Chapter 3

Carlos was just about to leave when Tessa walked up to him and Bear. She was white as a ghost and shaking. Bear didn't care who saw, he pulled her into his arms and crushed her to his chest as she cried. Normally, he'd find their height differences amusing, since it was really his sternum that she was pressed against, but now was not the time for jokes.

Bear bent down and pressed his lips to her blonde hair. "What is it, Mama Bear? Is it Bree?"

Tessa nodded into his shirt. "She told me what happened to her." Her voice was muffled from being pressed against him. "God, Bear, it was so horrible. How could anyone do that to a child?"

"The world is full of monsters," Carlos said from behind her. "The problem is deciphering them from men."

Tessa turned in Bear's arms to look at the deputy sheriff. "I want him dead, Carlos. You find the bastard who hurt that little girl for no other reason than his sick desires and you kill him. Make him hurt."

Carlos and Bear exchanged a look. If it came to it, it would be Bear and the VDMC to make the child rapist bleed and they both knew it. Carlos believed in the law. Bear did too, but he also believed there were times when the law wasn't enough.

"She gave me a description of him," Tessa told Carlos.

Carlos pulled a notepad out from his chest pocket. "Tell me."

"She said he has a tattoo of a tree on his left arm and a scar above his eyebrow. And Carlos? He has a badge. Real or fake, I don't know, but he got her because he told her her foster mom was hurt and he was going to take her to her. She said the badge had a silver star on it."

Bear winced. He prayed that badge was fake and just a ploy. If a real cop had done this… While it didn't change anything about Bree's situation, it made it feel worse if her rapist was a cop.

"There's more," Tessa continued. "She doesn't know when, but he sold her to someone who makes snuff films. She thinks they thought she was dead and was disposing of her, and that's how she got into the road."

Carlos stopped writing and looked up. "Are you fucking kidding me? Snuff videos? It's bad enough she's a child, but someone bought her to…" He looked pale and green at the same time.

Bear knew the feeling. What the fuck was wrong with people? Not just the people who made those sorts of films, but those who paid to watch them, those who got off on them?

Carlos went back to writing. "I'm going to call my contact at the FBI. They have tech people who can track down those sorts of things."

"What about Keys?" Bear asked. His tech genius brother could probably find the information faster than the FBI, who was underpaid and understaffed, could.

"I don't want you guys getting more involved?—"

"We're already involved," Bear snapped. "We were involved the second some bastard threw a fourteen-year-old child out of a moving van and into the path of my hog. We're going to remain involved until we find out who did this."

"Fuck." Carlos ran a hand through his hair. "Fine. I don't think it'll hurt to get Keys on this too. It might be linked to what he's working on already."

Tessa's phone went off. She pulled it out of her pocket. "I need to get to Bree's room. The gastroenterologist is here."

"What's going on?" Bear asked.

Tessa stepped back, wiping her eyes. "She's showing signs of jaundice."

Shit, as if Bree didn't have enough complications.

"I'll come with you."

They said goodbye to Carlos and headed down the hallway together. They ran into Angel and Steel on their way. Bear was surprised to see his President at the hospital at six in the morning but was still pleased to see him. Steel had a way of getting things done.

"CPS finally showed up," Angel informed them. "Why would it take so long? She's been here for hours."

"Big county," Steel said. "Probably don't have anyone close by. Small towns generally don't have one assigned directly."

Angel shook her head and said something that sounded like, "Unacceptable," under her breath.

Tessa stopped to talk to the CPS lady, who looked like she'd rather be anywhere but there. She even yawned openly as she spoke to Tessa, like she wanted everyone to know that her sleep had been interrupted.

A man in his fifties came out of Bree's room and gestured Tessa over.

"Excuse me," she said to the CPS lady. The woman did not look happy to be pushed aside.

Bear, Steel, and Angel stood down the hall from Bree's door and watched as Tessa and the older doctor conversed. Whatever was being said, it didn't look promising. Bear knew the body language of doctors very well. Whatever they were discussing wasn't good news.

