Page 93 of Have a Bear-y Little Christmas

We were only just getting our shoes on when Remy froze. Alarm shot through me, and I worried there was another bear or that the one from last night had come back with friends.

But that worry only lasted a beat or two, because a sappy, chagrined smile spread across Remy’s face.

“We have guests arriving,” he said somewhat wryly before going to the door.

Curious, I followed him, peering over his shoulder as he opened the door to our kids bounding into the clearing. Ana was behind him, loaded up with a cooler and a large duffel bag.

“Bears! Bears! Bears!” Eva and Max were chanting while Addy had a self-satisfied smile on her face.

“Hey there, y’all,” Ana said, waving like she wasn’t carrying a huge bag in that hand. Shifters, man. “You never came home.”

“Why do I get the feeling that it’s not a surprise to you?” Remy countered.

“Bears, bears, bears, bears!” Max and Eva continued as they jumped around.

Clearly, several someones were pleased with themselves.

I stepped forward, hands on my hips. As much as I loved what had happened, I wasn’t sure I approved of their methodology. So much could have gone wrong! Lying was?—

Wait a minute!

Did this mean Max knew about the bear shifter thing?

“We thought you might be hungry and need a change of clothes, so we brought a peace offering,” Ana said, like we also didn’t need to give her a good talking-to. While I was glad the kids had involved an adult, I wasn’t quite so sure what lesson she had taught them. Sure,The Parent Trapwas full of fun Hollywood hijinks, this was real life.

“I hope you had a good night,” Addy said slyly. Oh, she had definitely learned the wrong lesson.

Sigh.

“You think you can buy us off that easily?” Remy countered, but his smile made the threat completely boneless. And frankly, I wasn’t exactlythatworried myself. What had happened would complicate things, but that didn’t mean that I wanted to take it back.

“It’s a start, I figure.”

Fair enough.

Remy stood to the side so they could come in. I studied Ana’s face to see if she could tell that certain extra-curricular activities had gone down. It turned out I didn’t really need to watch her all that closely, because she wasn’t even fully in the door before her gaze slid over to us, her lips twitching coyly.

“Not a word,” Remy warned.

Her expression only grew more beatific. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

She knew. Shetotallyknew, and suddenly I found myself recontextualizing the whole world from the scope that I was surrounded by people who could hear my very heartbeat and smell every change in me. Wonderful.

Wait a damn minute. Did this mean Addy and Eva were little bears? That Ihadto see!

“So, did it work? Are you together now?” Max asked as he hopped onto the threadbare couch.

Remy and I froze. Ana hid her chuckle behind her hand. She didn’t look sorry at all.

“Yeah, are you dating?” Addy asked.

“Dating!” Eva repeated.

I was sorely tempted to tell them it was adult business and not theirs, but I wasn’t the type to shut down things Max was exuberant about. However, he didn’t usually focus on my romantic life.

“Adelaide…” Remy murmured, sounding about as stressed as I felt. How did we explain to them that we’d been occupied withotherthings and hadn’t had a chance to discuss it?

Despite all the normal conventions that would say it was much too soon, too quickly, and we needed to have far more adult conversations, I asked myself something simple.