Chapter 6
Remington
Ice is for Polar Bears, not a Grizzly
“Come on, Daddy! You can go faster!”
“While I appreciate that you have faith in me,” I said, legs wobbling like Jell-O as I slid along at approximately one mile per hour, “I’m not so sure about that.”
“It’s all about your center of gravity,” Addy said as she skated in a circle around both me and Eva, cool as a cucumber.
“Sure, that’s what it is.”
While I had no doubt that my daughter was partially right, I was pretty sure weight made a huge difference.
I was a big guy with broad shoulders, and I’d always put muscle on easily and maintained it well with my landscaping work.
Granted, I’d gained a bit of weight since Zara had passed, because food was a comfort.
I still fit into most of my clothes, but my six-pack was more of a two-pack, and my thighs had definitely thickened.
But hey, I was a bear; it was only natural to bulk up in the winter.
“I think you’re locking your knees,” Addy continued as I gripped the side rail along the wall for dear life. “What about all your shifter super-powered stuff?”
“’That doesn’t cover ice skating, apparently.”
“Lame.”
Lame indeed.
I didn’t give up, though, because what kind of example would that be for my girls?
Even in the frigid air, it wasn’t long before I was covered in sweat, and I knew I would be hurting in the morning.
It didn’t help that I had to dress warmer than I normally would so I could blend in with the many humans around.
What was the point of running so hot when I had to pretend that ninety-eight degrees was my normal resting temperature?
After twenty minutes that felt like four hours, I kind of managed to stand upright and scoot along, but I certainly wouldn’t call myself graceful. Meanwhile, Addy was navigating smoothly through multiple groups, and Eva had learned how to spin in a careful circle.
“I think I’m gonna have to take a break, guys,” I said, a bit embarrassed by how much I was panting. “You two have fun. I’ll watch from the benches.”
“Okay, Dad.”
“Okies, Daddy.”
That was my girls—brave as all get out.
I made it to the benches after a long, unsteady journey to the closest exit, and I was intensely grateful that my shifter healing stopped my muscles from getting too sore. Plopping myself down none-too-gracefully, I pulled out my phone and took some pictures and filmed a few clips.
I sat for a few minutes, until I was certain they were all right. I probably wouldn’t be getting back on the ice anytime soon, so I took my skates off and put my boots back on. Much more comfortable.
My stomach rumbled. I glanced back at the rink. Addy and Eva had joined a group of kids and were doing a conga line across the rink, and they seemed in their element, so I headed over to one of the snack booths.
The line was pretty long, which made sense considering the crowd, and I could smell all sorts of delicious things. Hot apple cider. Mulled Wine. Hot chocolate. The majority of the crowd seemed to be ordering that.
Lovely, but not for me. I needed to cool down so I could stop sweating up a monsoon.
I ended up settling on a fully loaded hot dog and a cold beer along with a bottle of icy water. I knew the girls would want something as well, but I’d wait until they got off the ice.
With all my stuff bought, I returned to an open spot on the bleacher seating around the rink and watched as my girls laughed, skated, and generally had all sorts of childhood fun. It wasn’t our first time skating, but I didn’t remember them being quite so fast or confident.
My babies were growing up.
I wished Zara could see it. She’d be beside herself. She’d loved watching our girls be girls. She once told me that even though she had to miss out on a lot as a kid, it was a special blessing to her that she got to watch her children experience everything she couldn’t.
Well, I’d just take some extra pictures and take them with me the next time we went to visit her gravestone.
So I did just that, eating and drinking with one hand. Would some be a little blurry or at a crooked angle? Sure. But that didn’t matter. It was—
My pleasant thoughts were cut off when, one moment Addy was skating backward and talking to her little sister, the next she was flat on her back and skidding.
No!
I was up on my feet and at the edge of the ice before remembering that I didn’t have skates on. I hesitated, wondering if I should go put them on, but then Addy started wailing.
I stepped onto the ice and started sliding, waving my arms to keep my balance. It wasn’t my first the rodeo when it came to cuts, scrapes, or bruises, which was why I was so concerned. Addy generally sniffled and usually preferred to go in and read or sleep after a painful accident.
“Daddy! Daddy!” Eva called. “Addy! It’s Addy!”
“I’m here!” I nearly pitched forward. “I’m coming, Addy!”
But I wasn’t the only one listening. From the corner of my eye, I saw a few other adults had stopped skating and were now heading toward my daughter, but a small boy reached her first.
