It’s a gold mine for Noah, George found himself thinking. It has everything the young man has ever wanted or needed. A sense of family, strong community ties, not to mention the girl. But George said nothing about Ellie. What he did ask was, “Someone mentioned Ellie was helping some young mother with her children…?”
Noah explained the situation at length. “That’s precisely what we were talking about when you arrived,” Noah said. “Ellie seemed drained, not from the work of helping with the kids, but from the ache it gave her to think of an unloved child. I never asked her to keep that confidential, not any part of it. It would be futile, as the whole town knows about Vanessa and Paul. She’s a natural, George. A helper by nature. She’s armed with all these old sayings her grandmother left her with and they have roots in psychology, but they’re all lore. The girl grew up in two rooms with her grandmother; they slept together on a pullout couch her whole life. Then she added two small children to the family and they all worked together to care for one another.” He laughed. “Talk about evidence that money can’t make you happy.”
“Correct,” George agreed. “It needn’t make you miserable, either. I may be an old fool, but Ellie strikes me as the kind of person who wouldn’t be destroyed by a little money. I could be wrong, however. She’s very inexperienced.”
Noah laughed. “George, if there’s one thing Ellie is not, it’s inexperienced. Well, maybe with money, but in all other things, she’s had way too much experience.”
George thought, He’s fighting for his life. And he smiled at that. No one loved a battle more than Noah! He wasn’t your mother’s preacher; not a sweet and docile guy, but a warrior. He’d fought his father and his father’s shallow television religion for so many years; then went on to fight the injustice and apathy of the world at large. He wanted to bring peace and love to his people, but inevitably he brought courage and muscle. And that part of Noah, the part he constantly resisted, that was the part that made George proudest.
“I’m staying at least a few days,” George said. “I’m interested in this place.” But what really interested George was Noah in this place. With these people. With that woman.
The woman was perfect for him. She was one of the people—not some female bred to stand beside a man of the cloth. She would bring laughter, excitement and passion to his life, his work.
On Saturday, Noah took George with him to bring the jackets and some wool socks to the boys in the woods. At George’s stubborn insistence, they took a couple of Preacher’s pies and two Bibles. The men in the camp sniffed appreciatively of the pies and wrinkled their noses at the Bibles. But, they turned over a few buckets for stools and Noah read to them for a little while. Of the whole camp, there were just a few who enjoyed that, but those few might as well have been a multitude for the way it made Noah feel.
They made the rounds of the nursing home, Valley Hospital and Sunday church in Grace Valley. George, being a fine figure of a seventy-year-old man, garnered the attention of some of the more mature ladies, though even the younger ones were inclined to look his way more than once, something he enjoyed perhaps a bit too much. He was a consummate flirt and flatly admitted he liked women. By the time they left Grace Valley, he was armed with e-mail addresses and promises to stay in touch, and of course to return. “Absolutely,” he said. “But by then the Virgin River church will be open and you’ll have to attend services there. Noah will entertain you completely.”
Later that afternoon, they were prowling around the inside of the Virgin River church, talking about the possibilities in renovation. “Noah, tell me about that stained-glass window,” George asked.
“I researched it. This was a poor church when it was constructed and pretty much depleted the funds of the congregation. The population was smaller then—about three hundred. But one member went on a campaign to find something special for the church and wrote to every artist in the world until she found a man willing to donate the window, though he’d probably never attend the church. His name was Josiah Piedmont and his only requirement in the deal was that it never be destroyed. It came to this church in the sixties and Josiah lived in Connecticut at the time. He has since died and left behind amazingly beautiful Christian art in all mediums. When the church was forced to shut down because they couldn’t support it anymore, the people in town boarded up that window to keep it safe. Now, times having changed, you can find a Web site for the artist and see where his works are displayed. When I get organized, I’ll add this piece to his Web site, with the location. It boiled down to one woman on a mission.”
After dinner at Jack’s, they indulged in an evening brandy at the bar. “Did you enjoy your tour the past couple of days?” Noah asked George.
“I think you’re onto something here, Noah. I like this place. My only disappointment so far is that we didn’t gather up Ellie to join us for dinner tonight.”
“She deserves a day off, don’t you think?”
“I think you like her. And that it’s about time,” George said.
“Let’s not start all that again. I’ve been around plenty of women,” Noah said. His eyes twinkled. “George, who are you seeing these days?”
“Well, let’s see. I’ve been dating around, you might call it. There’s a visiting professor at the college I see when she’s in town. She travels quite a lot. And a neighbor lady and I like to have dinner in the city. She writes an ‘about town’ column for the paper and we enjoy some of the best restaurants, all on her tab, but that’s not the best part about her. There’s a waitress in Tacoma I like, a music teacher out on Bainbridge Island and a professor of veterinary medicine. She’s the most trouble and I think I like her best.”
