Jingle Bears: A Pacific Northwest Bear Novella: (Shifter Romance) (5 page)

C
ash woke
to sunlight streaming through the window. He wasn’t about to sleep in; it wasn’t in his nature. Getting up, he dug through the dresser on the opposite wall looking for something he could throw on. He found a pair of sweat pants, extra, extra long and a t-shirt that said
Loggers Do It In The Woods
. The closet also gave up a pair of running shoes that were tight, but he’d manage. One good thing about being in a shifter house was there were always spare clothes. Shifting in your clothes hurt and could be dangerous. But often your need to shift took you in the opposite direction of wherever you left your clothes.

Quietly opening the door, he found there were no signs of life. He made it to the front door and walked out into the crisp mountain air. The air would be frigid to a human, but his shifter blood kept him warm enough. He took off at a fast pace through the mist, running, stretching his legs.

He’d let his bear run yesterday, and today was his turn. He liked to run. It stretched not only his muscles but his lungs. It also gave his brain time to turn off. He never worried about work or family when he ran. He just enjoyed the exercise.

Cash ran for an hour through the woods, circling around to return to the house. He saw there was smoke coming out of the chimney now. He went in and kicked his dirty shoes off by the door. His uncle was sitting in his recliner with a cup of coffee.

“Nice run?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder.

“Yeah, gonna be a pretty day. No snow, thank goodness,” Cash replied. “I’m gonna hit the shower, be out in ten.”

“The horde will be showing up soon. Brace yourself,” Edward said taking a sip of his coffee.

Cash made quick work of showering and again raided the spare clothes. He found a pair of track pants and a black long-sleeve Henley that was tight over his broad chest but still fit. He figured barefoot would work in the house.

He went into the kitchen and found Connie at the stove. “Can I help?”

“Morning, dear. Grab yourself a cup of coffee, and you can help with the breakfast casseroles. I need about three dozen eggs cracked,” Connie said pointing to the five dozen on the counter. Bears always bought in bulk.

Cash got himself a cup, black, and took a sip before sitting it on the counter. Grabbing a mixing bowl, he started cracking eggs. He heard the front door open and close a number of times. Different greetings being called out. Cash would look over his shoulder and give a chin lift in greeting to whoever came through.

He felt a weight on his leg and looked down to see Micah smiling up at him. He leaned a hand down and ruffled his hair. Micah slapped his leg and ran off.

Connie, Cash, Sophie, and even Lilibeth worked on getting brunch ready. Connie had double ovens installed years ago, and they were both running hot. Bacon and sausage were slid into the oven next to huge foil trays of sausage casseroles, sweet blueberry bread pudding, and one that was mostly hash browns and cheese.

There were also trays of donuts and croissants. There was an enormous bowl of fruit salad and one of whipped cream. Once everything was cooked, the family all started dishing up. They found whatever space they could to eat. Edward and Connie had a large dining room table, but it only sat eight.

The kids were all in clip-on chairs on the long counter that stuck out from the island. It was easier to have their little butts dangling than let them smear food everywhere.

Everyone was eating and enjoying themselves. Lots of smiles and laughter. An overwhelming amount of red clothing, mostly from the ladies. The babies were all decked out in Christmas morning outfits.

“Mama!” Micah yelled, banging his spoon on the counter.

“Baby, spoons go on plates,” Sophie crooned. She scooped up a bite of blueberry, and her little man ate it up.

“You going to spoon feed me too,” Cage rumbled in her ear.

“Maybe later. I have a special treat for you,” she purred back.

“Seriously, food, kitchen, people eating,” Wyatt complained from the table.

“Don’t mind him, the girls kept him up last night,” Jinger said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“Naughty babies, only getting coal today,” he grumbled.

Both girls heard their daddy rumbling and broke out into giggles. They were covered in whip cream and custard from the blueberry dish.

