Gannon: McCray Bruin Bear Shifter Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  “I think we can work on this together. Will you head the project up? I mean, find out what can be salvageable, starting with that register, and what needs to be replaced? So you’re aware, there are ovens and other baking things in the building attached to this one. I was going to have the walls closed off, but I think this will work out better. As you said, a place to gather. I like that. Perhaps that is what it should be called. A Gathering Place.” Mel told her that she liked that. “I do too. Well, partner, thanks for figuring this out. You did very well, and I cannot wait to see where it takes us.”

  “No. No us. I told you, I have no investment that I could put in.” Demi told her that ninety percent of making a place work was someone having the idea in the first place. “Yes, but I’m sure once you saw this place, you would have said the same thing about it.”

  “Perhaps. But maybe not either. You did well. Now, say ‘Thank you, Demi. We’ll work well together.’ “ She repeated what Demi had told her. “Good. I’ll let you get back to work then, and I’ll take Gannon with me. We have to find him a place to work. These men here, you tell them what you want, and they’ll do it. We might as well get a head start on this right away. I want bread for dinner now.”

  When she left her, taking Gannon with her, Mel looked at Lucian. He was leaning against the counter where the register was, playing with the keys as the drawer popped open. She asked him what she’d just gotten herself into after telling him to stop playing before he broke the thing.

  “I’d say you have a business to get running. And then to make a profit. But don’t be discouraged if you don’t the first few years. That’s something that I’m learning as well. Sometimes it takes a moment to let people realize that we’re here to stay.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “Welcome to the family, Mel. I’m so glad to have you a part of it.”

  Mel didn’t remember saying anything like that, but she had a crew to get working. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, she looked around to see where to start. Something that she’d learned on her own was, it only takes one project at a time for you to get to the finish line. You can’t do everything you want at once. She set the men to pulling the rest of the wallboard down around the walls. That, she discovered, was only the beginning of finding what a wonderful place this was going to be.

  Chapter 5

  Gannon was sitting at his desk that evening when Melody came in and flopped down on the chair that he’d only just put the legs on. Grinning at her appearance, he didn’t comment on the fact that she had spider webs in her hair.

  “What do you know about tin ceilings?” He told her next to nothing. “Yeah, me either. Your dad is going to go to A Gathering Place in the morning with me and see what we can figure out on our own. I know that I can call a professional in to see it, but I don’t want to pay the money that one of them wants just to tell me that it’s all fake.”

  “I don’t understand what would be fake about a tin ceiling.” She told him what she’d found out. “I see. So it could have been added later and not be the original ceiling and not worth cleaning up. I can see that. I know that you want to keep it as original as you can.”

  “I do. How do you like the new place that you’re going to be working from?” He told her it was a much better place. “I’m so glad. I didn’t want you to have to suffer because I had an idea. Do you really think that Demi is serious about seeing what sort of place I can make the bakery?”

  “One thing that she is forever telling me is, she never jokes about money. I think she saw what you did and wants it to happen as much as you do.” Melody nodded but didn’t move. “How much did you get finished up today? I’m still opening boxes here.”

  “I saw that. And we got a great deal finished up. The walls are all exposed, and ninety percent of them are intact. We’ve found four extra windows as well.” He asked how that had happened. When she laughed, he did as well. “We tore off the wood that had boarded up the windows from the inside and discovered that they weren’t bricked in like I thought they would be. They’re intact as well. And we made a wonderful discovery there. Each window that had been boarded up was stuffed full of grain and flour sacks. Some of them are beautiful. I was thinking about selling them in the shop—at least some of them. There are over two hundred of them. Then one of the men working with us said that your mom is gathering things up to put in a sort of like museum. I think people would get a kick out of seeing the names and prints on them.”

  “My grandma told me about that when I was a child. She said that during the thirties, women would use up their flour and keep the sacks they came in. There wasn’t much in the way of artificial material back then. The sacks were made of soft cotton. They’d make their entire family something from them but mostly dresses for their daughters and themselves. However, once the flour companies got wind of it, they changed their sacks up to floral and other pretty patterns so that women could have pretty things to wear.” She said that she’d not known that. “Yes, I’m sure of that. Sometimes they’d even have a pattern that could be sewn together as a toy for a child. If you ask my mom about some of the things you’ve found, she can tell you about them. Also, there is a gentleman in town; his name is Nathan Hostetter, who has been around for about forever. I bet he’d even remember that place being a bakery.”

  “I’m going to talk to him and your mom. Do you think she’ll mind?” Gannon told her that she’d love it, and helping out with the bakery. “I’d like to get to know them all better. Maybe…. I was thinking that maybe I’d not be so afraid of them if they were around me more.”

  “Are you still afraid of me?” She didn’t nod right away, but it still hurt him in his chest when she did. “I’m so sorry about that. I wish there was something I could do to make you less afraid of all of us.”

