Chapter Seven

 

 

Daisy rolled over and opened her eyes. It was the first time in awhile that she'd drifted awake in her body's own time, rather than awakening to the sound of a fussy baby wanting breakfast.

The guest bedroom in the main ranch house was filled with the soft gray light of a snowy morning. Daisy propped herself up on her elbow and looked over at Gannon, and then she couldn't help breaking into a smile, because she saw why Fern wasn't awake yet.

Gannon was fast asleep on his back, with their tiny daughter sprawled on his chest. One of his hands was cupped protectively over her soft little head. A fuzzy blanket covered the baby's legs and the rest of Gannon's body.

It never stopped melting her heart, the way Gannon was with his little girl. And it was obvious that Fern adored her daddy, as young as she was. Gannon could stop her from crying with a gentle touch, the same way he could calm an unruly calf or coax a wild bird to eat from his hand.

That little girl was going to have him wrapped around her finger, Daisy thought, smiling to herself.

She swung her legs out of bed, wincing as her bare feet touched the cold floorboards. From outside, she heard laughter and a squeal of childish delight. Quietly she padded over to the window and drew back the hand-sewn gingham curtain.

The snow had stopped during the night, and now the morning world was covered with a fresh, crisp white blanket. Trails crisscrossed the yard, indicating where members of the household had already been up and about. A well-broken trail led to the barn; another wound from Remy and Saffron's house over to Axl and Tara's.

And several trails led to the middle of the yard, where a number of people bundled up in winter gear were building a snowman. Or rather, snowmen, plural.

With everyone wearing coats and hats, she couldn't tell who was who, but there were a couple of the men and a couple of the women. Little Lexie, in a puffy pink snowsuit, was having snow-angel-making demonstrated for her by one of the women. It took Daisy a moment to spot Baz. She didn't actually see him until she noticed that what she had taken for one of the Black Angus cattle, over by the barn, was actually a bear, and it was wading through the snow back toward the women, with a bear cub dangling from its mouth, like a mother cat carries her kittens.

When they got closer, the adult bear dropped the cub into the snow. Baz wallowed around and stuck his head up with snow all over his face and fur.

Daisy giggled quietly to herself and let the curtain drop back into place. She was tempted to go out and join them. She could take advantage of a little baby-free time.

But the bed looked so warm and inviting. For a mom with a five-month-old, the temptation to catch a little more sleep, before Fern woke up, turned out to be overwhelming.

Daisy crawled back into bed and curled up against Gannon, pressing her nose into the crook of his neck. He shifted closer to her in his sleep, and let out a deeply contented sigh.

She pulled the covers a little higher, over all three of them, and closed her eyes.

 

***

 

"I see you found the runaway," Saffron called happily, wading through the snow toward her shifted mate and son.

Remy let out a cheerful snort and dipped his big head into the snow, lifting a wad of snow with his snout that he dumped onto the cub at his feet. Baz let out a startled squall and then rolled onto his back as he realized how much fun it was to roll around in the snow.

Saffron laughed. She hadn't played in the snow as her fox for a very long time. Why let the boys have all the fun? "Tara!" she called. "Keep an eye on my things for me!"

"What, you too? Oh no ..." Tara groaned. "I'm going to have to deal with this when Lexie's a little older, aren't I?"

"What, you mean she doesn't shift all the time anyway?" Saffron asked, shedding her coat. The wind was very brisk through the knitted weave of her sweater. She'd be perfectly warm in her fox's thick winter fur, but she was going to have to get there fast.

"Just a few times, so far."

"Baz wants to be a bear all the time. Probably because his daddy's setting a bad example," Saffron declared in Remy's general direction. The grizzly gave an unimpressed grunt and commenced chasing a happily squawking Baz through the snow.

Saffron shifted and jumped out of the last of her clothes. She felt so light when she was a fox, so free. She bounded through the snow, her fluffy tail high, to join in the game of chase.

Remy was so intent on playing with Baz that he hadn't even noticed she was there, at least not until she gave a tremendous bound and landed on his back. She felt him jerk in surprise under her, and trotted gracefully up his back to stand on his humped shoulders, just in back of his furry ears.

