Bear Home for Christmas: BBW Holiday Paranormal Bear Shifter Romance (Christmas Bear Shifter Romance Book 1) (2 page)

Then, when Noelle was ten, her mom and dad were killed in a car crash. Her grandma had a stroke two days afterwards, and her granddad was in no state to take care of her. And so began the endless cycle of foster homes and children’s homes. For the first two years, she was a mess, angry and uncontrollable, broken with grief. Then she met the couple who’d taken her in after Mary-Alice and Bob. To say that they were disciplinarians was an understatement. Their approach to her traumatized behavior was to beat it out of her. It had a profound effect on her, and she went from willful child to a subdued teen under their care. Observing the change in her, they declared their methods a success, as did the social worker who paid her occasional visits. But in reality, she was emotionally catatonic, her sadness like a solitary confinement. She sleepwalked her way through high school and moved out as soon as she was 18, to live with the first guy who showed her any kindness.

As soon as she moved in with him, his attitude changed, his occasional compliments melting away and being replaced by insults and criticisms. She’d always been self-conscious about her weight, but he made it much worse, calling her mean, disgusting things, breaking the final threads of her fragile self-esteem. The day he hit her was the day she left him. It was Christmas eve, five years ago, she recalled bitterly, and it was due to be their first Christmas together. She knew thing weren’t right between them, but she wanted it to work so badly. She’d bought a tree and decorations, and made lots of food. In the evening, he’d announced that he was going out with the guys. She asked him to spend the evening with her instead, and he’d backhanded her across the mouth. Somehow, it had woken her up to how toxic the situation was, and she’d walked out and checked into a motel, and spent Christmas day there, alone.
Probably as she was going to do this year
, she reminded herself.

In the past, she’d assumed that she’d meet someone one day, and get married, and she’d finally get to have the Christmases she’d dreamed of. But it hadn’t happened. She was alone, year after year, struck dumb with her gnawing loneliness. When she thought of herself as a little kid, how full of innocent joy she’d been, it shocked her.
How is this my life?
she wondered, so many times.

She sipped her coffee. It was good. Too good. It tasted like Christmas magic. She pushed it away, regretting having ordered it. And then the music changed from pop to a Christmas song – a perky, joyful number. Her stomach knotted and, to her embarrassment, she burst into tears. But they weren’t just tears, they were huge, gulping sobs, wracking her body. She hadn’t cried for years, ever since she left her ex-boyfriend. But today, everything had come to a head. She clamped one hand over her mouth and put the other one in front of her face, trying desperately to shield herself from the gaze of the other customers as she fought to get her sobbing under control. She jumped as a hand touched her gently on the shoulder.

“Ma’am, are you ok?” a soft, deep voice said. Keeping her hand over her mouth, Noelle looked up. The guy she’d bumped into minutes earlier was standing in front of her, proffering a napkin. His dark eyes were full of concern. She took the napkin, wiping her eyes and blowing her nose as discreetly as she could.

“I’m sorry,” she said in a trembling voice. “It was just the Christmas music. It gets me every time.” His brow furrowed.

“May I sit down? – That is, unless you’d rather be alone? I mean, I don’t want to intrude.” She was tempted to ask him to go away, to leave her alone in her misery, but something in his expression stopped her. He looked so kind, and worried about her.

“No, please sit,” she found herself saying, snuffling a little.

He took a chair opposite her, and gazed at her directly, but not in a nosy way.

“I kind of get the feeling that this is about more than a Christmas song, if you don’t mind my saying so.” She glanced at him and glanced away again, thinking how red and puffy her eyes must be.

“It’s a long story,” she said. He smiled at her, kind of lazily, as if he didn’t have anywhere in the world to be. He really was an extraordinarily handsome man.

“I’ve got some time,” he said with a shrug.

And she told him. She told him how her parents had died, and her grandparents had been too infirm to care for her, and how the system had let her down, abandoning her to abuse at the hands of the Herzogs. And she explained why she was here – in this little town that she used to know – chasing a relationship that she’d long since abandoned, due to her inability to stay connected with people. He listened attentively, his eyes becoming huge with sympathy, or his jaw tightening with anger as she related the different parts of the story.

“You’ve endured so much in your young life,” he said when she was done. “It hurts my heart to hear these things. Your name’s Noemie, right?”

“No. It’s Noelle actually – I just couldn’t deal with someone making yet another comment about it. And, yes I was born at Christmas – on December 25
th
.”

“It’s a beautiful name. I’m Granger.” He held his hand out and she took it. It was large, warm and a little callused. Fleetingly, she felt like she wanted to hold onto it and never let go. She looked at him more boldly, now that her tears had stopped. He had a dark buzz-cut and stubble on his jaw that was around the same length as the hair on his head. She also realized that he was wearing a military uniform. She’d kind of been aware of it earlier, but hadn’t consciously acknowledged it.

“Are you in the army?” she blurted out.

“Special Ops,” he said with a grin. “At least, I was. As of 12 hours ago, I’m now a civilian.”

“Wow. What happened?” she asked, instantly brightening. She was always happier when the focus of the conversation wasn’t directly on her. He rubbed the back of his head.

“I’ve done my time and requested a discharge,” he said with a grin.

“You seem happy about that?”

“I am. My parents hated me being in the military. At first, I hated it too. I went in when I was twenty, when I was young and stupid. I got caught by the cops in a car with open bottles of liquor and a whole pound of cannabis. I had the option of prison, or enlisting in the army for three years. Obviously, I took the latter option. The first six months were terrible, and I was always on punishment duties, but then I found that I excelled at the physical training and got put in this special division. I loved being a part of it and I actually ended up staying for an extra two years, but I’ve missed my family too much, and it’s time to go home.”

