Cosmic Trifecta

by Anna Lewis

  “You’re the only one I owe a favor to,” he’d chuckled. “And here you are, doing me another favor, I guess there’s no way I can ever repay you. But I can tell you one thing for certain. This marriage will begin as a favor to me, but soon you’ll see that she is a favor to you. She’s my most precious treasure.”

  Jack nodded at the old man’s sudden gush of love for his daughter. He didn’t know anything about her beyond what Walter had told him years ago. Jack recalled him telling him how he sent her away to boarding school to provide her with stability when he could only offer her a change of schools every couple of years. Her mother had been absent from her life at that time as well, and Jack wasn’t clear on those details. But it sounded as if she had her own demons that she had to deal with.

  Samantha, for her part, sounded like she didn’t appreciate her father’s efforts to give her a sound education and somewhat normal life. He recalled the hurt one Christmas when the plane tickets Walter had sent her were returned unopened. Jack had seen the hurt on Walter’s face, and it was one of the only times he’d seen him show any emotion. He was a stern man, but he’d seen his eyes well with tears when one of the men on their team had died during a mission. Then, when the tickets were returned, Walter had no reaction initially. But Jack knew when he spent all of Christmas alone, despite the many invitations extended to him, that he was hurting.

  Jack was glad to see the two of them seemed to have mended their relationship. He could see that each held each other in high regard, so that had to count for something. Jack parked his car and boarded the elevator in the parking garage, ignoring the stares of onlookers at him in his tuxedo.

  When he got to the floor where Walter was, he stopped in his tracks. There was Samantha seated in the waiting room. She wore a simple white sheath dress. Her hair was styled up with a few soft tendrils coming down the back of her neck. She was digging in her purse for something when she noticed him standing there. They both stared, unsure of what to say. He was marrying her, and yet he was tongue-tied around her.

  He cleared his throat. “You look stunning.” He didn’t know what else to say except the truth. Given the circumstances, she should look frazzled and out of sorts. But she looked calm, beautiful, and her face was flushed, giving her a healthy glow that he could tell came from within because her makeup was minimal.

  She blushed more, and Jack offered her his hand. “May I?”

  She took his hand without a word, and allowed him to lead her back to Walter’s room.

  “Papa?” she said into the quiet room.

  “He’s here,” a clergyman rose to receive them. “He asked me to read a few verses to him, and he just dozed off not five minutes earlier. We can get situated and begin whenever you’re both ready.”

  Jack dropped her hand and instead placed his on the small of her back. He felt the heat from her body and a similar surge of heat rose within him. He felt the urge to shift forms since yesterday but he’d ignored it. He could feel the need growing, but he knew he had to deny it at least for some time. He didn’t know what Walter had even told Sam about him being a werebear, if anything. He had to assume she knew nothing since she hadn’t had any questions for him. But he also knew Walter wouldn’t let her walk into any situation blindly. So, either she knew and didn’t mind, or Walter had hidden the whole thing from her.

  Walter stirred and woke up on his own as they arranged for a couple of the nurses on duty to serve as their witnesses. The whole ceremony was surprisingly quick and unemotional. He had parroted what the clergyman had said, as had Sam. She’d opted to receive a kiss on her cheek, which Jack understood, although he was disappointed by it.

  Walter, for his part, was the only one that seemed overwhelmed with emotion. He and Sam took turns hugging him after it was over and the clergyman excused himself. “You don’t know what this means to me,” he said as a grin spread across his face. “I’ve been waiting to see this for a long time.”

  Sam didn’t say anything, and Jack felt like she was avoiding his gaze. He gave Walter a smile in return and sank down in the chair next to him.

  “No, no,” Walter said when he saw Jack settling in. “You two go. Have dinner.” He coughed and stopped talking for a minute. “I need to rest. That was enough excitement for me today.”

  “It’s still breakfast time,” Sam argued. “Why don’t we just order up a tray for you to eat an early lunch with us?”

  “He couldn’t have more than liquids earlier,” a nurse said breezing in. “I say you two lovebirds should take off early and come back when he’s rested. No sense in lingering around here, you’ll only stress him out. Isn’t that right, Mr. Meyers?” She gave him a wink.

  Jack saw a look of relief pass over Walter’s face. The old man still had a way of getting people to follow his orders, no matter what his situation was. He was amused at his mentor’s cleverness.

  Jack looked at Sam and was relieved when she finally looked back at him. He shrugged, as if to say they had no choice in the matter. The corners of her mouth tilted up in a small smile. She kissed Walter on his forehead and drew the covers up to his chin and touched his hand. “We’re coming back, Papa.”

  Walter nodded and looked past her at Jack. “I’ll be here,” he said simply.

  Jack waited for Sam to gather her purse and offered her his hand again if only for Walter to see. He wanted him to know that they both entered into the marriage of their own accord, despite their reservations. It was the least he could do to provide comfort to him.

