"i have to talk to you. about joe."

"i thought we settled that," she said.

"yeah, i guess it's pretty much settled for you," paul said. "not quite settled for me. just for my peace of mind, nikki, i have to ask you something. see, i've known joe a long time now and i've trusted him with my life. literally. i went to war with the guy. i've seen him with women, and this guy-he's always been a classy guy. i've never known him to treat a woman badly...."

"he didn't treat me badly, paul," she said softly.

paul let out a breath. "well, thank god. that's a relief. i was afraid, i don't know...afraid i didn't know him as well as i thought i did. i mean, you were really upset-and then i found joe to be just as upset to hear you left here in tears. he wouldn't tell me what went on between you two, but he insisted he hadn't done anything to hurt you."

"it's okay, paul. you can let this go."

"good. because i just couldn't stand to think he'd treat a woman wrong. he's not that kind of guy. you'll be glad to know, finally he seems to be putting this whole thing behind him. it was killing him for a while there, but i think he's getting better."

"better?"

"yeah, a little bit. trying to get over it. over you. he was up here this weekend. there were architectural plans he had to bring me-i'm going to build three of his houses. vanni told me he was writing notes, leaving messages. i guess he had it pretty bad, but it's not like joe to bother a woman who doesn't want to be bothered. you'll probably be shed of him pretty soon. maybe you already are."

"oh," she said quietly. "good. then."

"i don't exactly know what has him so jammed up. i'm sure he gets the message by now. that you don't want anything to do with him. ever. again."

"maybe he wanted to apologize. it's not necessary," she said.

paul hmmed. "no, i don't think so. i suggested he might get some points with vanni if he said he was sorry. he said he couldn't do that-he wasn't sorry. just disappointed by how it turned out."

"i thought it was best," she said. "after all, it was brief..."

"yeah. god forbid something like that should ever happen again..."

"paul, i gave a man five years and he was lying to me the whole time. he kept saying he needed more time before making a commitment and then finally admitted he'd never get married, never have a family. it was like i didn't know him at all."

"i know, nikki. that was bad, i'm sorry. my friend joe? he's not that kind of guy. a lie would turn into acid in his mouth. if he wasn't going the distance, he'd say so."

"it's better this way. better to let it go now, before...i wouldn't want to go through something like that again."

"i guess you know what you're doing. joe, he's still a little roughed up, but he'll get over it. you probably know better than anyone how that feels, right? trying to get over someone?" he lifted his eyebrows toward his wife.

"yes," nikki said.

"there you go. he said we all have to move past it, get it behind us. that's what you want, right? for him to forget about you?"

"yes," she said, her voice weak and quivering a little.

"god, i hope you're right about this, nikki," he said. "that this is a man to put behind you. i did that once, you know. different circumstances-i was up against matt. but i fell in love with vanni so fast it was ridiculous. no one would believe it-that i took one look at her and man, it just hit me. when matt made his move, i backed right off. i let her go, i wasn't going to compete with my best friend for a woman. i have to tell you-i started to regret that ten minutes later. for years all i could think was why the hell didn't i walk right up to them and say, 'out of my way, buddy-i saw her first!'"

silence answered him.

"but i guess we don't have much in common there, huh? there was no competition, except maybe joe was competing with a rotten memory. if there was anything about him you thought was worth a damn, you never would have let him get away. so. i just hope you're right...."

she whimpered a little bit. "it was one night...."

"i think maybe the crazy fool loves you," paul said.

"that's impossible," she said, but there were tears in her voice.

"nikki," paul said softly. "you said yes, right?"

"of course i said yes," she sniffed. "he didn't force me. he didn't even insist. he's not that kind of guy."

"yeah, that's what i'm saying. you know, it's probably none of my business, but it just doesn't make sense to me-two people trying to get over each other because something good happened, something both of you wanted to happen. but i guess you know what you want. and don't want. huh?"

"i don't want to get hurt again."

"i hear ya, nikki. i understand, i do. you'll be strong enough to take a chance again someday. when you are, i'm sure you'll stumble on a good man. there are probably a million of 'em out there. just wanted to be sure nothing bad happened."

it took her a minute to respond. "nothing bad happened." "that's good enough for me. you take care, nikki." he hung up the phone and looked at his wife. he smiled. "that was very sneaky," vanessa said.

seventeen

t he dry heat of july brought passionately anticipated action to the middleton family-labor pains. preacher was back and forth from the kitchen to his quarters no less than every ten minutes. "how is it now?" he asked paige.

paige was reading to christopher. "john, it's going to be a very long day for you if you can't relax a little. i'm still having contractions ten minutes apart."