“My grandbabies could never get coal. See Santa knows how sweet they are all and brought them lots of presents,” Connie said gesturing towards the tree.

Their family had mostly switched from handing out gifts to just spending time together. Long lives meant you eventually had everything you needed. And the Rochons could afford to buy themselves whatever they wanted.

When the kids came along though, it was chaos. The first year with Micah and just the twins, it took three hours to open gifts. The pile was so big it spilled out from under the tree.

This year was no different. As each boy arrived, they came in with gifts for their kids and their nieces or nephews. Times that by eight couples and there were gifts stacked on top of gifts.

But who wouldn’t want to spoil the babies? They were treasured and pampered, and every person in the house wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Mine!” Micah yelled out when he saw his Grandma pointing at the presents.

“We have to get everyone cleaned up first, sport,” Cage told him. He picked his son out of his chair and took him to the sink to get as much food off his face as he could. He handed him over to Cash, who looked a little shocked to just be tossed a baby.

“Watch him, so he doesn’t start before the others,” Cage directed and walked away.

Cash was holding Micah under his arms; they were eye to eye. Micah stared back at him; his little head cocked to the side. This went on for a moment until Cash realized the talking in the room had stopped.

“What?” he asked.

“You two trying to figure each other out?” Wyatt asked. He had Jinger in his lap now and was happily baby free for the moment.

Cash looked back at Micah, and the little boy shimmered in a rainbow of color. Cash had to adjust his grasp to accommodate a tiny bear cub now. He stared at the cub leaning a little closer when the cub brought a tiny paw up and bopped him on the nose.

Turning back to Wyatt he said, “I think we have an understanding now.” He set the cub in the crook of his arm and went back to finishing his plate.

T
he family managed
to get the kids cleaned up. There were diaper changes all around then all of the adults settled in the great room with their cups of coffee or tea in Sophie’s case.

“So how’s this work?” the normally silent Stryker asked.

Blinking in surprise at him, Conner offered, “Well, last year they were so little we helped them open everything. This year, hell, who knows?”

“I say we see how they do with a couple and go from there,” Connie offered.

Dax and Effie watched Dax’s parents waiting for his mother to spring horns or something. Effie kept giving Layla the crazy bug eyes over the hilarity of the boys’ mother being normal.

Layla was watching her too, like any moment she was going to lash out at someone and spread her Grinch on everyone, but so far, so good.

Wyatt sorted through some gifts and handed each baby a package. He handed Stryker one to open for Harley and Conner one to open for King.

Micah, having celebrated two birthdays, was a practiced hand at gift opening. But being the awesome cousin he was, he abandoned his gift to show Maizy and Mallory how to tear the paper.

The girls both watched with rapt attention as Micah grabbed a corner and gave it a tug. The tearing sound had both babies laughing and clapping. Then the paper started to fly. Not surprisingly, what was under the wrapping paper came in second to the actual act of unwrapping. The girls got so excited at one point they’d both shifted in their Christmas pajamas, and their bears went to town rolling in the piles of paper.

Connie being a sharp grandma, grabbed each gift that was unwrapped and used a marker to put the child’s name on the box or tag. Sorting them out later would be a disaster.

Harley was sporting a new giant flowered headband from Grandma Connie. The flower was at least as big as her head.

Kingston was asleep and completely unaware of all the excitement.

The adults smiled and laughed at the kid’s excitement. The girls eventually shifted back so they could continue the unwrapping process.

The humans occasionally had to look around for clarification on some of the gifts. Micah had torn open a box that looked like it contained a large plastic bag of dried salmon jerky. This was confirmed after the twins attacked him and tried to wrestle it away from.

Cage, who’d gotten the treats for the little bears, found Maizy and Mallory’s fish and gave them each their own treat. The kids happily munched on dried fish while they continued opening presents.

Libby gave Stryker a look that showed she was totally lost.

“They’re bears, mouse. Bears like fish,” he grunted. Like that explained it all.

