Jenna sighed. “All because he thought if he had to walk out of the woods naked it would reflect badly on the forces to have a bare-assed major in the papers. He survived, but if he hadn’t found his way to my cabin he would have died.”
“You would never know it now,” Heather said hopefully. “Zeke fits right in with the fellas around here – doesn’t he?”
“More or less. But he’d rubbed shoulders with all sorts in the military.”
“Patrick is in the Colorado National Guard,” Heather defended him.
“Zeke calls them weekend warriors.”
“You know that isn’t quite fair. Reservists get deployed. They fight alongside regular troops. Sometimes they do not come home. Patrick is only just back from seven months in Syria.”
Both women looked at their hands. The Ridge was full of veterans of every branch of the services. Both Jenna and Heather were the orphaned children of men killed in action. They never forgot that their country was at war or what it owed to those who served and were serving.
“I think before I decide that Patrick is deceiving me, and our marriage is a bust, I should have a talk with him.” Heather began to laugh. “Do you know that second ceremony was over so fast that we weren’t alone for a second? Doesn’t he have a phone?”
Jenna lifted her shoulders in a tiny shrug. “Zeke says that the doctors put Patrick back on sedatives. He’s okay when he’s awake, but the second he drops off he has nightmares and starts fighting with his bandages.”
“So his daddy and his brother are naturally worried and making plans – but he hasn’t agreed.” Heather forced herself to relax. “I’m upsetting myself over nothing.” She rubbed her belly where spasms were contracting at irregular and painful intervals.
“Are the cramps worse?”
“No. But they aren’t gone.”
“That’s why you have to stay in bed. I must make my house calls. Do you want to go potty before I leave?”
* * *
“Easy there,” Jeremy Bascom ordered. He stood beside the gurney and patted Patrick’s arm. “You’re going to bump him around on this rough ground.”
Lenny Benoit showed him his teeth. At Patrick’s head, Uncle Gilbert spoke, “Take it easy, Jeremy. Patrick is doing fine. Aren’t you, son?”
“Fine as frog’s hair,” Patrick said through his teeth. He was belted to the gurney and every bump hurt like hell. He smiled up at his father. Or maybe grimaced. Because Jeremy’s worried face became even more drawn.
“We’re just going to take him to the clearing. The ambulance took him as far as it could.” Lenny’s voice was deep and calm and sure. But Patrick knew that Jeremy was standing on his last nerve. Jeremy had a way of doing that.
The gurney jolted and rattled as it went over roots and stones. But Patrick was sure that he could not have walked that short distance. In the last few days, he had only hobbled as far as the hospital bathroom. Each time he’d been a little steadier, but still in need of assistance – and a fucking walker. The gurney was better than using a walker on this rough ground.
The clearing was full of big men standing around a couple of stocky, blond youths. He recognized Lenny’s brother Joey, and Asher and Gideon Bascom who had so thoroughly pounded him into the ground, and Uncle Pierre. The boys were strangers to him. It was alarming how much room these six people took up. Lenny and Gilbert brought his gurney to a halt.
“Set the brake,” Lenny instructed.
“Brake set.” There was another small jolt at each end as Gilbert and Lenny locked the wheels into place.
Big hands began to undo the buckles of the straps that held him into place. “Lie still,” Lenny said in his calm voice. “We’re going to carry you over to where we want you to be.”
This had never seemed like the greatest idea in the world. And now that he was out in the forest in his hospital gown, with the prospect of his backside waving in the breeze, it seemed like a much worse idea. But he held onto the fact that he had to get well so that he could figure out how to get Heather to forgive him and make their marriage work.
He hadn’t seen her since that second wedding. Every time he asked if he could go visit her, she was having a test or asleep. The reassurances he was given were anything but. She had lost their babies, and it was all his fault.
“Joey, Ash,” Lenny said. “Give us a hand, will you? We don’t want to jostle him too much.”
