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A ndy wasn’t sure what Monica was getting at, but he didn’t want to give her up for anything.

“Instead, I’ll look for a job in White Bear.” Monica continued to talk about what they would do about being together before he could get a word in edgewise.

Andy hadn’t considered the impact moving would have on his family. He loved spending time with them; the older the niece and nephews got, the more fun he had with them. But more than anything, he wanted to be with Monica and have her for his mate.

“I don’t want you to have to give up your job to?—”

“Have a mate I adore? A family to make? An extended family to enjoy?” She smiled. “No problem.”

“What about your parents?” He worried about the impact it would have on her parents when she left Anchorage, and he wasn’t sure she would be happy to give up her job after working so hard to get it.

“My parents love to travel, and that will give them an excuse to do so. But we need to meet up with them for dinner in Anchorage and let them know what’s going on.”

“Have you let them know what’s going on?” He hadn’t once heard her call them, and he wondered if she had. He hoped she had and didn’t hit them cold turkey like this.

“Nope. I’ve been busy. They’re busy, but before you say it, yes, we’re close, and if I had even hinted at seeing another polar bear, Dad would have had you investigated to the tenth degree. He’s a retired FBI agent. So this way, it’s a done deal. No one has any say in it but us.”

He smiled, glad she felt that way. “I can put in a good word for you at the police department.”

“You mean you don’t want me just to be a stay-at-home mate?”

He laughed, recalling she’d said she would look for a job, but if she wanted to stay home, he was all for it. “I want you any way I can have you.”

She smiled. “Now you’ve said just the right thing. But you’re right. I’ll call Mom and tell her we have news.”

He wondered just how that would go over with her parents, never having met them and not getting her father’s approval.

“Hey, Mom, yeah, yeah, I’m all right. I’m putting this on speakerphone so you and Dad can listen to what I say.”

“Is it serious?” Mom asked.

“Well, yeah, but not a bad thing. A good thing.”

“Dad’s at the grocery store. I’m at an open house, dear.”

“Oh, well, I’ll make it brief then, and we can talk later when you’re both together at home.

I’ve found my mate, and we’re getting married.

No details on that, but I’ve met his whole family, and everyone is lovely.

I’ll be selling my home, so I need you to list it, and I’ll know you’ll get the best deal ever. ”

“Where will you live?”

Monica thought her mother would be more surprised! “In White Bear. You love to travel, and the whole family has homes and acreage enough for their parents, brothers, and cousins and their mates and their children.”

“What’s his name?”

“Oh, uh, Andy MacMathan. He has been working with me on a false kidnapping case. He’s a state trooper.”

“Oh. What about your job?”

“I’m giving two weeks' notice after I solve this case. I can’t leave it open like this, but when you meet your mate, he’s the only one for you. He can’t leave his family because he has adorable nephews and a niece of various ages that he loves to pamper, and I want to also.”

Monica smiled at Andy. He smiled back at her. She snapped a picture of him and forwarded it to her mom.

“Oh, he’s handsome.”

“He sure is, and he’s the best partner I’ve ever had.”

“What will you do when you leave the force?”

“I’ll decide that later. He has a week on at work and a week off, so I just want to be off to enjoy being a couple.”

Her mother started to cry.

“Mom, what’s wrong?” Now, she hadn’t expected that.

“I’m just so happy for you. I never thought you would ever think of anything other than work. You’re so driven, you know. Are you sure you’ll be fine not working?”

Yes and yes! “After this case, yes. I’ve got to go. We’re almost to the jail and have to question some suspects.”

“I’ll tell Dad, and you can let us know when you can meet us. I’ll also send you a contract to sell your house.”

Now, that sounded like her mother, a top real estate salesperson.

“Okay, Mom. Love you.”

“Love you, dear. And I’m very happy for you.”

They ended the call, and Monica gave a little relieved laugh. “From happy tears that I’m finally settling down—she never liked that I worked a high-risk job—to wanting to sell my house, and she’ll do so before I’ve even removed the personal things I want to take with me—that’s my mom.”

“That sounds like we need to get up there, pack your things, and have dinner with your family.”

“Yeah, with my parents, they move quickly to get things done.”

“Sounds like us,” Andy said.

“You bet. That’s what makes us a dream team at anything we do.”

Hoping to get more of the truth this time from the co-conspirators in the faux kidnapping case, they finally arrived in White Bear and headed to the jail to further question Denny, Wendell, and Helen.