Effie was a little horrified when the kids opened up different rubber toys that looked suspiciously like dog toys. She realized that they were when one of the twins shifted, and Wyatt leaned down, shoved a piece of jerky inside the rubber toy and rolled it towards the tiny bear who jumped on it and played happily trying to get the fish out.

“Amazing,” Effie remarked.

“Tough kids, tough toys,” Dax said, giving her a loud kiss on the cheek.

It was at least an hour later when their little eyelids started to fade. There were still unopened gifts under the tree, but nap time was fast approaching.

“I’m thinking we need a gift break. How about the kids get a nap, and we all do a clean up so we can see the floor before they start in again?” Edward suggested.

The men all got up and started picking up ribbons and paper. The girls took the sleepy kids and got them all settled into the cribs in the spare rooms.

Coffee was refreshed and with so many people in the house, no one noticed Conner dragging Kenzi into the pantry once Kingston was down.

They also didn’t notice when Lilibeth and Sebastian snuck out the front door.

The husbands gathered to pick at the food trays, the wives looked through their kid’s hauls, and Conner checking the back of the packages for lead presumably.

Sebastian and Lilibeth joined the group again. Lilibeth even introduced herself to Cash formally and talked to him about the mill. Weird.

Conner and Kenzi thought they were sneaking out of the pantry when Connie threw a dish towel at her son. “I’ve been waiting to get in there for ten minutes. We are out of sugar,” she groused.

“Sorry, mom, I got all the sugar that was in there,” Conner said, placing a loud kiss on Kenzi’s neck.

“Oh please,” Kenzi muttered.

Wyatt thought about giving his brother a hard time, but he’d dragged Jinger in there earlier. He had no room to talk.

Cash watched this play out putting together quickly that the Rochon pantry was apparently the equivalent of seven minutes in heaven. Course if it were only seven minutes, he’d have to give his cousins shit for it.

Lilibeth took that moment to clear her throat, and everyone turned because she was either going to shock them by being nice, or go ape shit. Either way, it was worth paying attention to.

“I know from Kenzi that you normally don’t do adult gifts on Christmas. But I tend to overdo for my kids, and they are all here this year. I brought some token gifts for everyone. I hope you all don’t mind, and I understand that this isn’t an exchange. I, well we,” she said grabbing her husband’s hand, “wanted you all to know how happy we are that our family has grown so big. That we will be able to share all of our new memories with the Rochon family.”

Lilibeth finished with a smile and leaned into her husband.

The rest of the room was dead silent. Layla had a confused look that she gave to Effie. Effie being hormonal had tears in her eyes. The Hayes boys were looking at their mom with shock and pride.

Connie finally broke the silence by walking over to Lilibeth and pulling her into a hug. “We are happy to have your daughter, your sons, and you two in our family too.”

Lilibeth hugged her back, tears shining in her eyes. The boys and their wives were still dumbfounded. But their animals were all telling them that people can change. The harder part was everyone accepting those changes.

The Hayes boys, followed by their mates all stood and gave the boys’ mom and dad hugs. Although Layla’s hug was a little less touch-feely, her cougar accepting but not stupid.

“Okay, everyone take a seat. We’ve got presents!” Lilibeth said excitedly.

T
he group
all found seats and watched as Sebastian and Lilibeth went into the entryway and came back laden down with gift bags. As she started pulling out boxes and cute shiny bags, it became clear there was a color theme. They were all dark brown or teal blue. As in too expensive dark brown and too unbelievable teal blue.

Dax’s mother was having so much fun handing out presents that she at first didn’t realize that everyone was staring at their gifts. They weren’t opening them.

“Oh don’t wait, open, open!” she said.

Dax shook his head and looked at Effie. He was holding a box that said Gucci on the top. He slid it open and found a beautiful leather belt. It was so soft it felt like silk. Effie opened hers. The box said Prada, and she found a stunning multi-colored cardigan. It was all jewel tones and totally kick-ass.

