by Terry Spear
Even though Edward had seemed to suspect the boys were his sons, he still looked stunned. She didn’t blame him. She’d been the same way that day once she learned she was pregnant. He glanced at the boys, their faces glued to the TV. He turned to look back at her, his eyes misty. “They're mine."
She couldn't stop the flow of tears then. Forever, she had thought about this moment when she would tell him, and she knew it wouldn't be easy, no matter how she broached the subject. “Yes, they’re yours.”
EDWARD STILL COULDN’T BELIEVE the boys were his own sons or that her brother had tried to kill him over some old gold claim that had been ancient history and screwed up everything between them. “Your brother told me to quit seeing you. And he said something odd, that I could never figure out. He said I’d never be able to keep you because of what I’d done to you. Is that what he was referring to? That you were pregnant with the boys at the time?”
Tears filled her eyes again. She nodded.
He frowned at her. “Hell, Robyn. They were my boys too. So you took off and mated some other bear and pretended they were his.”
“I was afraid my family would try to force me to give up my sons. Not to you, but to some other bear family not in our sleuth. They threatened to kill you. All of them did. We would have had a war between our sleuths, all because I had dated you and then was carrying our sons. The only way I could think to protect you was to go along with dating someone of their choice in Anchorage. But he was abusive to me because he didn’t like that I was carrying your babies any more than my family did. Callahan was just passing through at a truck stop restaurant where I was a waitress, and I ran away with him. I was five months pregnant by then and he knew I needed protection and that I couldn’t return to you because of the feud between our families. He was trying to protect me from my family, and ultimately, you from my family.”
“I would have protected you from your family.” Edward paced across the floor. He couldn’t believe she’d left him six years ago, carrying his children, and had kept this from him all those years! “I want them to know who I am. I want to—” Hell, raise them as his own? He hadn’t really thought about having had kids of his own. Especially when they believed another man had been their daddy. What a mess.
“You want to what?” she asked.
She was looking warily at him, knowing just the kind of reservations he had of becoming a daddy so all of a sudden. But he was a daddy already. They were his sons and he wasn’t going to shirk his responsibility. He knew he would love them as much as he had always loved Robyn, if she would give him half a chance.
“Raise them as my own, just as I should have done all along. That settles it. You and the boys stay with me. I have plenty of room at my place and you’ll be safe with our sleuth. I want to tell my family though too.”
“Of course. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you before.”
ROBYN HAD to admit she'd been worried that he was married already and would want custody.
Callahan had never let on that the boys weren’t his. She even wondered if her in-laws suspected that the boys were not their own flesh and blood and they worried she would take them home to their true father and cut them out of seeing them altogether. But why would they care then, if they weren’t even blood relations?
To save face? At least, that’s what she suspected. Robyn had never changed her name because of a sense of pride, which had annoyed her in-laws to great lengths. Her mother and grandmother had kept their maiden names also. So it was a tradition in her family. Though she shouldn’t have bothered to, once her family had disowned her. Still, that was another reason she had done it. They couldn’t take her birth name from her. Callahan had been fine with it and that’s all that had mattered.
“If my brothers learn I’ve gone back to you—” she said.
“They have no say in what we do.” Edward looked so hopeful that she wanted to get back together with him.
She couldn't love Edward more than she already did, but that didn’t change the problems she had brought with her. “And my deceased mate’s people come after the boys—”
“They’re not theirs by any stretch of the imagination.” Edward didn’t seem to want to let go of her or the boys, unless she really didn’t want to be with him. The boys needed a father, however, and Edward seemed to want to spend time with them.
“I believe my in-laws fear losing face. They’ve bragged about the boys being their own grandsons since before they were born. They have no other grandchildren.”
“Was your mate a good father to the boys?” Edward asked, sounding concerned.
“He was gone most of the time. Callahan's father tried to make up for it by taking the boys on fishing trips, but they preferred being with me. Arnold said they were going to be momma’s boys and he didn’t like it.”
"When did you marry Callahan?"
"I married him shortly after I'd met him, just a quick justice of the peace affair. When I was waitressing at a restaurant in Anchorage, he came in to grab a bite to eat for lunch while he was on a job. I’d been crying and he asked what the trouble was. Of course, I wouldn’t tell him, a stranger, but Maverick, the guy I was dating, was emotionally abusive to me because he hated that I was carrying your babies. Callahan asked me when I was getting off my shift and he ended up waiting for me when it ended two hours later. I unburdened my soul to him. I couldn’t talk to my family. They felt the same way as Maverick did. I didn’t know where to turn. A shifter with a couple of cubs on her own can mean real danger for all of them. Callahan offered me a marriage and a chance to leave Alaska. I was just desperate enough to take him up on it and prayed he was a decent man. Which he was. Right from the start, I told him that they were your sons and that my family hated yours.
“I…I told him you had killed my brother.”
“God, Robyn, I’m so sorry for how that went down. You must have hated me for it.”
