Page 1

1

With a whopper of a blizzard predicted to hit White Bear, Alaska and the surrounding areas in a matter of hours, State Trooper Andy MacMathan joined his family at his parents’ tavern for breakfast before needing to rescue stranded motorists.

Additional hired staff prepared the meals while his dad supervised; no one was surprised. Andy’s brother, Ben, who worked at the tavern, helped get everyone water, coffee, and juice. Andy swore Ben was always cheerful, no matter the time of day. It was 5:00 a.m., and everyone, especially his cousins who had little ones, looked exhausted.

Andy grabbed a couple of highchairs for Daniel and Jenny, Andy’s cousin Rob and Alicia’s two-year-old twins. All the children were special, but Alicia always said she thought the twins would have some special abilities like she and Rob had.

Rob and Alicia had premonitions of future events and could see past events by touching something. So far, nothing had surfaced with the kids as Andy sat Jenny in her highchair, and Alicia helped Daniel in his. Both the kids had their parents’ dark brown hair, but they had their mother’s blue eyes.

“See, Rob, I told you Andy has been working out. Look how strong he is,” Alicia teased.

Smiling, Rob was helping his brother Edward and sister-in-law Robyn settle their brood at the table, getting their seven-month-old twins, Lucas and Sawyer, into highchairs. Immediately, the six-year-old twins, Garrett and Bryan, began arguing over who got to sit next to their daddy.

Garrett and Bryan looked just like Edward when he was their age, with dark brown hair and eyes. But Edward and Robyn’s seven-month-old twins were redheads like Robyn, with the same sparkling blue eyes.

“You got to sit with Dad last time, Bryan.” Garrett folded his arms and tapped his foot on the floor, his face a mutinous pout.

It was way too early for the tyke to be up. Bryan wasn’t budging. He also wanted to sit by Daddy.

Edward sighed. “Now you’re making Mommy sad.” He finished belting Lucas into the highchair.

Robyn was securing Sawyer while Rob put her unicorn bib on. “We could always just go home and back to bed.” Robyn spoke sweetly, not as a threat.

The skin beneath Alicia and Rob’s eyes was darker and baggier than usual. They needed more sleep. But they wanted to gather with the family before the blizzard made the families with children housebound.

Andy gave them breaks by fishing with Garrett and Bryan in the summer, building snow forts, and having snowball fights in the winter. It was a free-for-all in the fall, raking the leaves into a mountain and jumping on them. When spring came around, Andy was the best egg-hider of them all.

Six-year-old Garrett finally gave up the grudge and quickly climbed onto the seat beside his mom, looking up at her as if hopeful she wasn’t disappointed that he had wanted to sit byhis dad. She smiled down, hugged him, and kissed him on his forehead. “I love you.”

“I love you, Momma.”

They’d already preordered their breakfasts and had the staff come in early to expedite things. So once everyone was seated, the food was served.

Still, before anyone could ask Andy’s brother Craig and his mate, Margot, if there were any babies on the horizon, a usual scenario for the family gatherings, Alicia said, “Ohmigod.”

When they stopped to hear what she said, everyone was forking into maple syrup-covered pancakes, omelets, sausages, or spooning into cereals.

Alicia looked straight at Andy. “You’re off for a week from trooper duty, right?”

Andy’s nerves tingled with a strange apprehension. “I would be, but with the blizzard coming in, the police force needs me. My boss will adjust the time to compensate me. Why?”

Alicia twisted her lips. “Okay.” She took another spoonful of oatmeal, topped with blueberries and whipped cream.

No one resumed eating. Even Garrett and Bryan were waiting in anticipation of what their aunt would say since she had told them they would lose their favorite soccer ball in a snowstorm if they didn’t put it where it belonged. Did they listen? Nope. When they lost it, they knew she had special powers.

“Rob?” Andy asked since Alicia didn’t seem forthcoming about a future premonition.

Rob shook his head. “This is all on Alicia, it seems. You know how hazy the events we can see are. We both don’t get them about the same situation always, either.”

Alicia and Rob didn’t know the exact times or settings, but they could sometimes catch glimpses of snapshots of what was happening.

Then, everyone slowly began eating, but continued to glance in Alicia’s direction.

Andy knew she wasn’t trying to make this more dramatic than he already felt it was, but she was attempting to make sense of whatever she had seen or could still be seeing.

Then she ate another blueberry and swallowed it. “You’ve met her before. A female polar bear.”

Andy raised his brows. He had met lots of female polar bears before. “A name?”