He was right. Wasn’t he always? She smiled. So many of them had mates, and babies, or babies on the way. And she knew she was ready to embrace the lunacy of marriage and pledge her troth to Matt, and take him in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, for as long as they both should live. And then longer still.
***
Wish Upon A Bear
Return to Bear Bluff - Book Six
Curvy girl Zara is used to working over the Holidays. The pay is good, and it fills the lonely hours, when everyone else is celebrating with their family. This year is different. As a newly qualified teacher, she’s given herself a Christmas vacation.
So, when she is invited by her old friend Dylan and his family, to spend the holidays in Bear Bluff, she agrees. There she finds something much better than a gift under the Christmas Tree!
Theo can’t believe his luck. He arrives to help Dylan mend his grandpa’s roof, and instead meets his mate! All his Christmases have come at once.
There is only one thing that is stopping him having his best Christmas ever—Dominic.
Dominic is a young offender who is shadowing Theo as part of the project Dylan has set up to help young people who need a fresh start. The problem is, Theo has a feeling Dominic is about to skip town, and break his probation.
Can he and Zara work together, to make sure everyone in Bear Bluff has the best Christmas ever?
And will Zara’s dreams all come true, when she makes a wish upon a bear?
Chapter One – Zara
The mountains had grown bigger and bigger the closer Zara got to Bear Bluff. Of course they had: she didn’t need to be a teacher to know how simple things like perspective worked. But she’d never seen mountains this big, not in real life. While other students may have gone on vacations, she’d studied throughout school and college. She’d worked hard, and saved hard. Although she had still ended up in significant debt by the time she had completed her teacher training, it was all worth it.
She loved teaching; it was as if she’d been born for the job—all she needed was a job.
Fresh out of teacher training, she lacked the experience to compete against other job applicants. But that was not going to stop her, no sir. Once the holidays were over, she was going to find the perfect job.
First, she was treating herself to a perfect vacation. Yes, at last, as a reward for finishing within the top five percent of her class, she was treating herself to a vacation in Bear Bluff.
“Bear Bluff.” The word was a joy to say. It always had been. Ever since she ran into Dylan, fresh out of juvie, just like her, and full of stories about his old home, a home he swore he’d never go back to. And yet here he was.
Or here she would be, in about ten minutes. As long as she didn’t get lost on the back roads. She was feeling more like a city girl than ever, as she looked at the red line on her GPS. Resisting the urge to tap it, because it must be broken—there was no way she could actually drive halfway up a mountain—she followed the directions from the computerized voice. Any minute now she was expecting to find her route blocked by a solid rock face, or worse, but she trusted in technology, and the written instructions she had as backup. She clung to the excitement bubbling up inside her.
She was going to spend Christmas with Dylan, and his family. It had seemed a bit weird at first, since they had history of sorts, but despite the knee-jerk pang of jealousy she’d experienced at first, that had cleared to leave her overwhelmingly thankful. Christmas alone, which had been her tradition for the last five years, was no fun.
For once she had no job to work. As a single woman alone, she’d usually volunteered for as many hours as possible over the holiday period. People looking in would say she was incredibly altruistic, giving up her time so her work colleagues could spend the holidays with their families. Which left her a little embarrassed and feeling like a fraud, because she had her own motive. All she wanted was to fill the long empty hours; the extra pay in her bank account was an added bonus.
A bonus she was thankful for, especially since it made it easier to dip into her cash reserves and buy gifts for Dylan’s kids. If there was one thing she was good at, it was making kids happy. Zara reached out and touched the presents on the passenger seat. She’d taken great care wrapping them, even though the children wouldn’t care: they were too young.
It didn’t matter; it was the thought that counted. She was just happy to be here. A shiver of excitement passed through her. So what if she’d gone way past happy into ecstatic? This was about as excited as she’d ever been at Christmas, and for once she understood why it was such a special time of year.
Turn left.