“No, never. I knew Butch had tried to kill you. While Craig was flying in, we both saw you trying to get Butch to stop, backing off, indicating you were done and didn’t want to fight any more. But he kept tearing into you and we knew then my brother fully intended to kill you. It wasn’t your fault. I know you would have done anything to prevent what had happened. I saw how you kept trying to stop the fight, to back off from it like a bear who was willing to leave it be. Craig said the same thing. He said you were going to get yourself killed because my brother wouldn't stop trying to kill you. I was calling out to you to protect yourself with whatever it took. I was screaming at my brother to break off the fight. But neither of you could hear me. Even your cousin was so angry, he was yelling at you to fight back. Since Butch was there, I knew he'd started it and his actions proved he planned to kill you. My mother guessed I was pregnant and she must have told him. I didn’t tell them where we’d be. I suspected someone had to have told them I was dating you. Someone who knows my family and came through White Bear and told them. I don’t know how they would have known otherwise.”
“I thought you’d finally told them we were seeing each other.”
“No. I called my mom only to say I wasn’t coming home over Christmas break. I’d hoped to spend it with you.” Robyn brushed away tears again. That had been the worst day of her life, learning she was pregnant, nearly losing Edward, losing her oldest brother, and having to return home to a hostile family, when all she wanted was to be with the man she loved.
Edward took her into his arms and kissed her cheeks. "I didn't die. I'm here. With you now."
She loved the feel of his arms securely wrapped around her, not condemning her for leaving him, but loving her like he always had. "I…I didn't want my brother to die either, but I wanted you to live. I wanted you to…to win. I wanted the baby to get to know his father. I…I didn’t even think you would make it. Craig didn't think so either, you had lost so much blood. He and I dragged you into the cabin and he started a field blood transfusion, then began bandaging your wounds. But I couldn’t stay
with you after that.”
“You gave me your blood. Craig told me later that you had saved my life."
"I had to. I had to save your life. But I had to leave."
Edward held her tight. "You should have told me about the boys." He kissed her tear-streaked cheeks. "I was going to propose marriage to you that weekend. We should have been together.”
"I was hoping you would. I was excited about it, but then I’d learned I was pregnant right before taking my last final exam and I was worried that you would be upset to learn we were going to have a baby. Two, as it turned out. I didn’t expect my family to react like they did. After you killed Butch, my family promised me they would kill you, if I returned to you. We would have had a war between our sleuths. I couldn't have done that to you or your family. I was worried they might try to take my babies away from me after they were born too, and that was another deciding factor for me taking the chance and leaving with Callahan and never looking back. Not that I didn’t think of you every day we were apart. The babies growing in my belly and after the boys were born reminded me of you and what we had lost—but I cherished that I still had a part of you to love."
“Aww, honey, we would have taken care of you. I should have helped you raise the boys. I take it they believe Callahan was their dad.”
“Yes. But you are listed on their birth certificates. Callahan knew I put your name on them. He was satisfied with the boys having his name while he was alive. He knew I’d always loved you, and I loved him too, but not in the same way. He was good to all of us. The day he was killed, we were running as bears. The hunter shot and injured him badly. I was afraid the hunters would kill us too. I didn’t have any choice but to run with the boys to Callahan. I carried him into the sea, the boys following us. The hunters didn’t shoot at me, maybe because I had two young cubs to raise. When we were far enough out in the water, Callahan managed to tell me that I had to take the boys to see you and make things right between us. And then he died.
“I was heartbroken to lose him because I thought he had been such a good man. Though I learned he had a darker side to him that I hadn’t known about. After the funeral, I’d planned to leave as soon as I could to see you and explain to you about the boys, but when I began to check on our finances, I discovered Callahan had put us into debt. He had convinced a female friend to sign my name on the second mortgage, using my ID to pretend she was me. He’d gambled our money away, yet he’d hidden his addiction from me all those years. I didn’t have the means to leave there right away. I knew when I did, I wouldn’t be returning. Once I had started my business, I was making enough money to put some away for when we left. I planned to see you and tell you about the boys. Then my in-laws began to make the move to take custody of the boys and I knew I had to leave right then and there. Our time had run out. Maybe Callahan knew something like that would happen if anything had ever happened to him. Callahan had never been close to either of his parents. He and his dad and mom were always butting heads. Maybe his parents thought they could start over and raise our boys as their own and get it right this time.”
“They can’t claim the bloodline. Not when the boys are yours and mine. They’re not their real grandparents. And you can’t go home. Not when your parents and brothers are so hostile to me. They already know the boys are mine, so how would they treat them? How would they treat you? Certainly not like my family and I will. And you can’t subject the boys to mistreatment from your family.”
“I don’t want to drag you and your family into this.” She was desperate to make Edward understand. She would rather be apart from him than see him killed because she stayed with him. But she could tell he’d never stopped loving her. She’d never stopped loving him either.
"You still use your maiden name. Was that after your mate died?”
“No. I wouldn’t change it. Callahan was fine with it, his parents, not so much. You sent Butch's body home and I tried to make it work, but there were too many issues left unresolved. After I left with Callahan, my parents disowned me. I wouldn't give up my name.”
