Second Chance Bear and a Baby: BBW Bear Shifter Baby Paranormal Romance (Who's the Daddy? Book 3) (7 page)

A jolt hit him in the chest. He hadn’t asked if she was pregnant when she was murdered. He should have, but the body had been taken to a special morgue. One where they knew about shifters. It meant the results that came back to the department were all kinds of doctored. To have seen the real thing he would have had to reveal his identity, tell them he was her mate. Joel had agreed, if that had happened, they would have taken Liam off the case. That was not going to happen. He swore to her memory, that he would see it through to the end.

He didn’t realize he had tears on his cheeks until he pulled up outside a large house, with a big front yard. A vivid green lawn, well-kept and filled with baby toys, greeted him. Her brother had a child. She’d never said. Did she know? Was this another facet of her life she hadn’t shared with him? He wished they’d had more time to talk, to share what their lives were, whom they loved.

The front door opened, and a large man, with huge shoulders, came out, followed by a woman holding a baby. A very pregnant woman. A glimpse of what he had lost flittered across his brain. This time it was swiftly followed by the face of Carla.
He had been given a second chance.

Wiping his face, he got out of the car, and stood stretching for a moment; it gave him time to compose himself, to steel his nerves for this encounter. He had been a cop for a long time, long enough to deal with some hellish situations, to break news to families that no one should ever hear. Yet this threatened to be the hardest.

“Hello,” the young woman said. The guy,
Beau
, he had signed the letter, just stared at him. Liam stared back. “I’m Elise.” She thrust her hand out to him, the baby in her arms smiling.

“Hi, Elise. I’m Liam. Thank you for inviting me over.” Like they were going to sit down for afternoon tea, not talk about the dead woman who had been his mate. His eyes flickered across to Beau’s, and he saw his own distress and pain mirrored there.

He let out a breath, a breath he had been holding for so long. From before he got the letter, before they broke the drug ring, and before he had sworn to avenge his mate’s death. The breath had been inside him since the moment he realized she was dead, since his bear had moaned like a deep wound had damaged his heart irreparably.

“Liam.” The two men held each other’s gaze. And then Beau took a step forward and hugged him, a weird feeling, and for the first nanosecond, Liam froze, and then he let himself relax. No words were going to be needed, no interrogation where he had to prove he was Louisa’s mate. The loss in his eyes was enough.

“Thank you for coming to see us,” Beau said at last.

“Shall we go inside?” Elise said, her voice choked and tears streaming down her face. Only the baby in her arms was happy, smiling and chattering in the way babies do, telling everyone about the world with such innocence, such wonder.

Liam nodded, not trusting himself to speak, he didn’t want to blub like a baby in front of them. His tears were a thing for private moments. Beau walked in front, looking out across the trees and to the mountain. Elise moved closer to Beau and slipped her hand in his, leaning against him, giving him strength.

That was what a mate was for: comfort, strength, love, loyalty.

He followed Beau and Elise inside, and there was almost a sense of her there, as if Louisa was here waiting for him. The house was old; it had been standing here in the shadow of the mountain for years, generations. How many more ghosts walked the hallway?

“Go through to the sitting room, I’ll bring some coffee,” Elise said, handing the baby to Beau. “There, Connor, you go to Daddy.”

Beau took Connor, and then said, “Through here.”

“How long have you and Elise been together?” Liam asked, by way of saying something.

“Seven months,” Beau said, settling Connor down on a play mat. He looked up at Liam. “Connor isn’t mine.”

“Oh…” Liam said.

“He’s not Elise’s either.” Beau sat down next to Connor, and pointed at a chair for Liam. “Sit, please. Connor is Elise’s twin sister’s baby. Or was. She died.”

“I’m sorry.” He looked up as Elise came in with a tray of coffee and cake.

“And we’re sorry too. About your loss,” she said gently. “Beau didn’t know. About … you know.”

“Us being mates…” The words were strange on his tongue. “We kept it a secret. We were working the same case, and she knew one of us would have been taken off it.”

“Why didn’t you tell them? She might not have ended up…” Beau’s voice was infused with blame.

“Beau. Let Liam finish.”

