Page 1 of Single Teddy (Mayberry Protectors #6)

ONE

TEDDY

M y life had always been a mess, but this…this was a mess of epic proportions.

The last twenty-four hours—hell, the last two weeks—had been something out of a TV show, and I was the unwilling observant and participant of it all.

At this point, I was just going through the motions.

That was the best I could do. After all, I wasn’t on my own anymore. I had another soul to look after.

“I miss Mommy,” Bear said from beside me. I wrapped my arm around him, holding him tight.

It wasn’t the first time he’d said it, but sitting here, in the middle of the ocean, in the humid heat of the passenger area, on my way to a new land, a new home, a new life, it hit me now more than ever, making my eyes sting and a sob escape me before I could tame it.

“I miss her too, Bear. I miss her too.” I kissed my nephew’s head and breathed in.

Now wasn’t the time to break down. One of us falling apart was enough.

He leaned against me, throwing his tiny weight against me, and we stayed like that for a long while, giving each other warmth and quiet courage for the uncertain future ahead.

I wasn’t clueless about kids. If anything, I’d been more of a father to this kid than his real one, whoever he was, but having spent all my life on SEAL Team 13, in and out of danger zones and risking my life daily, this…normal stuff was so out of my depth.

I knew how to infiltrate an enemy base, how to hold my breath underwater without an oxygen tank longer than most people, and how to disassemble a firearm and put it back together with my eyes closed.

I’d trained for that all my life. But being a single dad to my seven-year-old nephew? I was woefully unprepared.

Not that Josie had been a better mom…

“May I have your attention, please? We will be arriving in Mayberry Holm in ten minutes. Please collect all your belongings…” a male voice said over the speaker, waking me out of my self-induced mental tumble.

I helped Bear put his coat on, took him to the restroom, and then we went down to the car and waited to disembark like everyone else.

A few minutes later, we were off and he was there. My old commander. Wyatt Goodman. He leaned against the left headlight of his Red Wrangler with his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed in his signature gruff mode that had scared way too many big, macho men shitless.

On his right was a young brunette woman in capri denims and a loose-fitting blouse, smiling from ear to ear. The polar opposite of Goodman in every sense of the word.

I stopped the car in front of his and got out.

“Olson!” Commander Goodman called out and reached for my hand.

“Sir,” I replied.

The brunette ignored me and wasted no time kneeling to greet Bear. I liked her. That was exactly what I would have done in her place.

“You must be Bear, the cutest man on the island,” she said. “I’m Autumn. Nice to meet you.”

Instead of introducing himself, shaking her hand, or even smiling at her, he backed away and hugged my leg instead.

“I’m sorry,” I told her when she got up and turned her attention to me.

“Pfft, don’t worry. I was the same at his age. Who wants to deal with a bunch of big strangers when they’re that age?” She waved her hand with nonchalance and a smile. “Welcome to Mayberry Holm,” she said.

“Thanks.” I turned to my commander. “I’m so sorry to inconvenience you?—”

“You’re not inconveniencing us,” Autumn said.

“Yeah,” Goodman huffed. “Cut the bullshit, Olson.”

Autumn coughed while glancing at Bear. Wyatt cleared his throat and mouthed an apology.

I didn’t know who Autumn was, or her relationship to my much older commander, but I was already a fan of watching them interact with one another.

“Come on. Let’s go. We don’t want to keep Mr. Rogers up too late. He’s an old man.” Goodman spun around and got into his car.

I guided Bear back to my car and put him in his car seat, fighting with the tangled straps once again for a few seconds before fastening securing Bear’s seat belt.

When I turned to get into the car, I found Autumn staring at me from the passenger side with a smirk and she got in the car with me.

I must have been staring because she turned to me and chuckled.

“What? Do you want to drive through these strange, new streets in the dark without a friendly face?” she asked as if daring me to say yes.

I admitted defeat. She was right. Maybe this would be best with company. I mean, wasn’t that why I was here in the first place?

I turned the engine on and tailed Goodman through the streets of his home island.

There weren’t many questions asked on the way to wherever we were going. I imagined the tough questions weren’t appropriate in Bear’s presence and the easy ones seemed superfluous considering the circumstances and the late hour. And even if they weren’t, I was too tired to talk.

Fifteen minutes later, we stopped in front of a large two-story building, and while I handled Bear, Autumn and Goodman took our luggage out of the trunk.

Before Autumn could knock, a kind Black man with curly white hair, a glorious white mustache to match, and dark eyebrows opened the big, wide door and welcomed us into Luna’s Lodge.

I paused and turned to my commander.

“Sir, I…I can’t afford a hotel,” I tried to speak quietly so as not to insult Mr. Rogers and, well, because money was not a nice subject to talk about, but Goodman groaned and shook his head as if I’d spat on the man.

“Don’t be stupid, Teddy! I told you I’d take care of you, and I meant it,” he said it like an insult, which was probably why it took me an extra moment to decipher his meaning.

“I can’t…I can’t let you spend your money?—”

“Don’t worry, Teddy! Mr. Rogers is a friend, and your stay isn’t free. I’m sure he’ll find odd jobs for you to do in exchange for room and board until we can figure out the next steps,” Autumn said.

