Bears of Burden: STERLING

by Candace Ayers

  Josiah sighed deeply. “Chloe, you can’t just meddle in people’s lives like this! How do you know her, do you know her?” He couldn’t for the life of him work out how Chloe had orchestrated this. She sat starting dumbly at him. He sat down next to her on the sofa.

  “Chloe, please, tell me what’s goin’ on.” He lowered his voice, and could hear the sound of Heather humming away as she prepared the dinner.

  “Fine. But you can’t tell dad.” She turned to face him, her stubbornness back in place and all pleading gone.

  “Are you goin’ to tell your dad what’s goin’ on?” Josiah answered her.

  “Yes! When he gets back. It will be fine. He’ll see her and he’ll fall in love with her, I know he will. I made sure she was perfect!” Chloe was getting agitated now.

  Heather called them through to the kitchen before Josiah could untangle more of Chloe’s story. He was absolutely certain that her dad would be furious with her when he found out, but there was nothing he could do about that now. Better, he thought, that they enjoy dinner together, and then Tanner could sort this out in the morning. And, maybe the kid was right. Tanner sure needed a woman, and he couldn’t imagine a better one coming along that Heather, however she got here.

  “Alright kid, I’ll keep quiet if you promise to tell your dad everything before he sees Heather. I can tell that woman’s already been through enough.”

  Chloe stared at him solemnly, and nodded her head. “I promise, Josiah.”

  Dinner was cozy and quiet. The three dug into the food in near silence, but it was a comfortable one. Chloe seemed a bit subdued, but when Heather asked her if she was okay, she just nodded and gave Heather a sleepy smile.

  Josiah insisted on cleaning up after dinner, as a thank you for cooking. Heather let him do it this time, but vowed it would be the last. She wanted to be as much help to this family as she could, and Josiah, while not a blood-relation, was still very much part of the family.

  At ten o’clock Heather floated, light as cloud, out of Chloe’s room. The girl had insisted that Heather read her a bedtime story, and then fell asleep, head in Heather’s lap, before she’d gotten even half way through. She’d kissed Chloe on the forehead, gently brushing back the girl’s brown hair, and felt a warm glow emanate from her heart as though it were shifting and growing to fit in the new Chloe-shaped addition to her life.

  Chapter eight

  Tanner came home a little after midnight. He was exhausted. It had taken the three of them roughly five hours to fix the fence damage that populated Billy Nelson’s two-hundred-acre land. Then they’d had to herd back in the cattle, in the pitch-black night. Tanner’s entire body ached.

  Walking into the warmth of his ranch, he saw the dying fire in the grate and smiled, imagining the cozy vignette he had missed out on. He also noticed a different smell in the house, one that mingled with the various distinctive and familiar scents of his daughter and Josiah. This one was lightly floral and feminine, entwining with the other scents perfectly, but still new and different. It smelt nice, he reflected, maybe Chloe had been playing around with pressing wild flowers.

  He climbed the stairs to his bedroom, wearily. The scent grew stronger, but he thought nothing of it. He was already fantasizing about collapsing into his large bed, and finally getting some rest.

  “Dad?”

  Tanner woke to a heavy lump sitting on top of his body, lightly bouncing up and down.

  “Dad,” Chloe’s mock whisper came close to his ear, “Are you awake?”

  Tanner groaned, “No. What time is it?”

  “It’s the morning. But I have a present for you.” Chloe continued her bouncing till Tanner grabbed her and moved over to the other side of the bed.

  “That’s lovely honey, but why don’t you leave it by the bed, and I’ll get it when I wake up?” Tanner was still half-asleep.

  “I can’t, dad.” Chloe was starting to get desperate, so Tanner gave another groan and sat up in bed, giving her his full attention.

  “Okay, okay, what’s this present?”

  “It’s downstairs. But, I have to tell you what it is before you see it.” Chloe placed her hands on his shoulders, staring into his eyes as if to emphasize the importance of the information she was about to disclose.

