Page 45 of Cowboy Bear's Hope

My family.

The words hit me like Thor’s hammer, and I almost fell down the second I thought them.

“You alright?” Zeke asked, stopping to gaze at me with his vertical-slitted purple eyes.

“Uh, yeah, I’m good.”

But was I?

I mean, was I a good enough man to deserve a family of my own?

Yes. Mine.

Satisfaction filled me as my Bear pushed those thoughts into my head.

Whether or not I was worthy was no longer the question. Fact was, I had a family now. And they were more than I’d ever hoped for.

Chapter Thirteen-Avery

“Are you feeling any better?”

I lifted the pot of freshly brewed tea and poured some into Penny’s mug before sliding it over to her.

My BFF looked green around the gills, and I didn’t envy her. But that was morning sickness. A big old bucket of fun.

“I don’t know if I can even swallow this,” Penny murmured, lifting the mug to her face.

Speaking of buckets.

I grimaced and inched the small garbage bin Penny had been keeping beside her—just in case—a little bit closer to her chair.

“Mama! Mrs. O’Hare says I can help make cookies, can I?” Rosie asked, running into the living room where we were sitting and chatting.

I grinned at the picture she made with a too big apron tied around her small waist and her curly hair pulled back from her face with a kerchief.

“You sure can, Sweetheart,” I said with a grin.

“Aw, she is so sweet,” Penny said, going in for a sip. “Oh, no.”

She quickly put the cup down and grabbed the garbage bin, spitting into it as another wave of pregnancy fun hit her.

“Okay. It’s gonna be fine,” I said, grabbing the package of Saltines from the tray and taking two out for her.

“Here, try these.”

“Ugh, this is so awful. When will it end?” she moaned.

“That depends. It could go away tomorrow or last the entire pregnancy, but don’t worry! That hardly ever happens,” I said when her face started turning red.

“What?” Penny wailed, just in time for Jezebel to come in through the front door.

“Is someone dying?” she asked, grinning as she juggled a stack of DVDs in one hand and a huge bag of movie theater popcorn in the other.

My stomach rumbled. It was just about the best salty snack ever. I was partial to sweets but come on. Who didn’t love popcorn?

“Wow! Do people still use DVDs?” I asked, grabbing the pile of movies before they fell.

“Thanks. Well, yeah, before streaming service came along, you betcha. Plus, we have this projector at the drive-in that runs these. Anyway, I thought maybe you could use some cheering up, Pen,” Jez said and joined us.

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