by Terry Spear
Edward glanced in that direction, not that he was interested in striking up a conversation with any other woman right now, especially any that Ben suggested might work out.
Ben motioned with his head in their direction. “You can take their tray of food to them, if you’d like.”
“Thanks, but—”
“You’d prefer to stick close to the woman and her kids who are in trouble.”
Edward gave him a disgruntled look. “The last time you suggested I go out with someone, I ended up with a black eye. That woman was trouble. No, thanks.”
“My mistake, but it could have worked out.” Ben shrugged. “All right. So Robyn had a broken-down truck and had to walk for a couple of miles in this frigid weather. She had no phone to call anyone. Is that why she’s using your phone now?”
“She’s looking for a place to stay for the night.”
Ben frowned. “The places are all booked. I know, because I had a friend coming who wanted to stay with his girlfriend at one of them, but they couldn’t. They’re bunking with me. They had wanted to have their privacy, but…”
Edward glanced back at Robyn and her sons. She was making a call. Maybe she was calling family, though he suspected she would have asked him first if it was okay. He figured she was calling the local lodging.
“You’ve got plenty of room at your place now that Rob’s moved out and it’s close by,” Ben said.
“Yeah, I do.”
Ben shook his head. “I’d ask my parents if they could put her up instead. I suspect she’s in trouble, and that could mean problems for you.”
That’s what Edward was beginning to think. “I’ll ask them if they think they could put her up for the night.”
Ben slapped him on the back, then took the tray to the table where the two women were talking.
Edward delivered a tray to one of the tables, and Rob stopped to talk with him. “Joe called me and said he towed the lady’s pickup to his garage. He tried her phone, but there’s no answer.”
“I’m charging it up for her.”
Rob glanced at her.
“She’s using my phone, trying to find lodging.” Edward was tired of telling everyone what was going on, but he knew they were only worried about the situation. Concerned for her and the kids. Maybe anxious about Edward getting into a mess if he fell for her all over again because the last time he had nearly died. It was too late worrying about that now. He would never stop loving her.
Rob let out his breath. “Ben said he’s putting his friends up because they don’t have any room at the hotels.”
“Yeah, he told me that. I’ll talk to Uncle Ned and see if they can put her up.”
“They can’t. They’ve got friends coming in to stay with them tonight, and then they’re heading to the mountain to ski. I’d offer, but it’s chaotic at home with the new babies,” Rob said.
“Right. Okay, well, let me tell her what Joe said, and then I can learn if she has had any luck. Maybe there’s been a cancellation.”
“Good luck to her and the kids.” Rob returned to get another order out.
Edward could just see offering for her to stay at his place could be one big mistake. Yet, if he were her mate and it meant she had nowhere else to go, how would he feel? Like he would want her to stay with anyone other than a single, male polar bear who had been her lover for several months.
When he reached the table, she shook her head before he could even ask her if she got a room for the night. “Everything’s booked.” She looked worried that no one would help her out.
“I was afraid of that. Okay, well, I was going to check with my aunt and uncle, but they have guests, and my cousin Ben does also. My brother has two new babies, so it wouldn’t work out for them.”
“Oh, congratulations on your brother and his family. We’ll figure out something.” She sounded dejected and not at all like she figured they had any options left to them.
“You don’t have any transportation. Joe picked up your truck and hauled it to the garage. He can’t work on it tonight. He’ll check it out tomorrow. I can put you up at my place, if you’d like.”
Her eyes widened a bit, and then she glanced at the boys. “I wouldn’t want to put you out.”
But she didn’t say no. “It wouldn’t be a problem. I’ve got three extra bedrooms. My brother moved out when Alicia and he mated. It’s just me. And everyone will vouch for me.”
She smiled a little bit at that, as if she knew he wouldn't be any trouble for her. Still, she bit her lip with indecision, then glanced around at his brother and cousin. Both were watching them. “They appear worried. For you? Or for me?”
He smiled. “Ben hooked me up with a woman who had a very, tightly-wound boyfriend. She’d failed to mention him, and they weren’t done being together. Anyway, I got a black eye for it. I could have given him one back, but it was all a big mistake. The woman was to blame. She had no intention of leaving him. She just wanted a date while she was here.”
“I, uhm, noticed, and I’m sorry.”
Edward swore Robyn was fighting a smile, which couldn’t help but amuse him. “Yeah, well, I’m not interested in making any more boyfriends or mates angry. If you need a safe place to stay, you’re welcome to sleep over at my home.”
The boys were watching their mom, looking tired, and hopeful, waiting for her to make a decision.
When she didn’t decide quickly enough, Garrett said, “We can’t walk all the way to your parents’ home in the cold and the dark, Mom. And you said they might not even want us there.”
Edward frowned. “You’re on the outs with your family?”
“Yes, I am. But I still don’t want to inconvenience you,” she said to Edward again.
“It’s no problem. Really. You can stay as long as you like. We’ll get you a loner car if you need one to run errands in town until Joe repairs your truck.” No way did he want Robyn to leave with the young boys if her family wouldn’t offer her a safe place to stay.
