Chapter Sixteen: Martha

Chapter Sixteen – Martha

Martha picked up her glass of wine and took a sip. It was good wine, and she’d drunk enough to feel relaxed.

Her tongue might have loosened a little, too.

Or perhaps it was the company of the three women seated around the kitchen table. They were warm and welcoming and had made her feel at home.

It helped that none of them had known each other for years. They were all still getting to know each other, and now they were getting to know Martha.

“So, Martha,” Jody began as she topped up Kay’s glass with a nonalcoholic wine. “Before you moved to Bear Creek, what did you do?”

Martha looked around at the faces of her new friends and smiled. She took another sip of wine before speaking, unsure of how they would react to her old job.

When she said she was a lawyer, people seemed to think she had superhuman powers, like the ability to know their darkest secrets just by looking at them. They got really edgy, sure she was going to report them to the authorities for the slightest misdemeanor. She’d laugh and explain that she simply practiced the law, but their fear remained.

But it was a part of who she was, and she wasn’t going to hide that part of her.

“I was a lawyer,” she said. “I’d been a lawyer for many years, but I realized I needed a change in life and that’s why I moved here.”

Jody nodded in understanding. “Wow, you must have some stories to tell!”

“I do, but there’s this small matter of client confidentiality, which I take very seriously even though I’m not practicing law...” Martha sipped her wine again and then added, “Sorry, that sounded like a lecture.”

“Did you enjoy it?” Lana asked hesitantly.

“Yes,” replied Martha with conviction. “I enjoyed it very much. It was intellectually stimulating and rewarding work.” But then she added, “But there comes a time when life calls you to try something else and you just have to answer the call.”

The women around the table nodded in agreement. Since each of them had all recently moved to Bear Creek and started a new life, Martha suspected they each understood this feeling on some level or other.

Jody asked, “Do you have plans for what comes next?”

Martha clenched her jaw. After her father’s reaction to her plans, she’d kept them to herself. “I am planning on starting an artisan perfumery.”

“Oh, my!” Kay exclaimed. “That is amazing.”

Martha smiled shyly. “Thanks. I’ve been working on my business plan for a while, and I’m really excited about the possibilities.”

“You should be,” Jody said. “It’s one of best business ideas I’ve heard.”

“Really?” Martha’s cheeks flushed pink with a mixture of pleasure and embarrassment. “I want to create perfumes inspired by nature, using locally sourced ingredients and recipes developed from my own research and experimentation.”

“You’ve given this a lot of thought,” Kay replied. “But why Bear Creek?”

“I want to be inspired by the mountains and the clean air, to create fragrances that will evoke the wildness of this place,” she said.

“This is the perfect place,” Lana told her. “Who can’t help but get inspired by the mountains?”

“And the men.” Kay covered her mouth as she burst out laughing.

“Oh, the men!” Jody agreed and raised her glass.

“And the bears.” Martha raised her glass, too, and the others did the same.

“You know, I believe that we didn’t choose Bear Creek, Bear Creek chose us.” Lana looked at each of the women sitting at the table.

Kay smiled and raised her glass again. “To new beginnings and finding our place in the world.”

The others joined in the toast, clinking their glasses together in celebration.

Martha felt a sudden rush of emotion and tears prick her eyes. She hadn’t expected to get so emotional, but the moment was so special and intimate that it brought up a flood of memories and feelings.

“Are you okay, Martha?” Lana asked.

“I’m fine.” Martha blinked as she fought the rising well of emotion that bubbled up inside her. “I think the wine has gone to my head.” She stood up and brushed her hand across her eyes.

“Why don’t we get some air?” Lana placed her glass down on the table and pushed her chair back.

“No, you stay there.” Martha held out her hand to stop her from getting out of her chair. “It’s so cold outside...” Her voice trailed off. She didn’t want to be blunt and tell Lana that she would rather be alone.

Thankfully, Lana understood the unsaid message and sat back in her seat. “As long as you’re okay.”

“I am,” Martha assured her, feeling a little self-conscious.

“Grab one of the warm coats from the rack.” Lana pointed to a row of coats hung by the kitchen door. “They might smell horsey. And there’s hay in the pockets, that stuff gets everywhere, but you’ll need a warm coat if you don’t want to freeze.”

“Thanks, Lana.” Martha grabbed a coat and slipped her arms inside. “I won’t be long.”

“Take all the time you need,” Lana told her kindly.

As she stepped out into the night air, she looked up at the stars and felt a wave of peace wash over her. She had found her place in the world, here in Bear Creek with these wonderful women.

But could she fit in? They were full of talk about babies and making a home for their families. Martha would never have that.

But she had Clint, and the passionate, sweet love that he shared with her. A love so tender, it filled her heart and melted away her sadness.

Plus, his bear. How could she forget the massive beast that was like something out of a fairy tale?

Now, that was more than most people could ever hope for in a single lifetime.

Martha savored the crisp night air, letting it fill her lungs. She released it slowly and watched as it transformed into ethereal puffs of vapor that seemed to spin off into the night sky, like a secret dream rising to the heavens. A twinkle of excitement stirred in her chest as she gazed up at the stars, certain this was where all magic truly lived.

