“You’re telling me,” Damien said.
Under the corpse, they found a knife, quite possibly the murder weapon. They took everything they found back to the police department, and Damien went about the process of analyzing the bones, the blood sample, and the knife. After a few hours, the results came back. It was a hundred percent match to Raven’s mom.
He wasn’t sure if he should feel overjoyed or terrible that he’d found Raven’s mother’s body. But now they had a murder weapon, motive, and all the evidence they needed. As far as he was concerned, the case was solved. He went back to Rollo’s office and gave him the news.
“Marvin Updike is in Seattle on business right now,” Rollo said. “The Seattle Police Department has been informed, and they have a warrant out for his arrest.”
“I’m going to take the things that I found of Raven’s mother’s and give them to her,” Damien said.
“As long as they have been cataloged,” Rollo said, “I don’t see any problem with that.”
“Thanks, boss,” Damien said as he stood and left the office.
He grabbed the box from the forensics department and went out to his SUV. When he drove up in front of Raven’s apartment, he swore to himself that this would be the last time she would stay in a place like this. From now on, she was going to live with him. He grabbed the box and hurried up the stairs before knocking on her door.
She opened it with a broad smile on her face and a light in her eyes.
“Did you find anything?” she asked. “I’ve been waiting all day.”
“We found everything we need to close this case, babe. And some things that are going to be hard for you. But I also found this shoebox full of your mother’s things, and I wanted to bring it to you right away.”
Raven gasped as she opened the door wider to let him inside. He came in and sat down on her futon in her tiny little apartment. He looked around at the place, more determined than ever to get her out of there as soon as possible.
Raven set the shoebox on the table and lifted off the lid. When she examined the contents inside, tears began to stream down her face. She lifted the locket from the shoebox and hung it in front of her eyes.
“I remember this,” she said, sniffing back the tears. She opened the locket and looked at the faded photographs of her and her mother.
“This brings back so many memories,” she said, the tears flowing faster now.
“Raven,” he started. “I need to tell you something. We found your mother’s body buried in Marvin Updike’s backyard.”
“She’s dead, then,” Raven said, sitting beside him on the futon.
He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into his chest, stroking her hair.
“Yes. But now you have closure. Now you know what happened. She didn’t leave you on purpose. She’d been murdered.”
“I know that’s supposed to make me feel better, but part of me hoped she was still alive somewhere,” Raven said with a sniffle.
“I know you did, babe. So did I.”
She wrapped her arms around him as the hot tears dripped on his police uniform.
“At least I know she didn’t leave me on purpose. That’s the most important thing. Now I can honor my mother’s memory, and we can give her a real grave with her name on it. As her daughter, I will know and honor the woman who loved me to the very end.”
16
A month after Marvin Updike’s arrest, Damien and Raven sat at Fate Mountain Diner, eating Fate Mountain burgers and huckleberry milkshakes. It had remained one of Raven’s favorite meals, and she liked nothing more than sharing an afternoon with her mate at the diner. She had since moved into Damien’s house, and they were planning their wedding next Thanksgiving.
Damien set down his burger, pulled his phone out of his pocket, and looked at the screen.
“Rollo has an update on the Marvin Updike case,” Damien said.
“What is it?” Raven asked.
“It looks like he’s been sentenced. He’s been found guilty of murder in the first degree and has been sentenced to life in prison,” Damien said before taking another sip of his huckleberry milkshake through a straw.
“That’s wonderful news,” Raven said. “But what about his sons? You said that they were a problem.”
“They are probably continuing the family business, but there isn’t anything we can do about it, considering we haven’t found any evidence against them for anything.”
“Now you guys have made some enemies in this town.”
“It’s nothing we can’t handle,” Damien said.
“Shifter politics are different from human politics,” Raven said. “Having problems with shifter relations on Fate Mountain might prove difficult in the future,” she said.
“That’s true, but it’s something we’re just going to have to live with,” he said.
Lily walked up to the table and refilled their water glasses with a smile.
“Lily,” Raven said. “You’re just the girl I wanted to see.”
“What’s up, hon?” Lily asked.