“We can stay at your place though? Until we can get a room or the pickup is fixed?” she asked, sounding hopeful, but anxious.
He hoped it wasn’t because she had a volatile mate. What if she’d run away from him? Hell.
“Sure, the place is yours. I’ll be off here… Wait. Let me clear the table off, and I’ll tell Uncle Ned I’m running you over to the house. It’s just down the street and you can get settled in, watch television, play video games, whatever you want. I’ll grab some more papers for the boys to color, if they would like.”
The boys both nodded vigorously.
“All right, thank you.” She handed him his phone back.
“You’re welcome.”
“You didn’t bring me the bill.”
“It’s my treat.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He pocketed his phone and then took their empty plates back to the kitchen and said to Uncle Ned, “I’m dropping Robyn and the boys off at my place to stay for the night. I guess I need to run over to Joe’s garage so they can pick up a couple of suitcases, or whatever else they need.”
“What’s the mate situation?” Uncle Ned asked, acting like he was Edward’s father, which was the way he’d been since Edward and Rob had lost their own dad.
“I don’t know. But she and the kids can’t get any lodging, and she’s willing to stay at my place.”
“Will we see you back this afternoon?”
“Yeah. I just need to get them settled.”
“All right. If you can’t make it back, it's no problem. Just be careful. You know what happened the last time.”
“Don’t remind me. And thanks, Uncle Ned. I’ll be back.” Edward planned to learn about her mate when he could too. He grabbed her phone out of the office. It still needed to charge further, but she could finish charging it at his place. Then he dressed for the cold and saw that she was no longer sitting at the table with her sons. A family of four Arctic wolf shifters were there now. At first, h
e was afraid he’d scared her off, but then he saw her near the doorway leading outside, the three of them all bundled up for the cold weather.
He hurried to join her and handed her phone to her. “We can charge it the rest of the way at my home, but you can call someone, if you need to let anyone know you’re not making it for the night or whenever you planned to arrive there.”
“Thank you.”
He walked her and the boys out to his van. The name of their excursion tour group—White Bear Wilderness Adventure Tours—was written on the side.
“Is that what you do still?” she asked, hesitating to get into the van. “I know you had just a little operation back when I dated you.”
“Yeah. Rob and I, and a friend, run tour groups into the wilderness to show them the northern lights, wildlife, the glaciers, polar bears, all that we have to offer out here. We’re a lot better organized than when you went with us that one time. We close down the operation during the holidays because this is the busiest time of year for our aunt and uncle, and we always help out at the tavern. Family helps family. You might recall that they have three sons. One is a state trooper, and one a pilot, and both are busy this time of year. Except they’re always home for Christmas, if they're not working emergency cases. You saw Ben at the tavern where he works.”
“That’s really nice.” She climbed into the van with the kids.
He realized that if she was having issues with her family, maybe his mention of his family being there for each other would upset her. Talk about putting his foot in his mouth. Still, he felt that’s the way they should be and that’s how her family should be for her.
“Did you need me to drop by the garage so you can get your bags and have them for overnight?”
“Yes, I was going to ask if you would. Thanks so much for everything you’ve done for us. We really appreciate it.”
“No problem. Any of us help others out whenever we can. Where were you headed before you broke down?”
“Here, and…and then…then to Anchorage.”
“To your parents’ place? But Garrett said you were having trouble with them.” He thought she'd been living in Anchorage all along. Now he wondered where'd she'd been living. Then he worried that they’d been angry with her for getting her brother killed.
They all climbed into the van and he drove them to the garage.
“I don’t know.”
“If you’re unsure about being able to go home, stay here. With us.” Edward wanted them to stay with him, which he’d hoped she would agree to, but he didn’t want to push things too fast if she wasn’t ready for it. Not to mention the little issue of her having a mate. He finally reached Joe’s Auto Body Shop and parked.
“Boys, you stay here. I’ll just grab our suitcases,” Robyn said.
“I’ll help.” Edward and Robyn walked to the garage office where Joe was working on his computer. Edward opened the door to the office. “Hey, Joe, Robyn just needs to get some things out of her truck.”
“Yeah, whatever you need.”
Edward helped pull her large suitcase out of the passenger’s seat, while she grabbed two smaller rolling bags out of the back seat and set them down on the garage floor. Then she pulled out the fire safe.
“Do you have any idea what’s wrong with the truck?” Robyn asked Joe.
“No, I’ll check it out tomorrow first thing, and then give you a call.”
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Good night, folks.”
“Night,” Edward said, and carried her fire safe and rolled her bag to the van, then put it in the back with the boys’ bags.
When they drove to his house, she said, “I’m sorry you had to go out of your way to get the bags from Joe’s shop.”
“You’ll probably need some things out of them. And really, it isn’t any trouble. You’ll have your own bathroom and bedrooms. If you get hungry, the fridge is well-stocked. Even though I live by myself, my cousins or my brother and his family drop by all the time, so I always like to have plenty to eat. Don’t hesitate to ask for anything when I’m there or use whatever you want when I’m gone. And if you need anything that I don’t have, I can run to the store to get it. Or you can borrow the van or the Wrangler Jeep I have and shop for yourself. We have plenty of transportation available to us.”