Roger waved at them. “They’re all sitting pretty in lockup.”

“It’s time to do some more interviewing.

” Monica was eager to learn what she could and hopefully get to the truth.

“Then we’re taking off to have lunch with Andy’s family.

” She told the officer waiting to see who she wanted to speak with, “If you can bring Denny to an interview first, that would be great.”

Roger said, “Wendell was checked out. He’s okay. So is Helen.”

“Good. We don’t want them to get out of being questioned again.” Monica entered the interview room down the hall, where Denny was escorted.

Andy went with her to listen in.

“You would think you had talked to me enough by now.” Denny sat back in his chair, looking relaxed without a care in the world.

She started the recorder and read him his rights again. “Okay, so you say Helen oversaw the whole plan of kidnapping her because she told you Pierre had money, and it would be a great way to get hold of it. While I talked to her in the car, she said it was your plan.”

“No way in hell.”

“She said that you intimidated her, angry she had hooked up with Pierre and had money, and the only way you would go along with her being with him was if she forked over some of Pierre’s money in this pretend kidnapping scheme of yours.

” Monica threw that out for him to mull over, though nothing she said was true.

She wondered if Helen had gotten involved with Pierre because she had realized he had money. Then Monica wondered how they had hooked up. Was it similar to how she and Pierre met at a coffee shop? Or had Helen come onto him?

“That’s a damn lie,” Denny said.

“Who is the jury going to believe? You have abused her before, and she has a court order to make you stay away from her. So you see the problem?”

Denny rubbed his chin, sweat beading on his forehead and dribbling down his cheeks. “She’s the one who came up with the idea, but after I struck Pierre, he told me his plan for the money. It was a win-win situation. He would get access to money that he couldn’t otherwise.”

The situation wasn’t looking good for Pierre.

After that, she had Denny returned to lock up and asked to see Helen. But Helen said nothing but, “No comment.”

When Monica had Helen removed from the interview room and brought in Wendell, he said the same thing, as if he and Helen had colluded in refusing to comment.

After they left the jailhouse, Andy and Monica had lunch with his family. Everyone hugged her as if welcoming her permanently into the family.

“Monica has already spoken to her parents, and we wanted to tell the rest of the family that we’re mating,” Andy said as the meals were served at the long table.

Everyone broke into cheers.

Genevieve got up from her chair and walked over to hug Monica again. “We’re so glad you're mating Andy.

“I’m happy to join the family.” Monica hugged her back.

Genevieve retook her seat. “Everyone has been hoping for this.”

Monica smiled, glad she was being welcomed in such a lovely manner.

Andy rubbed her back lightly, always the gallant hero, showing how much he cared about her. “Alicia’s prediction came true.”

“And Andy got the woman, like I predicted,” Ben said.

Monica still couldn’t believe that Alicia had envisioned she and Andy would get together like they did. “I was glad Andy was there for me when I needed him the most. And now, I need him in a loving, mated way.”

“Ditto for me. It was totally a mutual effort to keep ourselves alive in any number of situations.”

“We can see that there was so much more to it than that,” Margot said, smiling.

“Much more,” Monica agreed. “We just had this instant chemistry, even before this mission, when we had first met in White Bear.”

“Yeah, I was ready to bring her home to see the family until she told me she was dating a bear in Anchorage. And of course, her work commitments are there.” Andy kissed her cheek.

“We just needed to meet under more dire circumstances than changing a flat tire to make it real.” Monica lifted her glass of water. “To new beginnings and lots less danger.”

Everyone agreed.

During the meal, Andy asked Rob and Edward, “Hey, can we borrow one of your vans to help clean out Monica’s personal goods from her home? Her mother will jump in and sell it before she can. We’ll head there right after lunch, pack her up, stay overnight, and bring her things home.”

Rob said, “Yeah, we’re not going out for another week on a tour so today would be good for us.”

Edward chimed in, “Yep, I’ll clean the van out and have it ready.”

“Okay, great.”

“We’ll run by your house and follow you up there.”

Andy glanced at Monica to see if they needed them to help pack her items.

“Yeah, sure that will be great. I could leave the food for my mom and dad, but they don’t like half of what I eat. So we’ll need to pack all that.”

“We’ve got refrigerator boxes we use for our outings, so we’ll bring those for perishables,” Rob said.