The four men hoisted him off the gurney on a blanket, and carted him over to Uncle Pierre. They helped him to his feet. Jeremy and Gilbert stood at his elbows in case he fell on his face. Which seemed imminent. He was worn out from getting here. His frailty was in marked contrast to the robust men staring at him. Absently he noted the absence of Duprés.
“You’re going to be just fine, boy,” said the old man. “I think you know everyone except Lenny’s brothers-in-law. Hunter, Cord, say howdy to your Cousin Patrick.”
The two boys held out their hands and shook his respectfully but tentatively as if they were afraid of doing him harm. Great. Even these kids thought he was too fragile to live.
Uncle Pierre continued “This here’s what we’re going to do.”
The others stood around in a circle and listened respectfully. Cord and Hunter stood in front of the older men. “We’re all going to take bear and help heal Patrick. We are going to work a little bear magic here today.” His bushy eyebrows snapped together. “Hunter, Cord,” he said sternly, “This is secret business. You don’t talk about this. And you don’t try this on your own. You got that?”
The boys nodded solemnly.
Lenny nudged them. “Answer Uncle Pierre.”
“Yes, sir,” the boys responded obediently.
Pierre signaled and Gilbert and Jeremy took his elbows and supported him to totter into the middle of the circle the others made. Moving made the wounds on the backs of his legs open up once more. Despite the dressings, blood begin to trickle out.
His head felt like it was going to fall off. He set his jaw. He didn’t want to be bawling like a baby in front of these guys. But it hurt like a son of a bitch. Gilbert untied the strings on the back of the gown and pulled it down his arms.
“Zeke, Gideon, you help him onto his hands and knees.” Uncle Pierre began to unbutton his shirt. “Here’s where we all take bear too.”
Kneeling on all fours, with his bits dangling in the breeze, while eight hairy giants stood around him undressing, was possibly the most humiliating thing Patrick had ever done. It was also humiliating to see that even the boys could smoothly shift into bear without fuss.
Only his father was as slow as he was. He didn’t recollect ever seeing Jeremy take bear. When he and Zeke had come into their talent at puberty, it was Gilbert and Freddie who had taken them into the foothills and explained shifting to them. Not that they had done that often. Success, Colorado, was not a location that was particularly bear friendly.
Lenny dropped to all fours and in the flicker of an eyelash he was a massive black bear. It took him no time at all, and he didn’t even seem to be uncomfortable. He opened his mouth to display an impressive set of teeth before sitting down on his massive hindquarters with what Patrick could only describe as a foolish smile. A foolish smile that could take your arm off.
Zeke dropped to all fours as Lenny Benoit had done. His change was both slower and less fluid than his buddy’s had been. Patrick could tell that his twin was suppressing his urge to bellow. Zeke’s black bear was smaller than Lenny’s.
Patrick’s own shift was excruciating. Far slower than it had been before he was injured. Agonizingly slow. And for some reason his paws remained human long after the rest of him had become a bear. And they weren’t designed to take the enormous weight of a black bear. His ankles and wrists protested.
The two boys were as pale as their own blond hair. They were cream colored, just the very tips of their round ears shading to cinnamon. Their black eyes twinkled and they were almost levitating with the joy of being in bear.
Lenny stood up and bumped them with an enormous shoulder. He forced them back into the circle and he and another bear separated the lively pair.
Soon he was surrounded by black bears. Even though he was still muscular and broad, Uncle Pierre was not quite as large as his nephews. His black fur was tinged with gray on muzzle and chest. But the others treated him with the same deference they did when he was in human.
Jeremy was still struggling with his shift. His bear was brown and smaller even than those of the white youngsters. But at least he was all bear. Patrick concentrated on willing his hands and feet to become the great predatory paws they should be.
When it was all done, he hurt less than he had since the cougar attack. It was as if some miracle elixir was flowing through his veins. Not that he felt frisky enough to romp through the woods. His head still didn’t feel too securely attached to his neck. And his hind legs throbbed. The breeze chilled them, so he guessed they were bleeding.
