Bear My Heart: A Small Town Paranormal Romance Read online

  A man who introduced himself as Dr. Sloan was kneeling in front of her, speaking rapidly. She couldn't make out if he was talking to her or to the people crowding behind her.

  The pain was blunting all her senses. She stared down in fascination and horror at her limp, floppy arm. It didn't really look or feel like her arm. She couldn't move it and it hurt so much until it didn't hurt any more. Her arm was numb whereas the rest of her body hurt like hell.

  Through a gap in the crowd, Dot saw blankets being wrapped protectively around Casey and Timmy. The Sheriff's Department of Bear Cove consisted of just two good men, and Dot managed a smile when she realized that the whole department had turned up to arrest Jim.

  Sheriff Bob and Deputy Kane were pushing their way through the crowd to reach Jim, who was being held down by five pajama-clad men.

  “Casey, Timmy...” Dot managed to croak.

  “They're fine. Dr. Rita and her sisters are taking care of them,” someone said.

  Dot nodded and closed her eyes. Faces were spinning around her and she felt like she might throw up. She didn't want to be here, with so many people crowding round her, talking to her and touching her. She didn't want to be seen or noticed. This was...not good.

  “Not good. We'll have to rush her to the hospital. Will someone...” Dr. Sloan's eyes widened and he stood up quickly when he saw a little old lady wearing a dozen curlers in her silver hair bearing down on him. “Oh, Nanny Riddle! I...”

  “I'll take care of her,” Nanny Riddle said, pushing past Dr. Sloan. She bent down and laid a winkled but strong hand on Dot's shoulder. “I'm Yelena Riddle, but everyone calls me Nanny. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. I'm a wise woman. Every town needs one, you know.” Nanny Riddle leaned in closer and whispered, “I'm also not a witch.”

  Dot's eyes widened in alarm as Nanny Riddle tugged at her arm. She let out a cry of shock as Nanny rotated her arm and pushed it firmly back into the socket. There was a soft click and Dot gasped.

  The pain was gone.

  Nanny Riddle laid her hand on Dot's shoulder and muttered softly under her breath. The words made no sense to Dot but she felt her body relax immediately. Her mind and vision cleared as she took a couple of deep, long breaths.

  “I can feel my arm again,” Dot said, wriggling her fingers in amazement. “And...it feels great. Thank you! Thank you, Nanny.”

  Nanny smiled, flashing a gold tooth. “I didn't use magic to heal you,” Nanny answered the question at the tip of Dot's tongue. “I just did what ought to be done. Like what you did tonight. You heal yourself when you heal others. And you healed Casey and Timmy tonight.”

  Dot looked at Casey, who was pointing at Jim as she talked to the Sheriff.

  “Casey never talked before. Her stories were always the same. She fell down the stairs or walked into a door. Miraculously, she stopped falling down stairs and walking into doors after Jim was put away. But now that he's back...” Nanny's mouth tightened into a grim line.

  “Will she tell the Sheriff the truth now?” Dot asked.

  Nanny nodded. “She has to. You got hurt because of her.”

  “There was a bear...”

  “A bear, eh?” Nanny said, cocking her head. “There are wolves too in these parts.”

  Nanny looked up at the night sky, squinting at the stars. A star directly overhead glowed brighter, illuminating the clouds around it for an instant before vanishing completely.

  Nanny nodded to herself, looking satisfied. “Yes, yes. The bear saved Timmy,” Nanny mumbled to no one in particular.

  Nanny turned and looked straight at Dot. “He would have killed him one day,” the old woman said solemnly.

  Dot didn't reply. She knew who Nanny was talking about.

  He was Timmy.

  The boy would one day kill his father to protect his mother.

  It would have happened as Nanny said and no one, absolutely no one would have been able to say that they hadn't foreseen such an eventuality.

  The bear had saved young Timmy from his father and from himself.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Troy walked into the library with his two exuberant nephews and saw Megan at the counter.