The snowman-building group—consisting of Tara, Axl, and Crystal, who had joined them while Cody went to help Alec with the morning chores in the barn—were convulsed with laughter. "I dare you to do that to Alec the next time he shifts!" Tara shouted.

The farm dogs came bounding through the snow from the barn to join in the fun, cavorting with the playful bears. Having lived around shifters all their lives, the dogs were completely unbothered by the sudden presence of bears and a fox in the yard.

"Oh, look who's up!" Crystal said.

Saffron swiveled her head to look, shifting her balance to stay upright on Remy's back when he moved. The door to the trailer had opened, and Gloria and Jaron were just coming out. They were holding hands. From here, Saffron couldn't see if Gloria had a claiming mark on her neck—it would've been hidden under the collar of her coat anyway—but from the way the new couple were sticking close together, she didn't even have to ask the question.

"Good morning!" Gloria called as they slogged through the snow toward the family. Her curious gaze lingered on the bears and the fox before she turned to the members of the clan who were still human-shaped. "Thank you to whoever left the homemade pastries on the counter. Those were tasty."

"That'd be Alec," Tara said. "He's the one who made them, too."

"We have a tradition of not cooking on Christmas morning," Axl said. "We make sure there's plenty of food and then we just snack. There'll be a brunch later, but in the meantime, everybody's just hanging out. There's coffee in the main house if you want any."

"Or you could build snowmen with us!" Crystal suggested.

"Yeah," Tara said, a mischievous gleam in her eye. "Do you want to build a snowman?"

Crystal begun to hum.

Gloria giggled and covered her ears with her gloved hands. "Stop! No earworms!"

"That looks like fun," Jaron said wistfully, looking toward Remy and Saffron.

That's right, Saffron thought; coming from the wild bear clans, he was probably used to shifting whenever he wanted. Being a human most of the time must be very different for him.

"No need to stand on ceremony," Axl said. "You want to play in the snow as a bear, feel free."

Jaron looked anxiously down at Gloria.

"Go on." She stood on tiptoe to give him a kiss. "I've been wanting to see your bear."

She didn't look nervous at all, just curious. Saffron felt a deep, warm satisfaction. Yes, she thought, this one is going to work out as a shifter's mate.

Jaron shed his clothing quickly—Saffron could relate, remembering the chilly wind—and his body rippled, fur flowing over him as his grizzly took hold. Gloria watched throughout, her eyes wide, her face rapt and fascinated.

Glancing over at the others, Saffron noticed the human women giving Gloria warm looks. They were probably remembering their first sights of their bear mates, too.

Welcome to the club, that look said.

Then Axl broke the moment by dropping a handful of snow down Tara's collar.

She shrieked and scooped up a double handful, while Axl, laughing, ducked down behind one of the snowmen. And the snowball fight was on.

 

***

 

Cheerful, snowy, and laughing, the entire group piled into the ranch house later, leaving behind a motley collection of snowmen and a litter of snowballs to grace the white beauty of the snow-covered yard. Charmian turned around from Alec's desk by the window in the living room, where she'd been taking advantage of the peace and quiet to get a little paperwork done.

Gloria was breathless and snow-covered as the rest of them.

"You've really never had a proper snowball fight before?" Crystal was saying.

"I grew up in Georgia! We sometimes had a little wet snow to throw at each other, and we'd make little snowmen before it all melted off. But nothing like this."

Saffron came in behind her, carrying Baz, who was crying. "No," she told him. "No, you can't play naked in the snow if you aren't a bear, and we're done with bear time now, because everyone's wet and cold."

"If he could, he'd happily run around naked all the time," Remy said, ruffling his mate's damp hair.

"If you could, so would you," Saffron retorted.

"All kids that age are little nudists," Charmian said, laughing. "Especially shifter kids, from what I'm seeing. Hang on, I'll go get some towels before the floor is completely covered with snow."

She hurried upstairs. Turning around from the linen closet with her arms full of towels, she found that Gloria had shed her wet things and followed.

