Chapter Thirteen – Caroline

“How many people?” Carter asked Caroline as they ate breakfast. It was Saturday and unbeknown to Carter, Caroline had been rounding people up to help with his Bear Creek Honey Beer project.

“Around twenty. Maybe more…” She grinned at him. “You are supposed to say thank you.”

“I don’t need volunteers, I can pay,” Carter said.

“You will pay. I promised them a party when your first beer is ready.” She put her spoon down. “Listen. Until you get your finances figured out, then you will have to make do with charity.”

Carter sighed, and she understood his frustration. When he started withdrawing larger sums of money than usual, which wasn’t hard since he had only used his bank account sparingly over the last couple of years, he had set off some kind of fraud detector and his bank accounts had been frozen.

After several phone calls, it was all figured out, but they were insisting on sending him new cards, and so for now he was living off Caroline’s goodwill. At least, that was what he’d called it. What’s mine is yours only worked one way for Carter. He had a streak of pride a mile wide, it seemed, and now it was dented.

“It will be fun,” Caroline told him. “I mean it.”

“OK.” He begrudgingly drank his coffee and then stood up. “Shall we get started?”

“Yes, although we need to stop off at the store too. We’re going to need plenty of drinks. Nonalcoholic, and some food. Although Fiona is bringing… Well, I’m not sure what she is bringing, but apparently, since we are joint godparents of little Richard, she feels she has to be supportive.”

“And Fiona is the dragon?” Carter asked.

Caroline smiled. At first Carter would not believe that there was an actual dragon shifter living amongst them. Or just outside of town. Caroline had no idea where exactly Fiona lived; neither did anyone else, but she always seemed to be in Bear Creek, so there was speculation that she had moved closer to the town. Jamie said it was so she could keep an eye on him and the kids, but Caroline was sure it went deeper than that.

Knowing what it was like to live on the fringes of family, Caroline suspected that Jamie, Dani, and the children were becoming her surrogate family. It was sweet. If a dragon could ever be called sweet.

“Fiona is the dragon,” Caroline confirmed. “And as prickly as a porcupine, so watch what you say or else she might just singe your beard.”

“I thought you’d like that,” Carter said, rubbing his freshly trimmed beard. That was as close as Caroline was going to get to having a clean-shaven man as her mate. Although settling into life in Bear Creek had been a lot easier than he thought. After a week, everyone had gotten used to the new celebrity resident and was far more interested in the brewery than in the movie star who made it. The most amusing thing was that if anyone from the press stopped by, the residents would send them to all contradictory locations, when asked for directions to Carter Eden’s house.

“Walt is convinced the brewery will put Bear Creek on the map,” Caroline said as they got into her car. It was only a short distance to the house, but the stop at the store for supplies and the tools in the trunk made driving more practical.

“He might be right,” Carter said. “Is that a good thing?”

“I suppose. The town could do with more trade, and perhaps tourists might come here for beer tasting.” She turned the key in the ignition and the engine fired into life. “It’s that good, maybe people will make a pilgrimage here just to say they have visited the source of Bear Creek Honey Beer.”

“Are you laughing at me?” Carter asked.

“Maybe just a little,” Caroline told him, her face perfectly straight.

A couple of minutes later they were parked outside the store, and heading inside to collect the selection of drinks Caroline had ordered. Bottled water, sodas, coffee, and milk. They could make coffee, but little else, since the house had no appliances. They weren’t due to be installed until next week.

“Thank you,” Caroline said as she paid the store owner, Betty.

“You are welcome. Looks like you are going to have a fine day for it,” Betty said, with her usual smile.

“It does,” Caroline agreed.

“I’ll sell your beer in my store when it’s ready,” Betty said to Carter.

“Thanks, Betty. You’ll be the first store we stock.”

Betty glowed with appreciation, or was it the crush she had admitted she had on Carter? At the height of his career, Betty had a signed photo of Carter on her nightstand and used to kiss it every night before bed. Caroline was well aware of the effect Carter had on most single women. Only the mating bond stopped her from getting jealous. That and the knowledge that most of them knew she was ex-army and could put them in a headlock in seconds.

Caroline had yet to find out where that rumor had begun, but she had a suspect.

“Fiona,” Caroline said as they arrived at the house to find the old dragon waiting.

“Thought I’d get here early and see how you were,” Fiona said after Carter had opened the gates and she had driven in.

“I’m good,” Caroline said, getting out of the car.

“Good.” Fiona smiled, but her eyes didn’t light up.

“What’s wrong?” Caroline asked.

“I was surfing the internet last night…”

“And?” Caroline asked, her voice betraying her fears.

“There was an article about a girl. A teen.”

Caroline hooked her arm under Fiona’s. “We’re just going to take these into the house.” Caroline thrust a box at Fiona. But before they could go inside, Dani and Jamie arrived.

