“I’m going to see if I can help out with this,” Mel said.
“Your mom is so tired. Lilly was distraught at the thought of having another child to raise at the age of forty-eight, already being a grandmother seven times. She thought some nice young couple desperate for a baby would want to adopt her and that everyone would be better off—that Chloe would have young parents. But when no one came forward, Lilly took her back.”
“I regretted it so much,” Lilly said. “Your father thought it was crazy, but he was more afraid of what I might do if he didn’t go along with the idea. I was really out of my mind. So I pretended to foster and adopt her—but she’s your blood. I can’t die without you knowing.”
Lilly’s oldest daughter, Amy, sat down beside her on the bed. She took her mother’s hand, kissed it gently and smiled. “Well, that certainly explains why she looks like all the rest of the Andersens.” She leaned over and kissed her mother’s cheek. “You shouldn’t worry so much. It’s okay.”
“I’m sorry I lied to you all.”
“But you did the right thing when you brought her back home. We would have taken care of her for life anyway….”
“It’s important that you know where she came from,” Mel said. “Not just for medical reasons, but so she knows her legacy. Her biological family. We can’t have our girl running around Northern California trying to figure out who her family is.”
“If you have to tell her someday, please tell her that I loved her so much. And that I’m sorry,” Lilly said. “Shew. I’m so tired. I hope this doesn’t last much longer.”
Mel stood and tinkered with the drip, giving her a little more morphine.
One by one Lilly’s children leaned over the bed and kissed their mother.
“It’s okay, Mom. Everything is okay and I love you.”
“Thank you for another sister, Mom.”
“We’ll take care of everything—don’t you ever worry.”
“No one’s mad at you, Mom. You’re the best mother and grandmother in the world.”
And finally, to her oldest boy, Lilly said, “Harry—you be sure to take care of Dad. He’s really helpless.”
“I got it, Mom. He’ll be fine.”
When it was just Mel and Lilly again, Lilly said, “There. I’ve been meaning to do that for a long time. Thanks.”
“It wasn’t me. You raised a wonderful family. They’re the most loving people I know.”
“It’s much easier to go, knowing that. I’m leaving behind some good work. Really, a woman couldn’t ask for more from a lifetime than a family like that. They make me so proud.”
“A woman shouldn’t go without knowing you’ve made them proud, too.”
Four days later Lilly Andersen closed her eyes on the world for the last time and was lovingly laid to rest in the family plot between the orchard and the meadow with most of the town present to say goodbye. Mel wasn’t able to have Jack at her side and was sorry about that, but there was a great deal of peace and relief in knowing her friend was no longer in any pain.
Jack went back to Virgin River the moment he felt he could leave Brie, though Brie and Mike stayed on in Sacramento. Brie wanted to hear how the trial ended and to hear the verdict. But Jack was aching to get back to his family, and although he’d talked to Mel several times a day, he hated that she’d had to bury a good friend without him. And he was very
secure that he left Brie in good hands. Mike was more than just attentive—he was devoted.
As Jack drove into town he spotted Mel, all bundled up with David tucked inside her coat, just walking across the street to the bar. He pulled up to the bar and met her in front, folding them both into his arms. “God, I missed you. I’m going soft—I can’t stand to sleep alone.”
“I didn’t,” she said. “Someone was in my bed all night.” She jostled the baby and David turned his wet, goopy mouth toward his dad for a kiss, which he got.
“Bllkk,” Jack said. “When do you think he’s going to stop leaking?”
“How was everyone when you left them?”
“Resting. Brie’s doing pretty well. It’ll take a while for her to get back on her feet—that trial was more traumatic for her than she expected.”
“Everyone is waiting for news.”
“Is Doc in the bar yet?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Maybe I can tell it just once. Here’s something for you—guess who was there? At the trial?”
“Who?”
“Brad. Sitting in the back. When Brie got off the stand and fainted and Mike rushed to her, Brad just kind of hung his head and left the courtroom. He screwed himself pretty good. And he knows it.” He slipped a hand down under his son’s bum to place over Mel’s belly. “How’s this one doing?”
