Boarlander Bash Bear (Boarlander Bears Book 2) by T. S. Joyce Read Free Book Online Page B

Harrison said. “You said she wants to mother a stranger’s get, but Bash, to a human, you two haven’t known each other very long.”
    “I’m not a stranger,” he muttered. He felt like he’d known Emerson for years. Like his life had been really little before she’d come into it.
    Harrison sighed. “Look, for shifters things happen fast. We just know when we find the one. It don’t work so easily for humans, and if she is already going in for an appointment, it means she’s been wanting a baby for a long time and she’s been going to doctors long before she met you. She probably didn’t want to do the parenting thing alone, but she didn’t meet the right partner.”
    “So you think I did wrong leaving last night?”
    “No, I think your reaction was fair. That’s a big blow. I know how bad you want cubs, and now the woman you want is trying to get pregnant by another.” Harrison stripped a small branch off the log they sat on and broke it in half. “Bash, do you remember your real dad?”
    “Yes,” he gritted out, void of emotion.
    “How was he to you and your mom?”
    “He was an asshole. Didn’t deserve her. Didn’t deserve me. I clawed him up as soon as I was big enough and able.”
    “Yep. Now tell me about your stepdad.”
    “I love Bill.” Bash crossed his arms over his chest and bit his bottom lip. “He came in when I was ten, and I was his, and my mom was his. I wish Bill was the real stock I came from.”
    “Is he still nice to your mom?”
    Bash nodded hard once. “They’ve been together nineteen years, and he still buys her flowers every Monday and tells her nice things about the way she looks.”
    “And who sends you those funny birthday letters and cases of beer every October twenty-ninth?”
    “Bill.”
    “And did he ever make you feel less important because you weren’t his biological son?”
    “No.”
    “Do you think you or your bear will be mad at Emerson’s baby for being born with someone else’s donated DNA?”
    Oooh, he saw what Harrison was saying. He could be a Bill for Emerson’s baby if he stayed friends with her. Bash scrubbed his hand down the stubble on his jaw as his thoughts raced around like a tornado. Okay, Emerson wasn’t picking him back, but he didn’t like the thought of her not being in his life. She wanted a smart daddy for her baby, and maybe that was okay. She laughed a lot at what Bash said, and not in a way that was making fun of him like kids used to do in school. She thought he was funny. It would be good if she had a smart baby. Bash imagined himself sitting in the front row when the kid played piano recitals and collected fancy awards, and no one would be prouder. He imagined Emerson’s belly swollen with a baby, and the ache in his chest eased. Did it matter that the child would be another man’s? It did, but how much? Would it be enough to keep him from being friends with Emerson? His life felt empty just thinking about it.
    “I think I messed up,” he said low. “Emerson was crying last night. Shit. She’s probably scared to do this by herself, and I just left her there. I need the day off work tomorrow, Boss Bear.”
    Harrison gripped his shoulder and shook him slowly. “You got it.”

Chapter Seven
     
    Emerson choked down the horse pill the doctor had called pre-natal vitamins. She’d been taking them for months to prepare her body to grow a baby but, for some reason, this morning it was ridiculously hard to get down. She gagged and chugged water, then ate a cracker to bully the pill down her esophagus.
    Maybe it was because she was nervous. She’d had chills since she woke up this morning and had peed about a billion times. She blew out a long, shaking breath as she looked at herself in the mirror. She was pale as a sheet, despite all the make-up she’d put on.
    She was utterly alone.
    Closing her eyes, she fought off another round of tears. Her family didn’t support this decision, so they had refused to come to the