Page 17 of A Very Beary Christmas
Chapter 9
Sam
She blinked at me in confusion.
“Did you really think that we—thatI—would let you go so easily?”
“I don’t understand. My father—”
“Was a piece of shit,” I finished. “He blew town and disappeared the second he got you away from us. We never stopped looking, but it was like you just dropped off the face of the earth.”
She swallowed hard.
A couple weeks after they had left, their trailer had been found abandoned on the side of the road. Inside, the police had found traces of blood, but no sign of them or clue to where they had gone. I could only guess what had happened, and my heart broke all over again, thinking of the hell she must have gone through.
“Why would you do that?” she asked quietly. “I was nothing to you.”
Anger and hurt tightened my chest, but I had to remember that she had no idea what she was to me, that she had been raised in a toxic environment, and that the very people who should have been protecting her had failed her.
“That’s where you’re wrong,” I told her, knowing it would take a lot more than words to convince her of that. “I’m not saying anything else until you eat.”
She looked as if she wanted to ask more, but she must have remembered just how stubborn I could be, because she started eating. “Can you at least tell me how you managed to find me?” she asked in between spoonfuls.
“Fate,” I answered honestly. “My cousin Kayden passed through here a few days ago and saw your painting in O’Malley’s Diner. It reminded him so much of our lodge that he took a picture and showed it to me. When I saw the bear and your name in the corner, I’d hoped it was you.”
“So, the lodge isn’t far from here?”
“A couple hours by car.”
“But the storm closed all the roads. How did you get here?”
“They’re open now,” I hedged. “Enough questions. You can ask as many as you want on the way.”
“On the way where?”
“To the lodge, Chloe. For Christmas.”
Her reaction wasn’t quite what I had hoped. Her eyes lit up for a moment, then dimmed just as quickly. “I don’t think so, Sam. But thank you.”
I looked around the small apartment, devoid of a single decoration. No tree, no lights, no candles or cards. There was no holiday spirit to be found here.
“Why not?”
“Because it’s Christmas.”
“Yes. So?”
“So, Christmas is a time for family. I don’t want to intrude.”
My heart broke a little in that moment. My beautiful, wonderful Chloe had no idea. Or maybe she was simply remembering the last time I had promised her a nice Christmas and how that had turned out. Nothing was going to ruin Christmas this time. I would make sure of it.
“You won’t be intruding,” I assured her. “Because, like it or not, you may now consider yourself officially part of the Brown Clan.”
“Decided that, have you?”
“Yes,” I told her firmly, “and I’ve already told my mom you’re coming. She’s ecstatic.”
“She is?” Chloe looked at me doubtfully.