She obeyed the command, easing her small car up the narrow road. Occasionally risking a glance out of the window at the valley below, she could see the houses nestled under the bluff from which the town got its name. Another shiver of excitement made her smile. She didn’t want to pull Dylan away from his family, but she hoped to have a guided tour of at least the lower slopes while she was here.
Or maybe she would meet a handsome lumberjack who worked with his hands, and was willing to take on a woman like her. She shook her head: not happening, she wasn’t ever going to be a wife and mother, she didn’t have it in her to love people like that.
Even if it was what she knew she desired, deep down. Zara sighed. One day she might get over herself, and forgive her own actions. Not that she had anything to forgive herself for, what she did was to protect her mom, so why did guilt weigh so heavily on her?
Her counselor had told her she should be proud of herself. Proud of her determination to make the best of her circumstances, of picking herself up and going after what she desired. Of all her hard work and sacrifice to become a teacher.
But what if, when she found a job, the parents of her pupils found out she had a record. Yes, it might be juvie, yes, it was officially behind her; she had a clean slate. But still…
Maybe that was why she wanted to come out here to Bear Bluff and see Dylan again. They’d had similar starts in life: the only difference was, he’d since made a fortune and had his name cleared.
You’re a good person, she told herself firmly, knowing these doubts were only creeping in because she was nervous, as always, at meeting new people. People who might know her past and judge her for it.
You’re small potatoes, she reminded herself.
The road climbed higher and then turned back on itself, the red line on her GPS getting shorter and shorter. She was nearly there.
A dirt road led off to her right, and she recognized this as Dylan’s home; he’d described it enough times, when they were younger, when they were close. She followed the track, a small cabin coming into view, then another house came into her peripheral vision, getting bigger as she approached, just as the mountain had.
“Wow, Dylan, you sure don’t do things by halves, do you?” The house was big, five or six bedrooms she’d guess, it was made of brick and timber, and blended into its surroundings, the mountains a stunning backdrop to a stunning house. Parking next to an old red truck, she got out of her car, and only then did she truly appreciate the setting.
Walking to the big house and mounting the porch, Zara knocked on the door and then turned to take in the view. The mountains behind the house offered shelter, but before them, the stunning view encompassed the Bluff and the lower slopes of the mountains, where forests, bare of leaves, waited, with a covering of snow, until spring and life came back to them.
It was as if the mountain was asleep, the silence all-encompassing, with only an occasional bird overhead, which her rudimentary schoolteacher knowledge told her was a hawk out hunting, but not which species.
Then the silence was shattered as the front door opened and a cacophony of noises spilled out.
“Zara, you made it!” Dylan said.
“I did. Thanks to your directions and the marvel of science which is GPS.” She breathed in the cold, crisp air. “This is amazing.”
Dyl
an looked out at the view. “I never tire of it.” Then he pulled her into his arms, his once-familiar bear hug welcoming, leaving her at ease. “Come on in, Steph can’t wait to meet you. You have to excuse the mess, we’re knee-deep in organizing everything for Christmas Day.”
“Whatever I can do to help, let me know,” Zara said, following Dylan inside.
“First, coffee, and warm chocolate brownies, they’ve just come out of the oven.” Dylan led Zara along a wide hallway, with stairs rising up from it, and then into a warm, bright kitchen, where a large stove put out enough heat to fend off the coldest winter days.
“Hello, Zara,” a harassed-looking woman said, trying to stick tape down on a package while feeding a baby, whom Zara would put at about six months old. The child was kicking her legs excitedly and doing her best to spray food onto the gift wrap.
“Hi, Steph, right?” Zara asked, making sure she hadn’t made the wrong assumption. “Want a hand?”
“I would love a hand,” Steph said, looking pointedly at Dylan.
“What? I have other things to do,” Dylan said.
“Of course, counting beers is a very important job.”