“Good. I seem to have passed the dark pukey days of the first trimester and am sailing through the comfort zone of the middle trimester, flying like a bullet toward my hugeness. We have to go get an ultrasound, see what you made me this time.”
“I’m hoping for a girl,” he said.
“Are you?”
“I have an idea you might cut me off at two.”
“I’m not wild about throwing up or waddling, but I sure love carrying around a little piece of you. You’re right—you make excellent babies.”
“We all have our special talents,” he said.
Brie and Mike were another two weeks in Sacramento, awaiting the end of the trial. As she waited, Brie was once again haunted by the violence done to her. Sometimes the musty smell of that June night could come back to her; sometimes it was the smell of his sweat. His eyes would bore into her in her sleep. The pressure of his hand around her throat invaded her dreams and she would awake gasping, wondering if this was the end. It caused her to be weak and sick.
Mike never left her side. When she couldn’t keep food down, his arms were around her as she lost it in the bathroom. At night he held her protectively, securely, gently. When a fright woke her with a gasp or near scream, he was right there to softly bring her back to reality in the safety of his arms. If he felt her shiver in a cold night sweat, he tenderly woke her and talked to her until she felt all right again. In just a few days Brie grew stronger, calmer and closer to closing the book on that horrific experience.
For Mike, Brie’s crisis gave him a stronger sense of purpose; he had a problem in Virgin River that had to be resolved. He hated the thought of any woman going through this kind of trauma, and if there was a guy back in his small town who was preying on innocent young girls, he was going to find him and bring him to justice, if it took every breath he drew. Ironically, after all these years of police work, he was revisiting
the emotions that had motivated him to get into law enforcement in the first place—a force that drove him to keep the good people safe from the bad. To serve and protect.
When Brie and Mike returned to Virgin River they brought with them a guilty verdict and matching wedding bands. They were now ready to move ahead with their lives.
Jack was helping Paul put the finishing touches on the house while Brie was helping Mel order furniture and accessories. In addition, Mel was going to the Andersen ranch often, making sure the family there was doing all right. Most days she left David with Brie when she had calls to make. She was also checking Vanessa every week as her time grew near.
With his sister ready to deliver any minute and Jack’s house nearly finished, Tom had to hang close to home, so he was able to find the time to take his girl on after-school rides around the property, along the river, into the woods. The weather was cold but clear, the ground crispy underneath the horses’ hooves. He loved riding with her, talking with her, kissing afterward.
“That whole business with Brie being raped—did you know about that? I mean before the trial and everything?” Brenda asked Tommy as they were taking the horses in.
“Yeah, Paul told me all about it. Not long after Matt died. It happened last year.”
“Doesn’t that make you feel strange about her now? Knowing that happened to her, that someone did all that to her?”
“Brenda, it’s not like she did anything wrong. In fact, she risked everything to get that guy, make sure he was behind bars so he couldn’t ever do anything like that again. You have any idea how brave she had to be to do that? Mike’s so proud of her, he idolizes her. I think Brie might be one of the stron
gest women I’ve ever known. Brie and Mel and my sister, for sure.”
Brenda dismounted when they got to the barn. “Wouldn’t a guy feel funny about his girl getting raped? Like maybe not wanting to… You know… Seems like a guy wouldn’t want to touch her after that.”
“Like she was dirty? Come on,” he said, laughing. “Don’t think like that. When something bad happens to the girl you love, you just love her that much harder.”
“Really?”
“Of course, really.”
“She must’ve been pretty scared. About the trial and everything. I wonder if she ever thought about just not doing it—not testifying.”
“I doubt it,” he said. “It took a lot for her to go through with that, but she did it.” Tom took the reins of Brenda’s mount and led the horses inside. He got the saddles off, the bridles released. When she followed him into the tack room, he turned and pulled her into his arms. This was his favorite part. He kissed her. Damn, he loved the girl. “Wanna find a nice, soft bale of hay?” he asked her.
But she was crying. Little soft tears that made no noise.
“Brenda? What’s up, baby? Huh?”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I have to tell you something you’re gonna hate.”