  “Mom! Mom!” The twins waved and raced to their mother.

  “Shhh! Keep it down. This is the library, not the playground,” Megan said, giving them a quick hug. She straightened up and turned to Troy. “I thought you guys were going to Papa Bear's.”

  “Been there. Done breakfast,” Troy reported. Megan had to work on Saturday mornings, so he would pick the boys up in the morning and babysit them for a few hours. Troy usually played basketball or some outdoor sport with his nephews so the little rascals could use up all their boundless energy.

  “Hmm.” Megan arched a brow at him.

  “They've filled their tummies. So now they should feed their brain,” Troy explained.

  “They just borrowed a ton of books from the library yesterday,” Megan deadpanned.

  “There's no such thing as too many books, right?” Troy countered.

  Megan's smile widened to a grin. She wasn't fooled. She knew the real reason he was here.

  “Go on,” she said, tilting her head towards the back of the library. “She's been there all morning.”

  Troy glanced after the twins who were scampering off to the children's section.

  “Don't worry. They know the library inside out,” Megan said and nudged him. “Invite her to dinner tomorrow night.”

  Troy frowned. “I'm not sure...”

  “Just ask. She might say yes.” Megan flapped her hands in a shooing motion.

  Troy strode to the back of the library and saw Dot hunched over her laptop at the corner, typing furiously with one hand. Her left arm was in a sling.

  He hadn't had the chance to speak to her since the incident at Casey's house two nights ago. Nanny Riddle had bustled Dot over to Dr. Sloan's clinic so that no one would think that she had used magic to heal Dot. Nanny reasoned that if Dr. Sloan put Dot's arm in a sling, then it was Dr. Sloan who had healed Dot's arm using “modern medicine”.

  The Sheriff had turned Jim over to the city police. On the day that he was released from jail, Jim had been involved in a violent carjacking and robbery. Jim had robbed a man and drove the stolen car to the edge of Bear Cove. The car was found abandoned in a ditch.

  No one saw Jim enter the house, and no one heard the terrified pleas and whimpers coming from the house. Troy's heart and fists clenched at the thought of what might have happened if he hadn't been there that night.

  Jim might have killed them all.

  Troy walked up to the corner table and pulled out a chair. Dot looked up with a deep frown.

  “Hi.”

  “Hi,” she mumbled.

  Troy slid into the chair beside her and took a good look at her. Her complexion was flushed and rosy, and her arm didn't seem to be bothering her.

  “How are you?”

  “Fine. My arm's fine too,” she said at once.

  Troy hid a smile. It was probably her standard response to the numerous, well-meaning queries she received from the townsfolk. People had been coming up to her to shake her hand and give her a grateful hug. She had risked her life to protect two vulnerable, defenseless members of their community, and they wanted to let her know they appreciated what she did.

  Dot looked up and saw him staring at her sling. “Dr. Sloan just wants to make sure I don't move my arm around too much. Hence the sling.” She shrugged and slipped her arm out of the sling. “Ah, much better. I can't type so well with one hand.” She saw the worried look on his face and chuckled. “I don't really need the sling. Dr. Sloan's just being careful.”

  Troy glanced at the half empty page on her laptop screen.

  “How's the writing coming along?” he said conversationally.

  Dot sighed. “I'm trying to start on a new story, but...I'm not getting much work done. People keep coming up to talk
to me. I can't even go to Papa Bear's Diner, so I've come to the library to hide.”

  Troy chuckled. “You're the town hero now.”

  “I didn't do much. It was the bear that saved the day.”

  Troy didn't reply but he was aware that Dot was watching him out of the corner of her eye.

  “Did you see the bear that night? I think I was the only one who saw it.” Dot cleared her throat and went on, “I, er, I didn't see you. There were too many people around me and too many things were happening at once. Were you there that night?”

  She was testing him. Was he going to lie to her?

  After a long pause, Troy answered, “I was there.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Troy gnawed on the inside of his cheek. Dot was studying him intently. He opened his mouth to speak but she beat him to it.