  ***

  Hours later, when they were nearing the hospital, Jack noticed Sam’s fists were clenched in her lap. “What’s wrong?” he asked. He already knew as they neared the hospital that something was wrong. But he hoped he could hide it from her for just a little while longer. She seemed to have a strong connection with her father, though. So she knew something wasn’t right.

  “Nothing. I don’t know.” She twisted the strap of her purse and looked at him. “I think we should have stayed,” she said, her voice wavering. Her phone rang and she slipped it out to look at the caller I.D. It was the hospital. She pushed it back into the pocket of her purse, her face white.

  Jack pulled into a spot and turned to face her. “We did what he wanted. He was happy, you saw him.”

  Tears spilled from her eyes. “I don’t want to go up there,” she whispered. “I can’t do it.”

  Jack didn’t say anything, but pulled her into his arms. She dropped her head on his shoulder and soon sobs wracked her body. He might have felt alarm had anyone depended on him to provide this kind of comfort even last week. But it felt natural. This was his wife. His wife. He held her tighter before he felt her pull back to search for tissues in her purse.

  “You don’t have to go up if you don’t want to,” he said calmly. “I’ll go.” He was upset too, but he knew when a man’s time was up, it was up. It was something he’d learned to surrender to long ago and he was satisfied that Walter had his final wish fulfilled and he went with dignity. It happened, he could tell. A feeling of sorrow washed over him and inside he felt a desperate need to shift grip him.

  Sam dabbed at her eyes and gave him a grateful look. “I’ll make it,” she said finally. She sounded surer of herself but her eyes told another story. He understood her fear and gave her hand a squeeze.

  He led her up to Walter’s floor and noticed all the looks the staff gave them as they approached the nurse's station. Sam opened her mouth to speak but the words didn’t come out. Jack wrapped an arm around her as her tears began to flow anew.

  “We’re so sorry,” one of the nurses said sympathetically.

  “He was our favorite,” another one said coming to rub Sam’s back. She looked at Jack and back at Sam. “He was really happy about you two. He went to sleep after you left and he just never woke up. He was at peace.”

  Sam wept harder and Jack pulled her into his arms again. He gave the staff a nod of thanks and pulled Sam into the waiting room. She spent the nex
t hour between bouts of crying and moments of utter silence. He used the quiet moments to look over the paperwork that the hospital required them to fill out before Walter’s body was to be picked up.

  When Sam had fallen asleep, he covered her with his jacket and slipped into Walter’s room before his body was wheeled away. He paid his respects and vowed to keep his promise to take care of Sam. He went back to the waiting room to do just that, scooping her up to take her home.

  ***

  Samantha gave the armchair a shove into position next to the side table and stood back to admire the new arrangement. A little over a month had passed by since Papa passed away. In that time, Jack had arranged everything for his funeral, had Sam move into his house, and took over the debt that was largely due to Walter’s medical expenses. It gave Sam some much needed relief from the pressure of having to take on more than she could handle at a time when she could only grieve.

  She came home for lunch, something she hadn’t been able to do before because she’d had to make a forty-five minute commute into work. Now that she’d moved in with Jack it allowed her to come and relax before going back to work since his house was mere blocks away from her office.

  Humming to herself, Sam made a plate for Jack and covered it. A few times they’d made it back to the house at the same time and she enjoyed their meals together. But occasionally they missed each other and she liked to leave something for him to eat when he came home.

  They’d fallen into an easy routine, which helped cushion the blow of losing Papa. Although she’d seen his health declining for months, she’d been in denial that the strong man could succumb to any illness. She’d wanted to believe that he was more powerful than that. She was just glad he’d died happy.

  A few times after the funeral, Jack took the time to tell her stories about how Papa was instrumental in helping him grow into the man he was today. She teared at the thought. Most of her childhood she could say she was ungrateful towards her father. He had his flaws, he was distant both physically and emotionally. But even when she knew he was reaching out to have her come spend quality time with him, she rejected those moments out of spite. Looking back now, she knew why her father behaved the way he did. He wanted her to be stronger, and he tried to toughen her up the only way he knew how. He wanted to provide her with stability when she would have only had chaos if she were with him. He gave her anonymity because he knew that if she were with him, she could become a target.

  Hearing Jack talk about how Papa had coached him didn’t make her feel envious, oddly enough. It was almost as if Papa had known that he was preparing Jack to be with Sam since the beginning. So even when they were at odds with one another in her teenage years, he was busy preparing for her future.

  She gave a small smile at the thought as she set out to walk back to the office. Although she and Jack didn’t have much time to get to know each other intimately, she felt an attraction towards him and knew he felt the same about her.

  Once she got inside, Jonathan jogged up to her. “We’ve got a little bit of a problem.”

  “Oh no, what happened? Is this about the Murphy file?” Samantha’s mind was already racing with the possibilities.

  “No, actually. I’ve heard from one of my contacts in the military. Since your dad died, there’s been a change in the officers and long story short, the files he’d had permanently sealed are now under threat. So the new guy wants to throw his weight around and unseal these documents which, I suspect, were sealed for good reason.”

  Sam bit her lip. She didn’t know the first thing about what was in the files but she knew her father would have mentioned them if he thought they might be reopened. “When did all this start?”