He wiped the tears off her cheeks. “What?” he asked gently.
“I’m not a virgin,” she said with a sniff.
“Aw, Brenda.” He laughed, closing his arms around her more tightly. “What are you worrying about? That’s not as big a deal to me as you might think.” He pulled away and looked into her eyes. “You’re funny—here you’re embarrassed because you’re not a virgin and I’m embarrassed because I am.”
“It wasn’t someone I dated,” she said.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m pretty sure I was raped.”
He frowned. “Pretty sure?” he asked.
But now that it was out and she couldn’t turn back, Brenda crumbled against him, sobbing. Tom was no expert on girls, but he was smart enough to know he wasn’t going to get the rest of the story until she calmed down a little. He sat down on the bench in the tack room and pulled her onto his lap, holding her while she cried. He murmured little words of comfort, stroked her back, held her close. It was quite a while before she could talk again.
“I lied to you, Tommy,” she said, wiping at her face with the back of her hand. “I did go to one of those rest-stop parties. One. With a couple of girlfriends and a date—a guy I went out with that one time. You take sleeping bags, you know? Because you’ll have to sleep over, either in cars or on the ground, on account of drinking. Like camping, right? I got drunk real fast and passed out. When I woke up, I’d been sick all over the place and a couple of the guys said I’d really gotten wasted and was pretty hilarious—but I don’t remember anything. Two months later I realized I was pregnant.”
“Holy shit,” he said.
“Yeah,” she said, letting out a short, embarrassed laugh. “I was on my way to get an abortion when I had a miscarriage. Whoever it was gave me a raging infection. I hope he dies of it. There—it’s out. Now you can break up with me.”
“Why would I do that? I told you, I love you.” He stroked her hair. “Who was it?”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to know. There were six guys at that party—I gave the names to Mike. He’d like me to tell the story to the sheriff—but what good’s that going to do? I’m
not like Brie, Tommy—I have no idea who it was. Plus, I’m not brave enough to do that. And I don’t want the whole school to know I got pregnant. And really, I don’t even want to know who it was because, God, what if there was more than one? Oh, God,” she said, falling into helpless tears again.
“Okay, Brenda, honey. It’s okay…”
“What can you think of me?”
“I told you—it’s not your fault and I love you.”
“I can’t go any further with it. All I wanted since I realized what happened is that it go away. No way I’m going to blame anyone, testify against anyone.”
“Maybe they could get the guy without putting you through all that.”
“And what if I wasn’t raped, really? What if I was just stupid drunk and let some guy—”
“No, you didn’t,” he said. “We’ve been together over five months. You’re not like that. We’ve had a beer or two together—you’re not like that. That isn’t what happened.”
“There might’ve been a drug,” she said.
He pulled her close against him. It was hard, but he tried to focus on Brenda’s feelings rather than building rage at what had been done to his girl, even before she was his girl. Of course he remembered the fight he’d been in with Whitley. It turned his stomach to think that little prick could’ve slipped his girl a drug and then used her. But he couldn’t let himself think about that yet. He had to keep his arms around her, convince her he would never hold that against her. “Yeah,” he said. “There might’ve been.”
“Ever since that happened, I feel like trash. When you first started talking to me in school? When I told you I’d been sick? I hadn’t been sick. I’d been knocked up while I was passed out.”
“You are not trash,” he whispered softly, not trusting his voice. “You’re an angel. Pure as gold. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“That’s not how it feels. Tommy,” she said miserably, “I dated before and I wouldn’t give it up—I was saving it for someone really special. Someone like you—someone I really loved. And now I can’t.”
“No one else can ever take that away, Brenda. When… If… If it’s us and we know it’s time and it’s right, it’ll be special. I promise.”
“How can it be? The first time should be so special. Now it won’t even be the first time!”
He brushed her hair away from her eyes. “What can I do to show you that I love you just the same? Respect you? Huh?”
“I don’t know….”
“I do. Come on, we’re going to take care of these horses. Then we’re going to find a nice soft bale of hay and I’m going to hold you. Hold you and kiss you until you believe me when I say I think you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Everything is going to be fine.”