Bear My Heart: A Small Town Paranormal Romance (15 page)

On Saturdays when Megan had
to work, Troy would pick his nephews up and drive them over to their
place. Olga loved spending time with the twins, and she would wake
up extra early to prepare their favorite pancakes and chocolate chip
muffins.

“Enjoy your breakfast,
boys,” Troy called out as he opened the front door. “I'll
see you guys later!”

“Where are you going,
Uncle Troy?” Logan asked as he sat down at his usual spot at
the dining table. The boy was already reaching for a muffin as Olga
poured him a glass of milk.

“I'm meeting Uncle
Brandon.”

“Ooh, can I come too?”
Logan asked, his mouth full of muffin.

Troy laughed. “Finish
up your breakfast. I think your Aunt Olga is planning to take you to
Papa Bear's for lunch. Uncle Brandon, your mom and I will meet you
guys there.”

“Yay!” Logan
grinned.

Olga ran back to the kitchen
and grabbed two paper bags. She passed Troy the bags and said, “One
for you, and one for Brandon. Big bears need big breakfasts,”
she quipped. “I packed muffins, sandwiches, fruits and...some
chocolate,” she whispered. “I know Brandon loves
chocolate.”

“Thanks! You're going
to spoil him, you know,” Troy grinned and pulled her in for a
long, deep kiss.

Olga heard giggles and turned
to see the twins watching them. “I love you,” she
whispered as she watched Troy stroll to his truck.

Olga closed the door and went
back to the dining table. She sat down beside Leo and watched the
boy eat in silence. Leo kept his head down and didn't look up.

“Would you like a
muffin, Leo?” she asked gently.

Leo nodded.

She handed him a large muffin
and he mumbled his thanks. Olga sipped her coffee and waited for Leo
to bite into his muffin. Logan had already finished his breakfast
and was fidgeting in his seat.

“Can I watch cartoons,
Aunt Olga?” Logan asked.

“Okay. Put your plate
and glass in the sink and you can go watch TV,” she told Logan.
“I'll sit here and eat with Leo.”

CHAPTER
FORTY-FIVE

After settling Logan in front
of the TV, Olga went back to the dining table. Leo was still eating
quietly, his eyes downcast.

Olga swallowed hard. Being
kidnapped and attacked by a brutal, twisted man wasn't something that
could be easily forgotten. Leo's young mind was traumatized by
everything he had witnessed and experienced. The counselor had told
them that it would take some time for Leo to fully recover from his
ordeal.

Olga reached out and took
Leo's little hand in hers. “Leo,” she began softly.
“Can we talk about...what happened?” She was the only
one with Leo in that horrible, nightmarish motel room. Only she had
lived through the nightmare with him. His mother, his brother, his
uncle and the counselor hadn't been there.

Leo gulped. “I
shouldn't have talked to that man in the bathroom.”

She squeezed his hand. “It's
not your fault, Leo.”

“He was standing by the
sink and he asked me a lot of questions. I didn't think he would
hurt me. When he came closer, I didn't run. I should have.”
The boy's lower lip trembled.

“No, Leo. It's okay to
trust people. That man just happened to be a very bad, evil man, but
there are a lot of good people around. And you were very brave, Leo.
You helped me. You got out of there, and you got me out too. We're
safe now, Leo. We have people who love us, and we love them right
back. We're two very lucky people, Leo. We're strong and tough.
You are stronger and tougher than me, of course. You are my hero.”

Leo managed a smile. “I
am?”

“Of course. You are a
very brave boy, Leo. And I want to be brave like you.”

“You are brave, Aunt
Olga.”

Olga shook her head. “For
a long, long time, I was afraid. I didn't dare live my life. I
didn't talk to anyone, and I didn't let myself be loved. I was
afraid to be happy.”

Leo looked up and this time,
he placed his small hands protectively over hers and said, “Don't
be afraid, Aunt Olga. I'll save you again. You don't have to be
afraid.”

Olga hugged him. “I'm
not afraid any more, Leo.”

“Leo!” Logan
hollered. “Come quickly! The Amazing Stinky and Rinky Show is
starting now!”

Leo eyed the TV eagerly.
“Can I go now, Aunt Olga? That's my favorite cartoon.”

“Yes, go.” Olga
laughed as she watched Leo scramble to sit beside his brother. The
twins started chattering and chuckling as they watched the crazy
antics of Stinky and Rinky.

Olga closed her eyes for a
moment as she thought briefly of Steven and Simon Quinn. Those two
brothers were sick and twisted, sharing the same sadistic, violent
tendencies. Simon Quinn would now pay for all his crimes. She had
turned all the drawings she'd received over the years to the police
and told them everything. The last drawing was of her gazing out of
the library window. Simon had been in the library, watching her as
she looked out the window at the town she had grown to love.

He had sketched her with the
sunlight on her face as she gazed out of the library window, her
laptop in front of her.

The details were painstaking
and meticulous. He had even captured the intricate pattern on her
blouse and the shadows under her eyes.

Simon Quinn thought of
himself as the Artist. He had talent, but he had no capacity for
love. His drawings were cold and cruel, and he didn't create any
beauty in his art.

Olga exhaled a long breath
and opened her eyes. She looked at the twins sitting side by side on
the couch, and smiled when she saw Logan put his arm around his
brother.

Leo would be all right. His
family was here for him. And she would always be here for him. And
Leo was brave, strong and protective, just like his Uncle Troy. Even
after what he had gone through, Leo didn't hesitate to tell her that
he would save her again. At the tender age of six, he already knew
how to put others before himself.

He truly was her hero.

CHAPTER
FORTY-SIX

Troy parked his truck beside
Brandon's SUV and got out. Brandon was leaning against his car,
watching two butterflies dance among the wild flowers growing at the
edge of the woods.

