by Amy Star
She patted Clara’s hand and smiled at her.
“You’ll be able to go home in a few days, and I’ll make sure my friend is expecting your call.”
“Any idea how long until the baby comes?” Clara asked.
“They average about eight to nine weeks.”
“Weeks!” Mason and Clara said in unison.
“Yeah. You’ve got five to six weeks before your little bundle shows up, so you probably want to worry about getting the nursery together in your house and whatnot. I’ll leave you two to talk. Push the button if the pain becomes too much, but I figure you’ll want to be all here for this.”
“Will the medicine hurt the baby?”
Doctor Deacon shook her head.
“I knew you were pregnant going into surgery. I always test first.”
“Thank goodness. Thank you, for everything.”
“No problem. Any woman who can survive what you did can handle anything that comes her way. You’ve got this.”
The doctor left, closing the door behind her again after delivering the mini pep talk.
“What are we going to do?” Clara asked.
“Whatever we need to do. If you want to move into my place, you can. Or if you want to live in your place together, we’ll figure it out.”
“Could you really live there without feeling cramped?”
He shrugged.
“It’s bigger than a tent, right?” he joked.
“And what about giving birth? How are we going to navigate that? What if we get caught?”
“We won’t get caught, and no one knows that you’re not a werebear. We’ll figure it out, but at least the baby is coming by the end of summer.”
She nodded her head in agreement, careful not to move too much.
“You’re right. I’m grateful for that. But I don’t want to have a newborn in that tiny cabin during the winter. What if the power goes out and the fireplace isn’t enough to warm the entire house?”
“Those are all good questions. Maybe we can use the cabin as a summer home.”
Clara laughed.
“What? Then we can get away from our home by traveling an entire mile away?”
“I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that you’re happy,” he said, leaning over the bedrail and putting his hand on her belly. “That you’re both happy. It’s up to you how that happens.”
“What about the horses?”
“I can have pastures fenced and a barn raised in a week. Moving all that hay will be the worst of it.”
Her face fell, her hand shaking as she reached up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear and out of her face.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she said. “I’m just shocked and a little overwhelmed. This isn’t at all what I planned, but I’m happy about it. It’s a lot to take in.”
“I didn’t plan on falling in love with a witch, but here we are, about to be a family whether we’re ready or not.”
He managed to pull a smile out of her then. He kissed her hand, knuckles first, then pressing his lips against her palm.
“Would it cheer you up if we started looking at baby furniture?”
She laughed, shaking her head.
“I think we should start with horse barns first, then we’ll figure out where the nursery is going to be before we start furnishing it.”
“Good plan as always.”
Clara’s expression went dark.
“Were you really going to try to run me off?”
“When you refused to sell, I didn’t think I had a choice. Clara, I’ve been working on this dream of mine for so long that I never considered what would happen if it didn’t go how I planned. You threw me for a loop, and I reacted in a way I’m not proud of. But the more I got to know you, the more in love I started to fall. Once I saw you as the amazing woman you are, I stopped thinking about you and your home as a failed prospect and considered different ways to finish Bear Mountain without interfering with the life you wanted to lead.”
“How were you going to do that?”
Excited to show her what he’d come up with, he pulled out his phone.
“The road would go this way, along the outer edge of my property, and we would access the lake here, leaving two-thirds of it untouched so the animals are free to live their normal lives.”
“I’m alright with you using my road. That’s why I fixed it, because I knew that it was going to get a lot of use.”
“We can do that if you want, but we have options. I just don’t want you to feel like we’re taking over what belongs to you. We’re willing to pay a fee for lake access if that’s what you want.”
“I don’t.”
“What do you want?”
“I want to live a quiet life among friends. Everything else is small stuff.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am. But how are the others going to react to me knowing their secret?”
He shrugged.
“They’ll have to get over it. You’re not going anywhere.”
“You’ve got that right,” she said.
“What about you? When did you know, you know, about me?”
“Before I turned my hair strawberry blonde.”
“That early? How?”
“I was walking in the woods in the morning on my way to the lake, and I saw a bear running toward your house. Then that bear became a naked man, and I put two and two together.”
“You were spying on me?” he teased.
“No. I was just out for a walk. But, speaking of naked men… how in the world did you get me to Little Hope without clothes?”
He laughed, the sound echoing off the ceiling tiles in the private hospital room.
“I didn’t get out at Little Hope, and I used a blanket you had in the car to cover up.”
“But your chest was bare.”
“It was. I’m pretty sure they assumed the bear happened upon us while we were getting frisky in the woods. I didn’t bother to correct them.”
“How did you get here? It’s not like you can just go to the store and buy clothes when you’re bare ass naked.”
“I bribed Bethany. I paid her a commission for your cabin even though she didn’t sell it to me, plus the final bonus so I could close my contract with her.”
