Bear With Me

by Vanessa Devereaux

  His stomach rumbled again, reminding him he’d hadn’t eaten since he’d taken an early lunch. Tina was doing okay for now. He’d estimated that she was at least a couple of hours away from the stage where she could start pushing. He glanced to the other side of the corridor and into the window of Emily’s room. He’d started her on meds and a drip, and the color had returned to her cheeks. Trent sat on the chair beside her bed while reading a book.

  Bear didn’t know if her sickness was due to the fact that she was carrying a shifter’s baby. Charlotte had experienced sickness and lightheadedness, but nothing as bad as Emily, which meant he’d have to keep a close eye on her. He had an inkling what was causing her to be this sick, but he couldn’t confirm it until she’d had her first ultrasound.

  Both women didn’t need him right now, which meant it was the perfect time to go and grab an early supper before he delivered Tina’s baby. He could head to the vending machine and get himself a sandwich and bag of chips, but he felt like some fresh air too. He’d go get something at Hannah’s café and bring it back with him. The thought of seeing Hannah again made him smile. And yes, if he was honest, it stirred feelings in his cock too.

  Bear opened the door to Tina’s room.

  “Mia, I’m just going to grab something to go from the Starlight Café. I won’t be long.”

  “Starlight Café, didn’t you eat there yesterday?”

  What were they keeping tabs on him or what?

  “I did, yes.”

  “Anything in particular you like there?” asked Mia.

  “Salmon’s really good. You should try it.”

  He closed the door before she could ask any more questions. The salmon was good, but that wasn’t the only reason he was about to become a repeat customer.

  ****

  Today he actually took her breath away. She’d heard the bell above the front door ting and had quickly walked out to the front desk, ready to show a customer to a table when she’d spotted Bear standing there in his scrubs. His hair was just long enough to curl over the back of the pale green top. The more she looked at him the harder it was to resist his spell.

  “Hi, Hannah, how are you today?” he asked as she approached the desk.

  “I’m fine, how about you?”

  “Busy and that’s why I’m wondering if you serve meals to go. I have a patient in labor and don’t have much time.”

  Labor. She remembered that. An almost twenty-four hour event. Another reason she never wanted to get pregnant again.

  “Sure, just about anything on the menu can be boxed up to go.”

  She slid one of the menus across the glass on top of the desk.

  “What did you do to your hand?” he asked.

  By now it was peppered with black and blue marks, its knuckles scraped, and it throbbed. However, she wanted to keep the cause of her injuries her secret.

  “I stumbled down the last step from the apartment and used my hand to break my fall. I accidently slammed it against the wall.”

  A pang of guilt washed over her for her lies. Just as it always had when she’d lied to her mother and step-father.

  “Have you put anything on it?”

  “Sure, I washed it and applied some antibiotic cream to the knuckles.”

  “I haven’t got time to check it out right now, but how about I come back later and take a closer look at it? In the meantime try not to use it too much.”

  “No there’s really no need. It’s fine.”

  “I’m not the sort of guy or doctor who takes no for an answer.”

  She was beginning to realize that.

  “Okay, but for your services let me give you something to take away and it’s on the house. Sort of bartering, food for medical services.”

  “I guess that works for me. Can I have the salmon with a tossed green salad?”

  “Absolutely. And I made a teriyaki salad dressing that I think will be perfect for it.”

  “Wow, you can you hear my stomach rumbling?”

  “No, but I’ll go put this order in straight away.”

  “Fine. Is Sam around? I thought maybe I could hang out with him while I waited.”

  “He was tired when he got home from school. He’s up in his room.”

  She didn’t want to tell him she’d put him there as punishment. It was the only thing she knew how to do when he threw one of his tantrums.

  “I’ll go and ask the chef to put a salmon on the grill.”

  She hurried back to the kitchen, told Mike that they needed a salmon ASAP, and set about boxing up a green salad. Next she poured the dressing into a plastic container and put two slices of whole wheat bread into a brown paper bag.

  “One salmon grilled to perfection,” said Mike, handing it to her in a box.

  “Great, thanks.”

  She placed everything in the paper sack and carried it out to Bear who was now sitting reading a flyer someone had placed at the front of the café about an upcoming flea market.

  “Here you go.”

  “I can smell the salmon and it smells even better than the one I had here before. I hate to run, but like I said my patient’s in labor.”

  “Tell her good luck,” said Hannah as he headed out of the door.

  If only she’d had a handsome doctor delivering Sam it might have taken her mind off the pain.

  ****

  “I think you are ready to push,” Bear told Tina. “You want to try standing up for a bit to see if gravity helps get things started?”

  One advantage shifter-women had over their human counterparts was that if they stood and pushed down, with the help of a doctor, the baby could be moved out of the mother’s body a lot quicker.

  Mia and Tina’s husband helped her up. He loved the homemade orange and yellow booties she’d put on to keep her feet warm. So far Tina had done perfectly. Other than a little oxygen, she hadn’t needed any pain meds, and her labor had advanced quickly despite her age.

  “You enjoy the salmon or was that really the reason you snuck out?” asked Mia.