Tessa came back over to the CPS lady. "Bree's prognosis is worsening. We've paged urology to confirm our suspicions. Dr. Hammon is a gastroenterologist. He agrees with me that she is showing signs of liver failure and suspects kidney failure as well. We're ordering tests now to confirm. It is possible she'll need further surgery. The current issue is that we can't determine if her lack of urine output is due to kidney failure or her paraplegia. We are moving her up to the ICU instead of pediatrics."

The CPS lady was taking notes. "And she received these injuries when she was thrown from the car?"

Tessa shook her head. "Not all of them. When she impacted with the asphalt, her spinal cord was damaged as was her spinal artery. If not for the intervention of a Good Samaritan, she would have bled out quickly in the street. As for her organ failures, that is from long term malnourishment, dehydration, and vitamin deficiency. Compounded with the severe blood loss and the shock from her fall, and her body started shutting down. It will likely take surgical intervention, and even then we can't make any promises."

The CPS lady was taking notes. "Any surgery that requires consent needs to go through me."

Tessa shifted uncomfortably. "As of right now, Bree is refusing any surgeries or invasive treatments."

Bear closed his eyes. Fuck. The girl was giving up. He felt Angel sway next to him. Both Steel and Bear put a hand out to steady her.

The CPS lady put her pen away. "She's a minor. It would need to be presented to legal before that determination can be made." She put the notebook she'd been writing in in her shoulder briefcase. "Is she awake? I'd like to speak with her."

Tessa nodded. "Just be…gentle. Nothing that will get her aggravated. You can help feed her ice chips if she asks."

The lady nodded and walked into the room, shutting the door behind her.

Bear walked over to Tessa with Steel and Angel following him. "She's refusing surgery?"

"Dr. Hammon mentioned her needing a kidney transplant if his suspicions are confirmed. Frankly, based on her symptoms, I'm tempted to agree with him before we even get urology's diagnosis. Bree shook her head and said ‘no, I don't want it.' Then she told Dr. Hammon to leave."

Angel leaned heavily against the wall. "She's fourteen fucking years old. Can they really let her make that call?"

Tessa was somber as she explained, "She needs a psych consult and then it'll be presented to the hospital lawyers. If they believe she is of sound mind, her wish can be granted. However, if they don't, CPS has the authority to agree on her behalf."

Talk about moral dilemma. Bear was grateful he'd never had to face it in combat. Do you do as the patient wishes and let them die or do you do everything in your power to save them even if they don't wish to be saved? What do you do when you're faced with freewill that you don't agree with?

Tessa excused herself to go speak with the nurses. Carlos came back to inform Steel that Hannigan had been filled in on everything, including that it was Bear who found Bree on the road.

The CPS lady came out. "Where is Dr. Fisher?"

"Here," Tessa said as she walked up behind her.

For the first time since the lady had arrived, she looked like an actual human being who cared for others. The frosty mask she'd been wearing was dropped. If Bear looked closer, he was pretty sure he'd see where tear tracks had fallen down her cheeks.

"Dr. Fisher, I need to consult with the hospital lawyers as well as ours. That child has had enough choices taken away from her in her short life." She cleared her throat, looking sad. "I refuse to take another away from her. Do what tests you need, but don't do anything invasive without speaking with me first."

"You're going to let her die?" Angel stepped forward. Her voice was harsh, but also heartbroken. "She's a child. She doesn't know how to make those decisions for herself."

The CPS lady looked defeated but didn't look towards Angel. She remained fixed on Tessa. "I'll be in touch."

Angel moved as if to go after the CPS lady, but Steel put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. She rounded on him. "How can she do that? How can she agree to not proceed with the surgeries or whatever Bree needs? They're going to let her die!"

No one had any answers for her. Tessa looked sick. Bear was about to suggest that she take a break before her replacement comes when Sheriff Hannigan came walking down the hallway. He was dressed in uniform and did not look happy.

Before anyone could say anything to him, Steel stepped forward, grabbed the sheriff by the arm, and pulled him into an empty exam room. Bear followed, closing the door behind them.

Steel had Hannigan pressed up against the wall with his arm barred across Hannigan's chest. "Did you have anything to do with this? Did you know about someone making snuff films in this area? Or the fact that little girls were being used in them?"

"No!" Hannigan protested. "God, no!" He tried to push Steel's arm off him but couldn't. "I didn't know. I thought all of this was over."

