"she's going to make it, right?"

"her situation is life threatening, mr. sheridan. but dr. stone is very, very good. he's being assisted by dr. larson, an excellent surgeon."

"yeah," he said, running a hand over the top of his head. "god." confused and terrified, he turned around in a complete circle twice. then to the nurse he said, "i'm going to the chapel, but i'll be right back."

jack made one phone call, to brie. then he found the chapel and though he had no idea what good it did, he lit a bunch of candles. his shaking hand made the light flicker so much he almost couldn't make contact. he didn't even have a wallet with him to leave money in the box but he was thinking, if she lives, i'll write this hospital a check for a million dollars. then he went into the second pew, got on his knees, leaned his elbows on the pew in front of him and prayed.

god, i know you're sick of hearing me beg, but this is my woman, my wife. my best friend! no, she's so much more than that-she's the other half of my heart. i've waited my whole life for her-i'd give my life a hundred times to keep her safe! a thousand times! she's every breath i take, every single beat of my heart. i don't think i can live without her now. not now...please, god. please. oh god, please...

a half hour later he was back upstairs, sitting outside the surgery. he saw the second hand pass through every minute for two hours before john finally came out of surgery. jack stood up.

"we made it in time, jack-we got so lucky. we had a helicopter in flight, not far from you-a miracle in itself. she got critical drugs in time, thanks to you digging through her bag. but, jack-i wasn't able to save her uterus. i'm sorry. i know you wanted more children."

jack fell into the chair, his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands. his shoulders shook briefly as relief poured out of him, and when he looked back up at john, tears ran down his stubbled cheek and he said, "man, the uterus doesn't mean anything. i can't live without her."

john put a strong hand on his shoulder. "you have many years with her left to you, my friend."

"god, thank you. thank you, john."

"you and susan made a good team, then putting that baby to the breast to nurse," john said, shaking his head in wonder.

"it wasn't the baby," jack said weakly, wondering if his legs would ever hold him upright again. remembering his fear that his last memory of his beloved wife would be taking her milk as he tried anything to keep her alive. "emma wouldn't nurse. i did it."

"hmm," john said. "you might've given us the couple of minutes we needed to save her life."

jack called brie to tell her mel was out of surgery, then he stood at the recovery-room doors without moving for another two hours until he was allowed in. a unit of blood dangled above her, but her skin was still pasty white, her eyes dark and sunken, her lips so dry they appeared cracked. she looked so tiny, it was scary. he bent over her, slipping an arm under her shoulders, lifting her a bit. he pressed his lips against her forehead and her eyes opened weakly. "jack," she whispered.

"aw, mel, you scared me just terrible," he said.

"there won't be any more babies, jack," she said.

"we have all we need. two perfect, healthy kids."

"i know you were going to try to sneak one more by me..."

"i wasn't going to," he said. "i promised you time to enjoy your kids. i have more with you and them than i ever thought i'd have."

"well," she said, a weak laugh escaping her. "as long as you're within reach, i'm destined to never have a period."

this was so like her, to joke around with him when she'd nearly died. "close your eyes and rest, mel. i'll stay with you. i won't leave you."

"i want to be with my children," she whispered, her eyes closing.

"pretty soon, mel. shh. pretty soon i'll take you home."

he held her like that, stooped over her bed rail, for another hour. the nurse tried to urge him away to check her bleeding, but he wasn't inclined to go. john came up to the three of them and said to the nurse, "i got it." he pulled the curtains around the bed. "they don't understand about you," john said to jack. "i guess if you can deliver your own children, you're all checked out on peri-pads."

"all checked out," jack said, dropping another kiss on her brow. "you going to stay all day?" he asked john.

"i haven't figured out how i'm getting back to grace valley yet. plus, i want to run in another unit of blood. i'll stick around for that at least."

"you aren't hanging around because she's in any danger, are you?"

"nope. i'm hanging around to keep you from being thrown out." he lifted the sheet and as he gently pulled apart her legs, she roused briefly. "good," john said. "looking much better."

"better," jack told mel.

"you should think about getting back to your kids," john suggested. "once i figure out the transportation, i can take you."

"not until she's fully conscious and knows why i'm not here. preacher would come for me. we'll work that out," jack said.

"i'm going to turn her over to larson, and he's going to keep her a few days," john said.

"you have to get her a breast pump. you know how she is about nursing. and emma's the last one-you know how she is."

"she'll get a pump, don't worry."

another hour passed, mel rousing from time to time, jack holding her all the while. john came in again and said, "we're going to take her to her room now, and there's someone out in the hall to see you. meet us upstairs-306."