  “I really did eat salmon. You want to smell my breath?” asked Bear.

  “You’re going to break every woman’s heart if you have your sights set on someone,” said Mia.

  “What am I missing here?” asked Tina.

  Bear put his hands either side of her belly and pressed as she pushed down, gripping both Mia and her husband’s hands until he saw their knuckles turning white.

  “Bear’s seeing someone,” said Mia.

  I wish I was. “I can assure you I had my stomach in mind each time I went to the café. You doing okay, Tina?”

  “I think so. Could I lie down and push now?”

  Bear helped her back on the bed. “Okay, another push.”

  He smiled as he saw a little bald head appearing from inside her. He’d never known any cougar shifter baby to be born with a single hair on its head whereas wolves had a good head of hair upon arrival, bears, well they were just a downright explosion of dark hair.

  Tina cried out as she pushed again.

  “You’re doing so well I’d think this was your third or fourth baby,” said Bear.

  “I only wish we had that many children,” said Tina, pushing again.

  Bear hung onto the head and shoulders as Tina gave another huge push and soon the baby slipped out into his waiting hands.

  “It’s a boy,” said Bear. “And he’s beautiful.” He held him up so the parents could see him. Tina burst into tears. “I’ve waited so long for you, little baby.”

  “Does he have a name yet?” asked Bear, giving him a quick check but everything about the little guy looked absolutely perfect. In fact, he knew Tina probably could have delivered him all by herself.

  “Ross,” said Tina.

  “Hi, Ross,” said Bear. “You want to meet your parents who I know are going to love you so much.” Bear placed Ross on his mother’s belly and clamped off the cord for Mickey to cut.

  “Papa, you can do the honors,” sai
d Bear, handing him the scissors.

  “Papa, I like the sound of that,” he said.

  Yeah, suddenly Bear liked it too.

  ****

  They’d had a good evening at the Starlight Café. Hannah kicked off her shoes and flexed her toes as she put the night’s takings into the bag she used to deposit earnings at the bank. She jumped when she heard someone knocking on the glass in the door. Couldn’t they read the sign that said they were now closed and had been for the last fifteen minutes?

  The knocking continued, scaring her a little. Maybe someone was trying to rob the café. However, did people who wanted money actually bother to knock? She walked to the door, ready to tell them to go away they were closed, but when she pulled up the blind there was Bear’s handsome face looking back at her.

  She unbolted the door and slid the lock over. She’d forgotten he said he’d be back to check out her hand. She’d only mentioned bartering services in hopes he’d soon forget about her injury.

  I’m not the sort of guy who takes no for an answer. Yeah, obviously not.

  “Hi, thought I’d check out your hand now that I’m all done for the day.”

  “You really didn’t need to do this. I’m sure you’re tired.”

  “No problem. Café’s on my way home.”

  He stepped inside and she noticed he’d brought along some supplies, including a bandage.

  “I think it’s a lot better than when you saw it earlier.”

  “Let me be the judge of that.”

  In a way she liked his persistence. Underneath the slight bossiness was a man who cared.

  She didn’t want to seem rude and make him sit in the café. Sam was in bed, safely tucked away, so she knew it was okay to take Bear to their apartment.

  “You want to come upstairs? Don’t know if I told you that’s where Sam and I live. Well, at least until this place makes enough money that we can afford a house.”

  “At least it’s a short commute to work.”

  “Yeah, that’s the biggest plus.”

  She led him through to the hallway to the door leading upstairs. “The previous owner used it as the storeroom, so I’m gradually trying to make it look like an actual home.”

  Hannah wondered where he lived and if it was someplace fancy. Doctors made pretty good money, right? Not that she was embarrassed by the small apartment, but it wasn’t anything special to look at. A living room, kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms, and that was about it.

  She pushed back the door and held it while he stepped inside.

  “Sam’s asleep and he’s a pretty sound sleeper, but let’s go into the kitchen which is the farthest away from his room.”

  He followed her to the back of the apartment and she pulled out a chair for him. She sat and Bear placed the supplies on the table before sitting.

  “If you want to rest your arm here, I can take a better look.”

  Hannah set her forearm on the table as Bear gently touched her grazed knuckles. She flinched despite how careful he was being.

  “Sorry. I’m going to spray some antiseptic lotion that has some antibiotic formula in there so you don’t get an infection. That can happen before you know it.”

  He reached for a dark brown bottle and proceeded to spray all four knuckles. It stung like hell, but she didn’t want to seem like a baby so said nothing.

  “Did your patient have her baby?”

  “Sure did. A beautiful boy who was twenty-one inches long and weighed just around the eight pound mark.”

  She smiled remembering that Sam had also been around the same length and weight. He’d been beautiful too, still was in fact.

  “You like your job?” Hannah asked him.

  He held her hand, looking straight into her eyes. “I love it. Bringing new life into the world. Seeing joy in people’s faces when they see their babies for the first time.”

  Yeah, she remembered when she’d first set eyes on Sam. She couldn’t believe she’d created this little person that would rely on her for everything. She’d been frightened and excited at the same time.

  “You ever think about having any of your own?” she asked him.