"A fourteen-year-old girl, Hannigan! You better not be lying to me!"

"I'm not! I don't know any more than you do. I wouldn't have been involved in any of this if it wasn't for what Richard had done. I know you don't believe me, but I had to protect my wife and Harper."

"By allowing your son to abduct thirteen other women," Steel snapped. "You knew what he was doing and you did nothing. You would have stood by and watched him take more and more women to pay off his gambling debts. And if by some miracle he ever had paid them back, what was to stop the cycle from repeating when the need to gamble took over again? Would you have stood by a second time as he abducted even more women?"

Shame filled Hannigan's face. "No. I could barely live with myself, knowing what Richard was doing. I tried to justify it, but…" His face pinched in grief. "I didn't turn your club in for his disappearance. I'm hoping you see that as my penance paid. My son is gone, and I did nothing. I'm trying to make things right, but I can't if Santiago works with your club while keeping me in the dark."

"You'll have to forgive us, Sheriff, if we don't trust you." Steel took a step back away from the man. "We allowed you to remain on as sheriff. We know damn well you didn't turn us in for your son because we have information connecting you to his crimes. We go down, you go down. Believe me when I say your penance hasn't even begun to be repaid."

"You can't go around playing judge and jury, Steel," Hannigan told him as Steel made to walk away. "You were vigilant about keeping your club clean before. I know I pulled you into this. I know it's my fault you had to resort to such extreme measures to protect this town when I failed to do so. But don't turn into someone whom you can't stand to see in the mirror. Trust me, that's a fate you want to avoid."

Steel turned back towards Hannigan. His face was amused. "I took two rapists and a sex trafficker off our streets, Sheriff. I have no regrets. And, just to make things perfectly clear, your son wasn't the sex trafficker."

Hannigan's expression turned horrified as Bear and Steel left the room.

It was wellpast seven by the time Bear escorted Tessa out of the hospital and to her cage. She turned towards him. "I guess we should exchange numbers now."

Bear pulled out his phone and created a new contact under "Mama Bear" before handing it to her. She smiled lovingly at the title as she typed in her number. Then she called herself to get his information.

"I work again tonight, but I'll call you when I get up."

Bear nodded. "Sounds like a plan." He leaned down and kissed her. This kiss was much more intense than the ones they'd shared since their reunion. They were in a public parking lot, and no longer surrounded by her co-workers and patients.

Not wanting to, but knowing she needed to get home to sleep, Bear pulled away from the intoxicating woman in his arms. "Drive safe," he told her.

She smiled. "You too."

Bulldog had parked Bear's hog not too far from Tessa's car, which was good because then he didn't have to hurry to reach it. He climbed on and waited. His phone dinged just as she pulled out. He reached into his pocket for his phone.

It was a text from Tessa with a picture of a sonogram. A black and white blurry image of his cub. Fuck. Seeing that was like a hammer to his heart. He was going to be a dad. Bear quickly saved the image and set it as his phone's wallpaper.

Then he followed his Mama Bear and cub.

Mount Grove was a small town as far as population, but it was large in land. She lived about twenty-five minutes away from the hospital. Unfortunately, it was also in the opposite direction of the clubhouse and Bear's home. He needed to start making plans to change that. Lucky had had a smart idea when he'd moved his family onto club property.

Tessa's house was a small single-story with a large front porch. It was quaint, but didn't have a lot of lawn for kids to run around in.

He needed to work on Tessa's awareness of her surroundings because the shock on her face when she stepped out of her cage to find him parking his hog behind her showed she had no idea he'd been tailing her the entire way home.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Your plan was for us to go to our separate homes, shower and sleep separately, and for you to call me before going to work tonight." Bear shrugged. "My plan was to go home with you, shower and sleep with you, before I take you to work tonight."

"But…" She glanced behind her at her house and then back at him. "Don't you need to get home?"

He approached her. "Tessa, honey, I don't know how to get this through your head. You're mine. That means you're mine to protect and, I hope someday soon, love. I have no intention of sleeping apart from you or missing another milestone of our cub's growth. I plan to be here for you for anything and everything you need, and I can't do that if I'm at my house while you're here.

"Now if you tell me to go because you need your space or you don't want to continue what we started in that motel room, then tell me now. Because I have every intention of being in your space and continuing what we started in that motel room."

