Page 22 of The Omega's Beary Merry Christmas

“I’m making a Christmas tree for the wall. Maybe Santa will put the presents under it.”

“I love your picture.” Bert sat beside me. “We could put it on the wall next to the tree if you want?”

“Tree? You have a Christmas tree?”

“We can go get one.”

Natalie was up and tackle-hugging him in two-point-three seconds and, after breakfast, the three of us went down to the local tree farm. There were plenty of trees on the land, but he insisted that the tree farm was worth the trip. For a bear who stayed away from people most of the time, he really went out of his way to make sure that Natalie had the human experiences.

The farm had a small stand with hot cider and cookies, a man with an elf hat who led you to your perfect tree, and a tractor ride. If it was back home, this would’ve been considered a place to go if the “big” ones were closed, and yet it was so much better than any of them.

“When we get home, we can make decorations.” Natalie started listing all decorations she had planned, which led us to the town’s general store for supplies.

They had a remarkable variety for such a small shop. As the two of us put item after item in the cart, Bert wandered off. The next thing I knew, he had a pair of boots in his hands.

“These are your size, right? I don’t want to buy them for you and have them not fit, but you have used all of the duct tape at home.” He winked at me.

That was when I noticed the two rolls of duct tape in his other hand. The boots were my size, but he for sure didn’t need to buy them for me. I grabbed them and put them in my cart.

We finished picking out supplies and getting everything into the cart. When I went to check out, I heard Bert say, “It’s on my tab.”

We were truly in the middle of nowhere if he had a tab at the general store. I felt like I’d walked into the past.

“I got this,” I told him, not wanting him to feel like he had to buy everything.

He gave me some side-eye. “It’s on my tab already.”

I thanked him, and before we left the store, he insisted I put the new boots on. It was sweet the way he looked out for me like that.

We stopped at the diner, grabbed a bite to eat, and then headed back home for Operation Christmas Tree Decorating. Within five minutes, the entire table was covered with craft supplies as Natalie went to work, giving each of us jobs and describing the perfect shape for each and every ornament. Shehad a plan, and that plan required us to accept her authority as the tree elf.

It was cute and sweet, and, shortly before I needed to put dinner on, we had the tree up and decorated with our newly created ornaments as well as ones we had picked up at the Christmas fair. True to his word, Bert hung Natalie’s picture right next to the tree.

Cleaning up was far more challenging than making the mess, and I was once again grateful I hadn’t allowed glitter. With the wood floors the way they were, that glitter would’ve been stuck here forever.

“Daddy, can I go outside and play in the snow?”

“Sure, but I need to put dinner on first. Do you want to wait for me?”

“Will you help me build a snow castle?”

“I would love that.” I had no idea how to begin, but I was game.

I’d already brought the ingredients for a simple baked chicken and stuffing dish, and I was glad I’d bought the larger size of everything. It had been less expensive at the time, and I’d assumed we’d eat it twice. But it turned out to be perfect for the three of us. The three of us. I loved the sound of that.

I still wasn’t sure how everything was going to work out, but I was sure that it would—and that was enough.

While Natalie went to her room to put away her colored pencils, Bert came up behind me and kissed the back of my neck where he’d marked me.

“This was a fun day,” he murmured.

I leaned back against him. “It was. Thank you for my boots. You didn’t have to do that.”

“Except I did.”

This time, he scraped his teeth along my neck, and all I wanted to do was yank him into the bedroom and strip him naked. There would be time for that later.

“My bear insists I take care of you,” he said. “And letting you walk around in those broken boots wasn’t it.”

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