Mel sat at the bar when an elderly woman sat down one chair away from her. "Where is Jack?" She muttered to herself, looking around the almost empty bar. "Jack!" She called out loud.
Mel turned to her. "Hi. Jack is out running an errand."
"Ha. One could die from thirst before he could come back."
Mel smiled. "Could I get something? Jack did just leave so it might be a while."
"Do you work here?"
"No, but I said I could look after the bar for him."
"Okay, I guess it's alright then. I would like some ice tea, please. If it's not too much of a hassle."
"No, not at all. I think I can manage that." Mel said and walked around the bar. She grabbed a glass and took the pitcher from the mini fridge. She poured the ice tea and put it in front of the woman. "Here you go."
"Thank you, dear. That's very sweet of you."
"Can I get you something else?"
"No, thank you. I now just have to wait for Jack to come back. This is not like him, to not be around when he is needed."
"Have you known Jack long time? I don't think I have seen you here or in town?"
"I don't like to leave my house, so I don't do that often. But I have known Jack ever since he moved here. I haven't seen you either, are you new in town?"
"Well, recently new . I have been here four month. I'm Mel. I work with Doc, I'm a nurse."
"Ah, Mel the nurse. I have heard about you, but never got the pleasure of meeting you until now. My name is Rose." The woman said with a spark in her eyes. All of her lighten up. "So Mel, how do you like it here?"
"I'm a city girl at heart, but these beautiful views and the charm of the small town community is growing on me. And Jack, of course, he has been a big help since the first day I came here. Honestly, he is the reason I'm still standing, how I survived my first days here and why I'm still here."
"I have always thought of Jack as a wonderful young man. Always ready to help out those that needs it."
"That's one of the things I like most about him. He is always there when you need him, except for you today though." Mel said with a soft laughter.
"I'm in no rush. I forgive him. So you like Jack?" Rose said with that spark in her eye.
"Yeah, I like him a lot. In fact, I love him. We are together, as a couple."
"How lovely. Love is such a wonderful feeling, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is."
"Have you been together long? If you don't mind me asking?"
"Not long, just two month. I'm surprised you don't know it as the gossip travels fast and the entire town talked about it."
"I'm not much for gossip, it rarely tells the whole story or accurate ones. Excuse me, I need to go to the restroom."
"Yes, of course."
.
Jack came back and sat down next to Mel to get a kiss. "Anything happened while I was away?"
"A woman came to see you. She is in the restroom."
"What did she want?"
"I don't know. I didn't ask. She is a very sweet old lady though."
"Okay. I missed you."
"Really?" Mel rolled here eyes. "You have been gone 15 minutes."
"Well, it's 15 minutes to not touch you, to kiss you."
"When you put it like that, let's do something about it then."
"Exactly my point." Jack said with a big smile before they started kissing.
"You made a good choice this time, my son. You got my approvement. Mel is a lovely girl. Now I just want to know why you haven't taken her home so I can meet her?"
They stopped kissing and Jack turned around. "Mom?"
Mel looked over his shoulder. "She is your mother?"
"What are you doing here, Mom? Why didn't you call? I could have picked you up at the airport." Jack hugged her.
"That wouldn't done you any good, because I drove here."
"Mom, you shouldn't..."
"I will have you know, young man. I'm not that old. When it's time for me to hand in my drivers license, I will do so and that's not just yet. Now introduce me properly to your lovely lady."
"Mel, this is my mom, Rose Sheridan. Mom, meet the love of my life, Mel Monroe." Jack said with pride.
"Hey, Mrs Sheridan. So nice to meet you."
"Come here, dear. Give me a hug. I have been waiting to meet you."
"Why didn't you let me know you was coming for a visit?" Jack asked.
"You talked so fondly about Mel on the phone, but nothing about when I get to meet her. As you didn't even tell me about Charmaine, who you dated for two years. I wanted to see for myself that Mel wasn't another girl you wouldn't even bother to take home."
"Wait, what? Did you know about Charmaine before I told you about her and the twins?"
"Yes. I knew."
"How? And we weren't dating."
"I have my ways. If you weren't dating, what were you doing? Just having sex with her? Not important enough to tell your mother about."
"Mom!" Jack burst out.
"Oh my! That was direct." Mel laughed nervously.
"Come on, Jack. Didn't think you was a prude. Sex is a natural part of life. People don't need to tell personal details, but sex in general as a subject shouldn't still be hard to talk about. Most people are having it, you know. Don't tell me you haven't had sex yet?"