Tessa bit her bottom lip. "You really… I mean, we don't know each other that well. How can you call me yours and say you want to be there for me? We just met again."

"By my calculations, we have twenty-one weeks to not only get ourselves ready for our cub's arrival but also to learn about each other. Call me old fashioned, but I don't plan on doing that via text message or phone calls. I want to be with you, to get to know you. I care about you, Tessa. I cared about you that night in the motel room. If it wasn't for bad timing and assumptions on both our parts, I have to believe we would have been dating this entire time and I would have been there when you discovered you were pregnant."

She opened and closed her mouth twice before blurting out, "I'm about to throw up."

Bear's eyebrows rose. "Now?"

She shook her head. "No." Then she scrunched her nose in the most adorable way. "I meant soon. This is going to sound really bad, because I loved everything you just said. I want to get to know you too. I just don't want to start anything now and then have to stop because of my morning sickness."

Bear reached for her, cupping her face. "Tessa, I've been awake over twenty-four hours. I'm not even sure I could get it up right now if I tried. So how about we take sex off the table for the time being? We can go inside, you can vomit while I hold your hair back and press a cool towel to your forehead, then we can shower and go to sleep. How's that sound?"

Tessa stared longingly at him. "Like heaven."

He smiled. "Good." Then he picked her up bridal style.

She let out a small squeal. "I can walk, you know."

"I know."

"Then why aren't you letting me?"

"Just because you can walk doesn't mean I'm going to let you." He bent down so she could unlock her front door. "Plus, I enjoy holding you. By the laws of transference, I'm also holding our cub right now."

Tessa dropped her keys in a bowl on a table by the door. Her purse went to a hook on the wall. She placed her arms around his neck. "You are such a dork."

Like clockwork, Tessa found herself on the floor of her bathroom with her face in the toilet at eight-thirty. For the first time, she had her baby's father with her. As a doctor, she shouldn't find vomiting to be embarrassing. He was a nurse and likely dealt with it all the time. Still, a part of her was ashamed that he saw her like this. He was calm and soothing. He rubbed her back, held up her hair, and wiped her forehead with a cool cloth just as he promised he would.

Despite her embarrassment, she did find comfort in his presence as well. When she finally felt she was done, Tessa sat up with a tired sigh. "I cannot wait for this part of the pregnancy to be over."

"You're approaching twenty weeks. It should be stopping soon."

Tessa nodded in agreement. She accepted the water bottle he handed her and started sloshing water around in her mouth. Bear was sitting on the edge of her bathtub. She leaned back against the cool porcelain between his legs. She needed to brush her teeth but, at that moment, didn't want to move. Bear was rubbing her shoulders, neck, and back. It felt amazing.

"How old are you?"

Her eyes blinked open at the question. "Isn't there some sort of stigma about asking a woman her age?"

He chuckled. "True. I haven't dealt with active pregnancies in almost a decade. My patients are far beyond procreating age. Though, not for lack of trying. STIs are quite common in elderly. Some of them plan to literally go out with a bang." Tessa snorted. "I know you're the doctor, but I need to be prepared to help you, Mama Bear. I want to make sure I read up on everything current and need to know if you're at risk due to your age."

"I'm thirty-two. I'm below the standard age of risk, and my OB hasn't seen anything worrisome."

"Good." He squeezed her around her shoulders. "That's really good. When's your next appointment?"

"Well, I missed my last appointment. My OB was out of town and her replacement was a man." She shrugged self-consciously. "I know it's hypocritical of me to say as a doctor myself, but it wigs me out having a man stare at my hoo-ha while I just lay there with my feet in stirrups."

An odd noise came from Bear. She looked up to see him pinching his lips together in an attempt not to laugh. "Very, uh, clinical of you, Dr. Fisher."

"Shush." Tessa pushed on his leg. Then ended up leaning against it. "I have an appointment next week."

"May I come with you?"

Tessa was touched, and surprised, he'd asked and not just told her he was going too. "Of course. I want you there."

"Good. I hadn't actually planned on taking no for an answer."

Tessa snorted but didn't have the energy to scold him. "God, I'm so tired. I could fall asleep right here. Has anyone ever told you your legs make great pillows?"

