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Alec
Secret Baby Bears I
by
Becca Fanning
Prologue
“Hammer, Smith, & Partridge” hung over the front door, a creaky, faux-antique sign that swung in the breeze.
The five men looked at each other.
“Nervous?” Alec, the biggest of the bunch, looked around at the others.
Jackson shook his head. “Nah, man,” he said with a grin, flexing one of his giant biceps. “I’m sure this is nothing.”
Rust and Clay exchanged glances. “I don’t really know what we’re doing here,” Clay said after a moment. “Did you guys get a weird voicemail, too?”
Rock laughed. He was the youngest of the group; prone to never taking things too seriously. He grinned, and then said: “No fuckin’ idea, man.” He smirked. “You know, they never found out about what I did with that police car when we were all in college.”
“This can’t be about that,” Alec replied. “That was over seven years ago. I got a message, too, but I couldn’t understand what the damn secretary was saying.”
A hush settled over the group. Alec took charge and led the way inside. The doorway was so low that all of the men had to hunch down as they passed through. Inside was dark, a bit cramped and dusty. An elderly secretary sat behind a massive oak desk, scribbling something on a legal pad. When she looked up at the group of men, a slight blush washed over her wrinkled features.
“Hello, boys,” she said with a smile. “Are you here to meet with Mr. Partridge?”
The men all exchanged a look. “Something like that,” Alec said. “We all got this message-“
“Oh, yes,” the secretary said, clearly more flustered than before. With surprisingly nimble fingers, she searched through a stack of papers on her desk. “You’re right on time,” she added, glancing up quickly. “Mr. Partridge is in his office. He’s expecting you.”
The secretary got up and skittered across the room. She seemed nervous, like she was expecting something to jump out and bite her. As she knocked on the door labeled ‘Partridge,’ Alec glanced at her desk and read the word printed on a folder: “Speculon Labs.”
“Come in!” A booming voice sounded from Partridge’s office. The men went in, single file, and arranged themselves around the spacious room. Like the front office, it was a bit dusty, but Partridge had the shades thrown open and sun was streaming through the windowpanes.
“What’s all this about?” Alec cleared his throat and settled against the wood-paneled wall. “We all got calls, telling us to come here…” He trailed off, clearing his throat. “I mean, could you tell us why you wanted us to come in? All at once?”
Partridge turned to face the group. He was an elderly man with longish, tufted white hair and a silk bow-tie at his throat. Despite his old age, youth twinkled in his clear, blue eyes.
“Yes,” he said, clasping his hands together in his lap. “No doubt you recall donating sperm to the genetic research project at Dodson University?”
Chapter One
Talia stood at the front of the classroom, her hands poised in front of her. “Class, settle down,” she called in a mild, calm voice. “We’re about to begin for the day.”
All of Talia’s students loved Ms. Roberson. Even the rowdy ones could always be brought to order with a stern look or a word of encouragement. Talia was a natural teacher, and it showed. This was her third year at Rickard Elementary, and even though she’d missed the kids over the summer, Talia wasn’t exactly glad to be at school that morning. Recently, her life had become a mountain of stress. Her son, James, was starting to exhibit behavior considered rather abnormal for a two-year-old boy. She could barely leave him alone for a second before he’d make a mess of trouble; lately, his favorite thing to do was chew on the new kitchen cabinets that Talia’s landlord had installed the previous year.
That was another thing. Talia’s landlord, Danny, wasn’t just a landlord. He was her ex-boyfriend. They had been college sweethearts, and Talia had honestly thought they were going to spend the rest of their lives together. All her life, she’d wanted children, and she and Danny had worked so hard to get pregnant together. But when it hadn’t happened in a year, they’d gone to see a fertility specialist. To Talia’s shock (and horror), Danny was found to be infertile.
“Ms. Roberson! Ms. Roberson!” One of Talia’s students ran up to her, excitedly flapping his arms in the air. “I drew you a picture!”
“Oh, that’s wonderful,” Talia said, a little absentmindedly. “Thank you!” She crouched down to her student’s height and looked over the drawing. “Are these…bears?”
“Yeah!” The boy grinned. “Mom and me went to a wildlife preserve over the weekend! And we saw bears!”
Talia laughed politely behind a hand. “I think you mean a reserve,” she said softly. “preserves are like jam, what you put on toast.”
“Toast bears!” The boy laughed and ran back to his desk.
Talia stood up. Her head was beginning to ache, and something deep down inside her told her that this was going to be an unusually long Monday. She’d stayed up all night worrying about her situation.
