“I don’t even know where to start with that bathroom. Nice big room, but it’s a nightmare the way that shower’s put in. Plus, I’m going to have to give up the bathroom during the remodel, and after living in a camper shell for a while, that shower, ugly as it is, comes in real handy. Especially when you work construction all day, then again at home all night.” She didn’t say anything, just looked around in wonder. “That bathroom could use a tub and shower, and new toilet.” Still, silence. “I’m not taking on that back room till I’ve been here a year or more. Fact is, it needs to be ripped off and rebuilt. Hey—we in the same solar system here?”
“Oh. Sorry. Gee… Um, what’s your name again?”
He sighed. “Dan Brady.”
“Sorry, Dan. I’m just blown away by how good the place looks. And in a little over a month. You must have worked yourself to death.”
“Nah. A little after work, a little on the weekends.” He still held his wallet in his hand. “I owe you like a month and a half rent. Cash all right?”
“Sure. Yeah.”
“Next time the rent’s due, I can drop it off in Eureka when I’m over there, if you’ll give me an address. I get around that way at least once a month, buying stuff like paint, caulk, repair stuff. Maybe we could grab a quick bite, talk more about what I’m thinking for the house, get to know each other a little, you know….”
She tilted her head. “You don’t know about me, do you?”
“Ah—you lived here. Your mother died and your father is with a brother? That right? You work and live in Eureka, right?”
“I’m an alcoholic,” she said, straightening almost proudly.
“Ah. Expensive date or enjoying sobriety?”
“Over seven months sober. I know the exact number of days. Hours.”
“Good for you. So, if it doesn’t freak you out for me to know where you live and if you’d like a free meal—”
“I don’t get involved with men.”
He looked stricken for a second. “Oh God, I’m sorry, Cheryl. I didn’t mean to mislead you—I wasn’t expecting to get involved. I just thought rent money, early dinner and someplace casual. Listen—”
She started to laugh to herself, softly, shaking her head. “Paranoid,” she said quietly. “Goes with the territory. Listen, Dan—I wasn’t an ordinary drunk. I was a very drunk drunk. Did a lot of regretful things. That’s why I don’t come back here, where it all started, where I was at my worst. Ask anyone in town—they can all tell you about Cheryl, the town drunk. You don’t want to have dinner with me.”
He gave her a small smile. He stuck out his hand. “Cheryl, meet Dan—ex-con.”
She didn’t take the hand, but lifted her eyebrows slightly. “For…?”
“Growing weed.”
“Aw, Jesus, you a druggie?”
He shook his head. “Never used dope, I just grew it for the money. I was in a tight spot, a family member needed help, I couldn’t think of anything else and I’d met a guy way back who knew someone who knew someone who could set me up and I could make a bunch of money fast. And I got caught and did time.” He grinned. “Ask anyone around here about Dan, the grower.”
“What are you doing here? In Virgin River? Fixing up an old shit hole like this?”
“I’m getting my life back. What are you doing?”
“Okay, okay, touché.” She reached into her shoulder bag and pulled out a scrap of paper and a pen. “Here’s my phone number. Call a week ahead and clear a time with me. And I don’t know about a meal—I’ll have to think about that.”
“Good,” he said. “You think. I’ll paint. And here’s three hundred dollars to catch you up. Though now the place is looking better, you probably want a friggin’ security deposit, huh?”
“Doesn’t anything bother you?”
“Anymore? Not so much.”
Cameron had put off calling his parents for as long as he could. Though he was thirty-six, it still mattered a great deal to him what they thought of him. So, after a light dinner with Abby at the cabin, he told her he was going to call his mother. She groaned and leaned against him. “It’s going to be all right,” he told her, giving her a kiss on the forehead. “But, Abby, I’m not going to lie to my parents and pretend I just got involved with some pregnant girl.”
“I know,” she said softly, nervously. “I’m going to the bedroom,” she said.
She had no idea how happy it made him when she said that—the bedroom, not my bedroom. Because night after night they lay there together, kissing, touching, fondling, not having sex but having everything else. For Abby, as huge and uncomfortable as she was these days, sex was way down on her list of things she needed. She just took comfort in the touching, the affection, nearness. For Cameron, it was a little more than that. His emotions were definitely sexually charged. He found it crazy and beautiful that he wanted her just as much round with the babies as he had the night they’d conceived, when she was so small, so svelte. Of course he couldn’t keep that a secret from Abby, nor did he try to. She even offered to help with that. “Let me, Cameron,” she said, touching him intimately. “There’s no reason you have to be frustrated.” And he had said, “I’m waiting for you, and that’s the way I want it. After these little ones are born and you’re recovered, we’re going to rock the walls of this cabin.”
He couldn’t remember a time he’d been happier. And it was in that frame of mind he placed the call to his parents.
“Mom?” he said. “How are you?”
“Great, Cam. How’s the little town?”
“Perfect. Pour a glass of wine, Mom. I have something important to tell you.”