He chuckled. "You would be the first. I need to get you in the shower, Mama Bear, before you pass out on my leg pillows."

She heard the water start and figured he'd reached behind him to turn it on. Tessa groaned in protest. She did not want to get up. Turns out, she didn't have to.

Bear lifted her to her feet and held her upright. He undressed her, put her glasses on the counter, and gently took her ponytail out of her hair. She didn't protest when he undressed himself. Then he lifted her into his arms and carried her into the shower.

Tessa, who prided herself on being able to take care of herself, let him wash her body without argument. She felt his lips press against her expanding belly and smiled at the affection he showed their unborn baby. She let out a low moan as he scrubbed her scalp as he washed her hair. He even lifted each armpit and shaved for her.

She wanted to blame it on being tired but, the truth was, she loved his pampering. She'd never allow any other man to do so to her. Hell, she couldn't even recall a man joining her in the shower before. It was different with Bear. It had always been different with Bear.

Tessa must have dozed off. The water turning off made her jolt awake. Bear soothed her with low words of affection. Once more he lifted her. She found herself leaning up against the bathroom vanity as he dried her off. Her eyes were barely functioning as he handed her a toothbrush with toothpaste. She brushed on auto-drive.

Then she was lifted and placed on her bed. She didn't splurge often, but she had on her mattress. It was her own slice of heaven. Now, though, she wished she'd bought the larger king instead of the queen. Bear was far too tall to fit comfortably.

She didn't realize he'd been gone for a moment until she felt him crawl into bed behind her. She didn't have the energy to ask what he'd been doing but assumed he'd gone to lock up and turn off any lights. That seemed like a Bear thing to do.

With their body differences, Bear was able to wrap his enormous body around her. Tessa would have thought she'd feel smothered, but it had the opposite effect. She felt warm, protected. Like she finally had someone at her back and didn't have to face the world alone.

It was a good feeling.

Bear woke up around noon.Tessa was curled against his chest, breathing deeply. He wasn't sure what had awoken him until he felt something press against his hand.

His eyes flew open. It was slight, but there it was again.

His cub was shifting around inside the womb. Careful not to disturb Tessa, Bear sat up. Her bedroom was shadowed with sunlight from the closed shade. It was enough to see though. Just a little nudge, a slight movement under the skin.

Bear put his ear to her bump where she was growing his cub. Fuck, there was no feeling so powerful in the world than the knowledge that he was going to be a father.

"I love you," he mouthed against her skin.

The urge to take a piss forced him out of bed. He noticed he'd left the bathroom a mess earlier and cleaned up too. When Bear went to put her clothes into the hamper, he saw it was overflowing. He grabbed the upright basket, along with his clothes, and went in search of the washing machine. Her laundry room was a small closet with stackable machines.

He put his dark clothing into the washing machine before starting to separate out her darks, colors, and whites. He recalled from helping his mom with the laundry as a teen that women's underwear and bras needed to go on a delicate cycle and in separate bags. He didn't see any of those mesh bags like his mom used, so he waited to do those and started the dark cycle. He wouldn't have clothes until that load was done anyway.

He walked around her house. It was small. Two bedrooms with the bathroom in the master. Her living room was filled with books, a couch, and a fireplace. He didn't see a TV. Bear smiled at seeing a line of comic books on one of the bookshelves.

His Tessa was a sexy little nerd. Fuck, he wondered if she had any cosplay costumes. He felt his balls ache at the very thought.

Her kitchen was almost bare, though he did find a shit ton of pickles and olives. He gagged, recalling her sandwich at the hospital. He was pretty sure she'd ruined pickles and olives for him now. Based on her kitchen alone, Bear would guess she wasn't a cooker. Which was fine by him, because he was.

Bear journeyed back to the bedroom. She was still sound asleep. He pulled the covers up higher on her. Then he grabbed his phone from where he'd plugged it in that morning before they'd gone to sleep. He'd plugged hers in too. He figured the second bedside plug was for a tablet or another device. There was no evidence that anyone else spent the night here regularly.

He propped the door closed so he could hear her if she roused but also wanting to keep his noises from waking her.