"but it's going to be today, right?"

"this could go on for twenty-four hours," she said. "they're not real hard." then she turned to chris. "why don't you read this page, honey. you can do it."

"'kay," he said, and proceeded to read, but whether from identifying the words or from memory, it was hard to tell.

preacher went back to the kitchen, his head hanging. "still ten minutes," he told jack.

"i have an idea, buddy. let's get some food ready for dinner tonight and tomorrow night, just in case you don't feel like cooking. i'll hold down the fort."

"should we call mel again?" he asked.

"no," jack said. "we should let her catch a nap, in case she has to be up all night with you."

"okay," he said.

jack chuckled under his breath. his own experience with his firstborn had definitely lacked this edge of anticipation, it having come upon him so fast. maybe the nice slow buildup wasn't so great after all. preacher was going to be a wreck by the time this baby finally made an appearance.

as the afternoon dragged out, and the contractions not any closer together, jack gave brie a heads-up when he saw her. "i have a feeling i might need some child-care assistance at the house," he said. "if paige needs mel during the night, can you and mike come out to my place, stay with the kids, so i can stay here with christopher? when mel's working at doc's, i like to be close by."

"sure. how's paige doing?"

"early labor. she's been trying to rest to save her strength, but i think preacher's driving her crazy," jack said.

"aw, he's excited."

"excited doesn't touch it."

jack was jotting all this down in a letter for rick, between serving drinks and meals to his customers. he thought he was turning out a very humorous running commentary on preacher's nerves, paige's slow progress and growing annoyance with her husband. the dinner hour came and preacher, who had never held frequent or long conversations with patrons, told everyone who came in that her pains were down to eight minutes apart.

mel arrived, carrying emma and holding david's pudgy little hand as he toddled in the door. he spied jack and said, "da!"

when jack saw her, his eyes grew warm. it hadn't changed for him since the first day she'd walked into his bar. she was so damn beautiful, so sexy, even with a baby on her shoulder and a toddler in hand. and though she was still complaining about her figure since emma was born, the jeans she was wearing sure didn't look any larger to him-those jeans just set him on fire. he was pretty sure that when she was old and gray, he still wouldn't be able to keep his hands off her.

he walked around the bar and crouched for david. he put out his hands. "come on, cowboy. come to dad."

mel let go of the hand and watched as davie literally flew into his father's arms. she laughed at his eagerness, his clumsiness, and her eyes glowed as he fell into his father's arms. "so," she said, "i heard someone's trying to have a baby around here."

"i hope you were able to get a little nap," he said.

"i slept for a couple of hours. it was nice. can you hang on to him so i can just look in on paige?" she asked.

"sure. take your time."

when mel got to their quarters, she found paige pacing back and forth. "how's it going?" she asked.

"i'm trying to walk them down to five minutes," she reported. "but i'm not moving very fast. it was like this with christopher. a long early labor, all in my back."

"that's the way some women like to do it," mel said. "are you uncomfortable?"

"nah, not really. i can walk and talk through them. if they're no different after dinner, i'm going to bed early and see if i can get a little sleep, but with john asking me every five minutes how i'm doing, that could be hard."

she smiled. "please, clear soup for dinner. nothing heavy. just on the off chance you get sick during delivery. that happens to some women during transition."

"i had john make up some broth and jell-o."

"good idea. may the force be with you." mel laughed.

sensing it could be a middle-of-the-night event, mel got her children and herself settled early. at about ten o'clock she roused briefly as she felt her husband slip in beside her. she instinctively turned into his waiting arms, cuddling up against him. he slipped his big hand under the t-shirt she wore and she said, "you have to let me sleep. you know preacher is going to get me up soon."

"i'll let you sleep," he said, kissing her brow, pulling her close.

"did you happen to get an update as you were closing the bar?"

"oh, yeah," he said. "we're still at eight minutes. and preacher is growing weak from the strain."

she laughed in spite of herself. "god, this is going to be a fun one," she said. "now snuggle me close and put me to sleep."

the call came at midnight. when she heard the phone ring, she rolled over and moaned. "i knew she was going to do this. some women just aren't happy unless they labor all night." jack lifted the phone and passed it to her. "evening, paige."

"i'm sorry, mel," she said. "i'm at five to seven minutes now."

"how do you feel?"

"pretty good, but they're getting nice and strong, lasting a minute."

"hmm. it sounds like i might have time to nurse emma while i wait for mike and brie to come."