No, not all the magic, because some of it lived here on Earth in the form of shifters. They had to be made from stardust and magic. Didn’t they?

How could she not craft the most fragrant perfumes when she had such a magical, inspiring place as her home?

Tucking her hands in the deep pockets of the overlarge coat, she drank in the sight of the velvety night sky, twinkling with thousands of tiny stars. It was a breathtaking sight, and she couldn’t deny the spell that it cast over her. She felt so small, so insignificant against its beauty.

Lana was right, there was hay in the coat pockets.

And hay meant horses, surely.

Filled with an insatiable sense of wanderlust and in no rush to return to the cozy kitchen, Martha followed a stone path across the backyard, relishing the chance to explore.

The beauty was overwhelming, making her forget all her worries and doubts as she became lost in its magnificence.

But the spell was broken when a snort brought her back to reality—and she realized she was close to the stables.

Martha had grown up with an obsession for horses, but she’d never been able to find the time to ride one. After all, her parents had wanted her to excel academically—and if there was one thing Martha couldn’t ignore, it was their expectations. Too afraid to disappoint them and determined to be the best, she stayed focused on schoolwork instead of pursuing her dreams in the saddle.

Oh, my! Perfume! Horses! Could she be breaking free from the expectations her parents had put on her since childhood?

Better late than never!

When she reached the stables, the air was thick and heavy with the scent of horse and hay. Martha walked slowly, taking in every detail—the smooth wooden walls, the cobblestone floor, the gentle whinnying of horses inside their stalls. She smiled as she passed each one, feeling a deep connection to them that she’d never felt before.

Maybe she could keep a horse in the meadow next to the shack. She could explore the mountains on horseback, fulfilling two dreams at once.

“You are beautiful,” Martha said as she reached the last stall where a beautiful chestnut horse hung its head out of the door. The creature watched her with interest, its eyes large and unblinking. Its nostrils flared as it exhaled a whisper of warmth on her palm. The heat sent a tingle through her body.

Martha laughed softly and tickled its nose, feeling an instant bond between them as she stroked its soft coat. She leaned her forehead against the mare’s broad head and sighed contentedly, marveling at how far she had come from that young girl who dreamed about riding horses but never dared to pursue it for fear of failure.

The horse whinnied and tossed its head, backing away from the door. As it moved away, the hairs on the back of Martha’s neck stood on end and she shivered.

She slowly reached out, hesitated, then touched the stable door. She wanted to soothe the horse inside who was obviously in distress. But then she saw something move in the corner of the stall, and her heart skipped a beat.

She glanced nervously into the corner of the stall, squinting to make out what lay in the darkness beyond the shadows. Was someone—or something—in there with the horse? Her heart thudded like a drum in her chest as she strained harder, desperate to know who was lurking in the corner.

Perhaps it was one of the ranch hands? This might be their favorite horse. Maybe the horse was sick, and they were camped out in the stall to make sure it was okay.

Her mind raced through a hundred different scenarios before it rested on the most obvious one.

Whoever, whatever, was inside the stall was sleeping here because it sensed Clint and the others out on the mountain near the shack.

The shack where he usually slept.

Martha wasn’t sure if she should back away and leave him sleeping while she raised the alarm...if an alarm needed to be raised. Just because he’d snuck into the stall to sleep didn’t make him a bad person. Surely Grant and Lana would want to press charges for trespassing.

Wait, she was jumping ahead. This might not even be the young man from the shack. This might be one of Grant’s ranch hands.

Yet deep down, she knew exactly who this was.

Martha backed away and reached for her phone, before realizing she’d left it inside the house.

She had no choice but to risk it: if she could get back to the house, tell Lana there was somebody asleep in the stall, and then make it back here before he woke up and vanished, then maybe—just maybe—she could help him.

Pain seared through her heart and she thought of her childhood. Her parents might have been inflexible in many ways, but she never doubted that she was loved.

No one should be alone in this world, especially not a vulnerable teenager.

The urge to stay and wake him was almost overwhelming. If he woke up and sensed someone had been here, he would flee without a trace and she’d never know who he was or why he was even here.

She placed her hand over her heart. It was as if she shared a connection with him.

Which she didn’t. She was certain of that.

Her maternal side stirred deep within her, urging her to care for him. Instincts older than time called out from the depths of her soul.

Perhaps all the talk around the dinner table this evening had brought this part of her to the surface. She was too old to give birth, but she wasn’t too old to be a mother.

Her maternal instincts kicked in, she needed to make sure he was okay—that he had food and shelter and someone to look after him if needed.

She had no intention of reporting the young man to the authorities—but she was determined to find him help, one way or another. Even if that help was a lawyer... This lawyer.

Yes, she might even come out of retirement to help him if he needed her to. She wanted to be the one to make sure this young man was safe with a roof over his head that didn’t leak.

This wasn’t something she could, or should, do on her own. If she scared him when she woke him, he might lash out. There was no telling what state of mind he was in if he’d sensed the other shifters close to the shack.

She didn’t even know if he was sleeping in his human form. The stall was too dark for her to make out any details.

No, the sensible thing was to go back to the house and tell Lana.

But then the decision was taken out of her hands.