  “So, I have been thinking a lot about us.” She began, “Me, you and the horses, and Josiah and Wesley. I think we all need a mom, and you need to be married to a really, really nice lady who can cook. So we can be a complete family.” Chloe stared him down, daring him to disagree with her.

  “Well,” Tanner was slightly confused by the direction, “That’s lovely, honey. It’s very sweet of you to think of us all like that, and I’m glad you see Josiah and Wesley as part of the family.”

  “Yes.” Chloe replied, “It’s very sweet of me. So, also, I got you one.”

  “You got me one what, Chloe?” Tanner noticed his daughter was starting to look very shifty. As he shook off sleep, he could also hear noises coming from downstairs, and the smell of food cooking. “Who’s in the kitchen, Chloe?”

  She smiled at him tensely, forming a part grimace. It was a look Tanner knew well. He’d seen it the day that Chloe had decided to ‘decorate’ the bathroom with chocolate mousse, the day she’d tried to keep a wild field mouse as a pet in her pillow, and most recently, the day she’d tried to dye her hair with beetroot juice.

  “Chloe,” he sternly prompted, “What’s going on?”

  “I told you! I got you a wife. She’s downstairs.” Chloe folded her arms defensively.

  “What on earth are you talking about?” Tanner was half dreading the answer. Something was not right, the smell last night, the cooking this morning, the floral notes that were permeating the house…

  “I got you a mail order bride.” Chloe stumbled over her words, and hurried to pacify her father as Tanner reared up in bed, looking furious. “But she’s not just a mail order, she’s Heather and she’s awesome, and I love her and she smells nice and she’s really kind and she read to me!” Chloe was shouting now, trying to get her father to understand, scared that he’d send Heather away.

  “You’ve got to be joking?” Tanner was flabbergasted. How the hell had this happened? “Chloe, that’s impossible. Can people even do that? Send away for brides?”

  “Yes dad! It happens all the time. Lucille told me all about it, her parents were watching a show. She’s from New York, and now she’s here, and she’s so awesome.” Chloe hurried off the bed. Tanner’s face had grown increasingly pale as she’d been talking. From experience Chloe knew this meant he was going to explode.

  “There’s a woman downstairs?” Tanner was livid. Partly with himself, how did he not know this was going on under his own roof? How had she paid for this?

  He stood up, wondering what the hell he was going to do. Politely send her away, he supposed, there wasn’t anything else he could do. And refund her any expenses, unless, he amended, he’d already paid for them.

  “Chloe, I’m going to have a shower and then go downstairs and speak to this woman. I want you to go downstairs now and be polite to our guest until I get there.” He was really trying to keep his temper in check, but Chloe had pushed every one of his buttons this time, and she would have to be punished somehow. He was just too angry to think of anything suitable yet.

  The shower helped calm him. It was just a simple mix-up. He would also call the agency that Chloe used. It was preposterous that they would send a woman over to someone’s house at the whim and desire of a ten-year-old.

  He would need to have a good long talk with Chloe. But he’d wait until he wasn’t so tempted to wring her little neck. She was, most of the time, a sensible kid. She wouldn’t have gone to this much effort, and hidden something so significant from him, if she didn’t feel strongly about what she was doing.

  Tanner stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. He noticed a bruise on his upper bicep. Some of the grazing cattle had gotten a bit spooked las
t night when they’d tried to herd them. Tanner was more than capable of handling himself, but Billy had fallen down a ditch and half-dragged one of the cows with him, causing the mammal to get agitated and ferocious.

  Tanner pulled on a pair of jeans and a grey t-shirt, and padded barefoot down to the kitchen.

  He paused in the entrance. Chloe was standing with her back to him, still in her pajamas at the kitchen stove. A woman standing next to her was calmly giving her directions, “Now, Chloe, knead the dough carefully and slowly… that’s it, well done, that looks perfect. You have talent!” He watched as Chloe raised her head up to the woman. From the doorway, Tanner could see the look of complete adoration.

