“Not lately.”

And in no time it was easy to see why Patrick was doing this—to be able to lift his arm to circle her shoulders, put a kiss on her cheek, bask in her smile for a little while. To feel that she was his. It brought such a rush of pride. He wondered if he’d ever felt this way about Leigh, but if he had, he couldn’t remember it now.

Angie leaned toward her uncle and kissed his cheek, and even that brought Patrick pleasure. It made him feel a part of something.

Jack served her up a glass of wine and made small talk while he still could; soon the bar would begin to fill up with the dinner crowd and all those people from other towns and outlying regions who wanted to see the magnificent tree. And just before the sun began to set, there was a familiar face in the bar. That tall, auburn-haired woman from the grocery store parking lot walked into the bar.

“Donna!” Jack said, surprised.

“Oh, my God, Mom!” Angie said, horrified.

Instinctively, Patrick’s arm went around Angie’s shoulders and pulled her closer, claiming her. Protecting her. Because she was his.

* * *

He’ll never let her go again, Jack found himself thinking. He’d seen it a hundred times in this town. The chemistry was just too damn strong; it rolled off them in waves. He wasn’t sure how they could make it work if Patrick had a military commitment and Angie was hell-bent to join the peace corps or a reasonable facsimile. But he couldn’t miss Patrick’s proprietary action. Publicly claiming her in front of her mother.

The shock and awe on Angie’s and Donna’s faces told the tale—Donna did not know Angie was seeing someone. Well, Jack certainly hadn’t wanted to tell her. Obviously Brie felt the same way.

He held his breath. He hoped his big sister would handle this wisely. Donna was a wonder woman, no doubt about that, but she seriously liked having her way.

She walked right up to Angie and said, “Darling. How I’ve missed you.”

Angie let herself be embraced, returned the embrace, but then she said, “This isn’t what I’d call giving me space.”

“I won’t be in your way. I might try to steal a few minutes here and there, but I didn’t come here to hound you. I didn’t have to teach so, on a wild lark, I just decided to drive up and take some time off.”

“And you’re staying where?”

“Jack’s guesthouse, of course.” She nodded at Patrick. “Hello again.”

Now everyone but Donna and Patrick were startled. In fact, typical of this bar, the din quieted so that every word could be overheard. People actually moved or at least leaned closer.

“Again?” Angie asked.

“My car battery went out in the grocery store lot in Fortuna. This lovely young man not only got me going again, he helped me buy and install a new battery.”

“Having no idea this could be your mother,” he said. Then he grinned and added, “I would have helped her, anyway. In fact, I think she liked me.”

Donna lifted her chin in agreement. “I had no idea that when you said you were ‘taken,’ the person who has taken you could possibly be my daughter. She never mentioned a young man in her life.”

“For very good reason,” Angie said.

Jack began wiping water spots out of glasses, an action that always occupied him when he didn’t know what else to do. Donna might wisely let Angie off the hook for not telling about Patrick, but Jack didn’t expect to get off so easily. “Did you call Mel or Brie? Let them know you were coming?” he asked.

Donna shook her head. “I didn’t mean to sneak into town, really. I woke up this morning feeling kind of down, missing Angie and everyone so much. If I promise not to be any trouble, can I get a pass?”

“If you’re no trouble, it might be the first time,” Jack said.

“Patrick, excuse me a minute,” Angie said. “Mom, we need to have a word. Let’s just step outside for a minute.” And without waiting for her to follow, Angie headed for the door. Donna followed, leaving Jack and Patrick at the bar.

Jack leveled Patrick with a narrowed gaze. “You know, I actually feel kind of sorry for you.”

Patrick took a drink of his beer. “Yeah, right.”

* * *

Angie stepped onto the porch, the collar of her jacket turned up and her hands buried deep in her pockets. She stared up at the beautiful tree, the bright star crowning its top. She heard the door open and close behind her and she turned around, shaking her head at her mother. “You have some explaining to do,” she said sternly.

“It’s exactly as I said—I wanted to see you, Ange.”

“You vowed to let me have a little space, Mom.”

“And I will, I promise. I had no idea what I was walking into, but I’ll tell you this—I just couldn’t stand the idea of us being at each other, estranged, angry. Especially with you bound and determined to move on to some new, strange life far, far away.” Angie opened her mouth to speak and Donna lifted her hand. “I don’t blame you, I don’t. In fact, this sounds like exactly something I would have done at your age if I could have. I guess my worry comes from the fact that it’s so soon after nearly losing you. Angie, I just want us to try to put our relationship back together before you head off to a new life. I realize I made a mistake in being so controlling. I made many mistakes. I’m sorry, I really am.”

Angie put her hands on her hips. “Okay, who are you and what have you done with my mother?”

Donna’s hands went to her h*ps also. “You know, I’m getting real tired of everyone acting like I’m impossible to deal with all the time! I’m trying. Don’t I get credit for really trying?”

“Where’s Dad?”

“He wanted no part of this. He’s convinced we’re going to fight.”

“I’m not convinced we won’t. Yet.”

Donna relaxed her stance. “Well, we’ll just have to see about that. Now, Ange, tell me about him. About Patrick.”

“He’s just a Navy guy on leave. He has to head back to Charleston before Christmas. I’ve been…dating him. As much as one dates in Virgin River. The fact that he happens to be the most wonderful man who ever drew breath is just a bonus. I’ve been working on arranging Megan’s surgery, but we spend evenings together.”

“Evenings?” Donna asked. And at Angie’s angry look and renewed stiff posture, she said, “All right, all right—not my business. You’re an adult. It was a slip. Lighten up. My God, you’d think I was the worst mother imaginable!”

