher broke the silence with, “I can’t believe how close we came to losing her.”
“It’s very unusual for something like that to happen,” Brie said, trying to reassure him, given Paige’s pregnancy.
“It reminds you, though, what a serious business this is.” He pulled Paige close. “We have to take this real serious.”
“I’m not going to let you do this, John,” Paige said. “We had a close call, everything is okay now, and we’re not going to panic. We’re going to enjoy this pregnancy. God knows we worked hard enough for it.” She turned to her son. “You about done there, buddy? Ready for your movie?”
“Yeah, Mom,” he said sweetly.
“Let me,” Preacher said. “Come on, cowboy,” he said, taking his little hand. “I’ll help you get comfortable.” As he walked out of the kitchen Preacher was heard to ask, “What are we watching tonight?”
“Incredibles,” Chris said.
“Don’t we watch that almost every night?”
“Almost.”
Joey looked at Paige. “He’s a wonderful father, isn’t he?”
“Just amazing. I still can’t believe how lucky I’ve been.”
When Jack came back to the kitchen, Joey said, “I’ve been wanting to ask you something, Jack. How’s Mel with the hysterectomy?”
He dropped his gaze and lifted his drink. “Disappointed,” he said. “For all her bitching about being pregnant all the time, she actually wanted to be pregnant some more. It defies understanding. She carried on about Emma coming too soon, threatened me with certain death if I did it to her again, kept reminding me how old I am, and yet—”
There was a moment of silence.
“Being able to reproduce is a funny thing,” Brie said. “We just want to control it.”
“And in my experience, it’s one of those forces of nature with a mind of its own,” Jack said. “When you want it, it doesn’t come. When you’d like to take a break, it’s all over you.”
“How are you with it?” Joey asked him.
“You’re kidding me, right?” He lifted his drink. “I’m so grateful to have Mel come through this, it doesn’t even cross my mind. Besides, I have two healthy kids. I’m a rich man. A very rich man.”