  “You are, Gannon. Just by being yourself. Before I forget to tell you the police from my hometown will be here tomorrow afternoon. They want to go over some of the details that Demi apparently told them that I have only just remembered. I’m glad that she did that. If you’re not busy, I’d like for you to be here with me. Just for moral support.” He said that he could do that for her anytime. “Demi called to let me know that they’d like to speak to me, and she promised me that if they got out of hand, she’d make them regret it. I think she’s scarier than you are as a bear at times.”

  “We’re all afraid of her. Meadow too. Have you seen some of the things that she can do?” Melody told him that Meadow had shown up at the bakery about an hour after Demi and he had left. “Is she going to help you there too?”

  “She already has. She was able to show me some places in the bakery that have some other hidden gems. Some of them we can get to easily, and others will take us a bit to dig out. She’s the one that told us about the windows that had been boarded up.” Gannon told Melody about how she’d come to have her powers. “Meadow is brave. Scary, yes, but she is brave as well. To have been able to confront that man after all he’d done to her and her family…I might have been hiding in a corner with my thumb in my mouth had that happened to me.”

  “No, you would have done the same thing. You’re much braver than you give yourself credit for.”

  Patrick joined them again and said that dinner would be ready at six, and that Melody had a phone call.

  Gannon pointed to the one on the desk. “I can leave if you want some privacy. It’s no big deal to me.”

  “Please don’t. I don’t know who would be calling me, and I don’t want to talk to anyone just yet about the shooting. If you don’t mind.” He said she’d be fine and stood up to give her his chair. Patrick asked if he could have a word with him. “Go ahead, Gannon, but don’t go too far, please.”

  “He shall return in a moment, my lady. Just give me a moment.” When they were on the other side of the room, Patrick handed him a sheet of paper. “This is the price list of things that we have purchased for the foodstuff. It’
s a great deal more than I thought it would be. What I can do to pare it down for us is to have Miss Hand try and stretch out the staples as long as she can.”

  “It’s fine. That’s what I was doing when Melody came in. There seems to be a great deal of money in my account that I’m going to have to make some calls about. I think my sisters-in-law are trying to prove a point.” Patrick nodded, but Gannon could tell that he didn’t seem to understand. “You just tell Miss Hand that it’s fine. And you’re doing a great job, Patrick. Never think that you’re not.”

  “Thank you, sir. I appreciate that very much. I was concerned, you see.” Gannon told him it was great, but he did want to talk to Demi and Meadow. “Yes, they’d be the ones to speak to about that. I’m sure that they can clear things up for you.”

  He sat down in the chair that Melody had been in while she seemed to be listening to the other side of the conversation on the phone. He could hear words, but not enough to make out what was being said. However, he was concerned about the desperate look on her face when she finally hung up.

  “My parents are coming to see us. Daniel and I and the children. They just heard about the fire and are worried that he’s going to be without.” Gannon asked if he was going to be. “I don’t know. We had that fight, and I never got an opportunity to ask him about the insurance other than to tell him that I didn’t need it.”

  “That reminds me. I’m to take you to the large building at the back of the property today. Lucian told me that it was for you to keep working. I can only imagine what they might have done for you. As it is, I have so much money in my account right now that I’m terrified to think about what they were doing.” Melody laughed and told him that having too much money wasn’t a bad thing. “It is if they take it back after I use some of it. Not that I think they will. I happened to mention something along those lines about money being the all to one of them. I’m sure that they’re showing me that it doesn’t change who you are. They’re very devious in their teaching me things. All of us, really.”

  “Yes, like the bakery. It wasn’t until I was helping pull down some wallboard that I realized I’d been put in a position that I know nothing about. I just thought it was a nice place. Then bam. Not only am I working there, but also trying to figure out ways to make it work.” They were both laughing as they sat down in the kitchen for dinner. “Do you always eat in here? Because if you do, I might like you a little more. This is a homey place. Kitchens are the heart of the home.”

  “My mom says that all the time. I’d like to. It’s too stuffy to eat in the dining room when it’s just the two of us. Don’t you think?” Melody said that she agreed. “If your parents would like to stay here while they visit, that’s fine with me if you’re okay with it. I think that Daniel’s home is a little full right now. Not really, but I guess the kids are having a blast with the huge back yard. I think that the others are trying to talk him into staying here in this area. I hope that you will as well.”

  “What if I don’t? I mean, what if I decide that I want to go back home and live? I have an apartment there. I had a house, but it was too big.” She lowered her head then, and he knew that she was keeping something from him. “This house should have a family in it too, don’t you think? I can’t give you that, Gannon.”

  “It’s all right.” She looked up sharply, dropping her spoon right back in the soup she was eating. “It really is. I’d be great with adopting as many as we could. I do know that would be something that we’d have to talk about. But if you’d like that, so would I. However, if you don’t like this house, for any reason, we can sell it and find us something more to your liking. It’s not that big of a deal to me. It was a gift from the sisters.”

  “I just told you that I can’t have children. Aren’t you pissed about that?” Gannon asked her why he should be pissed. “I know that your kind falls in love quickly, and has only one thing on their mind when it comes to breeding. A word that I despise, by the way. What do you think is going to happen when your family finds out that I’m broken in that department?”