“Thanks.”
The boys pulled their suitcases into the house, but Edward rolled hers inside while she carried her fire safe. Everything was decorated in Christmas garlands and lights, the tree just for display because he always spent Christmas with his aunt and uncle and the rest of the family. But since his family was always dropping by, he liked having the house decorated for the holidays. He turned on the Christmas tree lights, then he showed them the bedrooms. The boys were going to take separate ones, but Robyn said, “Choose one. You can sleep together in the big bed.”
“This one,” Garrett said.
“I’ll be in the room right next door,” she said.
“Okay, well, like I said, you’re free to watch television. I’ve got some board games and puzzles on the book shelf over there. Just whatever you’d like to do is fine with me. I’m heading back to the tavern for a couple of more hours, and I can fix dinner when I return. See you in a bit.” He left them then, hoping they would feel relaxed and rest up a bit.
When they were at Joe's garage, Edward had noticed her license plate said Northwest Territories, and he wondered when she’d ended up there. That had been a hell of a long drive for her with the two boys. Was the guy she was mated to from there? And she hadn’t resolved things with her family? He still didn’t know where she had been living in the Northwest Territories. Or why she was traveling with two little boys in an old pickup across the Northwest Territories and the Yukon Territory into Alaska without her mate at Christmastime. Or why she would take a route that was way out of her way, adding more hours to an already long journey if she had been headed to Anchorage. He suspected she'd wanted to see him. But then he thought about the mate issue again.
When he arrived back at the tavern, he knew his brother and cousin were going to give him the third degree. He hadn’t expected his cousin Craig, the pilot, and Andy, the trooper, to drop into the tavern for a meal today.
They greeted each other, but Andy did his usual thing with the police questioning. “Is she still mated?”
“She needed a place to stay. That’s all.”
“He avoided the question. Did you notice?” Craig grabbed a couple of beers from behind the counter.
“Hell, yeah. I don’t want to be bringing her mate up on charges if he should beat you up, like I had to with that other guy,” Andy said.
“I wasn’t going to prefer charges on that guy.” Not that Edward was always easygoing, but in that case, he could understand how the guy felt. In this case, Andy was right. Edward was just helping Robyn out, and if her mate got angry about it, it wasn’t his fault. Not that the other had been either.
Craig shook his head. “You know Mom said those boys could be yours.”
Edward had thought the same thing, but he hadn’t wanted to believe the boys were his and Robyn hadn’t told him all this time. Though if they were, he suspected she’d kept it secret to protect her and the boys from her own family, not so much that she was trying to keep the boys from him.
“They look like the spitting image of you and Rob at that age. Mom had taken pictures of the boys and Robyn while they were eating at the tavern and showed me those and pictures of us when we were that age and she really thinks they could be yours. I agree with her. The timing is right too, for when you were dating Robyn and from the looks of how old the boys are.”
“I know. I was thinking the same thing.” Edward let his breath out. “I need to talk with her and learn the truth. If they are my sons…well, I want to help raise them. I don’t want her leaving White Bear again.”
Craig smiled a little evilly, then slapped him on the back. “Better you than me. At least your brother’s rai
sing his from the ground floor up. Little baby steps. Though you don't have to deal with messy diapers and they're the age where they can tell you what they want and can be a lot of fun. You know the whole lot of us will have your back, no matter what you decide to do. Even if they’re yours or not. We all thought the world of Robyn. Not so much of her family.”
“We just need to see if the spark is still there between us,” Edward said, trying to sound upbeat about it. He might still be holding a candle for her, but it didn’t mean she felt the same way about him. Or that what he felt for her had withstood the test of time. She had been mated and had kids, and lived with another sleuth in a world apart from them. She couldn’t help but be a different person than he knew six years ago.
“You need to learn about the spousal situation as soon as you can. Where is she headed?” Andy asked.
“Here, but I suspect she was on her way to Anchorage.”
Andy shook his head. “You know there’s real conflict between our sleuths and that’s never going away, if they have any say in it. Even if she’s lost her mate, you don’t want to get into that again.”
“Yeah, I know.” But he still felt compelled to be with her.
“Hell, Edward. Rob said you’ve been catering to her as if she were royalty. She’s got you wrapped around her little finger all over again,” Andy said.
Rob came up to the counter. “Give him some slack. He loved her once, and he obviously still feels something for her. You’ve never been in that situation before and you can’t know how he feels.”
“I could fly her there,” Craig said. “To Anchorage, I mean. That way we could keep Edward from making a huge mistake with the lady. It’s bad enough that she’s here, but with two young ‘uns? I can just see some angry dad coming to take him out.”
“I’m sure she wants her truck fixed before she decides anything.” Edward hoped he could convince her to just stay here, even if she didn’t want to date him and the boys weren’t his. She would be among friends no matter what, if her family was being hateful to her. He noticed the stack of lunch orders piling up and went to help out.