She leaned away from him. “You have no idea, Aiden. She’s absolutely wonderful.”

“That’s what I hear. She should be here before long. Sean called to say they were on their way. I’m surprised you beat them.”

“I got an early start,” she said. “I have groceries in the car. Help me bring them in?”

“You’re joking, right? Go inside and help yourself to a cup of coffee while I get them for you.”

When all the supplies were unloaded onto the kitchen counters, Maureen and Aiden sat at the breakfast bar with coffee for a long overdue visit. It was just the two of them, a rare thing. Luke and Art were running an errand and Shelby was at school.

“Tell me about your visit so far,” Aiden said. “How do things seem between Franci and Sean?”

She lifted an eyebrow. “You haven’t talked to your brother?”

“Several times, but I was interested in hearing your take on things.”

“If there’s the slightest imperfection in their relationship, I can’t imagine what it is, besides the fact they’re not married. I take that back—the one flaw is that everyone is a little on edge, wondering where the air force will send Sean next, and when. Otherwise, they seem so happy.”

“I’m facing transfer orders before long, too,” he said. “Sean’s overdue. Any day now he’s going to get the word—and he doesn’t want to uproot Francine and Rosie from their home and routine when everything could shift again in a month or two.”

“And you, too, Aiden?” she asked. “What are you expecting?”

“I have no idea. I applied for a fellowship in high-risk pregnancy specialty, but I won’t hear on that before spring,” Aiden said. “For Sean’s family, until they get a permanent assignment, Franci is best right where she is, in her own house with a job she likes and a mom who can help out with Rosie.”

“Rosie’s going to miss Sean when he goes back to Beale,” Maureen said. “They spend every day together.”

Aiden chuckled, shaking his head. “So much for the man who didn’t want to be tied down to a child.”

“The two most stubborn males in the family,” she said. “Luke and Sean, the great playboys of the Western world. They always did make the rest of you look like choirboys, and the two of them have been completely tamed by pretty young women. They were in no hurry about it, either—I’m glad I lived long enough to see it. Patrick is young and I’ve heard the same woman’s name mentioned more than twice, but I wonder about Colin.”

“You might want to write that one off, Mom,” Aiden said. “Another grunt in a Blackhawk—it would take a real special woman to domesticate him. He’s pretty rough around the edges.”

“More than Luke?” she asked, one brow lifted.

“You must have lit a million candles for Luke to run into Shelby. She’s one of a kind.”

“And you, Aiden?” she asked pointedly.

He sat back in his chair and took a breath. “I’m facing an interesting transition myself, Mom, and it has everything to do with women. You know I’m not avoiding commitment, but I’m ripe for transfer and the navy needs general medical officers on shipboard and I’m not inclined to spend two years on a big, gray boat, away from my specialty. And I’m not likely to find the right woman at sea. If they don’t come through with a fellowship, I might have to look at my options.”

“You can’t retire,” she pointed out.

“Correct, it’s too soon. I can separate, however.”

“And do what?” she asked.

“Medicine, obviously. Ob-gyn, of course. Maybe I’ll do it as a civilian.”

“Where, Aiden?” she asked.

“I have no idea,” he said. “I’m just thinking about it at this stage.”

“And there are no special ladies in your life now?” she asked.

He leaned toward her. “No, Mother. Unfortunately. Now I believe we’ve covered almost everyone. Almost. There’s you.”

“Me?” she asked, startled, a slight flush moving up her neck. She could feel the heat rising to her face and damned her redhead’s complexion.

“You. Luke mentioned the oddest thing to me. You apparently gave some perfectly nice, interested man the slip by claiming to be recently widowed.”

“Oh, that,” she said with a laugh, waving the subject off. “That was the Presbyterian minister’s friend, briefly in town for a visit. I ran into him again and apologized for that. He was gracious, as I expected he would be. It’s forgotten. But what concern is it of Luke’s?”

“It’s not just Luke’s concern, Mom. I guess because you’re always so busy, none of us even entertained the idea you weren’t socializing with men at all, that you were deliberately avoiding them. Speaking for myself, I assumed you had a date now and then. By the time Da had been gone a few years, I prepared myself for you to find a man you wanted to marry—you were so young when we lost him. But what you said to Luke stirred the pot. It sounds as though you have no interest in even the most casual friendships with the opposite sex. Tell me what that’s about.”

“Don’t be so ridiculous!” she said, fuming slightly. “I’m not talking to my son about that!”

“Any why not? You pry every sliver of information about women from each one of us.”

“And you hardly throw me a bone!”

“That’s because the kind of information available on that subject, until Luke and Sean were recently captured, is not intended for a mother’s ears. You said it yourself—at least a couple of your boys were the playboys of the Western world. Details of their dating experiences would have had you gripping your heart.”

“I knew it was bad,” she said, shaking her head. “As if they were hiding anything from me. Sometimes I wonder who raised them!”

“But that’s all old news. How about you?”

