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“Do you ever feel trapped?”
“Trapped?” Glendy appeared truly confused. “No. Never. I’m happy to be here. I wanted to move here because of Thaddius, but obviously too because my daughter is a shifter. She’s welcome in her father’s clan, but I wasn’t. It’s not like that here. That’s not what drove me to come here, though. Nothing drove me. I came willingly and Sam and the rest of the clan opened their arms to me. They gave me a place and made this store a reality. I wanted a better life for Emma, but I couldn’t give her that if I didn’t give myself one as well. You have to give yourself some love as well. That might sound selfish for a mom, but it’s important to live out your hopes and dreams and make sure your heart and mind are healthy. I didn’t have that in my marriage the first time around, and it kind of scared me off. Thaddius helped me to overcome that and realize that I deserved love and happiness. It’s hard when you’re not loved properly. You can be scared to dive into it again.”
“I don’t know that it’s that,” January said. Did everyone know her story? She was sure Tavish wouldn’t have told anyone, but maybe Lily had talked to Glendy. She wouldn’t have gossiped, or at least it wouldn’t have been done with any mean intentions.
“It’s a lot to take in all at once. I’m sure everyone has said that to you over and over, but it truly is.”
“I’ve heard it before.”
“You have to give yourself some time. Things happen fast out here, especially if you have a child involved, but that doesn’t mean you should rush into a decision.” Glendy’s eyes dropped to January’s stomach, and she had no idea how the other woman knew. Or was she was just using her own experience as an example? “I personally think that Greenacre is the best place any shifter could be raised, or any child, shifter or not. Everyone in this community loves children and takes part in raising them or helping out. Greenacre had precious few children before. Things were bad, at least as far as that went, before Sam became alpha, but he’s done an incredible job of trying to right those wrongs.”
“That’s why I’m not a prisoner,” January whispered. “It’s why nothing happened to me when I found out about what Tavish was.” Her temples started to pound on top of the already sick feeling.
“I’m sure nothing would have happened to you before either. But yes, that’s why. Not just because he says so. He doesn’t make decisions like a dictator. Everything is voted on here. It’s a democratic process. The people here voted for change. They’re good men.Tavishis a good man. He’s kind and gentle. He’s smart and he’d be a good protector. He’d be a faithful mate and a good lover.”
“Oh my god!”
Glendy reached out and took January’s hand. She wasn’t aware she’d dropped it off the clothing rack. Glendy squeezed her hand, hard.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean between the sheets. I mean in all aspects of life. He would love you, if you let him. If you could let down your guard, he’d keep his down for you too. I know he had it up before. But when you meet your mate, things can change pretty fast.”
God, maybe Tavishhadtold everyone everything. Maybe there were no secrets in Greenacre at all. Maybe the whole clan knew every bit of their business.
“Tavish was pretty happy being a bachelor, but I think that if you said you wanted to pursue a relationship of any sort, he’d do anything to make it work.”
“He has.” January felt like she was lighting up. Despite all her fears and reluctance, her whole body came to life when she even heard Tavish’s name. Her mind might be saying it was too much, too soon, but her body wasn’t in agreement. “It’s me that is being cautious. I know he’d even leave me alone if I wanted. Or wait until I was ready. That’s even more rare to find in a person. The willingness to listen and truly respect someone else.”
Glendy let her hand go. January felt that rising sense of dread come back. Was it just hormones or was it something else? She felt like something awful was going to happen. Like she’d be just waiting for it, day after day, to come down on them. Was it a premonition or was she just being silly?
“I agree,” Glendy said. “You really learn a lot about a person when they’re not getting their way or things don’t turn out how they want.” She moved over a few steps and started to fiddle with the colorful wrapped up bars of soap, arranging them in a different pattern in the display crate. “I’ve seen Tavish in the middle of a medical crisis before. He always stays so calm. It’s like nothing can rattle him. I’ve seen him help Sam turn those boys around, loving them and being so patient. Granted, by the time I came they were already well on their way to settling in. I know he’d make a great father.”
