Whispering Rock (14 page)

He pushed his Rio Concho back on his head. “Checking in. How are you this morning?”

She tossed the towel onto the Adirondack chair and came down the porch steps toward him. “Fine. Very fine.”

“You look fifteen,” he said, feeling every one of his thirty-seven years. She took a step closer and he put his hands on her waist; she put her hands on his forearms and looked up at him. He twisted his hands at her waist, wiggling her a little closer. Then his arms went around her waist and he lifted her up so that her face was level to his. Her hands rested lightly on his shoulders. “I missed you,” he said. “I was thinking about you.”

“Is that so? Are you coming on to me?”

“Brie, I’ve been coming on to you for six months,” he said. “How’m I doing?”

“You’re pretty obvious.”

“I can’t help that. I have no savoir faire.”

She laughed at him and plucked the hat off his head, holding it behind him. “I think you have more than you deserve. Enough to be dangerous.”

“With you I’m an innocent.” He touched her lips lightly with his. Tentatively. “My days of being dangerous to women are over.”

“Is that so? And when did that happen?”

He gave a shrug. “A few months ago I began to lose interest in other women. A few weeks ago, it was over. There is only one.”

“You’re wooing me.”

“I’m trying, yes.”

“If you mean business, you should kiss me,” she said.

“Oh, I was hoping you would say that.” He covered her mouth with a passionate kiss, holding her close against him. Her mouth opened under his lips at once and he probed with his tongue. She not only let him in, she welcomed him in, moving over his mouth with lips that were hot and urgent, holding him tightly. From what he could taste, she was enjoying the kiss very much; she moaned softly and grew breathless. He couldn’t remember when he had last kissed a woman before Brie. A thousand years ago, surely. She tasted like honey, so sweet and pure.

He hated for it to ever end and when it did, she whispered, “Would you like to come inside?”

“No.” He smiled. “You’re not really ready for me to come inside.”

“You make me wonder what I’m ready for.” She kissed him again. Deeply and passionately.

“When you no longer wonder, we’ll talk,” he whispered against her lips.

“You could take advantage of my weakness,” she said.

He put her back on her feet and put a soft kiss on her forehead. “There will be no taking,
mi amor.
Only giving.”

“Oh, my. I can see why women would marry you so easily.”

He touched her nose. “Brie, it was never like this.”

“I don’t believe you,” she said.

“I wouldn’t believe me either, but it’s true.”

He pulled her to him and she leaned into him, resting her head on his chest, her arms around his waist. He held her like that, both of them quiet for a long time, just enjoying the closeness. He stroked her back and dropped soft kisses onto her damp hair, feeling more alive than he had in such a long, long time. It filled him with pride that she didn’t tense or tremble while he held her. She had slowly become accustomed to his touch, his embrace, and knew that she was safe and loved in his arms. Even if nothing more ever came, he felt he had already won the prize.

“You know the boys are coming to hunt?” he asked her.

“Yes. Jack’s getting ready for them. Will you hunt?”

“Of course. Which means I won’t be around town much during the day. If you need me for some reason, you’ll have to let me know beforehand.”

“I’m helping Mel with a big project she has going on. Something about free mammograms for the women around here.”

“Then I’ll see you later?”

“Yes. Later.”

He gave her a peck on the lips and pushed her gently away, taking his hat out of her hand, then got back into the SUV and drove away. He watched in his rearview mirror and saw that she stayed outside in the clearing in front of the cabin until he was out of sight.

When Mel went into the bar for her morning coffee, David contented in the stroller after his breakfast, she found Paige sitting at one of the tables with the newspaper spread out in front of her. “How’s it going?” Mel asked, parking David by the table while she went for a mug and some coffee.

“Good,” Paige said. “Hi, coochie,” she said to the baby,
making him smile. She automatically took a toast crust from her nearly empty plate and gave it to him to teethe on. He was delighted by it.

Mel brought her coffee to Paige’s table and sat with her. She noticed David gnawing on the toast and smiled. “Isn’t that good?” she said to the baby. “Where is everyone?” she asked Paige.

“Hmm. I think Jack has gone to Eureka for supplies. I offered to do that—the boys are going to be here pretty soon. He said he’d get it, then next thing I knew he wasn’t around. John’s in the back, setting up lunch, with Christopher underfoot as usual.”

