The Playboy Bear's Baby: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (7 page)

Chapter Seven

“Mom?”
Mara blinked and the woman in front of her didn’t vanish. It really was her
mother standing there. She was older, with a lined face heavily coated in
makeup, stringy bleached blond hair, and a figure closer to the likeness of a
scarecrow rather than the plus sized woman who’d dumped Mara on her grandma’s
doorstep thirteen years earlier, but there was no doubt about her identify. The
eyes were exactly the same. Mara looked into a pair just like them every time
she glanced in a mirror.

“Mara
baby?” Nancy Adamsen rushed forward and threw her arms around Mara. “Oh my
goodness. You’re so big.”

Mara
stood still as a statue, in shock. She inhaled and sucked in a lungful of air
redolent with the scent of cigarettes, cheap perfume, and sweat. Here was her
mother, the woman she’d worried over, missed, and hated in equal turns after
being abandoned, and she could only think of one thing to say. “Oh course I’m
bigger. I’m not the frightened ten-year-old you left behind.”

“Well,
you’ve got that right.” Nancy pulled back and regarded Mara with shrewd eyes.
“You’ve grown into a fine looking young woman. I always knew you would,
although you take after your granny more than I expected. I was just
heartbroken when I heard about her passing.”

“You
missed the service.” A warm presence moved in close behind her. She looked over
her shoulder and made eye contact with Gray. The man moved like a ghost. She
hadn’t even heard him get up.

“I
only just learned of her passing last week. The grapevine doesn’t seem to
travel as fast as it used to.” Nancy looked beyond Mara and the switch from
sympathetic relative to cold, hard calculating woman happened so fast it was
scary. “And just who might this be?”

“This
is Gray. Gray, this is my mother, Nancy. Gray and I were just watching a
movie.”

“Is
that what they’re calling it these days?” Nancy laughed at her own joke.

Mara
frowned. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, feeling awkward and
out of sorts. What were the social niceties for greeting the mother who’d
abandoned you without a backward look? Mara didn’t have a clue, but she
couldn’t keep standing guard in front of the door like a forgotten sack of
potatoes. “Would you like to come in for a drink or something?”

“Yeah.
I’m parched. Thanks.”

Mara
stepped out of the way to allow her mother inside and then closed the door.
“All right. I think I have some bottled water, if that’s okay?”

Nancy’s
gaze moved from one end of the room to the other. She waved her hand in the
air. “Something hard would be better.”

“I’m
sorry. I don’t have any alcohol in the house.”

“That’s
all right then. Whatever you have will be fine. I’m not picky.”

“Okay.
I’ll just go and get that now. You’re welcome to have a seat and make yourself
comfortable.” She looked at Gray, silently apologizing for leaving him alone
with a stranger. This was definitely not the way she’d expected tonight to go.
“I’ll be right back.”

She
hurried into the kitchen, got a cold bottle of water out of the fridge, and
carried it back to the living room—where she discovered her mother sitting
close enough to Gray on the sofa to count the pores in his face. She was
leaning toward him, with her breasts thrust out for attention. Mara cleared her
throat and held out the water. “Here’s your water.”

“Oh.
Thank you.” Nancy took the bottle. “I was just showing Gray what a ten grand
boob job looks like. Through my clothes, of course. I don’t show these puppies
off to just anyone.”

“Mm
hmm,” Mara replied, unable to come up with an appropriate response to finding
her mother showing off her breast augmentation. It was a little like stepping
into an episode of the
Twilight Zone
. She sat in the chair by the sofa,
facing her mother and Gray. “So, what brings you by this way tonight?”

“Mom.
As I said, I just heard about her passing and thought it was only right to come
by and pay my respects and offer to help out in any way I can.”

Mara
couldn’t help but think her mother’s help would have been more useful months
earlier, when Grandma was sick and on her deathbed. Although she rarely spoke
about Nancy, Mara knew her grandma loved her child despite her flaws and would
have given anything to see her one last time before the end. “That’s very
thoughtful of you, but I’ve already taken care of everything.”