“Here.” Troy
handed him a brown paper bag.

“For me?” Brandon
opened the bag, grinning. “Aww, you made breakfast for me.
Thanks, man.”

“Not me,” Troy
replied, pulling out a huge sandwich from his bag. “Olga
prepared everything.”

“You're a lucky man,”
Brandon said, finishing his muffin in two bites.

“So are you,”
Troy retorted.

Brandon chuckled and saluted
Troy with a sandwich. Troy heard Brandon gasp when he rooted in the
bag and found the big bar of chocolate. “She gave me
chocolate! Oh, I do believe she loves me!”

Troy rolled his eyes. But
the sheer delight on Brandon's face made him smile.

In no time at all, they'd
finished their breakfast and balled up their empty paper bags.

“Ready?” Troy
glanced at Brandon.

The younger man nodded.
“Yeah.”

Troy shifted first. His bear
emerged and shook itself. Over his shoulder, he saw Brandon shift
into a magnificent bear and drop onto his four massive paws.

The two grizzly bears growled
low at each other and loped off towards the woods at the edge of
town.

Troy ran between the trees
and realized that his bear was actually enjoying himself. Olga was
right. He hadn't been fair to himself and his bear. He had been
leashing and restricting his bear, afraid to let the beast out. It
wasn't healthy. He should be comfortable in his own skin, in
both
his skins.

His bear loved being in the
wild, among the natural scents and sounds of the woods. Troy looked
back and saw Brandon slowing down behind him.

Troy backed up a few paces
and waited for Brandon. They would do this together.

Brandon hadn't been back to
this part of the woods since his dad's murder. But they were going
back to that spot, the very spot where Brandon's dad had been killed.

Troy walked quietly beside
his friend. Brandon growled and tensed as they moved towards that
towering, ancient oak tree. It was at the foot of that tree that
Brandon's dad had collapsed and died. His blood had seeped into the
ground around the roots of the tree and for a long, long time, his
dying scent had lingered in the air around that old tree.

Brandon had never gone back
to that spot.

Silently, Troy walked Brandon
forward. He would be with him every step of the way.

Brandon reached the old oak
tree and stood with his head bowed. His eyes glimmered as he stared
at the spot where his father had died. Slowly, Brandon stepped
forward and sniffed the air. There was no longer the stench of fear
and death. The air was crisp and fresh with the clean scents of the
forest. Everything had been washed away over time. There was death,
but there was also life. New life, and new beginnings.

Brandon raised his head and
roared.

Troy joined him.

Their proud, powerful roars
echoed through the forest, going on for miles.

Brandon turned and stared at
Troy. Then he reared up and slashed his claws across the bark of the
old oak tree, marking the spot his father had breathed his last.

His father's life had ended
here, but his memory lived on.

Coming to this place was a
big step for the both of them. They had lost much, and they had been
angry and bitter. But now they were ready to accept the past and
move on. They couldn't change the past, but they could make the most
of the present and build a better future for themselves, for their
loved ones, for everyone who cared about them.

And both Troy and Brandon
knew that they were lucky, very lucky indeed. They had a whole town
who cared.

As they returned to the
clearing, Brandon shifted back to human form and turned to look back
at the forest.

“You okay?” Troy
asked, clapping him on the back.

“Yeah. I think...I can
do this on my own. The next time, I'll take a run to that oak tree
alone. I can do it.”

“Of course you can,”
Troy answered simply.

Brandon's face split in a
cheeky grin. “I've taken my big step. Now it's your turn.
When are you going to collect that ring? It's past eleven. Annie
would have opened her shop by now.”

Troy took a deep breath.
“I'm going right now,” he said.

“I'm coming with you,”
Brandon crowed. “I wouldn't miss this for the world!”

CHAPTER
FORTY-SEVEN

Olga pushed into Papa Bear's
Diner with Leo and Logan. The twins ran to an empty booth and
excitedly beckoned Olga over.

“Olga!” Lilly and
Daisy beamed at her from behind the counter. They were both wearing
their “Baby Bear” and “Mama Bear” aprons but
Olga had learned that Lilly and her parents weren't bears at all.
“My dad just has a really weird sense of humor,” Lilly
said. “We called him Papa Bear when he started putting on
weight, and he liked the name so much he named the diner Papa Bear's
Diner.”

A few regulars sitting around
the counter turned and called out their greetings. Deputy Kane was
sitting in a corner, chatting with Grumpy Joe and Nanny Riddle.

Olga smiled at them, her eyes
widening slightly at the sight of Nanny. Nanny seldom left her
cottage, and Olga had never seen her at Papa Bear's. Nanny grew her
own food and made everything from scratch. Her jams enjoyed a
somewhat dubious reputation though. Nanny's jams were made with the
freshest ingredients but someone had reportedly found an eye of newt
in one of the jars.

Nanny Riddle flashed her
golden tooth at Olga in a wide grin. “There hasn't been a
wedding in this town in years,” Nanny said.

Olga smiled uncertainly, not
sure where this conversation was going. “I'm sure someone will
get married sooner or later,” Olga managed to reply.

“Oh, it's definitely
sooner,” Nanny said firmly. “So make sure you invite
everyone, Olga.”

Olga blinked in confusion.
What was Nanny talking about? Was there a party she didn't know
about?

Nanny cackled and went back
to flirting with Deputy Kane. “You'll ask me for the first
dance, won't you,” Nanny said, blowing Kane a big kiss.

“Yes, Nanny,”
Deputy Kane said meekly.

Olga scratched her head and
looked around the diner. Papa Bear's was unusually crowded today.
All the booths were filled, and many people were standing around,
smiling and whispering excitedly. There was an air of eager
anticipation in the diner, and Olga had a feeling that they were all
waiting.