“How about Mike?” she asked.

Paige shrugged.

Preacher came out of the kitchen with a tray of glasses. He put them under the bar roughly. “Hey, Preach,” Mel said. “Where’s Jack?”

“Eureka.”

“How about Mike?”

“It’s not my day to watch him,” he said gruffly, going back to the kitchen.

“Jeez,” Mel said. She looked at Paige and met twinkling eyes. “Something funny?”

“John appears to be a little tense. Amazing he got through so many years without sex every day.”

“Every
day?
” Mel asked. “Well, holy shit, his count must be down to nothing!” She looked over her shoulder to make sure they were alone. “How’s he handling the drought?”

“He’s a little testy,” Paige said, amused. “I keep telling him this is entirely up to him. If it’s too much, we can make a few adjustments. But he wants to do it right.”

“Hope he doesn’t explode,” Mel said absently.

“He asked if we can close the bar on ovulation day.”

Mel’s eyes widened in surprise and they both melted into laughter.

Jack hadn’t seen Rick in a couple of days. He hadn’t been back from Eureka for long when Rick showed up. A couple of hunters were having a late breakfast at one of the tables, so Rick jumped up on the bar stool and Jack fixed him up with a cup of coffee. “Welcome back,” Jack said.

“The party was great, Jack. Thanks again for everything you did.”

“I didn’t do anything. This town has a habit of turning out for important people.”

“I’ve been checking on Liz,” he said. “She’s doing great. You can’t believe how good she looks. Beautiful, in fact.” He laughed. “I didn’t think she could get more beautiful.”

“That checking business seems to work out for you pretty well,” Jack said, lifting his cup. “Your complexion looks a little clearer.”

Rick laughed and ducked his head a little. “Here’s how it is, Jack. Me and Liz—it’s not cut-and-dried. I’m going to finish my hitch, alone. We’re not going to make any promises to each other until that time’s up.” He shrugged. “We’re gonna let Liz get a little older, finish school, see where we are. I want her to have a chance, you know. If this isn’t right for her—hooking up with me—then I want her to have the space and time to move on. In the meantime, for right now, we’re still a little too locked in to each other. You can understand that, can’t you? After everything… Well,” he said, lifting his mug and taking a sip, “we have a pretty strong bond. I’ll be there for her as long as she needs me—it’s the least I can do. I’m not going to tell her she can’t feel it, that she has to try to get over it.”

“How about you?”

“Oh-ho.” He laughed. “I feel it pretty good. That girl really does it to me. She always has. It’s just going to take some time to know if it’s permanent or just something that happened to us.”

“You’re not taking any chances, are you?”

“Of course not. And I mean, absolutely not. I don’t want you to worry. I don’t want you to think I’m a total idiot who never heard a word you were saying.”

Jack put his hand over Rick’s forearm. “I don’t think that.”

“Thanks.” Rick was quiet for a minute or so. “It’s nice, Jack. When there isn’t a lot of pain. When there aren’t any tears. Nice.”

“Yeah,” Jack said. “You hunting with us? Or you just going to spend your whole leave working on your complexion?”

Rick grinned. “I’m hunting,” he said. He drank a little of his coffee. “We’re not doing that much hunting, are we?”

The whole town of Virgin River looked forward to the visits of the Marine brothers—they brought such an air of camaraderie and celebration when they came. The first to arrive in his truck with camper shell was Zeke, who came from Fresno. He was in town by early afternoon. Just a couple of hours later came Joe Benson and Paul Haggerty together, pulling a fifth wheel behind a truck—they were good friends who often worked together, Paul building Joe’s houses whenever possible. Then came Corny, who drove in from Washington State but hailed from Nebraska—thus the nickname. Next, Phillips and Stephens—Josh and Tom—both from Nevada, right on the other side of the Sierras. By 6:00 p.m. everyone was present, even Rick, and the din in the bar was raised to an all-time high.

Doc Mullins was in the midst of the throng, enjoying his one whiskey of the day with the guys, David was being passed from Marine to Marine, jostled as if being weighed, Rick was getting an awful lot of free advice and Mel, Brie and Paige were hugged so much they felt their bones crunching. Of course, others from town made brief appearances, wanting to be a part of the reunion for at least a little while, but not wanting to get in the way. Connie and Ron and their friends Joy and Bruce put in appearances. Harv dropped in for a beer after work, as did Doug Carpenter and Fish Bristol.