“I’m
not surprised. You were always an independent little thing, so insistent about
doing things on your own.” Nancy returned her attention to Gray. “So, tell me
what the story is with you two. Are you dating, engaged, or what?”

“We’re
seeing each other,” Mara answered.

At
the same time, Gray said, “We’re mates.”

Mara
cringed, unsure of how her mother would respond to the news that she was
involved with a shifter. There were still a lot of people who were against
inter-species relationships.

Nancy’s
gaze never left Gray. “I see. I reckon that would make you one of them animal
people, huh? That’s cool. I bet you’re something special, aren’t you? Some kind
of big, bad alpha wolf or coyote. You have the look of a predator about you.”

“Thank
you, I think,” Gray replied, smoothly sidestepping Nancy’s nosy question about
his species. “Mara is very important to me, so it would mean a lot to have the
blessing of her only living relative, particularly one as important as her
mother.”

“Aren’t
you just as sweet as honey. I’m afraid I missed your last name when Mara
introduced us. What’s your family name? If you’re a local, then I probably know
your folks. I grew up here, in this very house actually.”

“Yes,
ma’am. My last name is Wells. My family has lived in this town for generations,
but I’m sorry to say they’re no longer with us. It’s just me these days.”

Mara
didn’t care for the calculating gleam in her mother’s eyes or the downward
twist of Gray’s full lips. The mention of his family was obviously a sore spot.
“So,” she said in an effort to draw attention her way. “Are you staying in the
area or just passing through?”

“Oh
well…” Nancy glanced down and picked at her cuticles. “This is a little
embarrassing, but I assumed I would be invited to stay here, seeing as how you
have this big, empty house all to yourself.”

“I
see.” Mara could guess what that meant. As uncomfortable as having a virtual
stranger in the house would be, she couldn’t just send the woman out into the
night when she obviously had nowhere to go. “I suppose you can use the
guestroom until you’re able to make other arrangements.”

Nancy
looked up and smiled. “That would be lovely. Thank you.”

Mara
couldn’t help but notice the expression didn’t reach her mother’s eyes. A chill
ran down her spine.

“On
that note, I should probably head out and leave you ladies to catch up.” Gray
caught Mara’s gaze. “Would you mind walking me out?”

“Okay.”
She stood and followed Gray to the door. At the last moment, she turned back to
look at her mother. “I’ll be right back.”

Nancy
nodded. “Go on and walk your young man out. I’m not going anywhere.”

Mara
followed Gray out to his vehicle. Despite the new status of their relationship,
she took comfort in his presence and wasn’t looking forward to his departure.
 

Gray
stopped by the driver’s door of his SUV and leaned back against it. “Come
here.”

Mara
moved closer, stepping into the cradle of his arms. She slid her hands around
his sides to his back and hugged him tight. Being with him felt remarkably
right, like they’d been together for years rather than weeks.

He
rubbed up and down her back. “You want to tell me what’s going on? You don’t
seem very happy to see your mom.”

She
shook her head. She really didn’t want to drag those skeletons out of the
closet, but he’d have to hear about them at some point. Better to get it over
with now. “My mother has issues. Drugs. Alcohol. Men. To be honest, I’m not
really sure what she’s into these days. I haven’t seen her in over thirteen
years.”

He
tightened his arms around her. “What do you mean?”

“She
dropped me off to spend the night with my grandma one Friday after school and
never came back. She called a few weeks later and told Grandma she’d met a man
who promised to help her realize her dream of being a country western singer.
For a few years after that, I received postcards from different places around
the country on my birthday and Christmas, but even those stopped around the
time I was fifteen.” She left out the part about looking up her mother’s arrest
record and discovering a cornucopia of petty theft, drug possession, and
prostitution charges over the years.

“I’m
sorry you had to go through that. I had no idea.”