Mel blushed and Jack couldn't stop the smile that was creeping up on his lips.
"You were right, Jack. She is a firecracker."
"I take it as a yes and I shall stop talking about it. Just one more remark. As you are being a midwife, Mel. I though you know babies comes after having sex."
"I know that, but thanks for letting me know." Mel laughed still with flashing red cheeks.
.
They all had dinner at Mel's cabin. After dinner Jack stepped outside to get more firewood.
"I'm sorry that I didn't introduce myself, I was pretty sure you was the woman Jack told me about. I wanted to talk with you without the awkward feeling if you know I was Jack's mother. I hope you will forgive me."
"Of Course, Mrs Sheridan."
"No, no, call me Rose. I'm not that much for that sort of formality."
"So how long will you stay, Rose?"
"Just a few day. I couldn't be here when Jack was shoot, because of my own health. I was fightning with pneumonia at the time."
"Oh! That's terrible. Your son gets shot and you can't go to him. I can't imagine how that must have been like."
"I was scared for both of our lives and felt totally helpless. It felt a little better when Brie was at his side, so he had a part of his family with him."
"Yeah, the love of family is a good healing power. Everybody should have the support of family. I did wonder once why you didn't come when Jack was in the hospital, as he told me you guys was close. Now I know and that must been a nightmare for you."
"Yes, believe me, I wanted to come. We all wanted to come, but two of my other daughters had to take care of me and one was abroad, so that left only Brie to go."
"I was thankful when Brie showed up, because even if I love Jack, I aren't family. So if the worst scenario would happen, I wasn't gonna be allowed to make any medical decisions."
"I'm so grateful you were with him and found him in time to save his life. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if you wasn't there."
"Yeah, me too. I still blame myself for saying I was hungry, instead of being at the bar, Jack would have still been here in my arms and we would have made love again instead."
Rose smiled at her. "Oh."
"What?" Mel started to ask when she realized what she said and for the second time on the same day she felt her cheeks got flushed again.
.
"This cabin is adorable."
"Yeah, it is now. Housing was part of the contract I signed, but the cabin was in bad shape when I got here. Jack fixed it up in a scheme to try to get me to stay in Virgin River."
"Did it work?"
Mel smiled. "I would say it worked over his expectations. He made me a home here. He had done so much for me already and then when he surprised me with it. All I could think was that he did this for me, so I kissed him."
Rose smiled.
"We both felt that is was something between us already then."
"Speak for yourself." Jack had come in unnoticed. "The kiss gave me hope that you had feelings for me. I was instantly attracted to you from the second you walked into the bar. I told you how beautiful you were 10 seconds in."
"Yeah, but that was just a line."
"No, I meant it. I couldn't believe my eyes, how such a beautiful woman could be here in the middle of nowhere, in my bar. My answer after was a line because I didn't want to scare you off. I know I had to go slow if I wanted to get to know you better."
"I wasn't ready to start something, but you made it very hard to say no to you. You managed to draw me out of my grief with all those small unexpected things, like the picnic, the baseball cage. Slowly each day you made me whole again."
"Speaking of the picnic, that's where I know I was in love with you."
"Yes, you said that, but I don't understand why. Nothing happened then."
"Well, nothing romantically. But there you were willing to take guardianship over an abandon baby so she could stay in a town you didn't want to stay in yourself. Your boss didn't let you do the work you were supposed to do. Your house was a shack. You felt everything was against you. A woman with such a big, warm and kind heart, that's someone I wanted to be with. A woman I want to spend my life with. As I was already attracted to you, it suddenly hit me I was falling in love with you."
Jack caressed her cheek. "After that I must admit I did try to do anything I could to make you stay. I wasn't sure about your marital status, but you never said that you were happily married or that I should stop."
"No, you was always a gentleman. So kind, so understanding, never pushed too hard. Just enough to cheer me up, make me laugh and very patience waited for me to sort out my feelings. That's why I fell in love with you and your boyish charm."
"Yeah, you took your time alright. I only needed three days." Jack said with a cheeky smile.
"Yes, I know. But I got there in the end."
"That you did, so happy for that."
"You make me so happy." Mel said and walked into his arms and kissed him.
They had totally forgotten about Rose, but she was in heaven. Just sitting there and got to hear their story without asking questions that sometimes could interpret as prying, was absolutely golden. She enjoyed every second of it. This confirmed that Mel was in every part the woman Jack told her over the phone. How much they loved each other and was not afraid to show it. They were perfect together.