Paul dropped an arm around Mel’s shoulders and asked, “Why the long face? Aren’t you having fun?”

“I hate hunting. I can handle ducks, but not deer. I mean, I don’t want to pass judgment—I just wish my husband didn’t shoot deer.”

“Oh, Mel, don’t worry. I’ve been hunting with your husband—the deer are completely safe.”

“Melinda, we’ll have venison all winter. You’ll love it,” Jack said.

“Don’t worry, Mel,” Paul whispered. “He’ll never get a thing. They can smell him coming.”

Some people came into the bar and Mel immediately recognized Vanessa, her newest patient. The older gentleman with her must be her father. She left Paul’s side and went to her immediately, embracing her in welcome, and was then introduced to Walt, her dad.

Paul just stood where he was, glassy-eyed with a faraway smile on his lips.
Vanessa!
His best friend’s wife. Then Vanessa spotted him and went to him instantly, arms open wide. He hugged her, rocking her back and forth a little. Then he held her away from him and stared approvingly at her belly, which
was growing nice and round. “I had no idea you’d be here,” he said, refusing to take his arms from around her.

“I wanted to surprise you. My dad’s retirement ranch is just down the road and I’m staying there while Matt’s in Iraq. Mel’s going to deliver my baby.”

“When?”

“A few months. Gosh, it’s so good to see you. I haven’t seen you since—”

“The wedding,” he answered. “God, Vanni—you’re gorgeous.” He touched her belly. “Jesus, he kicked me.”

“We don’t know what it is yet.”

“Gotta be a guy,” Paul said.

She was joined by her dad, his hand out to Paul in greeting. “General, good to see you, sir,” Paul said. “Let me introduce you two around,” he said.

Several of the guys knew Matt, but the only person in the room to have already met Walt, General Booth, was Mike. Because of his investigation of teens, he’d been to the Booth household. And although the general invited them all to address him by his given name, only the women seemed so inclined. For these Marines, rank had its privileges. General Booth declined the offer to join the hunting party, saying he might take them up on that the next time. After about twenty minutes of introductions and conversation, Paul grabbed Vanessa’s hand, dragged her off to the table nearest the hearth and sat her down there to talk, to catch up. He wanted to hear all about Matt, about her little brother Tommy, about how she liked living way out here, so far from everything.

And she wanted to know everything that was going on with him. Paul, thirty-five like Matt, had left the Marines after four and remained in the reserves while Matt stayed active. Paul had finished his degree and joined his family’s construction
company in Grants Pass, Oregon, not far from the California border. “And are you seeing anyone?” she asked him, grabbing his hand across the table.

“Nah, not really. Until someone as pretty as you comes along, I’ll just keep looking.”

“You’ve always been too shy for your own good. You should be married and have a ton of kids. You’d make such a great dad.”

“Yeah, I should,” he agreed.

“I’ve missed you, Paul,” she said. “Will I be seeing more of you now? While I’m here?”

“Sure,” he said. “Yeah, I get down here sometimes.”

At about eight o’clock the crowd thinned out a little bit. Mel and Brie took the baby home, giving Jack strict orders to sleep in the RV on the pullout if he had too much to drink with his boys. Paige had already gone upstairs to bathe Christopher and get him into bed and the general took his daughter home, promising to drop in the next night for a beer and a debrief on the hunt. Rick went home to his grandma’s and promised to be back at 4:00 a.m. for the trek back into Trinity to hunt.

When it was down to Marines, the cards, money and cigars came out. Poker ensued. At about ten Paige swam through the smoke and tapped Preacher on the shoulder. He folded his hand, having nothing anyway, and said, “Be right back.”

“God, it’s weird, seeing Preach act like the little husband,” Stephens said.

“
Little
husband?”

“You know what I’m saying. All Paige has to do is lift her pinkie finger and he’s on his knees.”

“How are your eyes, man? She can lift that little finger my way and I’d get on my knees,” Joe said.

“The little husband might pound you into sand,” Jack said.

“I meant if she weren’t married. You old farts are starting to act real whipped.”