The fifth season of Virgin River was full of tragedy. There was Mel’s miscarriage, a raging fire and an FBI raid that upended Jack’s plans for the future—to name just a few of the heavier plot points. Thankfully, Season 6 promises to be a happier viewing experience as our favorite engaged couple (that would be Mel and Jack) is about to get married.

“This new, fresh start for [Mel] has really lifted her spirit out of having yet another miscarriage, which was traumatic for her,” Alexandra Breckenridge, who plays Mel, told Parade in an exclusive interview. “She didn’t end up getting the miracle baby that she thought she was going to have.” But she and Jack, who are now planning to adopt, are in a better place than ever, Breckenridge confirmed. “They’re very comfortable together. They’ve always had a connection from the second that they met each other. But now there’s this comfort in knowing that they will be there for each other and there’s a deeper understanding.”

When it comes to wedding planning, Mel and Jack initially expressed their desire for an intimate ceremony. “I feel like Mel is entering this wedding, and she’s not nervous about it. She’s looking for something really beautiful and simple,” Breckenridge said.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Netflix

But then the townspeople, and specifically Hope (Annette O’Toole), begin to interfere. “So it becomes overwhelming very quickly for Mel,” Breckenridge said. “But she’s sort of doing it for everyone else. That’s a lot of how Mel is. Mel does a lot of things for other people.”

Who will walk Mel down the aisle at her wedding on Virgin River?

Season 5 ends with Mel (and the audience) meeting her biological father, Everett (Callum Kerr), for the first time.

“Throughout Season 6, Mel is trying desperately to have this connection with her father,” Breckenridge said. His introduction just before Mel’s wedding begs the question, Will he walk her down the aisle? Or will Doc Mullins (Tim Matheson), her mentor at the Virgin River clinic, do the honors?

“Mel has developed such a strong bond with Doc throughout the time that she’s been in Virgin River, and he’s become like a surrogate father to her,” Breckinridge explained. That’s why, originally, she asked him to walk her down the aisle.

“[But] now that she has her real father in her life, she’s shifted, and she now wants Everett to walk her down the aisle,” Breckenridge told Parade. “Which she knows will cause some hurt with Doc and she doesn’t know if that rift is going to be deep or not. But she does try to get Everett to walk her down the aisle. You’re going to have to wait and see who ends up walking her down the aisle. Because it could be either of them.”

Fans will be happy to know that, as the season progresses, Mel and Jack’s relationship and communication only deepens, leaving Breckenridge to look forward to what’s in store for the couple in Season 7.  “I can only assume and imagine that if they’re at this place in their relationship just before they get married, which is a very stressful time for a lot of couples,” she said, “after they get married and they’re on their adoption journey I think they’re going to become a really beautiful family.”

“I can only assume and imagine that if they’re at this place in their relationship just before they get married, which is a very stressful time for a lot of couples,” she said, “after they get married and they’re on their adoption journey I think they’re going to become a really beautiful family.”