When they’d found out that Danny wouldn’t be able to make Talia pregnant, Talia had been devastated. Danny wanted a second opinion, and a third, and a fourth, and Talia didn’t want to be the one to point out that the first doctor was probably right. They went to see other doctors, anyway, and they all had the same result: no biological children for Danny.
Talia was at a loss. She’d never expected to have this problem, and she felt like her time was beginning to run out. Even though she was only twenty-one, her own mother had experienced fertility problems later in life. Talia knew that if she wanted to have more than one child, she’d have to start immediately.
One weekend, when Danny was out of town, Talia went to a sperm bank. She spent hours poring over the profiles, and eventually selected sperm from an engineer with a master’s degree in astrophysics. I want great things for you, Talia had said to her lower belly, closing her eyes and wishing hard. I’ll do anything to make sure you succeed.
“Ms. Roberson!” One of the kids yelled, startling Talia out of her reverie. “Ms. Roberson, it’s reading time!” The rest of the kids cheered as Talia made her way to the front of the class. Each morning, she began with ‘reading time’ – ten or fifteen minutes of reading aloud from a chapter book. The kids loved it; this week the book was Swiss Family Robinson.
Suddenly, Talia heard the high-pitched whine of an alarm. Her breath choked in her throat as she gazed wildly around the classroom. No! Talia thought in a panic. We’re not having a drill today! I didn’t know anything about a drill today!
“In your special positions, class,” Talia called, struggling to be heard over the whine of the alarm. Some of her students were clearly terrified, with wide open eyes and their hands shoved in their mouths. To her relief, the more alert students got down on their hands and knees, crawling under their desks. Talia had to run around the room, helping the rest to their “places.” Secretly, Talia hated these drills. They didn’t do anything but make her students panic, and it was doubly hard to get the class back on track after they ended.
“And you just had to do this first thing in the morning,” Talia grumbled under her breath as she took her place towards the back of the classroom by the door. The alarm was still ringing a klaxon shriek and she winced as her head
began to throb. Surveying the classroom, she tried to keep her eyes on all of the kids at once. To her immense relief, they were all taking the drill seriously: each one of them was curled up in the fetal position, and no one was goofing off.
From where Talia was standing, she could see that the lights in the hallways had been turned off. Fear and panic rose in her throat; that wasn’t normal protocol. Normal protocol called for the alarm to be disabled after only two minutes, and then a pulse would sound. That pulse was the teachers’ cue that all had returned to normal.
But the alarm was still sounding, and Talia was sure that it had been over two minutes. A sound was coming from the hall, a booming sound, almost like a tiny earthquake. Talia’s heart thudded in her chest. It almost sounded like – no! It couldn’t be! Talia was aware than she’d begun to shake, but she looked out over her class and forced a wide smile on her pretty face.
“It’s all right class,” Talia whispered loudly, cupping her hands around her mouth. “This will be over soon. I promise!”
Just then, Talia saw a flash of something in her peripheral vision. Before she had time to react, the door to the classroom swung open. The children all shrieked in unison, and Talia screamed, a loud, guttural sound. The intruder looked like a giant – he was a man with large hands, an incredibly tall stature, and eyes that almost looked like they were glowing in the semi dark.
“Help!” Talia screamed loudly. “Help! There’s someone in my classroom!” She took a frantic step backwards, her heel catching on the rug behind her desk. Talia almost tripped and fell but managed to stumble forwards, catching herself on the doorknob. Finally, her glance landed on a glassed-in case on the wall.
Bingo! Talia leapt across the room, faster than she’d ever run. Balling her hand into a fist, she slammed it against the case, shattering the glass. Her hand was bleeding and cut but she barely felt any pain. Reaching inside, she grabbed the fire extinguisher and wielded it in front of her like a weapon.
“Wait,” the intruder said loudly. He stepped towards Talia with a serious look on his face. “I just want to-“
There was a loud crack as Talia swung the fire hydrant over the man’s head and knocked him out. He crumpled gracefully to the floor. Blood was pounding in Talia’s ears and for a horrible moment, she felt like she was about to pass out. The wretched alarm finally stopped, and a crowd of police and school administrators rushed down the hallway, looks of panic written on their faces.
Talia stood with her lips in a small ‘o’ of surprise. When the crowd of police arrived at the door, she was still standing there, clutching the fire hydrant like a life raft.
“Ma’am,” one of the cops said, stepping forward and putting his hand on Talia’s elbow. “What happened here?”
“Ms. Roberson saved our lives!” One of Talia’s kids leapt up from the floor and mimed Talia swinging with the fire hydrant. “She’s awesome!”
