Page 11 of Having the Bear's Baby

“Yup,” his sister added. “This might be a good thing for you and Emma and the build-up between you two.”

“Uh, how’s that?” Liam answered, completely baffled at how his mother could be helpful at this stage.

“I know our family is funny, fiercely loyal, and full of creative insanity. Zany as it is, it comes from love. Big love. What I’m sensing from Emma, I suspect she hasn’t had our kind of wild, crazy family love. Hasn’t had a real helping of the Beron kind of love.”

“Let’s hope you are right about this, Lil,” Liam told her. “You are right about the fact she hasn’t had the Beron kind of love yet.”

They walked back over to the small group holding court with Emma.

“Emma, I want you to meet my sister, Lillian,” Liam said to Emma. “It was actually Lillian’s encouragement that got me to reach out to the agency. Inspiring me is a trend my sister has been notably consistent with for as long as I can remember.”

Liam observed the warm embrace between the two women, their greetings carrying an air of friendship. From the very moment he had laid eyes on her and caught her scent, he had been seized by an unshakable certainty that she was his mate. He had so much love to give, and he wanted her to have it all.

A commotion stirred at the front of the house. Mom’s laugh and voice pulled Liam from his reverie of Emma.

Liam broke away from the members gathered around his sister and Emma. He hated doing this. Watching Emma and Lillian was the most heartwarming sight, with Emma quickly and deeply endearing herself to the bear clan and vice versa. The idea was to head off mom and, hopefully, water down some of her rambunctious third-degree grilling before she started in on Emma.

“Hello, my handsome boy,” his mom said.

“You look beautiful, Mom.”

“Don’t be shy,” mom answered back.

“I’m not shy,” Liam told his mom. “I wanted to get to you first. I have someone special I want you to meet.”

“I know exactly who she is, and I know exactly what to say to her,” Liam’s mom fired back.

“I was hoping we could go light at first, you know, give her a chance to get used to our den and our personalities.”

“See, you are shy,” his mom sassed back. “You are shy, and you are worried that I’m going to put her off by being loud.”

“I am trying to be gentle,” Liam answered.

“Good. Then be a gentleman and go bring in the bags of groceries in the SUV. There’s a lot.” Mom gave him a loving pat on the chest, shouldered right past him, and made a straight line to the crowd around Lillian and Emma.

Liam didn’t empty his mom’s SUV. His bear growled that he needed to check on his mate.

Instead, he delegated. This was still not quick enough to tone down the thunder and lightning of mom. When he got to the main living area, mom and Emma were standing side-by-side. Emma was smiling as brightly as the summer solstice sunrise, and mom was giving her the pitch for how the day was going to go.

“Love, we’ve got lots of food being brought in and unpacked. There’s more on the way. Today is a day of feasting. Celebrating the inner-foodie day with a ‘Welcome to the Pack’ party. I don’t want to hear any crap about fasting or diets, or you already ate, blah, blah, blah. This is a welcome celebration, and we are throwing down.”

Mom was in high form. Liam was caught between trying to catch his mate’s eye and running for the hills. Would his little mate run and never return?

He finally got that eye contact.

I love your mom. She is going to be my new mom, he thought Emma’s expression said plainly.

FIVE

EMMA

The best part of the day so far had been seeing Liam. When he came out to her car, he walked with the confidence of an alpha. His tall, muscled body and gray eyes stood right there, just past her driver-side window. Lordy, she couldn’t control the butterflies in her stomach. The right kind of butterflies.

Not to mention, Liam had been on her mind when she woke. Something Grandma Monroe always told her was to hang on to the one who was the first thing you thought about each morning.

The second-best part of Emma’s day had been meeting the clan members, Liam’s sister Lillian, and, of course, his mom. Lillian acted as though Emma was the queen of the universe and an immediate sister. Absolutely. Now, the mom was wild and high-spirited, but she was as sweet as an apple.

Emma could tell from the moment she arrived that Liam had been happy to see her, very sensitive to how she felt, and concerned that she didn’t get overwhelmed. This was especially true while meeting the various clan members and his mom. Emma did her best to throw big smiles and long glances at Liam so he would not worry about her emotional being.

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