Page 28 of Alpha Bear Accountant

Her presence filled our hearts.

The midwife cleaned her up and then placed her on my mate’s chest, where she latched on for her first meal as the two of us welcomed her to the world with tears of joy.

A minute later, we called his father in.

"She’s so beautiful," he whispered. "What’s her name?"

Niam took a deep breath and then cleared his throat. "We named her after Grandma. Ima."

“Ima.” He smiled. "She’d love that."

My father-in-law excused himself to make us breakfast as Niam started to doze. I held our daughter by his side, promising to be there when he woke up. My bear was close to the surface, taking in the wonder that was our new family.

”We’re so happy you're here, Ima.” So beyond happy.

EPILOGUE

“Papa’s home!”

Ima squirmed to get out of my arms and went running into the kitchen, straight into Todd’s arms. He’d only been gone a couple hours to help my father with his taxes, but you wouldn’t know it by the giggles and joy coming from our sweet daughter. “Missed you, Papa!”

“I missed you too, sweet girl, but I had to help Grandpa.”

“With plumbing?” She cupped his cheeks and studied his face, making sure she had his undivided attention.

“No.” He chuckled. “Papa needs to stay far away from plumbing. But I helped him with numbers. I was doing math.”

She hadn’t quite gotten to the point where she understood what math was, but she knew it was nowhere near as fun as taking pipes apart and putting them back together. That fascinated her, and I wouldn’t be surprised if one day she decided to take over the family business.

“Are you two ready to go?” Todd held up his key fob and shook it.

Was I ready? That was the question, and I wasn’t sure I had the answer.

It was no big deal. Not really. We were going to the local gift store. Sure, it was because they were selling my prints, but it wasn’t like I was in a gallery or anything. Maybe a tourist passing through would pick one up. It was hardly a career, but it was nice to have my drawings turn into something more than random sketches that no one ever saw. “Yeah, I’m ready.” At least, I was as ready as I would be.

Ima insisted on bringing her stuffed bear with her. I didn’t mind that she loved it—I did too. I’d spent a lot of time talking to it, telling the bear stories as I waited for Ima to be born. But I worried that one day it would get lost and I’d have to deal with the aftermath of that.

I kneeled down in front of her and helped her zip up her coat. “You have to promise that you’re gonna take really good care of Bear-Bear.”

“Yes, Daddy. I promise.” She hugged it close to her.

“What a protective little cub.” Todd scooped her up. “I bet her grizzly is gonna be just as big as mine.”

Usually, a cub’s first shift didn’t come until puberty, but Todd’s bear already sensed hers, and the odds were great that she was going to make her arrival sooner rather than later. I wasn’t sure I was ready for that—not that I had a choice.

Just like babies came when they did, apparently, bears did the same.

We arrived at the store a few minutes ahead of the ”premiere.”

The owner had set up a small table in the back with some cookies and a note card telling guests about the artist—who, in this case, was me. A display of a few of my drawings was up, and they were all inspired by the woods behind our house. Even though they weren’t totally realistic, they each had a little fairy, gnome, or pixie hidden in there somewhere.

My dad was already at the store, as were the guys from the shop. It shouldn’t have surprised me—they’d supported me from the time I was a child. The old-timers, anyway. The new ones had kind of adopted the same protective stance over me.

I looked back on the years they were stuck dealing with my brother, and I was glad those were far behind us. My mate had figured out where he was, and thankfully, he was far, far away. He was somebody else’s problem now.

Todd stood behind me with his hand on my belly. “These look great, honey.”

We hadn’t announced that I was pregnant again, but anybody looking at him had to know. He was doing the same proud-papa stance he did when I was pregnant with our first.

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