Page 30 of Bear

“I’m with social services. Cassidy Glickson listed you as the father on all three birth certificates and named you as who the children go to in case of her death. An incident happened and she passed away.”

War walked up beside him. “What do you need?”

“I guess I need help figuring out where we’re going to stay. What do you need so they stay with me?” Bear questioned, patting Phoebe’s back as she continued to cry.

“Although you’re listed as the father, I’ll need to see where they’ll be staying.”

Winnie walked up beside him and crouched down beside David. “Hi, I’m Winnie, Bear’s fiancée. What’s your name?”

The gasps in the room would have probably worried him but right now, the kids needed him and his sunshine was stepping up and letting the world know about them.

“David.”

“It’s nice to meet you. Are you hungry? I have four sisters and I know one of them would probably love to take you to where the other kids are and get you a snack.”

Phoebe pulled her head out of his neck. “I’m hungry. Can I go to?”

Winnie nodded and smiled. “Of course.”

In a couple seconds, Beth and Jesse had taken both children into the kitchen. Winnie waited until the door closed then his sunbeam led him toward a table while asking the social worker to join them.

“Now who’s this little one and what all do we need to do? Bear hasn’t moved in yet to my house but we’d planned to do that in the new year. We hadn’t wanted to overshadow my sister’s wedding proposal today. With the kids here, we’ll be changing that to tonight. Do you need to see it today or do we set up a time later?”

Winnie had the social working eating out of her hand and he was thankful for that. He was stunned. What was he supposed to do? He didn’t know how to be a good father and he didn’t even get to learn on just one. Suddenly he had three?

“Winnie, thank you for getting the older children out of the room. I was going to ask for privacy. This little one is a boy and he’s three days old. We don’t have a name for him because Cassidy didn’t have a chance to name him. She was attacked in her home and beaten. The assailant left. Neighbors heard the attack and called an ambulance. By the time she arrived at the hospital, the decision was made to remove the baby by cesarean.”

“Where were the older kids? Did they see anything?” He worried they would be in danger if they had seen anything.

“They were asleep in their room. Phoebe got up when she heard something and was the one to let the EMTs in. She’s refused to speak about anything and I wouldn’t allow the police to push a traumatized child.”

Winnie had the straps to the carrier unhooked and had the baby snuggled in her arms in seconds. She seemed so comfortable which gave him a little bit of comfort the kids would be okay. “We appreciate that. Now, let’s get the business stuff done because we need to get in there and work on making those children understand they’re safe.”

He glanced at the papers, took the social worker’s card and tried to keep his mind in the present and not go into thinking through all the theories. He thanked the social worker and escorted her and the deputy to the door. He and Winnie needed to have everyone start gathering some supplies for the kids.

He knew the owner of the small grocery store in town and was sure he could get them to open up for diapers and formula. He couldn’t imagine the small amount in the bag would last long. He turned from the door. Locks was staring at him but his dad was grinning. Baron was smiling beside Rascal.

“What the fuck? You’ve been dating Winnie, Bear? Did you think you should have given me the courtesy of asking my permission?”

Winnie walked toward Baron, handing him the baby. “Baron, could you please take my son to the kitchen? I don’t want him to hear what I’m about to say.”

Baron nodded and headed toward the kitchen.

“Bear, you are more than welcome to answer my dad in a moment but I need to say something first.”

Winnie paused, waiting on him. His sunbeam fired up was a sight to see and although he wanted to tell Locks what had happened, he wasn’t pissing off his fiancée when they’d just become parents to three kids. He nodded because he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say.

“Now, Winnie, this is between Bear and me,” Locks protested.

“No, Dad, it’s not. Bear and I started dating and I wanted to keep it secret. Growing up, I never got to have anything just for myself. We shared toys, we shared clothes, and we’ve shared space. I’ve always had sisters around which I love but for once, I wanted something for myself.”

“Winnie, it’s not about that. It’s about...”

“An archaic notion that as my dad, you get to have final say over who I date? Dad, you raised all of us girls to take over the bail bonds company. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t raise strong women who can take care of themselves but then shove us back into a box where a man gets to decide whether we can date someone in the MC.” Winnie punctuated her point by poking her finger into her dad’s chest with each word.

Bear waited for Locks’ reply because he wasn’t getting between them. Locks and Winnie needed to come to an agreement then he and Locks could talk through their relationship, but it wasn’t going to be today. He had three children that needed him.

“Well, fuck, if you didn’t sound so much like your mother right then. She’d always tell me when I was acting like an ass. I’m sorry. I still see you as my babies even though you’re all grown. I will chat with Bear later. Now, let’s get in that kitchen. I’m already going to have to share my grandkids with their other granddad but Baron can fuck off. He’s had his own grandkids for a while. It’s Rascal’s and my turn now.”

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