“I want to ask you to be my matron of honor at my wedding next year,” Raven said. “Now that we’re all part of the same clan, I can’t wait to be a true member.”
“You already are, hon,” said Lily. “But I would love to be your matron of honor.”
Lily leaned in and gave Raven a hug before going off to tell her husband, Shane, the good news through the window behind the counter.
Raven picked up a french fry and popped it in her mouth with a smile.
“Are you sure you want to wait a whole year to get married?” Damien asked. “I want to get married tomorrow.”
“I want to do it right,” Raven said.
They could have had a quickie wedding, but Raven really did want to do it up proper. She’d spent her whole life moving from house to house and never really feeling a part of anything. Arranging a wedding with all her new friends and family would give her a chance to feel that she was part of something. Besides, Deputy Knox had found his mate, and they were going to get married at the lodge on Christmas Day.
Another wedding would have just been overkill as far as Raven was concerned. She didn’t want to steal any other bride’s thunder.
Today, she had more important things to think about anyway. It was the first day she was going to visit her mother’s new gravesite at the Fate Mountain cemetery. After they finished lunch, they went out to Damien’s SUV and drove across town to the cemetery.
Raven had a bouquet of dried winter flowers to set on her mother’s grave. They approached the gravestone through the snowy field. Raven knelt in front of the stone and set the flowers over her mother’s grave.
“Mom,” she said in a hushed tone. “I know we didn’t get to really say good-bye properly. But I want you to know that I’ve never stopped believing in you. You loved me so much that I never stopped looking and I never stopped believing. You gave me your heart, Mom,” Raven said, gripping the locket she wore around her neck every day now. “And I will never forget it.”
Damien put his arm around Raven as she stood from the grave, and a hot tear ran down her cold cheek. Now that she had put her mother to rest, she had something special to tell Damien. She had known for a few days, but she wanted to keep it a secret until she had put this part of her life to a close. But now that she had, she couldn’t keep it in any longer.
“I think, if it’s a girl, I want to name her Harlow, after my mother,” Raven said to Damien as he threaded his fingers through hers.
She looked up at his shocked face and giggled. He reached over and put his hand to her belly.
“You’re pregnant?” he said in a stunned voice.
“What did you think was going to happen?” she asked with a giggle.
“If it were appropriate to cheer in a cemetery, I would be cheering right now,” Damien said, wrapping her in his arms.
He kissed her cheeks gently and kissed away the tears running down them. He held her in
his arms and made her feel as if the whole world were behind her. Not only had he helped her find her mother and given her closure to something that had been holding her back for so long, but he had given her a home, a name, and a place in a community. She would forever be a better person because of it.
“Come on,” Damien said. “I’m going to take you home now.”
17
Thanksgiving Day One Year Later
Raven stood in front of a long mirror, looking at herself in her wedding dress. She had lost most of her baby weight and looked curvier and lovelier than ever. At least that was what Damien told her. Lily held her new daughter, Harlow, who was wiggling in the blond grizzly bear’s arms. Raven leaned in and kissed her sweet little baby girl.
She and Damien had never been happier, and today, on the day of their wedding, they would be blessed again by all their friends and clan who had gathered to celebrate their love. Lily handed Raven’s baby girl to raven-haired Zoe Morris, and Lily helped arrange Raven’s veil and wedding dress one last time.
The women of the Fate Mountain bear clan who’d agreed to be her bridesmaids wore black velvet dresses for the Thanksgiving wedding. As “Here Comes the Bride” began, the bridesmaids and their mates, dressed in tuxedos, met each other in the hallway leading into the atrium in the lodge.
Zoe was the first to walk out, holding Harlow. She walked with her down the aisle and sat in the front row. Lily and Shane, Gauge and Lola, Knox and Harper, Heath and Rosa—they all walked out in front of her.
Raven met Rollo in the hallway and slid her arm around the crook in his elbow. Rollo had agreed to give her away. Raven and Rollo walked down the aisle and into the atrium. She saw Damien standing in his tuxedo at the end of the aisle in front of the minister. His eyes sparkled when he saw her, and she had never seen him looking so handsome.