  “Are there many bears around here?” she asked.

  “No. Not many at all.”

  She nodded and turned back to her laptop. “You know something?” she said softly. “Your eyes. They looked exactly like...”

  “Megan wants me to invite you to dinner,” he interjected.

  Dot frowned in confusion. “Megan? The librarian…?”

  “Megan is my big sister.”

  “Ah.” She smiled. “Yes, now I see it. Both of you are tall and blond.”

  “But she's got our mom's hazel eyes whereas I take after our dad.”

  “Actually, I have lots of food in my fridge. Too much food really. The neighbors have been leaving casseroles and pies at my door,” Dot said, looking embarrassed. “I think they assume I can't feed myself since I have one arm in a sling.”

  “They just want to thank you for what you did.”

  “What did I do?”

  “You stood up for Casey and Timmy. Casey's been too afraid to tell the truth. She's been shielding Jim, lying for him, and putting herself and Timmy in so much danger. But there was nothing we could do. None of us could do anything if she didn't want anything to be done. She kept insisting she sustained her injuries in a fall. She usually shielded Timmy so she received the brunt of Jim's anger, but one day...someone's going to get killed,” Troy said grimly, shaking his head. “None of us even knew that Jim was back.”

  “You knew,” Dot said quietly.

  Troy waited for the inevitable How?

  To his relief and disappointment, it never came.

  She was letting him keep his secret. She didn't want the burden and intimacy of knowing his secret. She wanted to remain a stranger.

  Troy tamped down a sudden flare of anger and annoyance. But he didn't want to rush her or force anything on her. If she wanted to know, she would ask. If she wasn't ready, she would simply push him away, or worse, run from him.

  “I wonder how Casey is,” Dot muttered.

  “She's staying with Dr. Rita for the time being. The whole town cares for her,” Troy said. “But—Casey kept hiding, from us, from herself.”

  Dot turned away. “Sometimes it's easier and safer to hide.”

  “I know.”

  At that moment, Megan shuffled past with an armful of books. She stopped at the table and gave Troy a meaningful look. Well, have you asked?

  Troy shrugged.

  Megan glared at him and raised a finger. She meant business.

  Troy blew out a breath. His big sister could be real bossy. Fine. He would ask Dot in front of her. Megan could hear her answer for herself.

  Dot noticed Megan and gave her an awkward smile.

  “Dot, would you have dinner with me and my family tomorrow?” Troy asked rather loudly.

  Dot blinked at him. “Your family?”

  “Yeah. I usually have dinner with Megan and her boys on weekends.”

  Dot looked uncertainly from Troy to Megan. “It's a family dinner...”

  Megan hurried to her side. “Do come for dinner, Dot. My boys are friends with Timmy, and they want to meet the brave woman who saved their friend. It's just a small family dinner,” Megan assured her. “I know you don't like crowds.”

  Dot glanced from Troy to Megan. A shy smile crept across her face. “I'd love to come for dinner. Thank you for inviting me.”

  Megan stood up and flashed Troy a triumphant grin. “See you at my place tomorrow!”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Dot stared at herself in the mirror. Honestly, she'd surprised herself when she accepted Megan's dinner invitation. She had wanted to remain a faceless, forgettable stranger in Bear Cove, but the townspeople weren't letting her do that.

  They called her by name when they saw her in the streets, and her doorbell kept buzzing until she'd resorted to taking refuge in the library.

  Even Nanny Riddle had dropped off a flask of freshly brewed herbal tea for her. And according to Lilly, Nanny Riddle rarely stepped out of her cottage.

  She was touched. For the first time in her life, she actually felt like she belonged.

  She hadn't belonged in any of her foster homes. She had forgotten what it meant to have a family. And ever since her mom died, she had never sat down to a family dinner.

  When Megan said it was just a family dinner, Dot's breath had caught painfully. She wanted to tell Megan that it wouldn't be just a family dinner for her.