Talia smiled weakly. “This was the only thing I could think of,” she said softly, dropping the hydrant on the ground. It fell with a dull clunk. Talia blushed bright red.
As the other cops were busy handcuffing the intruder and leading him out of the building, Talia’s adrenaline rush was slowly beginning to fade. For a few moments, she’d felt like a superhero. She couldn’t believe that she’d been able to think so quickly on her feet! It was like nothing she’d ever done before. Sometimes, Talia had nursed doubts about whether or not she’d be able to keep her kids safe in the event of an emergency. But now she knew better: she had done an amazing job.
“Sir,” Talia said to the police officer, clearing her throat. “If I may ask….what exactly happened? How did that man get in the building?”
She’d barely had a chance to look at him as they led him out of her classroom in cuffs. They had made eye contact for the briefest of seconds and Talia had been shocked to find herself captivated by the stranger’s golden-brown eyes. They had made her feel different, almost like her insides were melting. Talia shivered.
“Ma’am,” the cop said, leaning heavily on the desk. He was a large man, and it was obvious that the quick run down the school hallway had strained him. “We have no idea. The administrative assistant said that he came in, asking to see you. When she went to look in your file, you know, to see if he was a registered visitor, he slipped out of the office. Then she called the police to report an intruder, and well, here we are.” He gave her a folksy smile. “I take it you don’t know this man?”
Talia shook her head nervously. She twisted her long brown braid in one hand. “No,” she stammered. “I’ve never seen him before.” She frowned at the police officer. “He was really looking for me?”
The cop nodded. “Maybe he had the wrong name,” he said with a shrug. “We’re gonna check him out, and if there’s nothing on record, we’ll have to let him go this afternoon.”
Talia nodded. Her feeling of anxiety and uncertainty was returning, stronger than ever. “I get that,” she said softly.
“You keep that fire hydrant handy, you hear me?” The cop winked at her and Talia blushed.
“Sure,” she muttered as the cops and administrators trickled out of her office. “Thank you.” To her surprise, she was already starting to feel slightly guilty for whacking the intruder over the head.
--
The rest of the morning felt like a wash after what had happened. Talia’s kids were being unusually unruly – they couldn’t stop leaping up from their chairs and pretending to whack each other over the heads.
“Don’t do that at home,” Talia cautioned, her tone full of anxiety. The last thing she needed was angry phone calls from parents, accusing her of exposing their precious children to violence.
By the time she left the building and headed towards the parking lot, she was a wreck. To her shock and horror, she saw the same man who had barged into her classroom prowling around the parking lot. He’d make a circle, pause, then do something that almost looked like sniffing the air. Fear trickled down Talia’s spine in an icy chill, but she knew that she had to get home as soon as she could. I’ll just walk to my car and get in, and then just drive away if he’s bothering me, she decided. I can always call the cops when I’m on the way home. I just have to get to my car, I just have to get to my car…
“Hey,” the man said loudly. Talia was attempting to scurry past him, but the deep sound of his voice made her jump. “Hey, I’m sorry about earlier,” he said in a rush.
Talia stared. She slowly backed away as sweat began beading on her pale forehead. “It’s fine,” she stammered. “I’m just going to go now,” she said in the same kind of voice you’d use on an angry dog. “I’m just going to get in my car and leave,” she added.
“Don’t go yet, please?” The man held up his hands in a gesture of goodwill. “I don’t want to hurt you.” He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and Talia was suddenly captivated by how handsome he was. He was tall and muscular, with close-cropped brown hair and golden-brown eyes. His tan skin made him look like he spent a lot of time outdoors, and there was a playful twinkle in his eyes. Talia felt the same unnerving slipperiness in her lower belly that she’d felt earlier.
Stop that, Talia ordered her body. You don’t know this guy! He could be anyone! He could be a serial killer, for chrissakes!
Talia took a deep breath. “I’m sorry,” she said, trying to smile. “I really have to get home. I have a son, at home, and the sitter gets angry with me when I’m late.” She paused and blushed. “I’m sorry that I hit you, by the way,” she added. “I really hope I didn’t do too much damage.”
The man grinned lazily and knocked a fist against the side of his head. “I’m pretty solid,” he said generously. “And besides, you had to protect your kids. I get that, you know, those protective urges.” He cracked another smile and Talia was horrified to find herself reciprocating. “I would have done the same thing.”
Talia bit her lip. She knew that she should leave, but she couldn’t. There was something
about the man’s eyes that was captivating her, making her feel rooted to the spot.
Edward (BBW Western Bear Shifter Romance) (Rodeo Bears Book 1) Page 5