"This is all your fault," she panted. Why had she ever wanted cubs?
Jack nodded dumbly. His mate was right. If he hadn't got her pregnant, none of this would be happening. It was bad enough that they could not get to the hospital. Even the childbirth classes they had both attended in Seattle, had not prepared him for the level of pain his treasure was experiencing. Why had he done this to his beloved mate?
He never should have brought her home for the holidays. It was his fault they were so far from medical care and his babies would be born premature. His stomach clenched with fear.
He cradled Hannah and tried to take her weight and steady her with his bigger frame. She bent forward with the force of her spasms. "I hate you," she screamed.
"Yes, darling." Jack kissed the top of her head.
"You are never coming near me, ever again," she said as her body threatened to turn inside out.
"Never," he agreed, holding her tighter, wishing he could take her pain himself.
"Breathe," instructed Shelly patiently. "Inhale. One elephant, two elephant, three elephant. Exhale, one elephant, two elephant, three elephant, four elephant."
Hannah tried to match Shelly's breathing while continuing to rant at Jack.
In the hallway, Katrina and Jenna exchanged smiles. "She's probably okay, if she has breath to abuse Jack," whispered the midwife.
Katrina nodded. Martha looked between them in bewilderment. She was utterly terrified for her sister who seemed to be in so much pain. And Hannah was so angry with Jack—even though she was leaning on her husband—that surely had to be a bad sign.
Jenna came calmly into the study. "Hello," she said cheerfully. Her hair was wet and Katrina's sweat suit was a little baggy on her, but no one looking at her would have guessed that ten minutes before she had been charging through the forest in bear form.
Jack looked at his watch. It was not even nine o'clock. This drama had started just over an hour before. His relief at the appearance of his cousin made him realize he was shortly to be a father.
Jenna slipped on latex gloves and said, “Okay , everyone out—except Hannah and Jack. I’m going to take a look.”
Olivia, Liam and Ava were born two hours later, slipping one at a time into their daddy's enormous hands.
Jenna let each baby have a brief cuddle with Mommy before performing a swift Apgar test to assess their health. She expertly estimated their weight, since her scales were at her cabin, and pronounced each a good size for dates. Baba carefully washed the three babies before swaddling them in her freshly laundered receiving blankets, warm from the dryer. Before long Olivia was suckling happily at her mother's breast, and then her brother and sister had their turns.
Jack held his sleeping firstborn in his powerful arms as if she were infinitely fragile. The women all smiled tearfully at the contrast between this burly bear and his tiny daughter. Jack could hardly believe the perfection of Olivia's tiny features and the strong, little hand she had freed from Baba's tight swaddling. He breathed in her sweet baby smell and fell deeply in love with his daughter.
By the time Liam was ready for his daddy's arms, Shelly had whisked Olivia away to rock her in a corner of the room. She was absolutely incandescent with the joy of holding her new cousin and participating in the birth.
Jack looked across the room at his pale and damp mate while he held his son in his arms. Hannah's hair was limp and greasy. The rough ponytail Martha had tied it in at some point, was disheveled and ragged. She was plainly exhausted even as she let tiny Ava suckle at her breast. She seemed incomparably beautiful to him as she smiled tiredly down at the last of the triplets.
"I don't think there's anything left for Ava," she mourned.
"Just let her suck," advised Jenna. "You probably can't feed three—at least not all at once. But they should all get a turn at the breast. You'll need to write it down for her and help her keep track," she told Jack. "Now, we'll need some ribbon so we can make sure you don't mix these babies up."
Jack let Martha take Liam from him so Katrina could pass him Ava. He looked down in wonderment at his last born. He was in no danger of confusing his girls. They smelled entirely different. And this one was bald, while Olivia had a shock of black curls like Liam. How could anything so perfect come from his loins? How could babies so small be as healthy as Jenna claimed?
He gave thanks for his good fortune. Last Christmas, he had been a badly wounded bear, hibernating in Uzbekistan, facing almost certain death. Tonight he had been blessed with three perfect children and his mate seemed to have weathered her travails and would live to love him. He handed Ava off to her Baba who took her out of the study to visit with her Granddad and Uncle Will. Of course, Ava slept through those introductions, because being born is hard work even for bears.
Jenna was giving Hannah low voiced instructions and when Jack knelt beside the sofa bed she included him. "Hannah should eat a little something, and drink a whole lot. She lost a lot of fluid tonight—they call it labor for a reason. Don't bother waking the babies to feed them for the first twelve hours. But if they do wake, nurse them."
Hannah gazed down at her beautiful Olivia. She thought that her oldest daughter looked like her daddy. The baby seemed to have his square jaw and air of determination. Her heart felt full—as if giving birth had expanded its capacity to love. She didn’t want to go to sleep. She wanted to hold her babies and admire them. Even as she thought this, her eyes fluttered closed.