  “I never used to but now I’m getting older it’s entering my mind more with each baby I deliver. Guess I don’t want to leave it too late. You had to be young when you had Sam.”

  Too young.

  “Twenty-one.”

  He turned her hand over and felt along the palm and then down the thumb and back.

  “Anything hurt?” he asked.

  She shook her head.

  “I’m going to bind it up. Keep it like that overnight. It will give it time to rest and do some healing.” He pulled out a bandage and began wrapping it around her hand.

  “So Sam’s dad and you are divorced?”

  She shook her head. “Never married him. In fact, he doesn’t even know about him.”

  She was embarrassed to tell him more but guessed she’d come this far.

  “We were only together one night and…”

  “It’s okay, happens to a lot of people.”

  He held her hand and suddenly she didn’t feel shame about what had happened to her. She’d told him that much but didn’t want to go into detail about the guy she’d had the one night stand with. He’d been like Bear, a sexy hunk of a guy and she’d not been able to resist his charm or say no when he suggested they get a room at a nearby motel. She’s always loved sex and he’d known how to seduce and thrill a female.

  Bear rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb and leaned over toward her almost as if he was going to kiss her. She was going to tell him she wasn’t that one night stand girl any more. In fact, she didn’t do sex any more but there had been no mention of that, not even the slightest hint on his part, so he’d probably be insulted to think she assumed he was really here for sex and nothing more.

  Bear leaned in some more, so close she could feel his breath on her lips.

  “Momma.”

  It was Sam standing in the kitchen.

  “Hi, Sam,” said Bear, looking like he’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

  Sam walked toward Bear and for a minute Hannah thought he was going to say hi back but instead he zeroed in on her hand. He touched the bandage.

  “Sorry, sorry.” Sam leaned over and kissed her hand.

  She looked at Bear. Had he realized she’d lied to him about how she’d hurt her hand? Had he caught on that her own child was responsible for the injury?

  “Did we wake you?” Hannah asked Sam.

  He nodded.

  “We’re sorry about that, Sam,” said Bear.

  “You want Momma to read you a story to help you back to sleep again?”

  “Why don’t I read you a story?” asked Bear. “That’s if it’s okay with your mom?” He looked at Hannah.

  “If you’re sure? I mean you must be eager to get home and relax,” she said.

  “I’ve got plenty of time to do that.”

  Sam turned and left, but then turned around looked back, not saying anything but starting at Bear and blinking rapidly.

  “Okay, I’m coming,” said Bear.

  Bear stood and followed Sam. Hannah was going to leave them to do their own thing, but she walked behind Bear and then peeked in to see Sam lying in bed with Bear sitting on the end of it with a book balanced on his lap.

  Sam’s eyelids gradually fluttered and then he was fast asleep again. Bear continued reading to the end of the chapter and then got up put the book back on the shelf and tiptoed out of the room.

  “Let’s go downstairs so we don’t wake him,” he whispered.

  Bear held her arm and the two of them made their way down to the café.

  “Sam did that to your hand didn’t he?” asked Bear.

  “Yes, but he didn’t mean it. He never does.”

  Shit that came out before she could censor herself. She didn’t want anyone to know this happened at least a couple of times a month.

  “Wh
en he gets older and bigger, he could inflict serious injury on you. I’d like to look into some treatment centers for him.”

  “I’m not having him locked away.”

  “I’m not suggesting that, but there are doctors and places that can help.”

  “I’ve tried that, but it costs money and all they tell me is they can’t do anything.”

  He put his hand on her arm. ‘Trust me will you, because I’m going to help both of you.”

  Chapter Seven

  Bear couldn’t sleep. He tossed and turned for thirty minutes, finally settling on his left side with both his hands perched under the side of his head. It had to be as hard as hell for Hannah and his heart had gone out to her tonight. She was trying to run a business, make a living, and look after a special needs child without the help of a husband or even a boyfriend for that matter.

  She was a strong woman. He could tell that, and a good mother. She hadn’t wanted to admit that her son had hurt her hand. She had to let someone help her and he wanted to be that person and not just because he found her attractive and wanted to ask her out on a date. The doctor in him had taken an oath to help and heal.

  Flipping over onto his back again, he looked up at the ceiling. Due to tonight’s full moon shining through the window where the drapes were on the thin side, he was able to see the scalloped pattern.

  Sam needed help and it wasn’t Hannah’s fault that he wasn’t getting the sort of treatment he needed. Bear had seen it happen to parents too many times. This one was almost personal because he’d taken a liking to Sam the first time he’d seen him. Something about that kid, something in his eyes drew Bear into the boy’s soul, but he couldn’t explain why.

  Knowing it would be impossible to get any sleep now he threw back the covers and got out of bed. He strolled to the kitchen, opened the fridge door, and took out a carton of milk. He poured himself a glassful of the white liquid that he hoped would make him sleepy very soon. He downed about a quarter of the glass before heading into his home office to turn on his laptop. He sat in the chair, drawing up one leg while going to the site of a clinic he knew in Vancouver. Dr. Whitehall headed it and he and Bear had met a few years ago.