It made her heart flutter and her knees weak as she made the final strides toward Damien. Rollo stopped and helped her up onto the stage with Damien while Lily took her bouquet. Raven and Damien held hands and looked into each other’s eyes as the minister started the ceremony.
As they went through their vows, Raven felt more blessed than any woman ever deserved to feel. Her little baby gurgled in the front row in Zoe’s lap, and her mate’s eyes sparkled when he looked at her. The warmth in her heart throbbed and exploded as they said, “I do,” and the minister declared them husband and wife.
Damien leaned in to kiss her, and it sparked a whole new level of love and desire inside of her to finally be Damien’s wife. As they turned toward the guests, everyone stood and cheered. Raven and Damien held hands as they stepped down from the stage. The guests tossed flower petals over them as they walked down the aisle, everyone cheering. Even her little baby daughter gurgled and giggled with excitement.
They made it into the dining room, where the reception was set for a Thanksgiving wedding. There was turkey and sweet potato pie stuffing, pecans, gravy, and all the fixings, care of Shane and Maisie Green, who had worked overtime to create a feast for the entire Fate Mountain bear clan on Raven’s wedding day.
The clan had welcomed her with open arms, and after a year of living on Fate Mountain as Damien’s mate, she couldn’t feel happier or more at home. It was a wonderful feeling to be part of something as strong and as rich as the bear clan community of Fate Mountain.
Raven and Damien took their places at the head of the wedding table with Lily, Rollo, and everyone else. Zoe brought baby Harlow to Raven and put her in her little high chair beside her mother and father. The first person to stand and raise a toast was Rollo. He held his champagne glass aloft and smiled down at the newlywed couple.
“Damien Fellowes, our Bear Patrol Tech Bear. You have never failed to be competent, professional, and proficient at your job. You’ve helped solve more cases than I can count, and now that you’ve found your mate and made her your bride and the mother of your beautiful young daughter, I couldn’t be prouder of you. Keep up the good work, my friend. We have many more cases to solve,” Rollo said.
Everyone clapped at Rollo. His wife, Zoe, looked up at him with adoring eyes and a smile on her painted red lips. The rest of the Bear Patrol gave toasts to their Tech Bear. Raven loved hearing how much his friends admired him, and it made her love him all that much more.
She fed her baby a bottle and took a sip of champagne as she listened to the laughter and talk of the bear clan around her and Damien on their wedding day. Raven knew that happily ever after was a possibility for anyone if it could be for a girl like her.
The Thanksgiving feast was passed around the table, and everyone enjoyed the hearty meal. The clan all took turns saying what they were thankful for. When it was Raven’s turn to tell them, she was all choked up and could barely speak.
“I came to Fate Mountain an orphan and a stranger, looking for my identity. Little did I know, I would find so much more. I found a mate and a home and a family. I also found a clan and a whole new sense of myself. Since I have become a bear shifter, I can’t even express how deep my connection is to my mate and to all of you. It is truly a whole other life and a whole other world I never could have imagined. I have each and every one of you to thank for it. For that, I am eternally grateful,” she said, lifting her champagne glass.
Everyone cheered at Raven’s gratitude, and the children began saying what they were thankful for in their adorable childish way. They told the clan they were thankful for their new bikes or a dolly or their mommy and daddy, and it filled Raven’s heart with gladness. The children were the future of the clan, and now she and her daughter both had a place within it. She knew that with the community and her mate and her new little family, the future would be bright and full of love.
After the wedding party was done and night had fallen over Fate Mountain, Raven and Damien and their little daughter went upstairs to the bridal suite overlooking Lake Fate.
They put Harlow to bed in the guest room and stood on the balcony overlooking the dark waters of the lake below them. Raven had a jacket wrapped around her shoulders, and Damien’s arm held her snugly to his chest. The stars filled the night sky in a sparkling blanket above them as they drank one last toast to their marriage.
“I never thought I could be this happy,” Raven said.
“I knew that I could be,” Damien said. “The first moment I laid eyes on you, my cute little elf rogue.”
“I have to admit, I felt the same way when I first met you, my Tech Bear Paladin.”
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