Mike was shocked at first, but recovered quickly. “Well, hey,” he said. “Congratulations. I guess everything worked out like it was supposed to.”

“Whew,” Preacher said before he could stop himself.

Mike chuckled. Good for him, he thought. It’s not as though Preacher hadn’t waited long enough to find this kind of happiness. “She’s a great girl, Preacher.”

“Have you seen how good that kid is?” Preacher asked. “Because she is just an awesome mother, that’s why.”

“And she’ll be an awesome wife, too,” Mike said.

“We have a few issues to work out. That business with her ex—it’s still pretty ripe,” Preacher said.

Mike sat forward. “How so?”

“Well, he’s called here. He’s not supposed to, but he’s called.”

“You tell anyone about that?” Mike asked, sitting up straighter.

“Yeah, we got in touch with her lawyer, who will get in touch with the judge. She didn’t talk to him, but I had to tell her. I’m not going to be keeping things back from Paige. He called a few times, thinking she’d talk to him. He wants to know if anything can be worked out, if he can at least have Chris for weekends or something. Jesus, man—I’d be scared to death of that. I can’t imagine that.”

“Paige doing okay?” Mike asked.

He shrugged. “Stirred her up pretty good, but she never caved. The woman is brave. I see it grow, more every day. She refused to get sucked in, even if it did make her shake a little bit. But I gotta tell you—I’d be tempted to take Paige and Chris and run for it if there was any chance the court would turn him over to that brutal lunatic.” He took a sip of his drink and said, “I couldn’t let that happen. I have to do better by Paige and Chris than that.”

“Yeah,” Mike said. “I sure understand.”

“Yeah? You do?”

“Of course I do. You have to take care of your woman. Your family. Whatever that takes.”

“Right after Christmas gets handled, we’re going to call Brie. She knows everything about this kind of monster. And, she knows everyone in California. She’ll have advice.”

“Good idea,” Mike agreed.

“Yeah,” Preacher said. “You know, I never figured myself for a family man. I thought I’d be fishing and cooking it up for the other fishermen in this little bar for the rest of my life. There aren’t any women around here, not to speak of. What are the chances some woman wanders in here and needs me.”

“She more than needs you,” Mike said.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “She does.”

“You and Jack,” Mike said with a bit of a laugh. The two most unlikely candidates for domestic bliss Mike could think of. Jack, because he’d always had a woman somewhere, but never one that held his interest long enough for any kind of commitment. Jack used to say, “Me? Marriage? I highly doubt it’s possible.” And then Preacher, who seemed not to notice women existed.

“Jack,” Preacher said, shaking his head. “You shoulda been here for that,” he said, laughing. “Our Jack—Jesus, I hate to think the number of women he ran through, never lost a minute of sleep.” Preacher looked over at Mike, grinning. “Took Mel about thirty seconds to turn him into a big pile of quivering mush.”

“Yeah?” Mike said, smiling.

“Then it got fun,” he said. “She wasn’t having any of him.”

“Wait a minute—I was up here last year to fish with the boys. Looked to me like he had a lock on her. Next thing I hear, she’s pregnant and he’s going to marry her. I figured he finally ran into one that could trip him up.”

Preacher whistled. “Nah, it didn’t go down like that. Jack went after her like a bobcat goes after a hen, and she just kept dodging him. He rebuilt her whole cabin for her without being asked, and I think maybe it got him kissed. Sometimes she’d come in the bar for a beer and he’d light up like a frickin’ Christmas tree. And she’d leave and he’d head for the shower. Poor bastard. He was after her for months. I guess no one ever said no before.”

They used to all say yes to me, too, Mike thought.

“Now when you look at ’em, it looks like they’ve been together since they were kids,” Preacher said. Then more softly, “And that’s how I feel with Paige. Like she’s been in my life forever.”

Mike thought about that for a moment and then said, “Good for you, man.” Mike finished his drink and stood up. “I’m going to let you get back to your girl. I’ll make it an early night.”

“You sure, man? Because I think Paige is busy putting away Christopher’s gifts.”

“Yeah, I’m going to head back out to the cabin. Hey, dinner was fantastic. One of your best ever.” He carefully stretched out his back, then his arm. “I’ll see you sometime tomorrow, I guess. Thanks for Christmas.”

Funny the way things work out, Mike thought. Jack and Preacher, two men who thought they’d never hook up, totally down for the count. Their women had them both in the palms of their pretty little hands.

Now Mike, he thought he’d hook up. Actually, he thought it would be automatic, which probably led him into marriage without him giving it enough serious thought. All his brothers had fat, happy wives and lots of kids. His sisters had made good marriages for themselves, added to the grandchildren. But he’d screwed up his marriages, thanks to that good old Latino prowess, that itch that has to be scratched real quick, without thinking about the consequences. Well, that was no longer an issue.

But he watched Jack and Preacher and had to wonder about how good it would feel to have someone in his life he’d die for. Damn, what a buzz that would be. He’d never felt that way about a woman.