“What about the boys?”
“They’ve been using Callahan’s name," she repeated. "But he's not listed as their dad on their birth certificates.”
Edward’s brow rose. “If you’ve got the birth certificates saying the boys are mine, they can't claim them. If they try to contest the certificates, all we’d have to do is have DNA testing to prove it too. That would end any claim they make that the boys are their blood relations.”
“I have their official birth certificates in the fire safe.”
“Okay, we’ll need to send copies to your former mate’s family, so they know the truth.”
She led him to the guest room where she'd placed the safe on the bed, the key in the lock, ready to reveal the truth to him. She opened the safe and stared at all the documents sitting on top. The kids' birth certificates had been on top, but now her truck title and her own birth certificate were. She had a bad feeling about this. She quickly pulled out all the documents, her heart hammering. "They've been…taken."
"Who would have done it? Who else's scents are in the inside of the safe?"
"Callahan's." She sniffled. "He's the only other one who had a key to the safe. Maybe…maybe he hadn't been happy that I had named you as their father after all. But you were, and I'd made that clear to him before we even were married."
"And he got rid of the birth certificates? Time can change people."
She blinked away tears. She didn't want to believe Callahan had destroyed them. What if he had shown them to his parents? And they had torn them up?
Edward rubbed her arm. "It'll take some time to get notarized copies of their birth certificates or DNA testing to prove they're mine. But we'll send away for them."
"We need to leave until the paperwork comes back. They won't believe the boys are yours unless we can prove it to them."
"We can go to the cabin. I just want to say I know a lot of years have passed since we were seeing each other, and we're different people than we were back then. But we’ve got to give us a chance, Robyn. To make this work between us. For each other. And for the boys.”
“I'm willing to give us another chance. But I worry about the truck being at the garage and Callahan's brothers discovering it. Does anyone do paint jobs on vehicles?”
“Yeah. We can paint it. We can put a billet grille on it, new wheels, grill guard, new truck top. It’ll make your vehicle look like it’s never been yours.”
“I can’t afford—”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“But you don’t even know us.”
“Like hell I don’t, Robyn. I…” Edward almost said he loved her, and he knew he still did, but he knew they would need time to work through any issues they might have between them. “Still, it doesn’t matter. You’re one of us, and you need our help.”
More tears spilled down her cheeks and he knew she’d been managing on her own with hostile in-laws who didn’t have her best interests at heart. Nor, from the sounds of it, did the rest of her mate’s sleuth. And she didn’t know if her own people would welcome her back home. And that was all because she’d been seeing him to begin with. Not that he’d known the trouble that could have caused.
She hugged him back and the boys suddenly peered into the room, their eyes wide, probably wondering where their mom had gone.
"Garrett, Bryan, I need to tell you that Edward is your real daddy." She reached out to them to give them a hug.
They hugged her, then looked up at him and smiled.
“I won't bite.” Edward reached out his arms to give them a hug.
She hoped they would embrace their new daddy with all the love he deserved. And they did. They were so cute, and so was he.
Garrett said, “So you’re our real dad? Dad told us he wasn’t really.”
Robyn couldn’t believe it. She’d been so careful not to tell them the truth.
“Did you tell anyone? Your grandpare
nts?” Robyn quickly asked.
“Grandma,” Garrett said, “but that was Bryan’s fault. She told him she would wash his mouth out with soap if he ever told anyone that.”
Robyn was shocked to the core. "Ohmigod, Callahan’s parents knew that already? Maybe that’s why they wanted you so badly. When did Callahan tell you that you weren’t his sons?”
Garrett shrugged. “Grandma made him mad, again, right before we went on our trip where the hunter shot him. And we were upset that Grandma was so angry with Daddy. When she left, he said she wasn’t our real grandmother and that he wasn’t our real dad. But he told us not to tell you that he’d told us. And we weren’t to tell anyone else either. We asked him who our real daddy was and he said it was a secret. You were at the grocery store when he told us. Then we had to see Grandma, I don’t know, a couple of days after that. Bryan got mad at her because she was being mean to us. He told her she wasn’t our real grandmother. She got really angry.”
Robyn couldn't believe it! Why hadn't Callahan warned her that he'd gotten angry with his mother and told the boys the truth?
“Grandma said she would wash my mouth out with soap if I ever said that again. She said Daddy lied to us. She said we were too her grandsons. And that Daddy was our daddy,” Bryan said. “So he really wasn’t our dad?”
Robyn hugged the boys again. “No. But he loved you like you were his own sons. Edward’s your real daddy.”
“You can call me Dad or…Daddy,” Edward said.
“So, Grandma isn’t really our grandmother like Daddy said?” Bryan asked.
Edward shook his head. “She isn’t. But you’ll have a great aunt and uncle who will be your loving grandparents who really are your blood-relations."
“Can we go back and watch the movie?" Garrett asked.
Edward and Robyn smiled at the boys. Dad issue aside, they were back to being little boys.