“That’s really nice,” Noelle said with a smile. “I’m sure they’ll be excited to see you.”

“Yup. They actually don’t know that I’ve been discharged. It’s like a Christmas surprise for them.” He blushed a little, making him look even more attractive.

“Wow, they’re lucky to have a son like you.” He gave a short laugh.

“Uh, especially as their other son isn’t exactly making them proud right now!”

“Oh – why?”

“He’s kind of gone missing. Taken off with his girlfriend. My parents don’t approve of him dating her. She’s the daughter of a family that lives nearby, and our two families have been at each other’s throats for years. My parents think she’s taking advantage of him and they’ve basically forbidden him to be with her. He was really mad at them, and he’s eloped with her.”

“Do you think she’s taking advantage of him?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never met her. All of this took place while I was away. My brother can be a little idealistic sometimes, but he’s a good guy. I guess I’d be surprised if he was with someone who wasn’t genuine. I guess I’ll find out.”

“And do you think he’ll come back in time for Christmas?”

“He will if I get my hands on him and drag him back home! That’s why I’m here actually. I’ve tracked him down to this town, and I’m pretty sure he’s here now. I just need to sniff him out.”

“Oh, so you’re not local?”

“No, I live in Richmond, a four-hour drive away.” Noelle gazed at him with interest, her misery pushed aside in favor of curiosity towards this heroic, kind man. Who also happened to be very attractive. She was used to good-looking guys being jerks, making snide comments, telling her she’d be ‘ok’ if she lost a few pounds. The hot guys at high school only ever thought about themselves, their cars, and the next girl they were going to fuck. But this complete stranger had shown her kindness, when he already had plenty of issues of his own to deal with. 

“How did you figure out that he was here?” she asked.

“His credit card transactions. I guessed the password on his online banking account.” He shook his head and chuckled. “He didn’t make it very hard. That’s my brother though – he’s always been the trusting type.”

“Thank goodness he is, or you would never have been able to find him.”

Granger drank the last of his coffee and sighed.

“I guess I should get back to my hunt. I just stopped by here to refuel. It’s already been a long day.”

“Of course. I’m so sorry for bothering you with my problems,” Noelle said. He leaned forward in his chair and seemed to be about to take her hand, but stopped himself at the last moment, as if he’d remembered that he didn’t know her well enough to do that.

“Hey, listen to me: you weren’t bothering me at all, and I came over to see if you were ok in the first place. So if anything, I was bothering you.” She smiled at him.

“I’m very glad you did. You made me feel a lot better, truly.”

“I’m happy to hear that. You can speak to me anytime. Let me give you my number. Whenever you want to talk, you can just call me up. I’m here to listen.” Noelle took her phone out, hardly able to believe her ears. Guys just didn’t say things like that. But then, most guys weren’t national heroes either.

“Give me your number, and I’ll drop call it,” he said, and she did. “Now I’ve got yours too,” he said, without explaining why that might be an important thing. “What are you going to do now?”

“I don’t – I’ll be alright,” she corrected herself quickly. She had no right to burden this stranger with yet more of her problems.

“You were planning to spend Christmas with your foster parents, right?” She nodded. He stayed silent, tactfully avoiding giving voice to what they both knew was the truth of the matter: that she had nowhere to go for Christmas, at all. But his huge black eyes burned into hers, full of sympathy.

“Why don’t you come with me and help me track my wayward brother down?” Noelle blinked at him.
He’s just being kind, surely
. “To be honest, I’d really appreciate the company. It’s been a little lonely so far,” he continued. Her head spun. She had nothing else to do right now. Whatsoever. And she discovered that she didn’t want to leave this man’s company either. Being with him felt like sitting in a patch of sunlight on an otherwise cold day. She grinned.

“If you’re sure?”

“Absolutely. I’d also value your brainpower. I’m a little drained from my last assignment, and I feel like my mind’s not working at full capacity.”

“Sure, I can maybe help with that,” she said, sounding more confident than she had during the rest of the conversation. She had a natural talent for problem-solving. She was amazing at doing crosswords and Sudoku.

“So, what’s your next step?” she asked.

“Well, I know that he stayed in a hotel here in Northwood last night. I went there and showed the front desk clerk his photo and she also confirmed it, saying that he was with a petite, blonde girl. So I now have a description of his girlfriend too. But, they checked out because the hotel was fully booked for tonight, and I don’t know where he’s planning on staying. I’ve been checking his bank account regularly, but nothing new is showing up.

“What else have you been doing to look for him?”

“Uh, walking around the town endlessly, hoping to catch sight of him, and calling up the hotels, asking to speak to him. But no luck so far, and all the ones I’ve tried are booked out tonight, making me think he must’ve left already.”

“Do you think he has an ultimate destination in mind?”

“I just don’t know. At first I imagined that they were just running, to get away from our parents, but maybe there’s something they’re aiming for. It could even be a place that the girl knows.”

“Is there anywhere special that you used to visit as a kid? Any relatives or friends he could be hoping to stay with?”

“I’ve been thinking about that. We used to go on vacation on the west coast, but, for one thing, it’s in the wrong direction, and for another – ” He indicated the window right behind her. “It’s not exactly beach weather.” Noelle turned in her seat and saw that it had begun to snow again, flakes falling softly, drifting one way and another in a very light breeze. She shuddered, not looking forward to going back out there.

“Does he have a car?”

“Nope. And there are no transport tickets showing up in his bank account either, which makes me think he’s hitching.” He shook his head, frowning. “I mean, he’s a big guy and all, and he can take care of himself, but hitching – seriously? All it takes is one psychopath with a gun.”

“I’m sure he’s ok. Most people have good intentions. Especially at this time of year,” she said, attempting to reassure him, although she didn’t believe the words as she spoke them. That hadn’t been her experience of life so far, by any means.