The next face she saw was Preacher’s. “Hi,” he said softly.

She reached for his hand. “Where’s Christopher?” she asked sleepily.

“He’s with Mel and Jack. They’re staying at the bar till I get back. I’ll keep him in my room through the night and bring him with me to pick you up in the morning.”

“Hmm,” she said.

“Paige, are you awake enough for me to tell you some things? I want to tell you without the boy.”

“Hmm,” she said. “I think so.”

“Here’s how it is. Wes was arrested. Paige, they found drugs on him. They wouldn’t tell me what, just that he’s going to be arraigned for a couple of felonies—battery, possession, defying an order of protection. He might make bail but he’s going to have to go to trial. Judge Forrest promises he’ll at least get a fast trial—and believe me, if I have to stand over you twenty-four hours a day until he’s in prison, I’m willing to do that. I’m so sorry I let this happen to you.”

“You did all you could, John,” she said sleepily.

“He’s not getting off this time. You did it, Paige. Okay? You with me, Paige?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m with you.”

“Then…” He stumbled. “Then, when he’s convicted and locked up, you can go home if you want to. Get your custody and divorce. He can’t get custody if he’s in prison. No ifs. Felons can’t get custody. He can’t keep you from getting a divorce.”

“Home?” she asked.

“You can do whatever you want.”

“How long will he be in jail?” she asked.

“No idea,” he said. “Your lawyer is trying to get them to add attempted murder to his charges, given the baby, but that’s a real stretch. Paige, I’m awful sorry about the baby.”

“That baby,” she said weakly. “I tried, but it just didn’t have a chance.”

He put his big hand softly against her tummy, the most personal he’d ever been with her. “I know you did. It wasn’t your fault. It was more my fault than yours.”

“John, stop saying that. Of all people, it was least of all your fault.”

“You’re as good as free.”

“Free. I won’t know how to act.”

“Think you’ll want to go back to L.A.?” he asked.

“I don’t know. So many bad memories.”

“If you want a place to sit for a while, while you think things over, you can have that room that smells like bacon in the morning for as long as you want.” Then very quietly, almost to himself, he said, “For life, if you want.”

“I could help out,” she said. Eyes closed, she smiled sleepily. “I could do dishes.” Her eyelids fluttered a little, but she couldn’t keep them open.

He brushed her hair back. “Jack wants to build a house,” he said. “It’s going to take him away from the business. I could always use the help. You and Christopher…”

“Hmm,” she said.

“Okay,” he said. “You’re done. You have to sleep.”

“Hmm.”

He leaned over and gently touched his lips to her forehead. “I’ll be back for you in the morning.”

“Okay.”

He started to leave and she said, “John?”

He turned back to her bed.

“Could I? Stay there until I feel better?”

His chest felt suddenly full, as if it might burst. He tried to tamp down hope, but it was impossible. “Of course. I love having you there. Everyone loves having you there.”

“It’s nice there,” she said, and her eyes closed.

Seven

Paige was once again burrowed into the room over the kitchen, but this time her injuries were not terrible. She had to recover from her D and C by staying off her feet for a couple of days, and although she’d received a bloody nose, it was not broken. While she rested, Preacher watched Christopher. Via long distance, Brie helped line up a lawyer in L.A. to appeal to the court to reverse the order to return Christopher to his father, given his pending trial. Wes Lassiter made bail after three days and went back to Los Angeles, returning to his job before his employer could sniff out the arrest. Preacher was not content to take Lassiter’s lawyer’s word for that—he called Mike Valenzuela, who was happy to check, twice a day if necessary, to be sure that Lassiter was back at his job, hundreds of miles away from Virgin River.

It seemed as though things might calm down, at least until the trial, but then Mel was surprised by a patient she wasn’t expecting. A patient and condition she would never have anticipated.

Doc was off fishing when Mel’s friend Connie came to the clinic. Connie was in her early fifties, a good-natured little redhead who was still recovering from cardiac bypass surgery that she’d had last May. She was almost back to her old self. With her was her niece, Liz. Upon seeing Liz’s face, Mel’s first reaction was to smile brightly, but then, noting that Liz’s eyes were downcast, her smile froze. Mel’s gaze drifted lower to the very slight rounding of her tummy, and she felt her heart plummet. Oh-oh. Then she stole a glance at Connie’s face and saw her friend grimace, then shrug, helpless.

Connie’s sister had sent Liz to her from Eureka last spring, right around the same time Mel had come to Virgin River. March. The reason was that Liz was a handful, too much for Connie’s sister to handle. She’d been reportedly running wild in Eureka. Both Connie and her sister thought Virgin River might calm the girl down, or at least prove to have fewer opportunities for getting in trouble than were available in the much larger town of Eureka. But when Connie had a heart attack in May, Liz was sent home to her mother.

“Hey there,” Mel said cheerfully. This was Mel’s work—she knew how to get beyond the shock, the panic. “Welcome back. How are you?”