  It would be all the family dinners she never had.

  Dot started when her doorbell sounded. She put down her hair brush and hurried to the front door.

  “Hey,” she greeted Troy with a smile.

  “Hey.” Troy smiled back and put a hand over his heart. “You look beautiful.”

  “Thank you.” Dot's eyes gleamed with mischief and amusement. “Do you say that to all the ladies?”

  “No!” Troy sputtered indignantly. “I've never...”

  “Relax, I'm just teasing you.” Dot laughed as she locked her front door. She was startled by her own easy laughter. She hadn't felt so relaxed in a long time.

  “Where's your sling?” Troy narrowed his eyes at her.

  “I don't need it. It's cramping my style.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder.

  He didn't exhale for a long moment. It was as if he was seeing her for the first time and in a way, he was. He was seeing the real her, that carefree, optimistic, cheerful girl that she had hidden away under a tough, impenetrable armor. He saw her, truly saw her, and she literally took his breath away.

  Troy's eyes lit up with wonder and happiness and his handsome face split in a grin.

  “Shall we?” Gallantly, Troy tucked her hand into the crook of his arm and led her to his truck.

  It was just a five-minute drive to Megan's place, but Troy was deliberately driving slowly. He told her some funny stories about his nephews, Leo and Logan, and it was obvious that he adored them.

  He told her a little about Megan as well. “Her husband died barely a month after the twins were born. It's not easy taking care of two newborns on your own. And Megan didn't have a job then. That was when I moved to Bear Cove.”

  Dot looked surprised. “I thought you've lived in Bear Cove all your life.”

  “No. I've been here just six years.”

  “That's not very long. But you seem to know everyone in town.”

  Troy chuckled. “It's a pretty small town.”

  Dot nodded and stared straight ahead. As they drove past Papa Bear's Diner, a large family with seven kids came spilling out noisily from the diner. The children shrieked and jumped up and down when they saw Troy's truck. Troy waved at them and grinned at their parents.

  “The kids love you,” Dot said, smiling.

  “I helped their dad build a treehouse for them last summer.” Troy explained. “It's a really awesome treehouse with secret ladders, trapdoors and complicated pulleys.”

  “I've never been in a treehouse before,” Dot said wistfully.

  “I'll ask the Henderson kids if they'll make an exception and let you up to the treehouse,” he said solemnly. “They have a very strict rule. No
adults allowed.”

  “I don't think they'll make an exception just for me.”

  “Oh, I think they will.”

  Dot smiled and glanced away. After a moment, she shifted in her seat and faced him.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Ask away.” Troy gestured grandly.

  “Who else knows about...the bear?”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Troy turned to look at her. He exhaled slowly and replied, “Everyone.”

  “Everyone in Bear Cove?” Dot asked.

  “Yup.”

  The crease between Dot's brows deepened. “I'm at Papa Bear's almost every morning. But no one's ever mentioned...” She shook her head. “Even Lilly never said a word about it.”

  Troy glanced at her and saw the doubt and distrust in her eyes. He had been chipping away at the wall she'd built around her heart, but now, she was fast rebuilding and reinforcing the barrier she'd erected between herself and the world. She was going to distance herself, and one day, without telling anyone, she would just leave.

  He didn't want her to leave. He couldn't lose her. Not now. Not ever.

  Troy sighed and said quietly, “These are good, decent people, Dot. The people in Bear Cove look out for one another.”

  “I never said they're bad people,” Dot mumbled defensively. “I just thought that in a small town like this, gossip spreads faster than wildfire.”

  Troy quirked a smile. “The townspeople do like to gossip, but it's just harmless news. They won't ever spread any vicious, hurtful gossip about anyone. And they will never share secrets that aren't theirs to share.”

  She tensed when he took her hand gently. “We protect our own. You are one of us, Dot. You protected Casey and Timmy. The townsfolk won't forget that.”

  She swallowed and shook her head sadly. “It's better not to remember me.”