“Was she upset you didn’t go through with your plan?”
“No. Despite her ruthlessness when business is concerned, Bethany has a good heart. She feels awful that her text precipitated all this, but I told her it was my fault. I shouldn’t have considered that an option in the first place, but I let my ambition and my dreams get in the way of my commonsense. I promise, once I got to know you, I changed my mind.”
“I believe you,” she said. “I was shocked at first because your love seemed genuine, then I wondered if I could read a bear like I can read people.”
“You can read minds?”
She laughed.
“Not quite. I can read emotions and intentions. I’ve always been able to do that, so I’m pretty good at it.”
“What about the thing with animals? Why didn’t that work with the bear?”
Probably because I thought it was you from the beginning, and instead of calling out to it, I just projected my rage and hurt over the text and everything it meant.”
“Oh Clara, when I saw you standing there with a stick in your hand, ready to face that bear, I thought I was going to lose you.”
“I’m sorry I dragged myself into the barn instead of helping you.”
“What?”
“When you were fighting the bear.”
“You didn’t make it into the barn, Clara. When I picked you up, you were still lying on the ground where you’d fallen.”
Clara wrinkled her nose.
“No. I remember it clearly.”
“You took quite a hit to the head. I’m sure there are a lot of things you remember that didn’t happen.”
“I remember seeing your clothe
s fall off in tattered strips when you shifted as you ran toward us.”
“That was true. And you woke up a few times between the cabin and the chopper. You said some weird things then passed out again.”
“Thank you for taking care of me.”
“Thank you for forgiving me for being an ass. You wouldn’t be here otherwise. I’m so sorry.”
She reached out and took his hand, smiling at him.
“Then I wouldn’t be in this bed, knowing that I’m pregnant and safe with you. We would have never met Doctor Deacon, and I would have gone to the ER with stomach pains and delivered a surprise baby. This is better.”
Mason shook his head.
“How you manage to look on the bright side of things in the face of so much darkness is beyond me. I can say that I’ve never met a woman who could turn nearly being mauled by a bear into a silver lining.”
He leaned over and kissed her forehead, smoothing away some of her hair that had fallen onto her face.
“Now all I have to do is figure out a way to make the next few days the silver lining so I don’t go stir crazy.”
“That, I can help with,” he said, pulling a tablet out of his bag and handing it to her after typing something in. “You said you wanted to shop for barns first. Pick one and I’ll have Amos get it taken care of ASAP.”
“Where are we going to put it?”
“Near the house.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course, I am. If you want, I’ll even move your cabin to the house.”
She laughed.
“No, that’s a bit much.”
“I thought so, but it’s up to you.”
“Mason, these barns are expensive. One even has a chandelier in the middle of the barn.”
“Don’t worry about the price. Just pick what you want, though you probably want to go with a larger one. So far, everyone I’ve talked to wants to ditch their cars for horses and four-wheelers, so we’re probably going to need a few more stalls for everyone to winter their horses. The rest of the year, they can enjoy the pasture.”
“Wow. Okay,” she said, perusing the search results until she found the perfect one. “Here, this one.”
“That’s perfect.”
She nodded, sat back, and yawned.
“I need to rest,” she said. “Which seems silly since I’ve been asleep for two weeks.”
“I’ll be here when you wake up,” he said.
“You promise?”
“I do. I haven’t left your side in two weeks, and I’m not going to start now.”
“Thank you, for keeping me safe.”
He started to answer, but she was already drifting off, exhausted by all the excitement. He stood, leaning over to kiss her forehead, then pulling the blanket up to her chin to keep her warm in the cold room.
Quietly, he stepped out of the room, staying right by the door when he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed Amos’ number.
“Hey Amos, it’s me.”
“How is she?” Amos asked.
“She’s good. I’m going to send you an email. I need a barn put together by the end of next week, and I’ll send you plans to divide some of my land into pastures with the bear-proof fencing.”
“Okay, but that’s a lot to ask. I’ll have to hire more guys.”
“That’s fine,” he said. “Whatever it takes to make it happen and I’ll pay whatever you need. Just get this done as quickly as possible without sacrificing quality whatever the cost.”
“She must be something special.”
“She is, Amos. And I’m going to do everything I can to make sure she never doubts it again.”
CHAPTER 16
Clara sat up a little taller in the passenger seat, her excitement growing when the truck left the highway and started up the gravel fire road.
“I can’t believe how much I missed this place,” she said. “I know I’ve only lived here a few weeks, but it really feels like home.”
“Actually, since you were in the hospital almost a month, you’ve lived here two months now.”
“Wow. I guess I didn’t think about it like that, but you’re right. Still, it doesn’t feel like long enough, and it feels like forever.”
