Edward MacMathan has just waited on Robyn Conibear at his
aunt and uncle's restaurant in White Bear, Alaska, the
woman he'd fallen in love with some years ago, and now
she's returned with two little boys to his hometown and
stirred up him and his family all over again.

“Who’s the woman and kids?” Uncle Ned asked, setting
another couple of plates on top of the counter for pickup,
his hair and beard white.

They always told him he should be Santa Claus for Christmas
and he always said he would be, once Rob’s kids were older.

“Someone from out of town. She had car trouble. I’m calling
Joe to pick up her vehicle and take care of it. And yes,
they’re some of our kind.” Edward didn’t know why he didn’t
just flat out say who she was. He guessed he was worried
his family might be upset with her for leaving him, but
they knew the reason too.

Uncle Ned smiled.

“She’s got kids. Sheesh.” Edward couldn’t believe his uncle
was even pushing to get him hitched. But when his aunt and
uncle couldn’t get their own three boys married off, they’d
been eager to see Rob and Edward mated. Rob and Edward’s
parents had been killed in an avalanche and they’d adopted
the boys to raise alongside their cousins. They had hoped
Rob and Edward would provide them with grandchildren, well,
great nieces or nephews, but they considered them their
grandchildren. Now that Rob had twins, Edward thought they
would be satisfied. But no, their aunt and uncle loved them
so much, they wanted more.

“You chased off the Wright brothers to give them seats so
you could still wait on the woman and her kids.” Uncle Ned
loaded a couple of more platters on the counter, while
Edward tried to contact Joe on his cell.

“They had to walk some distance into town, and they were
half frozen. They needed a seat next to the fire,” Edward
said. Then Joe answered the phone. “Hey, Joe, I've got a
job for you.” Edward told him what had happened.

“Okay, I’ll be right over.”

“Thanks, Joe.” Edward entered the kitchen and made up three
steaming mugs of hot chocolate topped with twice the
whipped cream they usually added.

Aunt Genevieve had returned to the kitchen while Alicia and
Rob were finishing their meal, the babies in their carriers
sound asleep. His aunt was studying Edward. “The hot
chocolates are for someone special?” She arched a brow.

He explained what had happened again.

His aunt looked out from the kitchen to see what the woman
looked like. His aunt’s eyes widened, and she tsked. “Robyn
Conibear? She has a mate?”

“That usually comes with the territory when you’ve got a
couple of kids.” Edward gave his aunt a kiss on the cheek
and with the tray of hot chocolates, papers to color on,
and crayons, he headed back to Robyn’s table. He set the
whipped cream-topped mugs on the table. “Here you go,
boys.” He gave them each the packages of crayons and the
coloring pages. They eagerly took them. Their mom helped
Garrett open his package, and Edward helped Bryan. “Did you
decide what you want to eat?”

“We’ll have the hot chicken soup, hamburgers, and french
fries.”

“Okay, got it. Joe, the tow truck operator, is coming over
and will talk—” The door opened and Edward glanced to see
who it was. Joe. He was always completely dependable.
Edward waved to him and he waved back and headed for their
table. “That’s Joe Cavender. He’s an honest guy and he’ll
figure out what’s wrong with the pickup, no problem.”

“Thanks for everything.”

“You bet. I’ll just put this order in and get the hot soup
out to you right away.”

Joe joined them and began talking to Robyn. Edward returned
to the kitchen to fill up bowls with chicken soup. His aunt
just shook her head. “Do you know how many times you’ve
come in the kitchen to help serve up anything to customers?
Never.”

“She and the boys are half frozen.”

“Uh-huh. And she’s a former girlfriend.” Aunt Genevieve
peered over the ledge to see what Robyn looked like. Then
she smiled. “Well.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Edward lifted the tray of
bowls of soup.

“She’s still a looker and the boys are cute.” Aunt
Genevieve frowned. “They look a lot like you and your
brother at around that age.”

“She’s still mated.” Edward carried the tray to Robyn’s
table.

Joe inclined his head to Edward on the way out of the
restaurant.

Ben and Rob were leaning against a post, arms folded across
their chests as they watched Edward leave off the bowls of
soup at Robyn’s table and head back to the counter. He
walked right past his brother and cousin to grab another
tray, except this time to deliver to another table. He was
trying to ignore Ben and his brother, but they followed him
to the kitchen to pick up more meal orders.

“Who is she?” Ben asked.

“She’s one of us. Robyn Conibear.” Edward repeated what had
happened.

Both Ben and Rob swung their heads around to get a better
look at her. “Hell,” Rob said.

“He made the Wright brothers move from their table,” Ben
said.

“He fixed them hot cocoa with mountains of whipped cream,”
Rob agreed.

“And bowls of hot chicken soup,” Ben added.

“And she has two kids. Which means she has a mate. Either
of you would have done the same for her, if you’d seen how
cold she was when she first arrived,” Edward reminded them.
He glanced at the table where Alicia had been sitting, but
realized she was leaving, and Aunt Genevieve was carrying
out one of the sleeping babies, while Alicia had the other.

“So, Joe’s going to tow her truck into town for her?” Rob
asked, grabbing another platter.

“Yeah.” Edward suspected that everyone was going to hear
about his helping the woman and her kids out and it would
be the talk of all of White Bear. Well, as far as the
shifter population went. Especially since she’d been an old
flame of his.