Noah’s eyes were round. He swallowed. “You’re seeing five women?”
“Well, on and off. Each one of them is completely irresistible in her own way.”
“Don’t any of them want more of you than an occasional date? Like a serious relationship?”
George sighed and looked upward. “I’m not opposed to the idea of marrying again, Noah. But, as of this moment, the only woman I’m seeing I would consider is the vet, Sharon. But she’s forty-four. I think that might be a tad risky, don’t you?” Then he grinned. “Although we do jog together on Sunday mornings. She’s keeping up very well.”
Noah burst out laughing. This was what he loved about George and always had—he was so unafraid to live life. He held nothing back. “They used to call men like you rogues,” Noah said.
“Not men like me,” he protested. “I care very much for these ladies. They are, each one, wonderful women. I treat them with genuine affection and respect.”
Noah suspected George was sleeping with at least one of them, but he’d never ask. In Noah’s younger years, he’d been frivolous where women were concerned and had been intimate with quite a few. When he was about to be ordained, he’d struggled with the chastity issue. He wasn’t big on chastity. He didn’t think it was so much a sin as a recommendation, and in most cases there was a strong argument for the recommendation. Youth, for example. And there was no argument to support sex with partners you weren’t committed to; he could admit he’d been impetuous there. And he couldn’t find anything to support adultery—you didn’t need a commandment to see how bad that could turn.
For that matter, the Bible was riddled with suggestions that by modern standards were ridiculous. Isolation for menstruating women. No eating of fish without scales or fins; no wearing of linen and wool in the same garment. And there was a lot of stoning. Some were ageless rules that made perfect moral sense even today, others were cultural manifestos of the period.
Still, he had wanted George’s take on it, especially if he was about to encourage members of a congregation to stand firm on something that bothered him hardly at all.
George was blasé. “No one knows the Bible better than you, Noah. And you have an impressive knowledge of related studies. There are obvious reasons why things like chastity are enforced even today. To keep women safe, for one thing. To keep men from acting like rutting beasts. To discourage promiscuity, to honor the sanctity of marriage. To keep the act of love holy and virtuous. And to keep children from coming into unblessed unions before the man and woman were prepared to parent them, to feed and protect them.”
Noah knew this too well. The reasons for most of the Bible’s rules were practical as opposed to arbitrary proof of one’s discipline.
“But I suggest making use of the Eleventh Commandment. Moses ran out of stone, but its wisdom has survived the ages. Take responsibility for your actions.”
Noah had grinned largely and said, “Now, that, I get.”
On Monday, George and Noah took a hint when they realized they were simply a bother to the workers who were trying to get some real work done in the church. They decided to drive over to Arcata to look at the bird sanctuaries, then they had a nice dinner in Old Town.
By the time they got back to Virgin River it was getting late so George took a book to bed while Noah sat up. He was on the couch with his laptop, trading late-night e-mails with a university friend who had moved to Los Angeles. It was after ten when there was a knock at the RV door. A soft knock. Noah typed, Gotta go. Company.
Noah answered the door and standing there, below him, was Ellie. She was upset; all color was drained from her face.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it’s late and you were probably asleep and I’m sorry, but I’m so scared and I don’t know what to do.”
“I wasn’t asleep. Come in,” he said, putting out a hand. “What in the world happened?”
“Someone visited Arnie from Child Welfare today, talked to him, interviewed the kids, and he’s furious! He says he knows I’m behind it and he’s gonna make me pay. Oh, God, Noah! What if he does something terrible to the kids?”
“Come here,” Noah said calmly. He led her to the couch and closed the laptop, pushing it aside. “Just sit down and tell me about it.”
“I told him I didn’t ask for that, which is the truth, but he was snarling at me, threatening me, telling me that two can play that game. If I bring trouble on him, he’ll bring trouble on me.”
“Did you call Brie?” Noah asked.
“I did. I have her business number and it went to voice mail, so I left a message. Then I called again and said I was coming here to talk to you, in case she tried to call me back. I feel like I should drive over to Arnie’s or something. I’m afraid.”
A tear suddenly emerged and he wiped it off her cheek with a thumb. And just at that moment, the door to the bedroom opened and George stood there in his bathrobe. “I’m sorry to intrude. Is there anything I can do?”
“You heard?” Noah asked.
“No, I just heard voices, but it’s obvious there’s a problem,” George said.
“Come in if you like. This is not a secret,” Noah said. “Ellie has a problem with her ex and we’re going to talk it through.”
George just smiled and said, “I think I’ll leave you two to work it out.”
Noah barely heard him as he was concentrating on Ellie. “I have Brie’s home number, if you’d like me to call her.”