“Want a hand?” Dani asked, running over to them. “Jamie and Carter are going to get started.”

“Where are the children?” Fiona asked.

“They are with Kayleigh. She isn’t coming, not when her baby is so young, and so she offered to look after the kids. Although I think digging and weeding is easier than looking after so many children.” Dani grinned. “I should know.”

“Thanks, Dani,” Caroline said as her sister-in-law picked up a box of snacks. “Let’s go inside.”

“Are you OK?” Dani asked.

“Yes,” Caroline answered, but she wasn’t sure for how long. She hated the thought of ruining today, if Carter’s past was about to come back and haunt him.

They went through to the kitchen. Caroline placed her box on the counter and immediately turned to Fiona, who began to talk in a low voice. “The article was about a police report, there was a young girl, Fern Jacobs, who was questioned about an incident with…”

“Carter Eden,” Caroline finished.

“You know?” Fiona asked. “Oh, thank goodness, I did not want to be the bearer of such news. It shows strength of character that he has already admitted the incident.”

“There wasn’t exactly anything to admit,” Caroline said hotly.

“Will someone tell me what is going on?” Dani asked.

“This stays strictly between us,” Caroline said, looking pointedly at Fiona. “You don’t tell your journalist friend Teagan either.”

“I swear I will never repeat what you tell me in confidence,” Fiona said. “And a dragon is nothing, if they do not keep their word.”

“You know I’ll keep whatever you say to myself. I won’t even tell Jamie if you don’t want me to,” Dani said.

“It might be better to tell Jamie too. But not now, not today.” Caroline leaned back on the counter. “Carter went up into the mountain because of something that happened.”

“With Fern Jacobs?” Fiona asked.

“I don’t know her name, but I suspect this must be the same person,” Caroline confirmed. “She had a crush on Carter and turned up at the place he was filming and somehow got into his trailer.”

“Oh my. Poor Carter. Poor Fern. These teenage crushes can be terribly hard to see in perspective.”

“Indeed,” Caroline agreed. “Especially when Carter went berserk, he was worried about his reputation and called security.” She closed her eyes, feeling bad for both of them. “Anyway, a couple of days later, she tried to kill herself.”

Dani paled and put her hand to her mouth; even Fiona looked shocked. “Oh my dear. Poor child.”

“She lived,” Caroline said. “Which brought Carter to the conclusion the world was better off without him, because every time the poor girl saw his face, she would be reminded of what happened. I think if he could have pulled all of his movies, he would have.”

“I can see how that would take the joy out of his career,” Dani said. “And what else did the article say?”

Fiona placed a hand on Caroline’s arm. “It said that Carter was making a comeback.”

“He’s not,” Caroline replied quickly.

“I think it was a phishing article. Some lowlife journo with nothing better to do than rake up dirt.”

“There have been some strangers hanging around town. Word is starting to get out that he is back. Carter even had a call about doing an interview, but he turned it down. My guess is someone is stirring things up. Trying to make him become a public figure again.” Caroline’s eyes misted with tears, which she quickly wiped away. Crying was not going to help in this situation.

“Hey, Caroline,” Dani said softly, pulling her into a hug. “It’s OK to get upset. And don’t worry, we will get through this. You and Carter are family now.”

“Yes, you are,” Fiona said savagely. “And I will not see some lowlife journalist hurt you. Any of you.”

Caroline smiled weakly at Fiona. “Thanks. But I’m sure we can handle it.”

“If you can’t, let me know. I have eaten smaller fish for my dinner,” Fiona said, her eyes glowing green as her anger bubbled up. “But I will say one thing. Sometimes it is better to be proactive.”

“What do you mean?” Dani asked.

“I mean you release the information you want the press to know. Instead of keeping away from them, you set up an interview and tell the truth. At least the truth as you want it to be known.”

“With someone like Teagan?” Caroline asked acidly.

“Caroline, I am not suggesting it to further Teagan’s career, even if I do think she is more than capable of showing the human element in all of this. She is young enough to relate to Fern, but mature enough to give it the gravitas the story deserves.”

“You must think a lot of Teagan,” Dani said.

“I do. I met her when her family was going through a difficult time. That is all I will say. It isn’t only your privacy I protect.” Fiona folded her arms across her chest. “I will leave it for you and Carter to decide.”

“I don’t know if Carter will. Not if he thinks it might hurt Fern.”

“This child is the key to it all,” Fiona mused.

“Although she would not be a child anymore,” Dani stated. “She would be over eighteen.”

“Compared to me, she is a babe in arms,” Fiona mused. “As innocent as a flower.”

“OK. I’ll talk to Carter, and think over what you’ve said, Fiona. But I am not going let this spoil today,” Caroline said as the sound of more people arriving reached them. She wiped her eyes and smiled brightly. “We have some dirt of our own to dig.”