"okay," jack said, gently lowering mel's shoulders to the bed. "i'll be with you in a minute, baby. you're going to your room now."

when jack walked through the swinging doors there stood doc, leaning heavily on his cane, looking both frazzled and exhausted, as if he'd aged years in a few hours. doc had driven all the way over that mountain pass to get here. it would've taken hours. jack stepped up to him and put out a hand. "it was close," he said.

doc shook his head. "thank god. we can't do without her now."

"no," jack said. "we can't."

"when can i see her?"

"come with me, doc. we'll go up to her room."

"john says she's going to be all right now," doc said.

"yup. we have her back. no more babies, though."

"how do you think she's going to feel about that?"

jack was remembering how pissy she'd been when she found out she was pregnant with emma. then how, later, she'd said, i sure love carrying around a little piece of you. "she's going to be fine. we have each other. we have david and emma, two more than we thought we'd get. did brie call you?"

"uh-huh. the whole town is standing by." when they got to her room, mel was slightly elevated in the bed, taking a sip of water through a straw. doc seemed to be limping a little more than usual as he entered the room. he went straight to her and did something he'd never done before. he leaned over the bed and kissed her on the forehead. "you're a lot of trouble, melinda. i knew from the start you would be."

"i keep you young," she said tiredly.

"you do, at that. but i think you're wearing jack down."

taking care of the sheridans was a family and community affair. brie and mel's sister joey took care of the babies so jack could go to the hospital; paige and preacher made sure there was food ready for every evening meal. at the end of the day, mike came to the house to be with his wife and wait for jack to come home with his daily report. jack got up very early to make that long drive over the mountains to redding, stayed all day and came back to virgin river late, after dark.

on the fourth such day, brie sat in the big leather chair holding emma close with her bottle while mike was in the rocker with david and his bottle. the door opened and jack came in, looking exhausted, carrying his little cooler that would contain the breast milk mel had pumped. brie lifted her chin in greeting and he lifted a hand in response, then went to the kitchen. it was easily six hours of driving each day, but he wouldn't even consider not being with mel every day. brie had been very worried about him being sleep deprived as he drove over the pass.

once brie and mike had their charges settled, they joined the gathering in jack's kitchen and found that preacher had dinner almost complete and was setting up a couple of drinks for himself, mike and jack. "how's our girl?" brie asked.

"feisty," he said. "they're going to kick her to the curb tomorrow. she's giving them fits. nurses make lousy patients."

"if you don't mind me saying so, you look whipped," brie said.

"thank you, precious," he said, lifting his glass. "whoa, that helps. my thanks." he put the glass down and said, "i'm going to go kiss my kids and i'll be right back."

the kitchen was quiet for a moment. preacher broke the silence with, "i can't believe how close we came to losing her."

"it's very unusual for something like that to happen," brie said, trying to reassure him, given paige's pregnancy.

"it reminds you, though, what a serious business this is." he pulled paige close. "we have to take this real serious."

"i'm not going to let you do this, john," paige said. "we had a close call, everything is okay now, and we're not going to panic. we're going to enjoy this pregnancy. god knows we worked hard enough for it." she turned to her son. "you about done there, buddy? ready for your movie?"

"yeah, mom," he said sweetly.

"let me," preacher said. "come on, cowboy," he said, taking his little hand. "i'll help you get comfortable." as he walked out of the kitchen preacher was heard to ask, "what are we watching tonight?"

"incredibles," chris said.

"don't we watch that almost every night?"

"almost."

joey looked at paige. "he's a wonderful father, isn't he?"

"just amazing. i still can't believe how lucky i've been."

when jack came back to the kitchen, joey said, "i've been wanting to ask you something, jack. how's mel with the hysterectomy?"

he dropped his gaze and lifted his drink. "disappointed," he said. "for all her bitching about being pregnant all the time, she actually wanted to be pregnant some more. it defies understanding. she carried on about emma coming too soon, threatened me with certain death if i did it to her again, kept reminding me how old i am, and yet-"

there was a moment of silence.

"being able to reproduce is a funny thing," brie said. "we just want to control it."

"and in my experience, it's one of those forces of nature with a mind of its own," jack said. "when you want it, it doesn't come. when you'd like to take a break, it's all over you."

"how are you with it?" joey asked him.

"you're kidding me, right?" he lifted his drink. "i'm so grateful to have mel come through this, it doesn't even cross my mind. besides, i have two healthy kids. i'm a rich man. a very rich man."