Page 71 of Cowboy Bear's Hope

See, what they didn’t tell you about being a parent, regardless of what age you were when you became one or the circumstances that made you one, was that once you had a child, your entire world changed.

Every action and reaction were no longer just yours.

Every single thing you did had consequences. Lasting ones. And those could affect your child.

I made the decision long ago to have Rosie without help from my parents or her birth father. And I would never ever regret that decision.

She was the best thing that ever happened to me. A special brand of magic that only a child could bring.

And now she was doing it again. Changing my world for the better. My heart squeezed, and I felt the rightness of it all deep in my chest.

Yes, I chose to embrace the magic, the gift that was us. But the waiting really sucked.

My thoughts were stuck on Dante. My sweet, sexy, powerful mate in all of his glorious fur as he did exactly what he said he would when he took me as his mate—took care of us.

He was out there right now with my baby, protecting and teaching her things I couldn’t.

Not my baby anymore. Rosie is our baby.

I thought about my parting words to her before I’d driven myself back to the cabin.

“It’s okay, Rosie.,” I called out to her, smiling through my tears, “Go with Dante, Baby. It’s gonna be okay! I’ll see you both at home.”

I’d stood there for a few long minutes and clutched my hand to my heart, watching as Dante continued to direct the small Bear’s movements, nudging her towards the copse of trees.

On closer look, Rosie’s fur was darker than Dante’s. More black than brown, and she lacked the hump at the base of her neck.

When I couldn’t see them anymore, I jumped in the truck and took off like a bat out of hell for the cabin.

Home. It’s our home.

Hysterical laughter had escaped my lips as I sped down the graveled driveway and slammed on the brake, sending pebbles flying every which way. I probably alerted every Shifter on the place that I was there with all that racket.

“Avery! What’s going on?” Kian came running down the path that led to one of the animal pens just a few minutes’ walk away.

“It’s, uh, well, there was a problem at school and um, Rosie’s a Shifter. She’s a Bear. Dante has her in the woods,” I blabbed, sinking to my knees as I tried to absorb it all.

“Shit. Really? Okay. It’s okay, Let me call Max,” he said, and I nodded.

Now here I was, three hours later, standing on the porch with a blanket around my shoulders and a cup of cocoa in my hands.

My breath escaped in streaming white clouds as the temperatures dropped. The other guys had all gone out into the woods, some in human form, others in their supernatural one.

“Emmet just texted. He said they’re by the stream. Little one’s tuckered out, so it won’t be long now,” Jezebel murmured and stood beside me.

“Avery?” I turned to see Penny had come out onto the porch with her.

My throat felt tight. The kind of tight that made swallowing hard and breathing feel heavier than it should.

I didn’t need to say a word to know Penny was just as worried about Rosie as I was. The concern in her eyes mirrored my own, and that silent connection brought both comfort and a pang of guilt.

She’d always been there for me, ever since we were kids. Through scraped knees and bad haircuts, through heartbreaks and hard choices, Penny had been my rock.

She hadn’t blinked when I told her I was pregnant all those years ago. Instead, she’d doubled down on being the best friend anyone could ask for.

Penny stood by me through every appointment, every craving, every tear-filled night when I thought I couldn’t do it alone.

And she wasn’t just my lifeline. She was Rosie’s too. Aunt Penny wasn’t just a title. She’d filled that role effortlessly from the moment Rosie was born.

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