He went out to the couch and sat down—and instantly regretted it. Unlike her mattress, her couch was not comfortable. It was a good thing she'd let him sleep in her bed and he hadn't been forced to sleep on this painful thing that would serve her better as kindling than furniture.

Still, other than the floor, there wasn't any place else to sit.

He shifted around, trying to get comfortable, and then gave up. He called his parents rather than FaceTime them because he was naked.

Lawrence and DeeDee Collins were two of the best people Bear knew. His father was a retired fireman and his mother a retired schoolteacher. They were kind, loving people who opened their hearts and home to people in need. Bear could only hope to one day be half the man his father was. Bear took after his father in height and stature. Yet, Bear could remember from a young age his father sitting him down and explaining that his size was not to be used for intimidation. It was a gift to be big enough and strong enough to protect those he loved and those he saw in need.

Bear had taken that lesson to heart. Except when he'd been at war, he'd never raised his hand in anger—until that dreadful night when his MC had discovered thirty-four women and two girls in the back of a shipping container destined for a sex auction house. He had a feeling, though, that his father would approve of his actions in regard to how the club had handled Richard Hannigan, Marcos, and Mark Connelly. Especially if he'd seen the condition the women had been in.

To this day, Bear still had nightmares. The worst was when his brain implanted Sissy, Harper, or his own mother into the back of that truck, in the same condition as those women had been in. He prayed the dreams didn't start up again, only with Tessa in the back of that truck.

Needing to get that thought out of his mind, Bear dialed his mom's cell.

It rang a couple of times before his mom answered, "Terry, baby. How are you?"

His mom was the only person in the world who called him Terry. She'd never called him Bear. According to her, she'd named him Terry and that was the name she was going to use. It made him smile when she did.

"I'm good, Ma. Is Pop around? I've got something to tell you two."

"Hold on. Lawrence!" she called out. "Terry's on the phone!" Into the phone, she said, "Is everything okay? It's not bad news, is it?"

"No, Ma. It's good news, really good news."

There was a little rustling on the other end and then he heard both his parents. "Hi-ya, son!"

"Terry, I put you on speaker. Go ahead, sweetie."

"Hey, Pop. How's the fishing been?"

"Good, good. Headed out early tomorrow morning with Barry and Gordon. Trick is to avoid the heat."

Bear almost snorted. Avoiding heat in Florida was as easy as avoiding snow in Alaska.

"Stop talking about fish, you two. I want to hear Terry's news."

Bear and his father chuckled. His mother had always had a streak of impatience and hated surprises.

"Fine. Go ahead, son."

"I met someone."

"Oh, thank the Lord!" his mother praised. "I was starting to lose hope. Tell me everything about her."

"Her name is Tessa Fisher. She's a doctor here at Memorial in the ER. Pop, you're going to love her. She's a spitfire wrapped up in a little pixie body."

His dad chuckled. "Clearly, you and I have similar tastes in women." DeeDee Collins was only five foot-four.

"What were you doing in the emergency room that you met her?" his mother demanded.

"I didn't meet her in the emergency room, Ma. She just works there. We met about four months ago at a bar in Pittsburgh."

"Four months, and I'm only hearing of her now?"

Bear rolled his eyes. He was forty years old, but his mother still liked to be involved in every aspect of his life. After his ex-fiancée, though, he'd stopped sharing certain things.

"It's complicated, Ma. We met and we liked each other, but there was a misunderstanding and we haven't seen each other this whole time. We bumped into each other yesterday and resolved what happened."

Both his parents were silent for a moment.

"So you haven't been together this whole time?" his mother clarified.

"No. And there's more." He couldn't keep the smile off his face as he announced, "She's pregnant, Ma. You guys are going to be grandparents."

Bear had to hold the phone away from his ear, so his mother's elated cry didn't burst his eardrum. As his mom started ranting about grand-babies and how long she'd waited for him to give her one, his practical father spoke up. "You're sure it's yours, son?"

"He's mine," Bear proclaimed proudly.

"He?" his mother demanded. "It's a boy?"

"We don't know for sure yet, but Tessa says she feels like it's a boy."

"If you two only just reconnected yesterday then she's four months along," his mother concluded without judgement for the unorthodox situation. "How's she feeling?"