“I wish I had. But I was certain it would be me who would have been transferred. Louisa was too deeply involved in the case already. I was dispensable, she wasn’t. I thought I would be able to keep her safe.”

“I’m sorry, Liam.” Elise came and sat beside him. “We both are.”

He couldn’t look at Beau, but he heard him get up and leave the room, and he wished he had never come here, never opened the wound that he thought was healing.

“How was the drive?” Mike asked, taking her luggage from her and carrying it inside of the small apartment he called home.

“It was OK.” She looked around, and figured anyone would get depressed living in a small, almost windowless, box. “I can’t say I’m a fan of the city.”

“I know what you mean.” Then he quickly added. “But you get used to it.”

“Do you?” Carla asked, placing her hand on his upper arm. “You can always come home.”

He shook his head. “We’ve planned our lives here.”

“That was before you had Sophia.” She listened for a moment, and asked, “Where is she?”

“Tammy took her down to the shops to see if she could get her to take a morning nap. If Sophia sleeps now, she tends to sleep through the night, a later nap means we get a disturbed night.”

“Babies, huh?” Carla looked at her brother more carefully, noting the lines that had appeared under his baby blue eyes, and the paleness of his once golden-tanned face. “Come home, Mike.”

“What if Tammy doesn’t want to? What if I say I want to go home and she says no? It’ll be one more bone of contention between us. And I don’t think our relationship can take that.”

“Have two you actually talked about it?” Carla asked.

He shook his head. “We only ever seem to talk about Sophia these days.”

“Right. In that case, you are going to plan a date. I want you to reserve a table somewhere you both like, and book yourselves into a hotel.” She held up her hand as he was about to protest. “I’m paying. And I don’t care if you spend the night sleeping, or doing other things, I want you to have some time together.”

He relaxed a little, his eyes brightening. “Are you absolutely sure?”

“How hard can it be? If my baby brother can cope without sleep, then so can I. You have cable, right?”

“We do.”

“Then if I need to, I’ll watch movies all night.”

“Thank you,” he said again, and hugged her. “Right. I have to go to work. I’ll arrange it all. Can we make it a surprise? Only if Tammy knew, she would most likely talk herself out of it.”

“Sure. Whatever you want, Mike.” She kissed his cheek. “Can I help myself to coffee?”

“Yes. Help yourself to whatever you need,” he said, and grabbed his jacket, ready to go.

“Let me know what you’ve booked and I’ll call and pay for it,” she said.

“It’s OK. I have money. You looking after Sophia is worth more than anything. It’s been tough, without family. And we never had time to make friends, friends we could trust with a baby, before Sophia came along. Having a kid is a big responsibility.”

“I can only imagine,” she said, and went to the kitchen as he headed out the door.

“At least the coffee is good,” she said to herself as she sat at the kitchen breakfast bar, and waited for Tammy and Sophia to return. While she waited, she went over the same thoughts that had filled her brain on her drive here. Namely, Liam.

She wondered how he was, and wished they had traded cell phone numbers, which they hadn’t. It has all happened so fast. He was there, then he was gone, and she realized she didn’t even know his last name.

Her hand went to her stomach at the thought of that. If she ended up pregnant, she would have to track him down to tell him.
Not going to happen,
she told herself. The chances of her being pregnant were so slim. But she had learned her lesson; she would carry a condom with her wherever she went from now on. No, she probably wouldn’t. One-night stands were not her thing.

It might not be a one-night stand
.

Carla was relieved when the front door opened and Tammy came in; it put a stop to the thoughts that had circled her brain for hours. Useless thoughts about a possible future, when right now she had to deal with the present.

“Hi, Tammy,” Carla said, getting up and going to meet her. “Want me to pour you some coffee?”

“Hello, Carla. Thank you so much for coming. It’s nice to see a friendly face.” She took Sophia out of the stroller, and held her in her arms. “Coffee would be wonderful. I sometimes wonder if that is what this little one drinks, she can stay awake for hours and hours.”

“Mike said you were taking her for a walk to see if you could get her to sleep.”

“No chance. She was so wide-awake, looking at all the bright signs above the stores. Listening to all the noise.”