Glendy was pregnant. It was something January had completely forgotten until she ran a hand over her belly. She was still so small that the pregnancy was completely undetectable under her loose dress. That was the reason Josephine wanted her to come here and talk to Glendy in the first place. She’d just lost track of that with her worries from the night before crowding everything else out.
“You do have ten years before the shifting starts,” Glendy said, her eyes burning with a question.
She did know. Josephine arranged their meeting, but she hadn’t said she was going to say anything about the pregnancy. January felt betrayed for a brief moment.
“Josephine did mention something, but it truly did slip out,” Glendy said, reading January’s expression. “She thought I might be able to help you, or at least give you some advice, seeing as how I’ve been through carrying a shifter baby once already, she thought if you spoke with a few women it might be good for you. But if you don’t want to talk about that, it’s fine. We can talk about Greenacre instead.”
“No. I want to talk about pregnancy. It’s too soon to think about moving to Greenacre. I’ve been thinking maybe if I go to Seattle, my sister and her family are there. She’d be so happy if I moved and it’s closer to here so Tavish can be involved.”
“The clan couldn’t protect you in the city, but you would have those ten years. At the same time, though, learning who and what a shifter is starts long before that for most children—how could you tell a kid going to a regular school that they’re different? The whole situation would be really complicated, but when they are growing up in a community of shifters that’s not a concern.” She paused, like she was trying to think up the best way to describe the situation, then continued, “I mean, if they don’t have exposure before then, it’s not the end of the world. That’s what happened with Sam’s brother’s kids But I’m so glad Emma is getting that education and training so that when the time comes, her own body won’t be a mystery to her. She’ll have more control right from the start. She’ll have a mentor. She has friends here going through the same thing, or ones who have already gone through it.
“Don’t you worry about her getting hurt? She’s one of the only girls, and she’s so small. There arebearsaround here.”
Glendy laughed and even January managed a small smile. “I’ve noticed. I worry about her wherever we are. Anything can happen anywhere, like I said earlier. If we lived in the city, then I’d have other worries. For Emma, this is the best place she could be. She has her father and also a stepfather who both love her and want to protect her. She has guides, teachers, and friends. When it comes to shifting, I can’t help her. My ex wouldn’t tell me anything other than the basics. No one would. I’m a human and I don’t know what it’s like. I was terrified of her having to go and live full time with her dad just to get her through it, and not being able to be there for her like a mother should. I thought I was going to lose her. We have a good arrangement now. She’s with me all week and with Clay on weekends. He’s so close, so that helps. Gradually, the two clans are starting to interact with each other. It’s slow because Clay’s is so closed off, but it’s going to happen. She has friends there too. Aunts and uncles. Grandparents. That’s important. My parents live across the country. I miss them a lot.”
“I’m sorry. That’s hard.” Thinking about leaving her own family behind was like a sliver of glass in her side that kept working its way in deeper, getting more and more painful.
She knew nothing was forever. She could always visit. There were phones and video calls. She couldn’t have imagined moving away from Arizona before, but that was before... Could she visit her parents in Phoenix with her baby? Even after her son was ten? She was sure she was having a boy. Didn’t everyone in Greenacre have boys?
“You’re having a boy?” She asked Glendy.
“I don’t know yet, but I feel like I am. Emma is so excited to be a big sister.”
“Aren’t you afraid that something could go wrong?”
“There’s a chance for complications with every pregnancy. Josephine is amazing, obviously she had her own pregnancy so has personal experience of things that might be different—so far, any births here have been in human women. But Sam is trying to get some cross-clan medical care going on so she can learn more about pregnancies in shifter women. And with regular medicine she’s learned everything she can about shifters and their physiology—which is hard given that there’s no medical textbooks, thankfully, they’re half human. Though if she had to treat a shifter one day in bear form, I think she’s even brushed up on her vet skills too.”
