Epilogue

"Are you all right, Tilly?" Samantha placed her hand on her daughter's shoulder as she held the rosebush in her gloved hands.

"I was just thinking of Dad." Tilly stepped forward and placed the roots of the rosebush she and her brother had chosen to plant in memory of Donald.

"He'd love it here." Samantha glanced around the secret garden they had created in the grove surrounding the oak tree. They had planted it with wildflowers and shrubs to attract wildlife and had even made a pond as a feature to encourage frogs, which Lewis had developed something of a fascination with.

"He would, wouldn't he?" Tilly hunkered down and pushed the soil around the roots of the rosebush before Samantha helped her stamp it down.

"Here's the stone." Lewis came toward them carrying a smooth boulder that he and Tilly had found on the ridge overlooking the ranch. Between them, they had carried it back to the cabin and painted it as a memorial stone for their dad.

"Do you need a hand, buddy?" Henry asked, reaching out to offer support when it looked as if Lewis might drop it.

"I've got it." Lewis made it to the rosebush and carefully placed it on the ground. "There."

"Perfect." Tilly slipped her arm around her brother's shoulders as they looked at the rock.

"You've both done a wonderful job," Samantha told them, trying to keep her voice steady.

"We've all done a wonderful job," Henry said as he looked around the new garden, and then up at the treehouse.

"We have." Samantha went to him and leaned against him.

"Is it nearly time for the grand opening?" Lewis pulled away from Tilly and raced to the treehouse.

"Nearly," Samantha replied as Henry went after him. "Do you want to spend some time alone here?" she asked Tilly.

"No." Tilly sighed heavily and then hugged her mom. "I can come and spend time here whenever I want. I was thinking I might read The Secret Garden to him." Then her chin wobbled. "I mean, I know he's not actually here."

"There's a part of him here," Samantha told her daughter. "Because you are here."

Tilly nodded and brushed her hand across her eyes. "I hope everyone likes the pies we baked."

"They will," Samantha assured her daughter. The grand opening had turned into a family affair, with not only Henry's parents and brothers, and their mates coming, but also aunts, uncles, and cousins.

"You know Henry has five brothers?" Tilly asked as they walked toward the treehouse.

"I do," Samantha replied.

"Who is the sixth brother?" Tilly asked.

"The sixth brother," Samantha repeated and looked up at Henry, who was making last-minute adjustments to the treehouse under Lewis's explicit direction.

"Jay," Henry said, looking down at them.

"Where is he?" Lewis asked.

"Nobody knows exactly," Henry said. "But he'll come home when he's ready."

Then Henry looked up and out toward the ranch house. "Everyone is here."

It was time for the grand opening of the secret garden and the treehouse. A symbol of their life here on the ranch. One Samantha could never have dreamed possible.

But one she cherished. Because in Bear Creek, they had found their fresh start. Along with new love and a new family.

And a mate. Who could ask for more?

Well, perhaps there was one more thing. She placed her hand on her stomach. A new baby.

I hope you enjoyed meeting the Thornberg family.

A Heart to Bear

Book Four

If you want to stay in Bear Creek for a while, why not try-

Hex: Winter

(Shifter Seasons Book 1)

Hex by name and hexed by nature. Cursed to dream of his mate dying night after night. To feel the cold water fill his lungs and force the last breath from his body. Just as one day his mate would die in the ice-cold water of the creek.

Perhaps it was a good thing that Hex had never met her. If his mate never entered his life, she wouldn't suffer the cruel fate he'd relived over and over again.

Then he meets Martha, a cougar from Cougar Ridge and he knows he must see his dream as a blessing, not a curse. What if the dream was given to him as a gift so that he can save her?

Martha has returned to Cougar Ridge to care for her mom who is sick. As a forty-something cougar shifter who longed for a mate and children, she'd put all her energy into forging out a successful career in the city. She had almost given up on finding her mate and then fate brings him into her life and into her heart.

But Hex seems standoffish, as if he isn't ready to commit, even though he is a bear shifter who should share the same need to find his mate and raise a family.

Martha soon finds out Hex has a secret. A secret that has haunted him his whole life.

Is it possible he has foreseen her death? Can they work together to make sure she stays alive so they can live together forever?

Or has Hex got it wrong? Is it really Martha's death he dreams of, or his own?