“Sounds like you would be better off back home.” Maybe if she planted the seed in each of their brains, while they were out tonight they might connect on the same level and at least have the conversation Mike was avoiding.

“Mike loves it here. He loves the cafes and the restaurants. The theaters.”

“All of which are within driving distance of Broken Creek. Maybe not these ones, but there are plenty in Garston, and it’s only a half an hour drive away.”

Tammy sighed, and took the cup that Carla offered her. “I don’t know. We rented this place; we both got good jobs. I’m not sure about leaving it behind.”

“Are you happy here?” Carla asked.

Tammy put her cup down, and a sob wracked her body. “Oh, Carla, I miss my mom. I want her to be nearby, so I can visit her every day instead of talking to her on the phone. But I don’t want to lose Mike by saying I want to go home. I feel like it’s either my dream or my sanity that’s at stake.”

“Oh, Tammy.” Carla hugged her sister-in-law. “I think Mike would live anywhere as long as he is with you and Sophia and you are all happy. Talk to him about it.”

“I’m scared.”

“Don’t be. If there is one thing I know about my brother, it’s that he loves you. Since that first day he came running into the house, telling me the prettiest girl with braces on her teeth had started school, he has been totally in love with you.”

“That was so long ago. Our lives have changed so much. The dreams we had… It all seems to have washed away.”

“You know the good thing about dreams?” Carla asked, taking Sophia from Tammy and handing her a cup of coffee. “You come to your Auntie Carla. The good thing about dreams is you can always make new ones. They never run out, and they are not fixed in stone.”

“Thank you for coming here, Carla. You are right, we’ve forgotten how to talk to each other.”

“That’s another thing that’s easy to fix. Why don’t you go and have a nice bath, and then we can fix your hair? You need a date night with your husband.”

Tammy’s face brightened. “Are you sure?”

“Yep. Now, go run your bath while I get reacquainted with my niece.”

“I am not going to argue with you,” Tammy said, kissing Sophia on the cheek, and heading off to the bathroom, looking a whole lot brighter.

“There, you have two happier parents already. And maybe they will come back to the town I grew up in, and I’ll get to see more of you.” She smiled down at Sophia, who stared at her with her big blue eyes that she had inherited from her daddy. “I just want you to have a happy home, and happy parents.”

Walking around the small sitting room, rocking Sophia in her arms, she thought about what it would be like to have a child of her own. It was something that had barely crossed her mind until she had met Liam. She hadn’t expected things to happen so quickly.

“Are they happening at all?” she asked Sophia. “Or is he just telling me what I want to hear?”

Carla looked out of the small window onto the street below, watching people go past. They looked so small; the apartment left her feeling out of touch with the world below. Was she out of touch with what Liam really wanted in the same way?

“If only life came with a GPS,” she said, looking down at Sophia, who was closing her eyes and threatened to drift off to sleep. Carla kept up the same rocking motion, finding it strangely therapeutic herself.

Now her mind had calmed down, she realized she didn’t have to rush things with Liam. If it was meant to be, they would find a way to work things out. He was right where he was supposed to be. This woman, Louisa, was important to him, and until that was resolved, there was a chance he would never be Carla’s.

And she wanted him. Him and the promise of a family life. Or was that all just wishful thinking?

Liam stood, breathing in the cold mountain air, looking out across the valley below. He felt on top of the world. Even if his heart was heavy. Coming up here with Beau, he had thought to make some kind of connection to Louisa, to the mate he had lost. Being in the house she had grown up in, surrounded by pictures of her happy, smiling, had brought her back to him, and threatened to break the tenuous bond that connected him to Carla.

Only when presented with the threat of losing this new bond, did he acknowledge he wanted to hang on to it, to strengthen it, and make it endure. Carla offered him a future. One filled with happiness, not sadness.

Beau, in his bear form, came up to stand beside him. It had been his idea to come up here. Liam suspected it was because he wanted to talk to him privately, he hoped it wasn’t because he wanted to throw him over the edge of the mountain. He smiled at the irony. Only a few days ago, he would have welcomed death as a way of ending the pain in his soul, but not now.