“Of course, young man. Don’t worry,” Mr. Rogers said and took his glasses off to greet Bear hanging by my leg. “Do you like dogs, young man?”

Bear gave the faintest of nods, and Mr. Rogers straightened and turned to look inside the house.

“Prince! Here, boy!”

A scraggy old mutt rushed into the hallway and looked Mr. Rogers in the eyes before Bear dropped to the floor and called the dog over.

The dog approached him warily at first, sniffing and backing away a few times before it licked Bear’s fingers and head-butted his chin, which caused the most wonderful sound in the world—Bear’s giggle.

Gosh. It had been so long since I’d heard it.

Maybe…maybe he would be all right after all. Maybe this was what he needed. A fresh start away from the mess of a life he’d had before.

“Come on, Teddy. I’ll show you to your room,” Mr. Rogers said, but before I could follow, Goodman grabbed me by the shoulder.

“We’ll get going, but call us if you need anything. And I’ve sent you an email with Bear’s school and address for tomorrow morning.”

Once again, it took me a minute to register what Goodman had said, but this time, it had nothing to do with how he’d said it and everything to do with what he’d said.

School. I had to worry about school now. I had to drop Bear off and pick him up, make sure he kept up with the other kids and did his homework, attend PTA meetings and school functions, engage with other parents and guardians…

Fuck!

This was a whole new reality.

A new reality I was so so unprepared for. Life would never be the same again, would it?

“ Plus , we got him all the supplies he needs, so you don’t have to worry about that,” Autumn said and pointed upstairs. “We’ve put it in the room already.”

“Thanks. Thank you both,” I said, feeling weaker than I ever had.

It was no wonder I didn’t shut an eye later that night, once we’d both settled in our room.

Bear had had his dinner and warm milk that eased him right to sleep.

He looked like an angel. He was so…small, and I was responsible for this fragile little creature.

It was impossible not to be terrified. How could I rest?

I just sat in the armchair across from the bed and watched him, going through everything in my mind and trying not to panic. Trying being the operative word.

Breathe, Teddy. Breathe , I kept telling myself.

Over and over again until by some miracle, I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, it was light outside.

It was easier to shove all my feelings deep down when the sky outside the window looked such a nice, serene shade of purple.

I got out of the chair, stretched, and checked the time.

I had no idea if it was too early or too late for school, so I checked my my phone and read through Goodman’s email, which reassured me I had plenty of time before Bear had to be at school.

I tiptoed out of the room with my suitcase, changed into my jogging pants and a T-shirt, and started to go out the door when it hit me.

I couldn’t just leave him here, on his own, in a brand-new place, no less, so I could go for my morning jog. He didn’t have his grandparents around to watch over him or to run to in case he got scared. It was just…us. Us against the rest of the world.

“Shit,” I muttered and closed the door, collapsing on the nearest chair and trying to screw my head on straight and come to grips with my new life once more.

Eventually, I dragged myself back upstairs, back into the room, and went through the motions of waking Bear up, getting him into the shower and dressed and fed, and on the road to school.

“I don’t wanna go to school,” he said.

“I know, Bear, sweetheart, but you have to. All kids go to school.”

“But I don’t want to!” he whined louder.

I looked at him through the rearview and didn’t know how to respond. What was the right thing to say? What was the wrong thing?

We stopped at a traffic light, and I focused my gaze on him.

“I know it’s scary, but we’re in this together, Bear. You know? We’re all we’ve got now. I’m scared too, yeah? I don’t know this town, or its people, but we’ve got friends here. People who care about us, like Mr. Wyatt and Autumn, yeah?”

He didn’t look entirely convinced, but he nodded anyway, and I put my foot on the gas pedal and set the car in motion again, wondering who was putting on a brave face for whom.

I parked the car and walked into the building with Bear as if I’d never been to school before. As if walking onto an enemy base where one wrong move could be my undoing.

“Excuse me, where is the principal’s office?” I asked the first person I came across, and they took me there themselves, as if I were incapable of following orders. Or maybe I looked that helpless.

Once the necessary paperwork was handled and all the introductions were made, the principal unleashed us back into the school and in search of Mr. Crawford’s classroom.

But this time, I refused to ask anyone. I was a grown man who had fought terrorists for fuck’s sake. I could find a freaking classroom.

And I did.

It took me five minutes, but I did.

We stood outside, and I turned to Bear, who looked back at me with big, wide eyes that threatened to make me sob.

How Josie made something so pure and innocent, I’d never understand. Or how I’d ended up his guardian for the rest of my life. But I’d do it, dammit. I’d do it just so I could keep seeing that light in his eyes. I wouldn’t let that light go out again. And that was a promise to myself and Bear.

“Ready to meet your new teacher?”

He pursed his lips and gave me a very insecure nod, tightening his grip around my hand. I ruffled his hair, smiling.

“You can do it, big guy. I know you can.”

Bear continued to watch me. I pulled back, took a deep breath, knocked on the door, and walked in.

“Hello!” I said, just as a man on the other side of the door jumped and fell…right into my arms.

“Hi,” said the young bearded man with strawberry-blond hair and the cutest round glasses that made his blue eyes pop.

“You must be Mr. Crawford,” I said to the man still in my arms.

“The one and only.” He smiled, and for some unknown reason, his smile took my breath away.