“Really?” she said. “Go ahead….”
“Doctor’s orders,” he said. “Come on now, I have a surprise. A very nice one.”
“Okay, okay,” she laughed. “I hope you found yourself a wonderful woman in that little town….”
He paused, hoping she’d taken his advice about the wine. “Well, as a matter of fact…”
“Really? Who is she?”
“Actually, I found her last year. Last fall, in Grants Pass.”
“You never said anything,” she said.
“I didn’t think there was much to say. I really fell for her, but she had complications in her life. When I met her, she’d been separated from her husband for almost a year and they were getting divorced. It wasn’t too soon for her to think about another man, but it was too soon for her to get involved. At that time, at least. She had to get her legal affairs straightened out. So, as much as I hated it, we lost touch for a while. We connected again in January, her divorce final. Her name is Abby and, Mom, she’s wonderful. Beautiful and sweet and perfect.”
“Aw, Cam, I’m so happy for you. Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Lots of reasons, one being that I wanted some time with her first. And of course, Abby having been married once, she wanted to take it slow. You understand.”
“I suppose. Where does she live, Cam? When can I meet her?”
“She lives here now, Mom. With me. And it won’t be long before you can meet her, but there’s one more thing. During that short time we knew each other in Grants Pass, we had a little…ah, a little…blessing, that’s what it was. We had a blessing. Well, actually a couple of blessings. On the way. Soon.” Dead silence answered him. “It came as a shock to poor Abby at first, and I admit—I was pretty surprised, but we’re very happy about it. Happy and excited.” Silence. It stretched out. “Mom? Twins. We know one is a boy, but the other one is hiding.” Again, a vacuum.
Then he heard his mother shriek, “Edward! Come here! Cameron got some girl pregnant!”
“Mom! Just have a little sip of that wine!”
“I think it’s going to take something a little stronger! Twins? You got some girl pregnant with twins?”
He couldn’t help it—he laughed. “Mom,” he said. “She’s not some girl—she’s not a girl. Her name is Abby and she’s thirty-one.”
“Cameron, how in the world—”
“Now, Mother, I’m not going to explain. You’ll just have to trust me, I’ve never been careless and neither has Abby. So—here’s the deal. She’s probably going to go early, though the babies are due the second of July. Anytime, Mom. Abby wants to have her mother come as soon as they’re delivered, so I hope you can be a little patient. Twins is a pretty big—”
“Cameron! Are you married?”
“Not yet, Mom. Even though we’re in this together, completely, we just haven’t had time to get married. That will come—we’ll take care of the details. No point in rushing it now. Besides, we’re not going to be fooling anybody, including the great-grandmothers and great-aunt Jean, by rushing into it right now. They’re nearly here.”
“Dear God in heaven,” his mother said. And in the background he could hear his father, Ed, saying, “What? What? What?”
“I’ll call you the moment they’re born. Tomorrow, when I’m at the clinic, I’ll get Mel to take a picture of me and Abby and e-mail it to you. By then you will have calmed down.”
“But, Cameron,” she said, “you haven’t given me time to knit anything!”
He laughed again. “Well, get started. Abby’s really ready to unload. She just has to make it a couple more weeks to be completely safe.”
“Oh, dear God in heaven,” she muttered. “You couldn’t have told me any sooner?”
“There were details to work out, Mother. This is how it is and you’re going to be gracious. Abby is understandably stressed.”
“Of course I’ll be gracious! Just answer me one question, and be honest with me, because I always know when you’re lying. Do you love this wo— Abby?”
He smiled. “Mom, I loved her the second I saw her. And I love her more every day.” He heard his answer in his mother’s heavy, satisfied sigh. “There now, go take care of Dad before he goes crazy, and I’ll e-mail a picture tomorrow sometime. Mom, congratulations. I love you.”
He hung up and got himself a beer out of the refrigerator. He popped the top and went to the bedroom, leaning in the open doorway. Abby was sitting cross-legged, her iPod earphones plugged into her ears, deep breathing with her eyes closed. He just watched, smiling at the sight. She was a vision.
She opened her eyes, took the plugs out of her ears and looked at him expectantly.
“She was very surprised,” he said. “And a little pissed off that I didn’t give her more time to knit something.”
“Oh my,” she said, taking a breath. “Did you tell her it was an accident?”
“No. I told her it was a blessing. And the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Dan Brady had not envisioned that in just a couple of months in Virgin River, he’d be able to walk into that little bar and be accepted as one of them. They didn’t make a big fuss; it wasn’t like Cheers with everyone shouting welcome. No, that wouldn’t have been to his taste anyway. What was nice was to go during the busier times of day and sit up at the bar and chat with whoever was around, just as if he was one of the neighbors, which he was. In prior years, before he’d settled in this town, he would only go to the bar at midday when hardly anyone was around.
He sat up at the bar and found himself facing Preacher. “Hey there, brother,” Preacher said. “Heineken?”