"She's doing well. Weird-ass cravings"—both his parents chuckled at that—"and she should be reaching the end of her morning sickness soon. She's got the cutest little cub bump. I felt the cub moving this morning. It was slight, barely a nudge, but I've never felt anything like it. It was the greatest feeling in the world, Ma."

He could hear his mother's sniffling over the line. "It truly is. Okay, I need to start packing. Lawrence, start researching plane tickets. We need to call the Fitzpatricks and tell them we're leaving the condo early. Terry, love, could you swing by our house and open it up? We're going to need the basic groceries too. Bread, eggs, milk, your father's beer… I'll handle the rest once we're back and situated."

"What are you talking about, Ma? Why are you coming up?"

"Terrance Collins, you did not just ask me that! Your Tessa is having our grand-baby. I want to be there in case you need anything. I have been waiting forty years to become a grandmother. I am not going to miss any part of this." Her voice started fading as she continued to talk.

"Best not argue with her, son," his father said, humor in his voice. "Looks like I'll be cancelling my fishing trip."

"Sorry, Pops."

"Nothing to apologize for. There will always be other fishing trips, but you're only going to give me my first grandchild once. Besides," he added like it was some big secret, "I'd follow your mother to the ends of the earth if she asked me to."

Bear chuckled. "I know the feeling."

There was a pause and then his dad said, "That so?"

Though he couldn't see it, Bear nodded. "She's the one, Pop. I knew it four months ago and, if I hadn't been such a dumbass, we never would have been apart all this time."

"Did you hurt her? Say something to offend her?"

"No, Pop," Bear insisted, "nothing like that. I left the morning after we'd slept together with the intention of getting us breakfast. I thought I was being sweet by letting her sleep, but it turns out she was awake the whole time listening to me sneak out of the room. With no way of knowing I was coming back, she left. I returned with breakfast to find an empty motel room and having no way of contacting her." Bear was grateful he didn't need to concoct some story for his parents. He'd always been able to talk to them about anything.

"Should have left her a note," his dad said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yeah, I should have. You have no idea how much I've kicked myself over these past four months that I didn't."

"You're not with her then because of the baby? You have feelings for her?"

"Pop, she's the one," he repeated. "I just have to convince her of that."

His dad chuckled. "Your mother was a skittish little thing too when we first met. Wore her down, eventually, though. Good thing too, or you'd have never been born."

Bear chuckled, "Yeah, good thing."

"Lawrence, get off the phone! You need to look at plane tickets." There was some clicking and then his mother's voice was clearer. She'd taken the phone off speaker. "Terry, baby, I'll text you the details of our flight. Our car is still in long-term parking, so you don't need to worry about picking us up. I can't wait to meet Tessa. Depending on our flight, though, it might have to wait a couple of days."

"Travel safe, Ma. Let me know if you need anything. I'm going to send one of the prospects to the store for you and get them to open up your house."

"You're such a sweet boy." He was a forty-year-old man, but there was no telling his mother that. He would always been her boy—and frankly he loved it. "Talk to you soon. Love you."

"You, too. Say ‘bye' to Pops for me."

"Of course. Bye, baby." His mother hung up the phone.

Refusingto make the same mistake twice, Bear nudged Tessa awake. He was fully dressed. It was after two in the afternoon, and he was starving. Plus, he needed to see Lucky and then Steel, before coming back to get Tessa for her next shift at the hospital.

She grudgingly opened her eyes. "What?" she moaned.

Bear smiled. "I wanted to tell you goodbye. I'm running out for a bit and will be back around five. I promised myself months ago if I ever saw you again, I'd never leave your bed without telling you where I was going and when I'd be back."

She groaned and turned her face back into the pillow. "Go away."

He leaned over and kissed the back of her head. "Text me if you need me to pick anything up from the store."

A muffled reply of, "Smoked salmon. And avocados." There was a pause and then, "And cottage cheese."

Bear tried to keep the laughter out of his voice as he asked, "Anything else?"

"Peaches."

"You got it, Mama Bear." He bent down and kissed her hair again. "I'll be back around five," he reminded her. She mumbled something else that he didn't catch. "What was that?"

She sighed and turned her head away from the pillow. "I said, ‘thank you, Papa Bear.'"

He smiled widely. "Anytime, Mama Bear. Go back to sleep."

