A Bear's Baby by Vanessa Devereaux Page A

felt jealous. She’d seen the daggers the woman had thrown her way when
she’d taken Brady away from his lesson.
    “And
you’re not inviting her this time around?”
    “No,
thought I’d go with you instead.”
      “I’m being a terrible host. What can I get you
to drink? And we have some pie with whipped cream if you want any.” asked
Jenna.
    “I’ve
always got room for that. And a coffee would be fine. That’s what I smell brewing,
right?”
    Jenna
nodded. “Sit down and make yourself at home. Visit with David while I get the
coffee and pie.”
    Jenna
went into the kitchen and reached up on the shelf for the plates. As she poured
the coffee she heard David shouting.
    “Get
away from me.”
    She
rushed in to see him biting Brady’s hand.
    “David,
what are you doing?”
    Brady
quickly moved away. Blood was streaming from the back of his hand.
    “He’s
a bear,” shouted David.
    Jenna
was partly embarrassed, partly felt bad that her brother had bitten Brady, so
she lost her cool and grabbed David’s shoulders.
    “Stop
it, stop it this minute.”
    “He
smells like a stinking bear,” David cried out. He worked his way free of
Jenna’s grip and rushed out of the room sending all the pieces of the puzzle
spilling onto the floor.
    “I’m
so sorry. Let’s get your hand washed and checked out,” said Jenna.
    “It’s
nothing, really.”
    “Let
me decide that.”
    She
made Brady follow her into the kitchen where she ran the tap. He finally gave
in and let her wash away all the blood from the bite.
    “Just
a flesh wound and we… I mean I heal super-fast.”
    It
wasn’t as bad as she’d thought. Clearly Brady had managed to get his hand away
before David could chump down on it.
    “I
was helping him with the puzzle and he got upset,” said Brady.
    Jenna
tore off some paper toweling and wrapped it around Brady’s hand.
    “He’s
been a little tense lately. Maybe something set him off with the stupid idea
that you were a bear. I know he got upset last month when a nature show
featured bears. He smashed the TV at care center. I’m still paying for the cost
of that. Maybe I should think about getting him different sort of help.”
    She
swallowed the lump forming in her throat. What if he needed to be placed in a
mental facility? She couldn’t do that to him. Maybe medication would help
before she had to take that drastic of a measure.
    “I’ll
see if the doctor can prescribe something for him. He’s obviously becoming
delusional,” she said.
    “Might
just be a phrase he’s going through,” said Brady.
    “Fingers
crossed that’s it. I’ll just go get you a bandage for your hand.”
    Jenna
walked down the hall to the bathroom. She saw the door to the guest room where
David was staying, was ajar.
    “I
can smell him,” shouted David. “He smells like the bear that attacked me. Get
him out of here.” He slammed the door shut.
    Jenna
turned around to see Brady standing there.
    “I
think I should be going. We can do this some other time.”
    “Let
me get that bandage.”
    Jenna
pulled out the box, sorted through it until she found one the right size and
then placed it on the cut.
    “Good
as new,” said Brady.
    She
knew he was just being nice about the whole thing.
    He
slipped on his coat and wedged his gift under his arm.
    “I’m
so sorry,” said Jenna.
    “Don’t
keep apologizing. These things happen.”
    Yeah, but not to
normal people they don’t.
    “Thanks
for the cute gift, and I’ll pick you up about four on New Year’s Eve for the
wedding.”
    “Merry
Christmas.”
    “Merry
Christmas to you, too.”
    He
leaned over and simply pecked her on the cheek. Most informal thing they’d done,
apart from shake hands during their first meeting.
    She
opened the door. He stepped outside. She waved, but he didn’t turn back. Jenna
closed the door and rested her back on it, hoping it would hold her up because she
felt like collapsing. Her world was falling apart.
    Even
if there was a