  “Almost as soon as Walter died,” Jonathan said shaking his head. “It’s like they were waiting for him to go before they started all this.”

  “Are we privy to any of these files?” she asked.

  “Well, yes and no. We can see some of the files, but not detailed information just yet. We can see who or what they are concerning, so we can properly advise them or offer counsel, but until we take on a case, we can’t see anything.”

  “Okay, let’s see them.” Sam said marching to her office, her mind already working out ways to argue to keep the files under wraps and out of the public sphere.

  “Well, one more thing you should know,” Jonathan said haltingly. “Uh, your husband is one of the names listed.”

  Sam’s brow arched at this. This was new. Why hadn’t her father told that much, at least? It must not have been anything he thought was concerning enough or he would have mentioned it. “Okay, thanks,” she said absently, sinking into her chair.

  Jonathan nodded. “I’ll have my secretary make the request that they send the files over. Nothing electronic, all old school as far as I know. Maybe that’s a blessing in this case. Less chance of it spreading.”

  Soon Sam was elbow deep in paperwork trying to unearth as much information as she could about Jack. At the same time, she was wracking her brain trying to recall anything her father might have said that had anything to do with Jack needing some records sealed. Nothing, he hadn’t said a word about it. But why would he? He’d assumed they were sealed forever. He couldn’t have known that someone would want to have the files reopened.

  She could just call Jack and ask him. She felt odd doing that. Suppose it wasn’t something he wanted to discuss with her. Without more information to go on, her hands were tied. She had to ask him what the files were about. She called Jack and he answered right away.

  “Thank you for the sandwich.” He sounded happy and Sam forgot she’d even left it for him.

  “Oh, you’re welcome,” she said. “I have to ask you a serious question…what can you tell me about some files that my father had sealed for you?”

  Jack was silent for a few beats. “I can talk to you about that tonight. Walter never told you?”

  “I don’t think so. I would have remembered him saying something about some sealed records.”

  Jack sighed. “He told me he did mention it to you when you two spoke before I went into the room.”

  Sam grew thoughtful. Had he? Had she just been consumed with Papa’s sickness and overwhelmed by his request to marry Jack that she hadn’t heard what he’d said to her? “I don’t...I mean it’s possible. He didn’t sound like he was entirely there when we were talking. He said you were a shapeshifter,” she laughed.

  Jack was silent again.

  “Jack?”

  “Let’s talk when you get home,” he said quietly.

  Sam hung up with him and thought about their conversation again and again the rest of the day. Why hadn’t he denied it? What was a shapeshifter anyway? She didn’t want to look up anything on her computer and was scared about the conversation she’d just had with him on the phone. Was she being monitored?

  She left the office early, taking home a few things to look over for tomorrow. She spoke with Jack again briefly and he told her he would have dinner ready and would tell her whatever she needed to know. She sensed an alarm in his voice that, in turn, alarmed her more.

  True to his word, Jack had dinner ready when she walked in and they ate together in awkward silence, his secret hanging between them. When they’d finished cleaning up, Sam sat across from Jack and looked at him expectantly. “We need to clear this up. I need to know what’s in the file if I have to defend maintaining the seal on it.”

  Jack nodded. “I agree. Not just because you have to defend it, but because we’re married. You will find out anyway. Walter was right. I am a shapeshifter.”

  Sam stared at him. “I just don’t get it. You’re normal. You’re human.”

  “I’m also a werebear. And the records that have to remain sealed will reveal my identity as a shapeshifter. If that happens, all hell breaks loose.”

  “How did this make it to an official record anyway? How did anyone find out?”

  Jack massaged the bridge of his nose. “I’ll tell you m
ore in detail another time. But the gist of it is that we were on a mission, Walter was caught and that was the only way I could get him out. That’s when he found out and he helped seal the records for me. No one else on the mission knew about it, except one officer who had to record the damn thing. He’s gone too now, but the record remains. I didn’t think anything of it because, well, they were sealed.”

  Sam briefed him about why the records could be revealed to the public and he thrust his hand into his hair. “I can’t believe this,” he growled rising to pace around the room. “They were waiting for Walter to leave. These are all files of guys who did what they had to do to save other men. Sometimes you have to do the wrong thing to do the right thing.”

  Sam wanted to press him about what some of the other files contained but she stopped herself. At the moment, this was about him and his file. She was married to him now, so whatever he had done in his past would reflect on her too. Her commitment to the marriage so early on surprised her.

  She turned to ask him if there was anyone he might know that would be of assistance to him, or possibly owe him a favor but she didn’t see him. Samantha swiveled around in time to see him standing in her blind spot. “Do you want to see?” he asked her.

  “See? Oh, well…” She didn’t know how to respond.

  “If you’re looking for more information, this is it.” Without further warning, he fell to the ground on his hands and knees and his back arched as his body transformed before her eyes. Jack was gone, replaced with a bear. He came to a standing position again, but this time, his shadow was looming over her. He had to be at least seven feet tall.