“It is when we have so many people coming to visit.” Dylan winked at Zara, who sat down and was about to take over wrapping the small pile of gifts on the kitchen table.
“Dylan has invited half the town to stop by on Christmas Day,” Steph said, trying to sound cross, but there was no cutting quality to her voice.
“I don’t want anyone to be alone at Christmas. We all know what that’s like, don’t we?” He looked at both of them. And they both nodded. “There. No man left alone.”
Steph chuckled and shook her head. “I sometimes wonder about the man I married, and then I realize he has a heart as big as the Bluff.”
“Thank you,” Dylan said. “I’m sorry to run out on you, Zara, I’m only going to the barn to check on the wine and beer. Theo said he would come over soon and help check Grandpa’s roof. Grandpa said he thought it had too much give in it when it snowed last week.”
“You carry on,” Zara said, cutting a piece of wrapping paper to the correct size.
“I’ll look after her,” Steph said. “How much coffee is it going to take to make you spill on what Dylan was like as a delinquent?”
“I’ve been cleared,” Dylan reminded Steph.
“But you still lived like one, and those are the secrets I want Zara to spill,” Steph said.
Zara blushed, and then said, “There’s nothing to tell.”
Steph looked at her awkwardly. “Don’t worry, Zara, I was joking. Dylan has told me pretty much his whole life story. It’s so boring, though, I thought you might add something to spice it up.”
“Sorry to disappoint you,” Dylan said, coming back to Steph and kissing her cheek, and then planting another kiss on the top of his baby daughter’s head.
Steph put her hand on his. “You know I love you just the way you are.”
“I love you too,” he said quietly. “I want this Christmas to be special.”
“I know,” Steph said. “Once Zara and I have finished here, we’ll pack everything in the truck ready for tomorrow.”
“Great. See you in half an hour or so,” Dylan said, and then left the kitchen.
Steph sighed. “He is too good for me,” she said as the front door closed. “Coffee?”
“Yes, please,” Zara said, and continued to wrap the gifts while Steph got up, which caused more excited leg-kicking and raspberries to erupt from the baby girl’s mouth.
“This is Rosie,” Steph said, setting a steaming mug of coffee down in front of Zara, and then returning to baby-feeding duty. “And your brother is having an afternoon nap, isn’t he? Rory is a year older than Rosie. I must be crazy having two children under two years.”
Zara looked up at Steph, wanting her to know she wasn’t hiding anything about her and Dylan. “There really isn’t anything to tell… about Dylan. He left juvie and worked hard.”
“I know. No harm in teasing him, though,” Steph said, scraping the last of the baby food, which smelled like banana, out of the bowl and spooning it successfully into Rosie’s mouth, to be rewarded by a raspberry. “I’m sure Rosie has the devil in her. Either that or her daddy’s silly streak.”
“Oh, he still has that?” Zara asked.
“Yes, he does. There, I knew you’d have some tale to tell about him.”
Zara laughed. “OK, there are a few stories. Mostly revolving around his bear.”
Steph frowned. “I still can’t believe he told you about that.”
“He traded it, for a secret of mine.” Zara shut her mouth and looked down at the paper. Her tongue was too loose; she was too comfortable sitting here in the kitchen of the man she was once in love with, but who had let her down gently when she confessed she loved him. After her confession, he’d told her about his bear and explained exactly why he couldn’t be with Zara— because he was waiting for his mate. He’d been waiting for Steph.
“Ahh, OK, I won’t ask.”
Please don’t, Zara thought, and wondered if coming here was a good idea. Or whether, sooner or later, she would open her mouth and tell Steph about the monumental crush she’d had on her husband, and be asked to leave.
Zara didn’t want this to end up being another lonely Christmas.
Chapter Two – Theo
Theo was running late. He was supposed to be helping his boss, Dylan, repair his grandpa’s roof, but had been held up by the seventeen-year-old boy, Dominic, to whom Theo had agreed to teach his trade. Roofing was a hard job, but once you built up your muscles and got used to heights, it was a satisfying job that paid well. Only his young charge, Dominic, didn’t seem to want to learn.