“I know exactly what you mean.”
“I can’t wait to see Sunshine and Rain. Have they been moved to the new barn yet?”
Mason laughed.
“Not exactly.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, Sunshine and Rain didn’t mind taking their daily grain ration from Amos while they enjoyed free run of the pastures, but when he tried to take them out, they flat refused. He spent half a day trying to catch them before he gave up. With almost one hundred acres to run on between the pastures, he didn’t really stand a chance, but he gave it a good try. He’s more of a construction guy than a horse guy.”
Clara giggled, covering her mouth with her hand.
“I can imagine that they gave him hell.”
“Well, they’re partial to you, so I’m not surprised that they refused to go off with a stranger. At any rate, he made sure that they had grain every day.”
“That’s the most important thing. Is he a bear, too?”
“Yes. He’s going to live at the furthest property way down the mountain. He’s a good guy, and I think you’re going to love his wife and their two kids.”
“Are they the only ones coming so far?”
“Yes, but there will be more soon. We’d planned on getting everything finished, but as you can imagine, being like us and hiding it isn’t easy, so a lot of people are arriving soon instead of in a few months right before the weather gets too cold.”
“Won’t that be better?” she asked, grabbing the handle in the ceiling when the road got a little rough.
“It will, because they’ll be able to prepare adequately for the winter, but I haven’t had a chance to warn everyone about you.”
“Wait. Am I a problem?” she asked, surprised.
“To some people, yes. But, like me, they’ll get over it once they get to know you.”
“And if they don’t?”
“They don’t have to live here. This was already your home long before I bought the first property. No one is going to push you out of here.”
He guided her truck up over the top of the hill to the gate then reached out to hold her hand when they drove onto the mountain and she saw the barn straight ahead.
“Oh wow,” she said, whispering in awe. “That is more beautiful than I imagined. And the wood matches your house.”
“It does,” he said, smiling. “This is the first time I’ve seen it, too, and matching the house is all Amos’ doing.”
“Can we see it?”
“You’re not too tired?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m fine.”
“Alright, but if you start feeling bad, tell me,” he said, leveling a stern gaze in her direction.
“Mason, I’m fine. Doctor Deacon said no restrictions, and Doctor Adams said the same thing. I’m fine.”
“I worry about you.” He sighed heavily. “I didn’t want to tell you this, but Clara, when I saw you fly through the air and hit that wall, I thought you were—”
His voice broke, and he squeezed her hand.
“I thought I was, too. But I wasn’t. And everything is going to be fine.”
“I know. I just don’t know what I would do without you.”
“That’s such a far cry from the man that was trying to run me off the mountain,” she laughed, getting out of the truck.
Mason jogged around to her side of the truck, helping her to the ground then running his hand over her already swelling belly before nuzzling her neck affectionately.
“Someday, I’ll make that up to you,” he said, opening the people door to the right of the huge barn door and letting her walk in ahead of him.
“This is a really good start,” she said, eyes wide as she took it all in.
“Mason,” a man shouted from halfway down the aisle. “You’re here! And you must be Clara,” he said, sticking his hand out and shaking hers enthusiastically. “I hope you like it.”
“I can’t believe how beautiful it is.”
“Do you want the grand tour?” Amos asked.
“Yes,” she said, a little breathless from the excitement.
He started with the three regular doors on the right.
“This is an office. I didn’t know what kind of furniture you would want, so it’s not furnished yet.”
“That I would want?” she asked.
Mason cleared his throat and looked at Amos over Clara’s head.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize he hadn’t talked to you yet.”
“Talked about what?”
“I was thinking that you might want to manage the animal side of things since you’re so good with animals,” Mason said. “We plan on living as self-sufficiently as possible, so I wanted to get a few more horses, some goats, and a cow or two for milk especially during the winter when we can’t get down into town.”
“Will they milk in the winter?”
“The barn is temperature controlled,” Amos interjected. “It will probably still feel a little chilly to you in the winter, but it won’t ever get below fifty degrees in here.”
“And since the stalls are huge, we can keep all the goats together and the cows in their own stall together. Taking care of the animals will largely fall on the village kids, and when they can’t get up the mountain, I’ll help you.”
“We should get chickens, too.”
“We can get anything you think we need. I just thought having an office would make it easier on you, and we can set it up so you can bring the baby with you to work if you want.”
Clara felt a wave of emotions about to hit her, but she pushed it away, already accustomed to the array of emotions she had to deal with because of the pregnancy. She was happier than she’d ever been and overwhelmed by everything that was changing in her life so quickly. She knew that she would love working in the barn and overseeing the care of the animals, but right now, with the birth of her baby only a month away, it seemed like a lot to handle.
As if sensing what she was feeling, Mason leaned in and pulled her close.