“Hey there, friend. Are you okay?” I was pretty sure that the rink was too loud for others to hear him, but with my enhanced senses, I could pick up the conversation.
“It’s blood! There’s so… so much blood,” Addy sobbed.
“Yeah, it looks like you got a pretty bad cut. Went through your leggings! Is the blood scaring you?”
“Y-y-y—”
I was almost there, and I was nearly beside myself. I’d never heard my even-keeled, matter-of-fact daughter sound so truly terrified, and it was making my inner bear stand up and bellow. No one hurt our babies!
“Addy, what’s wrong?” Eva asked, growing increasingly beside herself. Fuck, had I just ruined Christmas with a terrible idea? I thought I was getting the hang of this single-dad thing, but had I just put my children’s safety at risk?
“It’s okay, I get scared about things too. Here, you close your eyes, okay, and I’ll put a Band-Aid on it. I think your daddy is coming, so he can kiss it all better.”
The boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a box of bandages, then pulled his glove off with his teeth. I reached them as he finished putting one on a fairly large gash on my daughter’s shin.
He grinned up at me. “Hey there, Mister! You the daddy?”
“I’m the daddy,” I said, offering him a grin even though I very much didn’t feel like smiling. “Addy, you okay? I’m here now.”
She opened those gorgeous, green eyes of hers and looked up at me. Tears streamed down her cheeks. “It’s so red!”
“I know, baby, I know,” I said, getting down on my knees and opening my arms up to her.
This was the part about being a shifter parent that was so hard.
I wished that my babies had the same healing ability that I did, that their pain could be whisked away just as quickly.
But no, that wouldn’t happen until they gained their animal forms. “It’s okay, Daddy’s here now. ”
“Big man, is everything okay?”
Normally, I would have turned to address the speaker, but my balance was tenuous on the ice, and I was on my knees. A moment later, the owner of said voice came into view. All that was visible of the short, bundled-up woman’s face was her hazel eyes and wavy blonde hair under her knitted cap.
“Everything is okay, Mama. This girl here fell. I was helping.”
Oh, so this was the mother? They were both quite short, but while the boy was barely a waif of a figure even all bundled up, the woman was significantly thicker in a way that was hard not to notice—and appreciate.
“Goodness, did you have a fall, sweetie?” she asked.
Addy nodded into my shoulder.
The corners of the woman’s eyes crinkled like she was smiling before her gaze flicked to me. “Would you like a little, uh, help getting over to the sidelines?”
I flashed her a smile, grateful for her help, but my mind was still in panic mode. The way both of my girls were sniffling was sending my bear into a tizzy.
Protect. Protect. Protect. Protect!
“How could you tell?” I said after a hard swallow. I was aiming for humor, and thankfully, the woman chuckled.
“To start, you don’t have skates on. Also, I came from the bleachers on the other side of the rink to here in about the same amount of time it took you to get here from there.
” She pointed at the closest exit, and for a moment I was baffled.
It had seemed so much farther away when I was slipping across it in my boots.
“Jeez, rub salt in the wound, why don’t ya?” I joked as she offered me a hand. I was a bit reticent about a much smaller person hauling my six-foot-one frame off my knees while on the ice, but clearly the woman had some strength to her because she managed just fine.
“Do you want to get on my back, Miss…?”
“Addy!” Eva offered bravely.
“Miss Addy? Or do you think you’re ready to skate if we do it real careful-like?”
“I…” Addy sniffled some more and glanced down at her leg, where the Band-Aid had stopped the flow of blood. “I didn’t like that. It was…”
“It was scary, wasn’t it?” the woman said, sounding so much like her son. “I understand. I don’t like blood, either. It gives me the heebie-jeebies!”
“What if I attract a vampire?”
Oh shit.
That was another thing about being a shifter in the human world.
My girls were part of both worlds, and would continue to be for the rest of their lives unless they chose to separate from the human one, so they knew that some magical things were real.
I supposed I’d forgotten to mention to them that those kinds of bloodsuckers didn’t exist—as far as we knew—but I hadn’t even been aware they knew about vampires beyond Count Chocula.
Lesson learned. We needed to discuss vampires, mummies, and perhaps the Loch Ness monster at another time.
Although, Nessie was real.
“Hmm, the sun’s not fully set yet, so I don’t think any will be out for a long while. Besides, you’ve got your daddy with you, right? I don’t think any vamps would try him.”