  He fully intended to go and politely interrupt the cozy scene, but as he watched the woman, he became transfixed. Her hair was long, thick, brown and glossy. He could feel his hands twitch with longing, aching to go up and run his fingers through it, feeling its silky softness. He watched her full, curvaceous hips sway gently with her cooking movements, her backside full and heavy, calling out to him, making him want to see more. As she turned her head to speak to Chloe, he caught a glimpse of her profile, long thick lashes and rose colored lips stretched into a beautiful smile that caused small dimples to form at the corner of her mouth.

  As Tanner watched, he felt his lower abdomen tense and flicker as he grew hard, straining against the denim of his jeans. He felt foggy suddenly, his skin starting to hum and prickle with energy. He knew then that he was about to shift. The woman, the stranger standing in his kitchen, the woman with the heavenly body, who had introduced the floral scent into his home, was none other than his mate. The one woman he didn’t think existed for him.

  He turned away from the kitchen swiftly. Tanner didn’t know how it had happened, how his mate – who he’d given up hope actually existed at all – had found her way to him. But the primal pull she had on him, the instant and overwhelming attraction that tugged him in physically, and in other ways that Tanner couldn’t even begin to explain, made it clear that this woman was his.

  His bear was going to emerge any moment now, and he needed to run out his beast. It was calling to him, a primal shudder running through him, echoing the wilderness of the mountains. His ears twitched as he heard the calls of other beasts and creatures in the forests and valleys, bringing him to them.

  Tanner ran outside, flinging off his jeans and t-shirt as he did so. He ran to an old outbuilding, which now served as the carpentry workshop for the ranch. He let the change consume him. He let his muscles break and tear to reform into a beast four times the size of Tanner in human form. Once the shift was complete, he bellowed up to the open sky, his thick coat rippling in the sun. His bear had taken over, and he surrendered to it, letting it lead him, running, into the brutal and majestic mountains of Wyoming.

  Chapter nine

  The two men worked side by side in the final rays of the sun. They were felling a large spruce that had grown sick, contaminating the sagebrush growing around its trunk.

  Tanner could feel the sweat trickling between his shoulder blades, and stopped to wipe his forehead with his t-shirt, now hanging from his jeans pocket.

  “Who did you think she was?” Tanner turned to Josiah, curious about what had happened last night. The old man removed his cap and sighed.

  “Well. I didn’t like to ask.” Josiah replied, looking shiftily at the ground and clearing his throat.

  Tanner grunted in reply. He tested the chainsaw, yanking the chord to get the motor running. It sprung to life smoothly, and he made his cut.

  “What did you make of her?” he asked. He wasn’t looking at Josiah, so he didn’t see the man’s quiet smirk.

  “I think she’s a lovely lady. Smart, beautiful, she’s a born mother. Don’t know what she was doin’ on something like a mail order service, but I think you should be thanking your lucky stars.”

  Tanner turned in surprise. Josiah was one of the most taciturn people he’d ever met. It was rare for him to be so vocal about his opinions.

  “Don’t you think the whole things a bit weird?” Tanner insisted.

  Josiah looked to the sky, and then spat out a stream of tobacco.

  “Sure. It’s a bit weird. Seen weirder.” He eyed Tanner briefly, and then got back to work. The conversation, from Josiah’s perspective, was closed.

  Tanner eventually refocused on the task at hand, trying to push the woman out of his mind. He would deal with the situation tonight.

  Heather laughed as Chloe accidently soaked them both at the out-building sink. They were washing paintbrushes, after spending all afternoon paining a mural on Chloe’s bedroom wall, one that depicted all Noah’s animals marching two-by-two. They’d spoken a lot about Chloe’s school, her friends and Josiah and Wesley. Heather could see the girl had a soft spot for the younger boy, and she recalled her own early crushes. For Heather, they’d mostly been painful and awkward. The boys she’d liked, the big football jocks who had fast cars and smart mouths, always inevitably preferred the cheerleader types, and Heather had no choice but to swoon from afar, writing gibberish in her diaries and wistfully dreaming of the day that she’d be popular and adored. It sounded like Chloe was fairing far better than she ever did, and Heather was glad about that. All in all, the day had been perfect, Heather couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so content and at ease.