Uncle Pierre nudged him gently with his nose so that he was positioned dead center in the circle of bears. Lenny – he thought it was Lenny – butted the two bouncing youths into place between himself and his brother. Or maybe it was Joey who did the butting. There was virtually no difference between those two enormous black bears.
Uncle Pierre gently touched his nose to Patrick’s. He opened his mouth and exhaled. A warm and comforting puff of air blew all over him, into his eyes and into his mouth. When he himself inhaled, it was as though he had taken some of the old man’s strength into his own body.
Pierre breathed into his face three more times, and then he must have given a signal that Patrick missed, for the entire circle rotated clockwise and he found himself facing the giant muzzle of Gideon Bascom, who opened his maw to reveal teeth like steak knives.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“I don’t see why I can’t go and visit my own husband,” complained Heather. “This is a hospital. Surely there are wheelchairs?”
“Maybe you should stay in bed a little longer.” Amber’s face was a picture.
As surely as she knew her own thoughts, Heather realized her twin was fibbing. “What’s going on?” she demanded.
“I don’t know what you mean.” Amber’s face flamed scarlet. She was as poor a liar as Heather was.
“Is he worse?” If Patrick was dying, would Amber really keep it from her?
“He’s fine.” Amber tried to smile. But her face stayed red.
“It’s no good, Amber. Something’s up. You better tell me.”
“He’s gone.”
He was dead. She was lying down but she still felt faint. Amber bent over her. “Heather.” Her voice was urgent. “What is it? Is it the babies?”
“Is Patrick dead?”
“Of course not.” Amber clutched her hands fiercely. “Don’t be foolish. I only meant, he’s left. Gone back to Colorado. His father and uncle showed up at the crack of dawn and took him away in an ambulance.”
She couldn’t believe Patrick had left without a word to her. Not unless he was incapable of that word. “I thought he was getting well,” she said softly.
Amber shook her head. “The wounds on his legs are badly infected, and the doctors were back to talking about surgery – if changing his antibiotics didn’t work.”
Heather swallowed hard. Jeremy Bascom thought she was trash. He would snatch Patrick without a thought for his wife’s feelings. But she liked Gilbert Bascom. She found it hard to fathom that her Aunt Debbie’s husband would regard her as of so little account that he would take her husband away without bothering to inform her. Not unless Patrick was a lot worse than Amber was letting on.
Her twin’s face was set in stubborn lines. And she was biting her tongue. She knew her sister didn’t like Patrick – it had caused a rift between them. Not a chasm, more of a hairline crack, but she was so used to her sister being there for her that it seemed worse than it was. But right now she needed her twin to be her rock.
Breathe. She had to breathe and stay calm for her babies. She rubbed her stomach in big concentric circles willing her muscles to stay loose. She counted her breaths until she felt less edgy. “Why doesn’t he answer his cell?”
Amber shook her head. “Same reason you don’t answer yours. It’s probably turned off and in a drawer.” She opened the night table and took out Amber’s mobile. She tried to turn it on. The screen stayed black. “It needs to be charged.”
It was plausible that no one had thought about charging Patrick’s cell. In fact, it was more likely that his family didn’t want people bothering him. He was a big wheel at B&B Oil. Lots of people would be calling him on business as a matter of routine. It wasn’t just his no-account wife that his family would want to keep from disturbing him. Even if it felt that way.
“You better call Aunt Debbie and see if she knows what is going on,” Heather said. “And get my cell charged.”
Amber looked guilty.
“‘Fess up,” she said softly.
“We didn’t want every old cat in town calling you to get the dirt on you and Patrick,” Amber admitted.
Heather nodded soberly. “I hadn’t thought about that.”
“Nasty old gossips.”
“What are they saying?”
Amber’s lips were a straight line.
“That bad?”
Amber nodded. “Yeah. They are having a field day with the second wedding and what it means that you had it after the shivaree and honeymoon.”