“Should we?” she asked. “I don’t want to be a problem, but I don’t know what to do.”
“I think this is what Arnie wants, Ellie. He made you blink. He delivered his vengeance, he scared you. He doesn’t know where that Child Welfare worker came from. For all he knows, the judge ordered it. Those social workers are very slick, they know what they’re doing. They don’t let things slip that might hurt the children.”
“He said he doesn’t believe the judge did this. What if he calls the judge?”
“If this works the usual way, no one can have an ex parte conversation with the judge—you would have to be present, as well. We’ll talk to Brie before the judge is in chambers,” Noah said. “It’s going to be okay. The problem is proving he threatened you. That’s more he-said-she-said.”
“Oh. Well. I should tell you, I got one of those thingamajigs. I taped him. When he started giving me trouble about talking to the kids or picking them up, I went to the electronics store and, even though it pretty much wiped me out, I bought a phone answering machine that could record calls even while I was talking. All I have to do is push a button before I pick up. So I have a tape. But that won’t help, will it?”
Noah’s face split in a huge grin and he put his palms against her cheeks, gave a laugh and kissed her, quick and hard. “Ha!” he said. He kissed her again. “Ellie, you got him!”
“But I’ve always heard that if you tape someone when they don’t know it, it won’t hold up in court…”
“Bull. When attorneys and judges, not to mention law enforcement, are aware that there’s a real threat, the tables turn. It makes him the bad guy and you the victim! Any chance he knew what you were doing?”
She shook her head. “Arnie doesn’t think I’m smart enough to do anything.”
“Ha!” He laughed, grinning. “What are you doing tomorrow?”
“Back to Vanni’s, I guess…”
“But first, you go to Brie’s office, play her the tape and ask for her help. Now we’re done screwing around here—I don’t care what she might charge you, we’ll work that out. I have a couple of bucks saved. Whatever she can do, hang the cost, get it done. Please?”
“Do you think anything can be done?”
“Oh, honey, you’re so used to having the deck stacked against you, you stopped believing things can be worked out a long time ago, didn’t you? Yes, we can get ahead of this.” He pulled her back on the couch, his arm around her, her head on his shoulder. “We’ll get everything straightened out. This has gone on long enough—we have to bring it to a close.”
She was quiet for a long moment before she said, “We?”
He gave her shoulders a squeeze. “Come on, don’t you feel like we’re in this together? I want to help, Ellie. You got screwed, by Arnie, by the court, all around. You don’t deserve this.”
She sighed heavily and rested against his shoulder. “I don’t understand people like Arnie, Noah. What’s the matter with him? Why does he want to hurt me so much?”
“He’s a borderline personality,” Noah said. “Not exactly insane, he appears to be functional. But he’s manipulative, angry, jealous, thinks he’s omnipotent, and he’s narcissistic.”
“Wow. Lotta ten-dollar words there.”
“And you know what every one of them means, don’t you?” he asked with a smile. “He probably didn’t have a happy childhood.”
“And so, making sure my kids don’t have one, that’ll make him feel better?”
“Ironically, no. In fact, he’ll probably feel worse and act worse. But he’s a bucket of trouble, and he’s not going to repent. They’re the hardest ones to cure with therapy and counseling. Everything is justified in his mind. His perception is that he acts and feels the way he does because he has to, because other people drive him to it. It’s a convoluted way of thinking to people like us who aren’t that way.”
“You can say that again. And he’s missing out on everything good. It doesn’t cost you anything to be nice.”
Noah chuckled. “Gramma Baldwin.”
“As a matter of fact.”
“What I’d like to understand is you, not him. Him, I get. But you, Ellie. You’ve had one bad break after another and it doesn’t seem to sour you on life. I’m not sure I know how you do that.”
She shrugged. “I think about what I have, and what has gone right. My kids top the list. Coming here is another perfect example. I hate the circumstances, losing my kids and all, but the town has worked out for me. And if I can just get the kids back, this will have been one of the best times.” She tipped her head and looked up at him. She smiled. “I could use more money, however. You’re a real cheapskate.”
“How much more?” he asked.
“Another two hundred a month would make a difference,” she said.
“Fine.”
“Fine?” she asked, lifting her arched brows.
“You’ve earned it. You were right—I didn’t believe you could get so much done. I’m impressed. You should be compensated for that. And I realize it’s still not enough, but when you work for a church, it’s not easy. Wait till we have a congregation and a board of elders running the show. They’ll come up with a budget and both our salaries will be hammered out based on what they can afford. In the beginning, it’s going to be bleak.”
“I won’t be here then,” she said.
“You might be,” he answered. “You’re doing a great job. There’s no reason to run off till you’ve thought it through and looked at all the options. At least if you’re here, among friends, Arnie will not be able to harass you. He can’t get anywhere. And you do have friends here now.”