He was glad, in a way, that it hadn’t found him. He’d hate to have a beautiful, sexy, devoted wife in his bed and leave her wanting. So—the bullets had decided. He’d be on his own from now on. One thing he had discovered, it was a little easier to be alone here than a lot of other places. There were loyal friends and the air was real good. If he kept at it, kept working and practicing, he’d be able to fish and shoot just fine with the left arm and hand.

When Jack was driving back to Virgin River, he got off the road right before they got to town. “Aren’t we going home?” Mel asked.

“One quick stop,” he said. Then he pulled onto that bumpy, narrow road that went up and up until it opened into a clearing with a view that went for miles.

“Why are we here?” she asked.

He reached in front of her and opened the glove box, pulling out a thick document. He handed it to her. “Merry Christmas, Mel. It’s ours. I’m going to build you a house right here.”

“Oh,” she said, a little breathless. “Oh, God,” she cried, tears coming to her eyes. “How’d you convince them?”

“It was easy. I told them it was for you. Do you have any idea how much this town loves you?”

This was what she’d dreamed of when she decided to come here—good country people who would appreciate her help. “They all mean an awful lot to me, too. Then there’s you…”

They sat in the truck for a long time, just looking out over the land, talking about the house. “A great room with a fireplace, a kitchen so big that your entire family can gather in it,” she said.

“A soundproof master bedroom,” he said.

“And master bath with two closets and two sinks,” she supplied.

“Three bedrooms in addition to ours, and maybe a guest house—a one-room guest house with a refrigerator in it, and a roomy bath. In case my father, you know—”

“In case your father what?” she asked.

“Ever needs a place with us. In his old age.”

“Wouldn’t he want to be with one of your sisters?”

“Actually, I think he’s been trying to get away from them for years now.” Jack laughed. “Haven’t you noticed how bossy they are? No, you wouldn’t notice because—” He stopped suddenly and she threw him a look. He thought, What am I? Suicidal? “Because you all get along so well.”

“Nice save,” she said. “What do you need all those bedrooms for?”

“You never know.” He shrugged. “Emma might be having company.”

“As in siblings? Jack, we weren’t supposed to get this one!”

“I know. And yet—”

“That’ll never happen again,” she said. But she shivered.

“What was that?” he asked.

“I can’t help it. Sometimes when I think about that night…That first night…You know, I think she was conceived the second you touched me.”

He was sure that was accurate. “Thus, the bedrooms,” he said.

“And Jack?”

“Hmm?”

“There will be no dead animals on the walls of my house.”

“Awww.”

“None!”

Jack and Mel immediately labored over a floor plan and rendering that they could send to Joe Benson, the Marine architect in Grants Pass, Oregon. After Joe’s first tour in the Corps, he went into the reserves, got his degree and started his business, but then was called up for Iraq, where he served with the others under Jack. He was thrilled to be asked to draw up their plans. In January, the initial plans were complete and Joe brought them down to Virgin River. When he walked into the bar, Mel was there with Jack. Joe had the plans rolled up under one arm and Mel jumped up with an excited gasp.

Joe stood right inside the door, a smile growing on his lips and a wonderful warmth lighting his eyes as he looked her up and down. “Oh, honey,” he said in a breath. “Look at you. You’re gorgeous.”

Mel laughed. These guys, she thought. To the last one, they loved pregnant women. It was very amazing, very sexy. No one could better appreciate that kind of man than a midwife.

He dropped the plans on a table and moved toward her with his hands stretched out, tentative.

“Go ahead,” she said.

His hands were on her belly in no time. “Ah, Mel.” Then he pulled her into his arms to give her a hug. “Ripe and ready,” he said. “You’re so beautiful.”

“I’m right back here,” Jack said from behind the bar.

Joe laughed. “Be right with you, buddy. I have my hands full of woman right now.”

“Yeah,” Jack said. “My woman.”

“You need your own woman,” Mel said. Another one who was, like her husband, a big, handsome man, an angel of a man, and though he was surely over thirty-five, completely unattached.

“I do,” he said. He touched her nose. “Why don’t you find me one?”

“I’ll get right on it,” she said, pulling out of his arms and grabbing the rolled-up plans from the table.

They looked them over together, then Jack and Joe went out to the property to walk it. Before pounding in stakes or painting an outline on the ground, Mel and Jack would take at least a couple of weeks to consider changes. Joe stayed over one night, Grants Pass being a four-to six-hour drive, and had a nice evening with Preacher, Paige and Mike.

The plans tended to stay at the bar. Every time someone who was interested in their house came in, they asked to see the plans. Doc Mullins said, “Lot of wasted space in that kitchen.”

“I like a big kitchen,” Mel said. Though for what, she was uncertain, since Jack seemed to do most of the cooking when they were at home and they took the majority of their meals at the bar. “Jack likes a big kitchen,” she amended.

“That Jack,” Connie said. “You sure have him trained.”