“It’s
okay. I’ve had a lot of therapy to get over it. The point is, I don’t know that
woman. She may have given birth to me, but for all intents and purposes, she’s
a stranger. I don’t know why she’s come home now, but I’d be willing to bet it
doesn’t have anything to do with Grandma’s passing.”

“Why
else would she be here?”

“I
don’t know.” Mara shook her head. “Maybe she’s finally burned her bridges
everywhere else.”

“What
are you going to do?”

“What
can I do? She’s my mom. I can’t just ask her to leave. Grandma wouldn’t want
that. She’d never turn her back on family.”

“I
can stay, if you want me to.”

“No,
that’s all right. There really isn’t anything to worry about. Regardless of her
faults, my mother isn’t dangerous. The worst she’ll do is try to steal
Grandma’s jewelry.” Mara made a mental note to hide anything sentimental before
she went to bed. “I’ll be fine.”

“Are
you sure? I don’t have a problem sleeping over.” He kissed the top of her head
and then her temple.

“I
bet you don’t.” She lifted up on her toes and pressed her lips against his in a
soft, lingering kiss. “Go on home. You can call me tomorrow.”

He
kissed her again, cutting off her protests. She went along for the ride for a
minute and then eased back. “As tempting as it is to stay out here with you all
night, I know you’re exhausted. I am too.”

“All
right. If I can’t change your mind about having a sleepover, then I’m going to
head home. Call me if you need anything. Otherwise, I’ll talk to you some time
tomorrow.”

“I
look forward to it.” She stepped away from him, giving him room to open the SUV
door and climb inside.

“Sleep
tight, sweetheart.”

Mara
smiled. “You too.”

Gray
pulled the door closed and started up the engine.

She
stood at the edge of the driveway and waved goodbye. Just before he drove out
of sight, she turned and headed back into the house.

* * * *

The
smell of eggs awoke Mara and sent her rushing across the hall to the bathroom.
After she’d emptied the contents of her stomach into the commode, she rinsed
her mouth and carefully brushed her teeth. The last thing she wanted to do was
set off her gag reflex.

She
hopped in the shower, hoping to give the putrid odor in the kitchen time to
dissipate, and took her time getting dressed. She didn’t want to face her
mother until she was alert enough to form coherent sentences. At the very
least, the stinky eggs confirmed the woman was still in residence. Part of her
had expected to wake up to an empty house. At the moment, she wasn’t sure if
she was relieved or disappointed by the outcome. Only time would tell.

She
padded barefoot through the house and entered the kitchen to find her mother sitting
at the table, finishing off a plate of eggs and toast.  “Good morning.”

Nancy
looked up. “Good morning. I hope I didn’t wake you.”

“Nah.
I’ve always been an early riser.”

“I
hope you don’t mind that I helped myself to some breakfast.”

“Of
course not.” Mara crossed the room and poured herself a cup of coffee. Since
finding out about the baby, she’d been limiting herself to a single cup a day,
rather than the full pot she drank pre-pregnancy. “I’m glad someone’s eating
the eggs before they go bad.”

“Is
the pregnancy affecting your stomach? I stayed sick almost the entire time I
was carrying you.”

The
unexpected mention of the baby startled Mara. She jerked around to look at her
mother and sloshed hot coffee over the rim of the cup and down the side of her
hand. “Ouch. Shit.” She waved her hand, trying to cool the burn, and headed for
the sink. She turned on the cold tap and stuck her hand beneath it. While the
cold water rushed over her hand, she twisted around to face her mother. “How
did you know about the baby?”

Nancy
shrugged. “I had a headache last night and went into your medicine cabinet to
look for ibuprofen. Your prenatal vitamins were right there in plain view. Was
it supposed to be a secret?”

“Not
exactly.” Mara turned off the tap and dried her hand off on a paper towel.
“There just aren’t many people we’ve told. It’s early days yet.”