“Noah, I have one room and two kids.”
“That’s now. You said you’d be comfortable in one room with them. And Jo Fitch likes having you around. Plus, you’ve somehow tamed Nick. And I’ll be honest with you, Ellie—I never thought I’d have such a versatile, energetic, efficient assistant in my life. You should keep the job awhile before you cut and run. Virgin River is a good place to raise your kids. It’s a safe place.”
“There are problems with this idea.”
“Like what?” he asked.
“Don’t I have to be a Presbyterian, to work full-time at the church?”
“No,” he said. “Not necessary. I’m the one with the calling, you’re working for a living. Is that what’s worrying you?”
“I can’t work for someone who wants to kiss me.”
“Oh, that. Well, I think we’re doing okay with that. Don’t you?”
“No,” she said, snuggling closer. “You’ve been behaving, but it’s right there, under the surface, I can feel it. You’re dying to do it again.”
He laughed. “I am.” He put his thumb and finger on her chin and turned her face up toward his. “But I’m not sure I even remember it right.” He touched her lips briefly with his. “Pah. Not that great. I can live without it.”
She laughed at him. “Funny. That was a decoy, which is the same as a lie, Your Worship.”
His eyes grew hot and he put his mouth over hers again, rocking against her lips, licking them open and penetrating with his tongue. She shifted slightly and put her arms around his neck, holding him close, her tongue joining his in play, and she heard him growl deep in his throat, pulling her across his lap, tight against him. And they kissed, and kissed and kissed. His hands roughly massaged her back, her hip, her leg; her fingers locked into his hair and she made a soft moaning sound.
Noah was lost. He could no more stop kissing her than move a mountain. He continued to devour her, groaning as she added her own sweet sounds, pulling at her mouth, drawing her closer, until finally, breathless, he broke away. He took a few breaths, his eyes pinched closed. “Whew, Ellie, I don’t know who taught you to kiss, but you don’t need any further instruction.”
“See, you like that too much,” she whispered. “We’re headed for trouble.”
He chuckled. “You don’t hate it, either, I could tell. I have some serious feelings happening here.”
“That’s another reason for me to leave,” she said. “I’m getting out of here before I totally fall for you and end up with a broken heart.”
“You don’t really like me that much. You call me names.”
“I tease. Don’t you know anything? Girls tease the boys they like. But before I run for my life, will you please help me get my kids back? Noah, I can’t live without my kids. I just can’t. It’s the one thing that could really break me. Do you get it? You could hurt me, but that could break me.”
It was like a brick in the head. There was so much more to her than lips, than his desire, than wanting and caring. She had a family, and this situation with her kids was serious business. He would have to be careful here. He ran a knuckle along her cheek. “Yes. I am going to help. Tomorrow, first thing, you go to see Brie with your tape. And now, I’m going to walk you home.”
“This is Virgin River, Noah. You don’t have to walk me home.”
“Your ex-husband is threatening you, promising to get even. I’m going to get you home, make sure you’re in safely, and there’s no discussion about it.”
“You have to promise something,” she said.
“Anything,” he said before he could stop himself.
“You can’t be looking at me like you want to kiss me. And I won’t look at you like I want you to. This is a little scary. I can’t afford to have anything go wrong before I get the kids.”
“Nothing will go wrong, I promise. We’re going to get this worked out. Come on,” he said, standing and pulling her up. “Because if you stay, I’m going to want to make out all night and I don’t think we can take it.” He tapped on the door to the bedroom and George opened it altogether too quickly, as if he’d been pressed up against it. Noah smirked at him. “I’m walking Ellie home, and Lucy is staying with you.”
“Fine,” George said.
“She likes to sleep on the bed,” Noah said, nodding at the dog.
Noah held Ellie’s hand as he walked her home in the dark. Even though their pace was leisurely and they didn’t talk, his mind was racing.
He cared about her so much that his chest ached. No matter how bad things got, she never gave in, so for her to cry signaled disaster and terror for her. He wanted to crush her to him and protect her and keep her safe like no one had been able to do in her life. Her grandmother had given her love and wisdom, but while she’d been devoted, she’d obviously barely kept the wolf from the door. By the time Ellie was a seventeen-year-old mother, it was she who was working to support the family.
But nothing seemed to ruin her; nothing embittered her. She was grateful for a horrible job because it allowed her to take care of her children. And she appreciated this job, though it didn’t pay her enough to live, because it was a means to an end and would get her children back to her.
She was so tough, yet so vulnerable.
It wasn’t pity that drove his desire to hold her close. It was admiration. Respect. Friendship and loyalty…and, if he was honest, undeniable lust.