“They didn’t have cherries, but this seemed like you too,” Lilibeth smiled.

“Wow, thank you. This is beautiful,” Effie admitted.

There were more packages being opened. Boxes that were stunning in their simplicity, large LV stamped on the corners.

Stryker’s box was black, and when he opened it he found a vintage Harley Davidson t-shirt inside. He smiled up at his mom. She finally got him.

Libby opened up a teal box that had a long silver necklace with a beautiful tiny paw print in white gold. The center appeared to be a sparkling diamond.

She sniffed seeing the example of her tiny daughter that she’d be able to wear every day. She jumped up and hugged her mother-in-law.

Layla was sitting in Everett’s lap looking at the Louis Vuitton purse. It’s not that she didn’t have nice purses. Lilibeth knew that, but she’d found an amazing blush colored purse that Layla hadn’t even seen yet in the stores.

She gave a
what the hell
smile to Everett and got up to hug Lilibeth too. Everett was checking out his chrome plated, monogrammed game controller. Totally impractical, but said everything about his mom accepting him for who he was.

There were cashmere scarves, bottles of perfume, and simple but stunning bracelets for the Rochon wives. The men all opened their own gifts of money clips from Tiffany and matching scarf and hat sets that were stylish and functional.

Off to the side sat Cash. He had a small box that was teal sitting in his lap. He was confused when it was handed to him. Watching the girls all open jewelry, he figured there must be some mistake.

“Does this go to one of the girls?” he asked Lilibeth. He didn’t expect any gifts since he was technically crashing. He had an afternoon of gift opening ahead of him at home. His family still gave gifts. Often homemade or practical ones, but still it was fun. They had the money to buy expensive gifts, so something homemade meant more.

So sitting with a small flat box that came from a store known for shiny jewelry caused him to assume there had been a mistake.

Lilibeth and Sebastian came over to the kitchen table where Cash was sitting. Still in the group but a little removed. He watched Lilibeth grab a chair and place it front of his. She sat and took the box out of his hand.

“I was hoping we’d see you while we were here. It was just good luck you were here for Christmas. Otherwise, we would have had Dax give it to you,” she said, pulling the lid off the box.

Inside was a wide dark leather band that buckled in the back. On the top of the leather was a sterling silver broach. A Celtic heart with stunning scrollwork pattern that you had to look at closely to see the heart entangled with a swirling loop that weaved in and out of the design.

Taking the bracelet she took Cash’s wrist and snapped it in place and then held his hand.

Cash looked at her confused and aware the room was looking at him.

“You came to help my son find Effie when she was lost. She was lost because I had hurt her so much she’d put herself in a bad situation. A situation she would have never been in if I had been kinder to her. You didn’t even know her, but you came. You came and looked for our girl without question. The situation could have been dangerous, but you didn’t hesitate. I wanted you to have this so you would remember that we will always be grateful to you for helping protect my son’s heart by rescuing his mate.”

Cash saw the sincerity in her eyes, and he was having trouble swallowing past the lump that had formed in his throat.

“I just sat on him,” Cash replied.

There was laughter around the room that made him look up. He saw Effie standing in front of Dax, his arms wrapped tight around his mate. They were both smiling at him, their faces soft like they were feeling the same things he was.

“You came, Cash. The second you did that you became family too.” Sebastian said this behind his wife.

Clearing his throat, Cash looked at the band on his wrist and then looked back at the couple in front of him. “Thank you,” he said. He didn’t know what else to say.

“No, thank you, son,” Lilibeth said, leaning over and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Cash was surrounded by Hayes then, giving him hugs and pats on the back. He wasn’t a big accessory man, but he’d wear that band. You never turned away a gift from family, even if it wasn’t family you knew you had. Cash’s bear was chuffing proud in his head. Nothing made his animal happier then adding to their clan. Now he had a family of cougars too.