No, that wasn’t right. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to learn; it was that lately, he always seemed preoccupied. Maybe if Theo knew his story, he might be able to help, but that was confidential. Unless Dominic wanted to share the reason he had been in trouble, it was none of Theo’s business. Privacy, confidentiality, call it what you like, it was none of Theo’s business.
As he pushed the truck a little faster up the hill, he began to let go of his tension and let the mountain talk to him. Yes, it might sound kind of crazy, but there was something about being surrounded by open space and the ancient forests that eased his mind, that called to his soul. His bear felt it too. Thinking of the big grizzly bear, Theo felt him stretch, and lift his snout, before inhaling the mountain air.
By the time Theo had turned into the driveway leading up to Dylan’s house, he had forgotten all about his day, not that he wasn’t going to sound Dylan out about the best way to deal with Dominic: Dylan was the voice of experience, after all. But the puzzle that was Dominic was no longer festering away in his brain, needing immediate attention; it could wait until after they’d fixed the roof.
Parking the truck next to a small black car he didn’t recognize, he got out, and immediately had the sensation that something was off. He rested his hand on the roof of his car, and inhaled the crisp mountain air. Snow wasn’t far off, maybe tonight or tomorrow they would have a covering across the lower slopes; he hoped it didn’t get too deep before Christmas, as Dylan had invited all the lonely single people over for the day. Theo fit firmly into that category.
Not anymore, his bear said.
What? Theo asked, gathering himself together, and looking around. What’s that supposed to mean?
Can’t you feel it? his bear asked. Can’t you feel her?
Her. Theo closed his eyes and let his senses roam. They headed in one direction, and one direction alone. Dylan’s house.
“Hey there, Theo, you OK?” Dylan called from his grandpa’s house, where he had a stepladder propped up against the side of the cabin, ready to inspect the roof.
“I’m not sure,” Theo said, raking his hand through his hair, which he’d allowed to grow down to his shoulders. After a day working outside, it was tousled and wild, making him look more like
a lion with a mane than a bear with a longing for a mate. This time of year always brought with it a yearning for a woman and children in his life. The thought of having a mate, and little ones to watch open gifts on Christmas morning, kind of made his heart ache. This was not a thing he shared with his fellow workers, who thought he was a strong, independent man.
In truth, he wanted to be tamed.
Dylan came across to him, and they both stood looking at Dylan’s house. “Something wrong?”
“I feel off.” Theo took a shuddering breath. “Maybe it was that sandwich I ate at lunch time.” It wasn’t; he’d made the sandwich himself, cut the bread, spread the butter, and piled in the chicken and lettuce, rounding it off with mayo. It had tasted fine.
Anyway, he’d eaten enough bad food on his travels to know how food poisoning felt, and this was not it. He might have a weird sensation in his stomach, but it was more like butterflies, that Christmas morning sort of excitement, not an I’m-about-to-puke-my-guts-up kind.
“An old friend has come to visit,” Dylan said, watching Theo’s reactions.
“That’s great,” Theo answered, rubbing his face, trying to figure out if he had a temperature.
“An old friend I met when I left juvie. She’s inside, want to come and meet her?” Dylan asked.
“Listen, man, I’m thinking I might be better to get myself home and to bed. I’d hate to give your family whatever it is I have. Not at Christmas,” Theo answered. Why would Dylan want to introduce Theo to an old friend of his when Theo felt like shit? He probably looked it too: his palms were clammy, his face hot, probably flushed as if he’d run down off the mountain.
“I think I’ve already had what you have,” Dylan said, his face breaking into a grin.
“You have?” That’s probably where he’d caught it from. Dylan had some virus and brought it to work, and passed it on to everyone.
Return to Bear Bluff Complete Series Page 45