A bubble of laughter rose in Heather’s chest. “If that’s all they can find to gossip about, the poor things need another scandal.”
“They are adding two and two and making five. Or six.” Amber’s chuckle was hollow. “What they will have to say about Patrick’s taking off, I do not know. But you can bet they will be burning up the telephone lines.”
“He’ll call me as soon as he’s able,” Heather said.
Amber’s eyes were round. “O-of course,” she said.
* * *
None of Gideon’s animosity had mellowed. Apparently, the fact that Patrick and Heather had married not once, but twice, made no difference to his backwoods cousin. Resentment rolled off the other bear’s muscular body in waves.
But Gideon merely exhaled into Patrick’s face. His breath was at once more potent and less comforting than Uncle Pierre’s. Once more Patrick felt empowered and healed. Gideon moved away and his place was taken by Jeremy. Compared to the Pierre and Gideon, Jeremy’s breath was feeble, but he too had something to contribute.
They went around and around, in a slow circle while overhead the sun got higher and began to sink into the west. The clearing grew gloomy. Patrick felt stronger and stronger. It was all he could do to hold still.
The two youngsters were almost bursting out of their skins. And it was only the physical pressure of the older bears on either side of them that kept them from romping. And still the healing circle continued, until Uncle Pierre nudged Patrick into the circle and Gilbert and Zeke pushed Jeremy into the center.
The bears continued to circle, breathing onto Jeremy. When it was his turn to exhale into his father’s face, he sensed some icy barrier in Jeremy dissolving. As if his father was finally able to take a deep breath after years of pain. And then it was Gilbert’s turn to breathe into his brother’s face.
Pierre let the circle revolve only twice more before he signaled that it was time to stop. He sat down on his haunches and smoothly changed back into a human male. He left the circle and walked over to the tree where he had left his clothes and began to dress again as calmly as if he were in his own home. Perhaps he was.
“You boys don’t need me for this. You take him into the woods and have yourselves some fun.”
Patrick felt completely well. Stronger than he had before. He just hoped that fun meant going for a swim, rather than having to wrestle with Heather’s cousins. Jeremy shook his head as if he didn’t understand what had happened to him. For the first time that Patrick could ever remember, Jeremy
smelled like a bear. What the fuck?
As if released from school, the white bears bounced high, almost seemed to spin in the air, and took off at a gallop through the trees. Lenny and Joey padded after them. Zeke and Gilbert urged him after the others and fell in behind. Even though he felt better, Patrick felt a bit groggy. Not weak and sick as he had before, but discombobulated. As if he had been drinking. As if the floodgates had been opened on his senses.
He wasn’t sure if it was sedatives still in his system, or if it was another effect of the healing circle. Bear fucking magic. He would not have believed it before. And he wasn’t sure he believed it now. But he certainly didn’t feel like he needed a stretcher. It remained to be seen what would happen once he was back in human. But right this minute he felt reborn.
By the time he got to the riverbank, the young bears had already cannonballed into the water and Joey and Lenny were shaking water from their fur. They opened their mouths and huffed as if they found the youngsters’ enthusiasm amusing. And then they plunged in after them.
Patrick waded into the river. It was cold. As soon as it got wet, the dried blood on his legs began to stink, before the current washed it downstream. He had forgotten that he had been bleeding when he took bear.
Jeremy and Gilbert didn’t seem convinced that all was well with him. They buttressed him on either side. Zeke plunged into the deep water and swam in great happy circles.
Gideon and Asher had disappeared. He wished he knew why, they certainly didn’t seem thrilled with him. Were they planning an ambush? He was thirsty. Desperately thirsty. He gulped the pure, cold river water. That too seemed to purge some weakness from his system.
His bear senses were more alive than they had ever been. The sunlight glinting off the water, and the rippling melody as it rushed over rocks, and the chittering of the squirrels and the singing of the birds formed a rich patchwork of overwhelming sensation. His thoughts became a blurry kaleidoscope. He let the sounds and sights of nature flow into him in a healing torrent.
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