"Can I help?" Gloria asked, holding out her arms. "I feel like I should do something useful."

"Sure." Charmian loaded her up with folded towels. "Did you sleep well? Stay warm enough?"

"Plenty warm enough," Gloria said, turning pink to the tips of her ears.

Charmian couldn't help grinning. "Good to know. I'm glad things are going well."

"It's so weird. I came here alone, and I'm leaving ... not alone. Things are just moving so fast. It's almost scary, but in a good way. Like being on a roller coaster as it goes over the top and starts to pick up speed." Gloria shook her head. "That probably doesn't make any sense. Sorry."

"No, I know exactly what you mean. Welcome to the shifter dating club. As far as I can tell, it's always a whirlwind. The minute I saw Alec, I knew he was the one. Of course ... it took me awhile to admit it to myself." She smiled. "I'm glad you and Jaron skipped right past that part and got straight to the good part."

Gloria turned pinker. "I don't know how I'm going to explain this to my family. My car broke down in Pinerock County, and a day later, I've got a boyfriend that I'm planning to marry. We haven't even decided where we're going to live, if we'll stay in Pinerock County or travel the world. How will they ever understand?"

"If they see that you're happy," Charmian said gently, "they'll understand. Now let's get these towels back downstairs before everyone drips all over everything."

They went downstairs and handed around towels. The living room was crowded, with people sitting or leaning on every available chair or couch, and more people coming in all the time. Gannon and Daisy had drifted in from the bedroom, Daisy in an oversized sweater and fuzzy socks, and Gannon naked to the waist, with a sleeping Fern draped over his shoulder.

"Attention clan!" Alec declared above the cheerful hubbub. He was going through the crowd, passing out small glasses. "Fresh eggnog! Everyone grab a glass. I've got a toast."

"Virgin, I hope," Crystal said, sniffing her glass.

"Sadly," Remy declared, having sampled his.

"Everyone's got one?" Alec asked. When there were nods all around, he held up his glass.

"It's been a long road to get here," he began. "A longer road for some of us than for others. Some of us came here in peril; some came with no intent to stay. Some made a lot of mistakes along the way." His expression turned inward for a moment, a temporary cloud darkening his blue eyes.

"But the important thing is that we are here. We're family. Old family and new." His gaze drifted over the group—the mates sitting together, babies in laps, Gloria and Jaron holding hands—and came at last to rest on Charmian, with a special smile just for her.

"Merry Christmas," Alec said. "To all of us. And here's to many more."

He sipped. The rest followed suit.

"And God bless us, every one," Cody inserted into the silence, and laughter rippled around the room, the solemn mood broken.

"Does that make you Tiny Tim?" Axl asked, tossing a wadded-up towel at Cody's head.

"Tiny Tim grew up big," Crystal remarked, smiling up at her mate.

Alec leaned against the arm of the chair Charmian was sitting in, and put an arm around her. "How'd the speechifying sound, mate of mine?"

"It sounded great." She leaned into his warmth. "You've come a long way, you know. All of us have."

His deep, warm chuckle rumbled through his body where it was pressed against her. "You haven't seen how far I've actually come. You didn't know me back in the beginning."

"Yes, from what I've heard, you were an even bigger jerk than when I met you." But she kissed the back of his hand to let him know she didn't mean it, and leaned against his side. "You're a good alpha, Alec. Your clan is happy. And growing all the time."

Her gaze drifted to Crystal and Cody. One of Cody's hands rested on his mate's pregnant belly.

"You know, Gannon told me he thinks Crystal's babies are going to be special," Alec murmured.

"All babies are special."

"You know what I mean. Gannon says her babies have a special destiny."

"Well, hopefully it'll be a good one." Charmian turned her face into his shirt, resting her cheek against flannel that had been washed until it was silken-soft. "They're getting the best possible start in life, coming from this much love."

"Merry Christmas, beloved," Alec murmured, stroking her hair.

"Merry Christmas, my love." And in her head, she quoted Alec's earlier words from his toast: Here's to many more.