  “Broken? You’re not broken, Melody, but only unable to have a child of your own. That’s not broken at all. As for my parents, they’d be happy to know that you’re well and my mate more than they would if you could give them two or three grandchildren by you giving birth to them. Josiah and his wife will more than likely have a dozen or so children, by adoption or birth. So will Demi and Lucian. They have one on the way, but I’m thinking that won’t be the only one they have. It matters little how they get here so long as we can love them well and raise them to be proper human—or whatever they turn out to be—beings.” He laughed at the expression on her face. “However, I will tell you that if my dad finds out about you thinking you’re broken, he might get a little ticked off at you. He wants grandkids, both my parents do. But like me, he could care less who birthed them or fathered them so long as we treat them well and love them.”

  “My parents would say the same. They love Holly, Dan, and Mary very much. Even after they found out that they weren’t Daniel’s. Mom—her name is Melody too, by the way—she told him that he was blessed to be their father and to guide them through this world. He’d better not fuck it up. In those exact words too.” Gannon told her that was the way it should be. “You’re not disappointed that you won’t have a child from your own body?”

  “The only disappointment I have about this is that you can’t have a child from your body. I wouldn’t, after the initial impregnation, have a great deal more input on the subject. It’s you that gets all the joyful and not so joyful moments of carrying a child that you’re creating.” She laughed, nearly spitting her soup at him. She asked him if he’d just said impregnation. “Well, I didn’t think saying ‘After I fucked you silly and you had a child by me’ would go over very well.”

  “Mr. Gannon. What a thing to say to your lovely mate.” They all laughed harder at the look on Patrick’s face. Even Miss Hand seemed to be having some trouble holding in her mirth. Patrick looked at Melody. “He was raised by good people, miss. His mother would be popping him in the back of the head for such a comment.”

  “I bet she would, as she tried very hard not to join us in laughter. But I can also see Mr. Alden laughing as he tried his best to be stern. They seem to have a good sense of humor all around.” Melody asked him what he thought they’d do. “I mean, you would know them better than most.”

  “I think you’re right on both of them. I can also see my brothers laughing harder than you did. Demi and Meadow might want to strangle me, but they’d get a kick out of it.” They were served their salmon and baked potato. “This looks amazing. Did Melody tell you about the bakery downtown that she’s working on with Demi?”

  He had to change the subject, or he was going to be hurting more than he was at the moment. The talk about impregnating and fucking had his cock hard enough to break off if he touched himself. Paying about half attention to what Melody was telling the others about, he wondered if this meant that she was getting more comfortable around him.

  Gannon was taking this one step—a tiny step—at a time. He knew that if she moved away from him again, only a little, he’d be hurt again. Having her afraid of him made him worry that they’d never get to be together. When she kicked him under the table, he looked at her. Melody was so beautiful right now that he couldn’t help saying it to her.

  “Thank you. But that doesn’t get you out of being in trouble for not paying attention.” He said that he was thinking. “Thinking hard enough that you’ve missed what we’re having for dessert? That does not seem like you at all.”

  “No, it’s not like me. I love desserts. I’m not a big fan of too much of it, but I do enjoy a nice cupcake or a couple of cookies. And I dearly love sherbet.” She asked him if that included pineapple sherbet. “That is my favorite, right up there with raspberry. Yum.”

  “Mine too. On a nice warm day, I could eat an
entire container of sherbet. But not lime. I don’t care for it.” He said that he didn’t know if he liked it or not, he’d never been able to get beyond the first two. “Gannon, I think we might have more in common than I first thought. I’m warming up to you.”

  Her face turned red, and Gannon did the polite thing and bowed his head to finish his dinner. He did notice that Melody had finished all of hers, and her plate was cleaned away. He was going to have to pay more attention to her, or he’d be left without a sweet treat. Of course, a kiss or two wouldn’t be remiss if he had to forgo having some sherbet with her.

  Smiling to himself, he ate the last of his rice and vegetables while Miss Hand was serving up the delicious treat. He knew that the staff had a list of things that he loved and disliked. They’d have to get with Melody to see what her likes were too.

  Sharing a meal with his mate was the best thing that had happened to him so far in his life. He didn’t want the meal to ever end, but they had other things to get caught up on. Like the barn out back and what might be in it. Then he had to find out what Meadow had done to his checking account. She really was devious.

  ~*~

  Vicky went from hotel to hotel to find out where Daniel had landed his ass. To think that she should have been getting alimony all this time pissed her off. No one had said a damned thing to her about getting money from Daniel in all the time since she’d divorced him. She was glad now that she’d had her hair done at a different parlor last week, or she still would have been shit out of luck.

  No one had been talking to her that day. Vicky was getting the gray taken out again; the damned stuff seemed to sprout out ten times faster than she could get her hair colored. But the women around her, all of them regulars, she’d figured out, were talking about the woman that had been in the chair before she’d arrived. The one that did the most talking, a woman who was getting her hair colored like a fucking rainbow, seemed to have everything about the system worked out perfectly in her favor.