“What about me?”

“Do you refuse to date at all? Have you made some decision you’ll never again meet a man? More to the point, have you decided not to even give the idea a chance?”

“Do you hear yourself?” Maureen asked. “Why in the world does that matter to you? Or to Luke, for that matter?”

“And Sean, and even Patrick. Only Colin is dense enough to have no interest in anyone’s love life but his own.”

“Tell me you’re making that up!” she said, aghast. “You are not talking about my possible love life!”

Aiden leaned across the breakfast bar, toward her. “Mother, you are a very attractive woman in your early sixties. You’re sharp and energetic and, as far as I know, in excellent health. And if anyone would know, I would—you pass the details of every doctor’s appointment and blood test you have by me as I’m your official second opinion.”

She made a face. “I listened to enough of your whining as you tried to pass your exams to have earned that right, haven’t I?”

“I never once complained,” he said. “I’m glad I know exactly what your cholesterol level and blood pressure are—someone in the family should. I’m committed to doing anything I can to support you living a full and happy life until you’re extremely old. But, Mother, you’re too young and vital to give up a normal heterosexual existence. You can still fully enjoy that part of life.”

She blanched. “You did not just say that to your mother,” she said in a whisper.

“I’m a woman’s doctor. I say it to lots of women in their fifties and sixties. And seventies, just in case you’re curious. In fact, in a clinical situation, I’m much more direct, and I hope your doctor is, as well. Now, let’s just retrench to the original question. Have you made some ridiculous and arbitrary decision that you won’t even entertain the idea of dating?”

Right at that critical moment, the door to Luke’s house burst open and Rosie came flying in, red curls bouncing wildly. “Gramma,” she yelled, running to Maureen and throwing herself onto her lap. “We go fishing now?”

“You have fishing on the brain,” Maureen said. “I thought you’d like to bake pies with me!”

“Fishing!” she said, squeezing Maureen around the neck.

“All right, all right. First, I want you to meet your uncle Aiden.” She turned Rosie on her lap. “Rosie, this is Aiden. And Aiden, this is Rose.”

“Wide Iwish Rose,” she said with a grin.

Aiden laughed and stretched a hand out to her. “So I’ve heard. Nice to meet you.”

“Fishing now!” she said. Sean came into the house. “Daddy! We go fishing now?”

“Let’s get it over with, short stuff. It’s all I’ve heard since I told her we were coming to Luke’s for the day. Of course, her idea of fishing is tossing bread into the river for the trout. We’re years away from hooking anything.”

“I’ll save some dough rolling for after you’ve had your fishing trip, Rosie,” Maureen said. She eased Rosie off her lap and rummaged in a cupboard for some of Luke’s bread, handing Rosie a few slices. “Remember, you only go near the river with Mommy or Daddy.”

Aiden said he would go along and, while he fetched his jacket, Sean and Rosie were out the door and on their way. Aiden shrugged into his coat and said to Maureen, “We can continue this conversation later.”

“I don’t think so,” she said. “You boys gossip worse than a bunch of old women and I think it’s high time you mind your own bloody business.”

He leaned toward her and kissed her cheek. “Yeah, good luck with that.”

Sixteen

Thanksgiving had a special significance for John Middleton, known as Preacher to his friends. His mother passed away around this time when he was only seventeen, and for so many years after that, when the holidays approached, he just endeavored to get through them as best he could. He was always relieved when the whole season was over. But once he found Virgin River and his wife, Paige, everything in his life changed, and he looked forward to the holidays with excitement and spirit. He had a great deal to be thankful for.

Every Thanksgiving Preacher prepared a big turkey dinner and kept the bar open for anyone who wasn’t otherwise occupied. It became the tradition at Jack’s Bar to serve a big dinner free of charge to friends and any strangers who might wander in. Preacher could have used his new house to accommodate his Thanksgiving guests, but it just wouldn’t be the same. Plus he liked the idea of being open to strangers who found themselves traveling or stranded on this very important day.

Mel Sheridan and Dr. Michaels were trading off holidays this year. Since Cameron and his wife had the new twins, they wanted to take a few days for family at Christmastime, so Mel and Jack were going to the Sheridan family home in Sacramento for Thanksgiving. But there would be no shortage of guests for Preacher’s biggest dinner of the year.

He and Paige pushed the tables together in the bar into one long, wide table. Paige dressed up the table with a horn of plenty filled with gourds and colorful leaves. As well, orange candles provided soft lighting up and down the table. Each place setting had a construction-paper turkey created by her and her son, Christopher. When Preacher looked at the long table, he smiled and said, “You sure do class the place up, babe.”

At four o’clock the turkey came out of the oven to sit for a half hour before carving. The side dishes were ready and the hors d’oeuvres were on the bar. A cabernet was breathing, a chardonnay was chilled, juice and sodas were cold for the kids and abstemious, the water glasses were all filled, coffee was ready to perk. Preacher looked around the room, puffing up a little in pride.