As he walked out of the house, locking it behind him as he did, he texted himself her grocery list so he wouldn't forget anything. He really hoped she wasn't mixing peaches, smoked salmon, avocado, and cottage cheese together. If she was, he needed to reconsider having dinner with her or risk him being the one to throw up.

Lucky owned an art studio on Main Street. He'd learned to weld when he'd gotten out of the Marines after gaining guardianship of his sister, Sissy. Later when he'd taken guardianship of his infant brother, Scotty, Lucky had had to find a different schedule that coordinated better with raising two kids. Though biologically Sissy and Scotty were Lucky's brother and sister, he considered them his kids and had legally adopted them. They were his son and daughter in every way but DNA.

The building the art studio was in was owned by the club. Lucky's business rented the store space from them. His art pieces were unique, and he donated a percentage of his profits to the National Down Syndrome Society in honor of his son Scotty.

It hadn't been that long ago when Bear had confronted Lucky in the back of his studio to demand why Lucky was acting funny. Turned out, he'd met Harper Hannigan, Scotty's new special education teacher at his high school, but had mistakenly thought she was married. He'd been trying to ignore his feelings for her. Once he'd discovered she wasn't married, Lucky had moved heaven and earth to be with her.

Including going up against her father, the sheriff.

Now it was Bear's turn to confess he'd fallen.

Lucky looked up as Bear entered the back of the studio where Lucky built his art pieces. He was at his desk sketching. "Hey, man. You look like shit."

"And you look beautiful." Bear sent him a kiss from across the room.

Lucky chuckled. The two had been best friends since grade school. They'd gone into the Marines together. If Lucky hadn't had to leave to take guardianship of his neglected sister, there was no doubt Lucky would have served the ten years they'd planned on doing when they'd signed up.

Bear's eyes narrowed as he noticed the slight limp in Lucky's stride as he walked over to greet Bear. "What happened?"

Lucky winced, but not in pain. "Scotty fell this morning. He was running around with Spot and tripped. I moved on instinct to catch him. My left foot's been bothering me since."

Though Bear was happy Scotty was okay, he didn't like that Lucky was hurting. His feet had taken a lot of damage when he'd gone back into his house to save Steel and Jenna from the fire. "Want me to take a look?"

Lucky shook his head. "No need. Nothing broke open. There's no blood or seepage. I'm just sore."

"You did some serious damage to your feet, Lucky. You need to be more careful."

"Yes, Nurse Bear," he said mockingly.

"Actually, it's ‘Papa Bear' now." Bear took out his phone so he could show Lucky the picture Tessa had sent him of the sonogram.

Lucky's eyebrows drew down as he tried to discern what Bear meant by that. Then his eyes went wide at the picture. "What? Who?"

Bear's lips spread wide as he thought of his Tessa, still asleep in bed with his cub growing in her womb. "Her name's Tessa." Bear gestured for Lucky to sit as he explained how they'd met, why they'd been separated, how they'd reunited, and that she was carrying his cub.

"Holy shit, man." Lucky reached over and clasped Bear on the shoulder. "Congratulations."

"My parents are flying up early. Mom wants to meet Tessa and help her get her ready for the cub's arrival."

"Cub? Really? I thought you were kidding about that, but you're going all out, aren't you?"

Bear shrugged. "He's my cub."

Lucky rolled his eyes. "So, you're finally going to make me an uncle. Scotty's going to be thrilled to have a cousin."

"And another aunt," Bear reminded him. "She's mine, Lucky. She's going to be my ol' lady, once I've convinced her I'm not actually a flight risk."

"She thinks you're lying about why you left that morning?"

Bear shook his head. "No. At least not consciously. I believe she believes me. But she's got some shields up. I just got to work on knocking them down before I can give her my cut."

"Happy for you, man. Are you telling the others?"

Bear nodded. "I'm headed to Steel next. Just felt I owed it to you and my parents to be the first to know. I need to still talk to Tessa, but I want you to be his godfather too."

"I'd be honored," Lucky said seriously. "After everything you did for my kids and me over the years, it's the least I can do."

"I told you years ago, you don't owe me for any of that. Ever."

"How about I offer up free babysitting and we'll call us even?"

Bear grinned. "Deal."