Jenna shut her bag and stood up. "I'm going to have a cup of tea and get some sleep, myself. You should sleep whenever you can. You too, Jack. I'll check on you all in the morning."
Jack scooped his daughter out of Hannah’s arms as she fell into an exhausted slumber. Meanwhile, Katrina and Martha had brought bassinets up from the store room in the basement and tucked up the infants beside their parents' bed. They tiptoed out of the room and left Jack and Hannah alone.
Jack kissed his wife's ear and spooned with her. "I love you," he whispered.
"I love you back," she assured him without opening her eyes. "Go call Winnie and Jools." She named her adoptive Mama Bears. "They'll kill you if they hear this news from someone else."
The Malcoms were naturally excited to hear of the births. And they kept Jack a long time getting a blow-by-blow account of Hannah's delivery, and making sure she and the preemies were okay.
A soldier learns to sleep whenever he can, but when Jack returned to his wife's bed, he found shut-eye elusive. He was so truly fortunate. His family had proved their resourcefulness and loyalty tonight—as if he had ever needed proof.
His beautiful wife had given him the best of Christmas presents. Three perfect and healthy cubs. And she had come unscathed through the ordeal of multiple birth. He flexed his bruised left hand where hours of Hannah’s squeezing had left it swollen. Nothing, of course, compared to what she had endured.
Even though they were a month early, his babies were the loveliest cubs in the world—and healthy too. His mate was safe and well. He was one lucky bearshifter. He fell asleep rejoicing in his slumbering Christmas family. Olivia, Liam and Ava snuffled softly and dreamed of milk.
<<<<<<>>>>>>
Also by Isadora Montrose
Bearly Begun
Feisty Erin Salter sacrificed her youth and dreams to make sure her motherless twin half-brothers had a home. She hasn’t had energy for a lover in years, but she’ll happily lay down her virtue for manly Leonard Benoit , if he will help keep her boys out of jail.
Desperate, bachelor bear-shifter Leonard Benoit hails from remote, womanless Yakima Ridge. This burly, handsome backwoodsman is in Portland hunting his life-mate. One meeting with BBW Erin ignites his shifter passions—permanently. To win his destined bride, he undertakes to take her kid brothers in hand.
With two suspicious young’uns scrutinizing his every move, how can Lenny woo this reserved city woman the way instinct tells him to? But dancing the bedtime waltz with his luscious, fated mate without revealing h
is shifter secret is a bad plan.
What’s a shifter to do when his one and only mate decides her dreams do not include marrying a man who turns into a nightmare?
Fair warning: This novella contains scenes of rapturous passion between a woman-starved shifter and a man-hungry BBW. If the primal lust that can erupt between a bear and his fated mate disturbs your sensitivities, keep looking. Because the bears of Yakima Ridge believe a bear bond is best forged in bed.
Book One in the Bachelor Bears of Yakima Ridge series, Bearly Begun has a HEA with no cliffhangers, and can be read alone.
Coming Soon from Isadora Montrose
Bearly Enough
Book 2 in the Bachelor Bears of Yakima Ridge
Manly, bachelor bear-shifter Joseph Benoit needs a bride. He’s gone mate hunting in Portland, looking for a wide hipped, deep bosomed, lovely who will arouse his bear’s longing heart.
When strapping, stalwart Alpha male Joe pulls a mugger off statuesque Caitlyn Morrison he’s instantly smitten. But the gang of cop-killers seeking to silence Caitlyn keeps interrupting Joey’s determined courtship of his reluctant, fated bride.
Maybe Caitlyn can’t resist Joe’s brawny charms and the primal passion he stirs in her, but she has no intention of marrying a guy from the backwoods. Caitlyn embarks on an affair with this insatiable woodsman, but Joey won’t settle for less than marriage.
Will this lovesick bear ever persuade intractable Caitlyn to marry up and leave the city to go live deep in the woods on Yakima Ridge with a passel of shifters? Or will this city woman wring this country boy dry and break his heart?
Fair warning: This novella may offend. If you don’t enjoy reading about the sexual romps of love-starved shifters and their lustful BBW’s this series is not for you. This book contains intimate descriptions of hot bear passion.
Book Two in the Bachelor Bears of Yakima Ridge series, Bearly Enough has a HEA with no cliffhangers, and can be read alone.
* * *
Watch for Books 2, 3 and 4 in the Bachelor Bears of Yakima Ridge series. Coming soon to Amazon and Kindle Direct.
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About the Author
Isadora loves the beautiful mountains of the Northwest and hopes you enjoy their furry inhabitants as much as she does.
Thanks for reading!
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Bear Fursuits Books 1-4: Bear Fursuits Page 44