  The only blight on her day, she reflected, had been the noticeable absence of Tanner. She had known that he’d seen her that morning as she was making breakfast. She’d felt his presence behind her and caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of her eye, as he was vanishing out of the room.

  Heather couldn’t understand if he was simply rude, or had taken one look at her and decided that she wasn’t the right woman for him. She had kept trying to push the question to the back of her mind all day, and focus on being with Chloe. But it was hard, being in someone’s home when they apparently didn’t want you there.

  She and Chloe walked toward the house. They both needed showers. Chloe was pretty much covered in paint from head to toe, she’d even managed to get it in her ear, somehow.

  Heather took at the Wyoming landscape, admiring the majestic mountains in the distance. She took in a breath of fresh air, savoring its sweetness and the scent of fresh pine. She decided in that moment to make the best of things. She would cook for Chloe and Tanner tonight, if he showed up, and try to be the perfect guest. She was here, the house and the surrounding area were impossibly beautiful, and she loved spending time with Chloe. She didn’t want to waste that. She would do her best to enjoy the last remaining days here, and not waste a second moping or wondering about Tanner’s feelings.

  “Hi.” A voice came from behind her, startling her out of her reverie. She turned, and came face to face with Tanner Holt.

  She stared at him, taken aback by his broad frame. He towered above her, blocking out the last of the sunlight, as tall and imposing as the mountains behind him. Studying him, she observed how his hair was lighter than in the picture he’d sent, but his eyes were so dark they were almost black. His gaze was direct and unflinching, unnerving Heather.

  “Hi,” was all she could reply in return. Her brain felt like it had been scrambled. She wanted Tanner to look away so she could recalibrate, but he stayed still, watching her. Waiting.

  “I’m Heather. The woman you sent for, from the agency.” She looked around for Chloe, but she had completely vanished. Great.

  Tanner nodded. “Thanks for coming.” His voice was low and deep, his words unhurried. Heather found herself hypnotized – by his voice, his gaze, his presence. There was something about the man that drew her in completely, something aside from his undeniably sexy looks, something which seemed to be based on a deeper connection. Rationally, though, Heather knew that to be impossible. The man was a stranger. Then how, she wondered, did he make the rest of the world melt away?

  “I was going to cook. For you and Chloe, I mean. Is there anything you’d like, this e
vening?” Heather stumbled over her words. Her voice sounded overly high pitched and jumbled, and she winced slightly, embarrassed by her awkward behavior.

  “Anything you make would be great. I’m not much of a cook.” Tanner stated.

  “Oh, yes, you said so in your letter,” Heather smiled at him.

  “I did?” He questioned, looking baffled.

  “Yes. That and the complicated hair styles.”

  “Right. Of course.” He seemed to smile to himself, as though at a private joke, then he turned back to her. “Well, I’m looking forward to it. No doubt Chloe will be too.” He gestured for her to continue inside. She did so, feeling uncomfortable to be leading the way.

  Chapter ten

  “Dad’s taking a shower, can I use yours?” Chloe peeked her head around the door of Heather’s room. Heather already had the shower warming up, and was trying to find a towel in the linen closet.

  “Of course you can. Hop in.” She let Chloe go ahead, handing her the towel. Heather sat on the bed, waiting for her turn. She ran through the ingredients she could recall in the fridge, planning the evening meal. She wanted to impress Tanner with her culinary skills, and make herself useful.

  She wandered out into the hallway. Heather could hear that the main bathroom shower was no longer running, and decided she’d use that one instead. That way she could get a head start on the dinner.

  She walked toward the door just as Tanner was exiting. His torso was still dripping wet, and he had a towel slung low around his waist. Heather was momentarily stunned by his half-naked appearance, and stared for a few seconds too long before blushing furiously and looking away.

  “Oh God. I’m so sorry. Chloe’s in my shower.” Heather blurted out.

  Tanner ducked his head, “My fault. I forgot we had a guest.” She should have moved away, but she stood, transfixed in her embarrassment, ogling Tanner’s naked chest. They stood awkwardly in the hallway, till Tanner cleared his throat.