“Not totally great,” Liz said.

“Well, it’s good to see you, anyway,” Mel said, reaching out and taking her hand. “I bet you’re here for an exam. Why don’t you come with me.”

Liz let herself be led to the exam room. The girl looked quite a bit different than she had last spring. She came into town looking like a hussie; she wore skirts no bigger than napkins, high-heeled boots, abbreviated tops, belly button ring, glossy lips and thick black mascara on her sexy long lashes—like an ad for Playboy. And at the time she was all of fourteen, a very beautiful, provocative fourteen who looked more like eighteen. No wonder her mother had been terrified. Now she was clad in jeans and a bulky sweatshirt that was pulled down to cover her tummy, but it was still evident she was pregnant. Her makeup was much more natural looking and conservative than it had been, but she really didn’t need it at all. She was lovely. And she actually looked younger today than she had last spring. Younger and more vulnerable.

Rick had taken one look at Liz last spring and went bonkers. Jack and Preacher had been looking out for Rick for years, kind of surrogate big brothers or dads. According to Jack, he’d had a serious talk with Rick about the dangers of intimacy, especially with such a young girl. After Liz went home to her mom, Rick had told Jack that they were no longer seeing each other. Knowing Rick, the kind of young man he was, Mel couldn’t imagine that he would get her pregnant and abandon her. He just didn’t seem like that kind of boy. Mel thought perhaps Liz had wasted no time in finding herself a fella back in Eureka.

“So,” Mel said to Liz. “Want to tell me why you’re here?”

“I’m pregnant. Obviously.”

“Have you been examined by a doctor yet?”

“No. I wasn’t sure I was until…I thought I was just getting fat.”

“Liz, how many periods have you missed?”

She shrugged. “Who knows? I hardly ever got any, anyway. I never knew when I was supposed to.”

“Do you have any idea how far along you might be?”

“I have a perfect idea. Since there’s only been one person. One guy. One time.” She lifted her clear blue eyes and looked directly into Mel’s.

Mel had a brief and delusional hope that Rick had escaped this mess. She asked, “If that’s the case, if you can remember the approximate time of conception, it will help us set a due date.”

“May 7th,” she said, and her eyes grew moist.

Rick, she thought. Damn. Two days before the heart attack that sent Liz home to her mom. And it made her even further along in her pregnancy than Mel was. “Well, first things first. Let’s examine you and see how you’re doing. Can you put on his gown for me? Everything off, bra, panties, the whole bit.”

“I’ve never…I haven’t ever had one of these….”

“It’s okay, Liz. It’s not terrible. I’ll give you a few minutes to undress and when I come back, I’ll explain everything as I go. I promise you’ll be fine. Once you’re sexually active, it’s very important to have regular exams, pregnant or not.”

Even if Liz hadn’t delivered that date of conception, any of Mel’s curiosities would have been quickly answered when she found Connie in the waiting room. “My sister,” Connie said with an ounce of disgust. “She said, she got knocked up in Virgin River, she can go back there and have the baby. You’d think I did it.”

Mel shook her head. “It happens, Connie. Too often.”

“I don’t know which one of them I want to kill most.”

“No killing,” Mel said, reaching out and giving her hand a pat. “Let’s just get them through it and see if they can have their young lives back.”

“Stupid idiots,” Connie said. “What were they thinking?”

Mel sat down beside Connie for a second. “What gives you the impression they were thinking? If they were, they were thinking below the waist. How are you feeling? We don’t want your blood pressure up.”

“Ach, I’m fine. This just took me by surprise.”

“I have a feeling it’s going to take everyone by surprise.”

“How the hell could she not know?”

“Oh, Connie, you’d be amazed at how tight denial can keep those fourteen-year-old tummy muscles.”

“She’s fifteen now. Not that it matters too much.”

Mel heard herself laugh, though humorlessly. “It’s slightly less stunning. Let me take care of my patient while you practice deep breathing. Hmm?”

Liz was already more than five months pregnant. Almost six. She might’ve felt the baby move already, but she wasn’t sure. She thought it was just gas. She thought her breasts were sore because her period was coming. This was so typical of a young girl, especially a young girl who wasn’t getting regular periods. She was oblivious to the changes in her body, combined with an overwhelming desire for it not to be so.

“You’re staying here now?” Mel asked. “With your aunt Connie?”

She shrugged. “I guess so. If she doesn’t just throw me out.”

“You know she wouldn’t do that. Does this mean you’ve decided to have the baby?”

“Yes. What else can I do?”

“At this stage, your options are definitely limited.”

“I’m having it. I can’t do anything else now.” She took in a ragged breath. “This is going to be really bad.”

“How can I help you, Liz?” Mel asked.

She just shook her head miserably. “I don’t think anyone can help me now.”

“Honey, you’re not the first teenager to get pregnant. I won’t kid you—there will be some tough times, getting through this. But you will get through it.”

“I’m just hoping to get through today.”