Page 17 of Bear for the Holidays

“Probably.”

“Did Pearl say if there was anything else we could do for her?”

Unexpectedly, Deanna felt warmth well up in her chest. The idea of this enormous man being concerned about this tiny, deeply unexpected pregnant cat made her a little wobbly, and she pushed it aside so she could answer him like a normal person.

“Pearl said if she seems like she’s having trouble, there’s a few things we can do, but most likely, we’re just going to need to step back and let her handle it. Cats have been doing this for thousands and thousands of years without human intervention. We have water and food available for her when she wants it, and that’s largely all she needs.”

“So hands off, apply more tuna at necessary, got it.”

“Just so you know, whenever I have kids, I want more attention than this. A cheese plate and a massage at least.”

It came out a little stilted, and Deanna was suddenly very afraid it came out exactly what it was, a declaration of the fact that she wanted children and that she needed to make sure that Nik was on the same page. She braced herself for everything from a protest to a real fight, but Nik only smiled at her.

“Cheese and sausage and jam to keep your strength up,” he promised, climbing to his feet. “Definitely a massage. How many kids do you want?”

“At least two, and fairly close together, ideally,” she said with a slight smile. “I was an only child, and I have cousins, which helps, but I was lonely a lot.”

“Makes sense. Come on.”

He led her out of the bedroom and into the living room, where he settled her on the loveseat while he went to the kitchen. She turned to lean on the back of the loveseat, watching him pull some things out of the fridge and set them on the counter.

“What are you doing?”

“Making up a cheeseboard. You have good ideas. And then we’re going to talk.”

“Yeah?”

“Yup. About anything. Everything. I figure if we have the chance to be whoever we want, we should take it.”

Deanna considered.

“I wanted to be a vacuum cleaner.”

Nik paused, considering it seriously with a jar of pickles in his hand.

“Tell me more about that.”

“When I was a kid. I just really loved the vacuum cleaner. I was a vacuum cleaner for Halloween like three years in a row in primary school. My parents were confused, but game. I remember my mom saying this was just what kids were like in America. I eventually grew out of it, and I still don’t know how it started.”

Nik sat down with an impressively laden cheeseboard to share. She thought about mentioning they’d just had breakfast, but she was never going to turn down snacks. It was just as cozy as she suspected it would be on the loveseat together, and she found she didn’t mind at all.

“I’ll bet you were an amazing vacuum cleaner. I wanted to be a wolf.”

She considered that as he piled a cracker with sausage and cheddar and handed it to her.

“Was that a problem?”

“All my friends growing up were wolves. I have cousins too, but they live up north. Cassidy and Marisol and their cousins, they were the kids I saw most often. We had great times, but you know. I was bigger than Cass when he was eight and I was five, and bears play rougher than wolves do. I always had to be careful, and being a wolf looked fun.”

Deanna threw her arms around him, making him grunt with surprise.

“Er, did I make it sound like a tragedy? I promise you it wasn’t.”

“No, it’s not that.”

She couldn’t quite explain to him how that image stuck in her head, a big stocky kid surrounded by quicker, lighter children like Pearl’s nephew Cody. She believed him when he said they had fun, but something in her ached at the thought of him feeling in any way left out, too big or too heavy or too slow.

“Two kids,” she said finally.“At least. And I’d like to raise them here.”

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