Angie thought back to all her mom had done for her, especially since her accident. “You’re a wonderful mother and I love you. But it would probably be best if you turned around and went right back home before we clash. Big-time.”

“Give me a chance, Ange. I won’t crowd you and, if I do, call me on it. But play fair, sweetheart. You haven’t been all that easy on me, either.”

“Agreed. But this is different. I only have a little time left with Patrick and I like him. I like him so much—and he’s special. It’s understood we have to go our separate ways—he has a military commitment and I have goals of my own. But who knows? If you don’t totally screw this up, maybe we’ll stay in touch or something. Now, what do you mean by not crowding me?”

“Are you busy tomorrow?”

“Yes, I’ll be at the clinic during the day and I hope that I’ll spend the evening with Patrick as usual. But I can spare a little time. Just a little.”

“Lunch at your favorite bar and grill?”

“I can do that,” Angie said. “Now let’s go inside. I’ll finish my wine, you can have something to drink with us. Then we’ll be leaving and you’ll be headed to Jack’s. I’ll be at the clinic at nine in the morning. Seriously, Mother, if you mess this up for me, it’ll be a long time before we’re speaking again.”

“You certainly found your mettle,” Donna mumbled. “All right, all right. Consider the message received.”

“Good,” Angie said. She opened the door to the bar and held it for her mother to enter. They sat back at the bar.

“Something to drink, Donna?” Jack asked her.

“Merlot?”

“Coming up. How was the drive up?”

“Uneventful, until the grocery store parking lot.”

“That new battery working out for you?” Patrick asked.

“Perfect. You really were sweet to go out of your way like that.”

“It was no trouble.”

“And what are you two doing this evening?” she asked.

“Well, I have something in the Crock-Pot—since Angie was busy all day, I cooked. You’re welcome to join us....”

“I’m afraid my mother has plans, Patrick.” Angie took a sip of her wine, then left it on the bar and stood. “And we should probably get going.” She gave her mother a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t pick on Jack.”

Angie and Patrick stood on the porch for a second to regroup.

“That was awkward,” he said.

“My mother. There’s a reason all her siblings call her a force of nature.”

He laughed. “You haven’t met my mother. Nature calls her a force of nature.”

“At least your mother isn’t here!”

“Ride home with me,” he said, putting an arm around her. “I’ll bring you back for your car early in the morning. Before the town wakes up.”

“I’d like that.”

When they were under way, he asked, “Are things between us going to change a lot with your mother here?”

“Not as far as I’m concerned. I’m a little angry with her for coming without notice. If she’d called and told me she was missing me, that she was looking for a reunion to get back on good terms, I would have been honest with her. I’d have told her about you and asked her to hold off. I’ll see her at Christmas. Even before I met you, I needed space. My mother’s been driving me nuts!”

“Really? Like how?”

She told him about some of the arguments they’d had over the past few months. “She’s convinced I’ve gone through a personality change since my injuries.”

“I like your personality,” he said, reaching for her hand.

“I realize I’m a little different. It’s deliberate. I don’t want to spend my life so one-dimensionally—I want more balance. I don’t need another shrink to give me permission to do that.”

“Another shrink?” he asked, looking at her.

“A little counseling after a fatal accident is reasonable, but my mother has trucked me off to more than one psychiatrist to check my brain. I think she wants the old Angie back. She’d gotten used to that person—the new me is someone she was unprepared for.”

He gave her hand a squeeze. “I like the handful I’ve got now. Did I tell you I spent some time with a shrink? After the crash?”

“No. How was it?”

“Boring. But that’s how I managed to get assigned six weeks of leave. It was my PTSD. The nightmares.”

“Are you different now?” she asked.

“Probably.”

“I like you now, too,” she said with a smile.

“Listen, don’t make things harder with your mother than they have to be. I’m a flash in the pan—your family is forever.” He turned onto the drive to his house.

“If she screws up this flash, I’m going to be furious.”

“Nah, don’t get mad. Everything will turn out. We’ll manage just—” He stopped shy of the house and just stared. A very fancy RV was parked next to the house. “Oh, God, this isn’t happening to me.”

“What?” she asked.

“My mother.”

“No way!”

“Way,” he said tiredly.

She took a breath. “Talk about awkward.”

Chapter Thirteen

“How long has this been going on?” Donna asked Jack.

“Since the day she walked into town,” he answered. “The second she saw him. I couldn’t have shot her out of a gun faster.”

“And you didn’t tell me because…?”

Jack put down the towel and the glass he was polishing. “Listen, it’s hard for me to see Angie as an adult—I keep flashing back to that little blonde in pigtails and glasses, taking apart anything that wasn’t under guard, acing spelling bees, sitting on my lap and asking me questions I couldn’t answer. I want her to be a child again, but she’s not. She lacks experience, I know that. She’s still a little like a fawn—kind of clumsy and immature in certain parts of her life. But, Jesus, Donna—do you remember being twenty-three?”

“Vaguely…”

“You were engaged! And we both know you weren’t exactly a virgin on your wedding night.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah—enough!”

“Mom kept saying, ‘Not my Donna—she’s too busy studying to have sex!’ What a crock.”

“I did study!”

“You were so damn smart you had time to make the honor roll and Tommy Maxwell! You somehow flew under the radar and Mom and Dad never monitored you the way you’ve strapped yourself to Angie.”

“They had five kids! They were a little busy. And Angie—special circumstances. We used to be so close....”

Jack leaned close. “I don’t want her to grow up and have her own life, either, Donna. We always want our kids to stay young and innocent forever. But she isn’t brain damaged—she’s a twenty-three-year-old woman who’s doing what comes naturally.”