Now when her first wish came true, that Jack would eventually find a woman he could love, her next wish is that she hoped she could plan their wedding. After having three sons-in-laws, she really would like to welcome a daughter-in-law to the family.
.
Jack drove his mother to the Fitchers.
"You never did answer my question. Why haven't you brought Mel home to me?"
"I didn't want to rush things with Mel, she asked if we could go slowly. I didn't want the pressure of meeting my family make her close herself off again, now when she has opened up after everything that she has been through. Because I want everyone to meet her, I want the whole world to know how much I love her."
"I see. May I ask what she has been through? Or is that private? She mentioned grief."
"She don't want everyone to know, but I know you will not gossip about her."
"God, no, I don't like those people that can't keep a secret or a confidence, some things you don't talk with others even if you have their permission."
"She lost her baby giving birth, it was stillborn. Then she and her husband struggled to get pregnant again without any luck. She lost her husband in a car accident just one and a half year ago."
"Oh poor Mel. That's terrible. So much pain I can imagine."
"Yeah, that's why she came here. The grief was too much for her to stay, she needed a place to get away from it and try to start a new life."
"What good luck, it was for both of you, that she walked into your bar and not someone else's."
"Yeah, we are still debating if it was fate or luck or coincidence that brought her here."
"Mel is a lovely woman and I'm so happy that you are together. Both of you deserve to be loved that much as you seem to love each other."
"I love her so much. She is the love of my life. I have never felt like this before. Now I'm feeling a bit guilty for all my girlfriends in the past and Charmaine. How they didn't leave me is a mystery. I didn't feel anything close to what I feel for Mel for them. This is what love suppose to feel like and what I have been waiting for all my life."
"I'm truly happy for you, my son. This kind of love is rare."
"Speaking of secrets, I have one for you. I'm gonna ask Mel to be my wife in a soon near future."
Rose looked at Jack with a look of surprise filled with joy. She gave him a hug.
"That's a fantastic secret to keep."
.
"Your mother is a lovely woman. Not what I expected after she surprised me like that and caught us kissing. I like her."
"I know you would and I was right that she would love you, she does. She is happy for us."
"Yeah, she told me. She has apparently waited a long time for you to found a woman you could love. Even if you didn't love Charmaine, there must have been other women in your life that you have loved. I don't think you have lived your life in celibacy."
"No, but I have never felt anything close to what I feel for you for any other woman. They were as my mother so bluntly said, not important enough to even mention to her. You..Jack gave her a soft kiss...on the other hand, I told her early on."
"Yeah?"
"Yes, I told her not only that I met someone, but the one. The woman I want to live my life with. That's you Mel. Only You. I love you. So happy you walked into my life."
"So am I. I love you so much."
"Mmm." Jack kissed her. "You know, there is one more thing we need to put on the fate or coincidence list. The night you took off your wedding ring and told me about Mark, I had just come from Charmaine. I went over there to tell her I didn't wanna see her anymore. I had started treating her as I feared I would, not with respect. It's not right to be with someone, when you are constantly thinking of another woman. I was drawn to you immediately, even if we never would be together. I wanted to be near you, I wanted to get to know you better. You were always on my mind."
"So you mean, that we both the same day decided to open up to the possibility of a chance to explore what was between us by make the other one aware of the changed status. That would definitely be a case of fate or coincidence." Mel smiled. "You know, I literally took the ring off five seconds before you knocked on my door. What do you say about that?"
"I say I'm happy that I didn't come earlier then, because if you hadn't taken that step, took off the ring, told me about Mark. You maybe wouldn't have kissed me right here in this spot when I showed you the cabin. That display of happiness, how happy you got is something I'm gonna remember until the day I die. How beautiful you looked then...Jack kissed her...how beautiful you look now."
"I couldn't believe you did that for me, almost a stranger, even if we had spent some time together. I was drawn to you too from the start, I admit to my sister that I liked you that morning of the storm. I wasn't ready to get close to you, but I had feelings and then when you showed me this and you wanted me to stay. I just acted, I wanted to thank you with more than words."
"You kissing me surprised me, but something I really wanted to do. I was very happy for the know, something else that I'm happy for is that this cabin don't have any spare room or spare bed."
"Why?"
"Because I'm pretty happy that my mother isn't here or I wouldn't be able to make love to you. Like I want to do now."
"Mmm. That makes two of us."
They sank down on the floor, engulfed in each other and made love in front of the fire.
The End.