“Prez, there’s a sheriff’s car and another car requesting entrance to the clubhouse. They said they need to speak to a Benton Carter.”
Bear wondered why a sheriff would be needing him. Although he skirted things now that he wasn’t a detective, he hadn’t done anything to warrant a chat with the sheriff.
“Let them in. Take the kids to a back bedroom. Any idea what this is about?” War asked.
Bear shook his head, waiting for them to walk in. He had no clue what was going on. The deputy held the door as a woman carrying a baby carrier and holding the hand of small child walked in, followed by another older child. He recognized the dark curls around the cute face he hadn’t seen for a while.
“Benton Carter?” the woman questioned. Phoebe saw him and ran toward him, throwing her arms around him.
“Officer Bear, Mommy’s gone to Heaven,” her words choked off as she started sobbing.
Bear lifted her up, letting her wrap her arms around him. He’d worried about the kids when he’d left the department but he couldn’t figure out a way to fix it. He’d even offered Cassidy the option of moving to the MC.
He thought back if he could have done anything different. He and War had met Cassidy when they’d picked her up for soliciting. At first he’d lumped her in with his incubator—a horrible mom. But when he really listened, she’d been a victim of circumstance and had just wanted to feed her kids and make sure they had a place to stay.
He’d been single and very frugal his whole life. He hadn’t hesitated picking up groceries and going back over to drop them off. She’d only had two children when he’d gotten to know her. After he’d done some investigating to make sure she wasn’t an addict, he’d given her money to pay her rent for a month. He’d also made sure she had his number if she needed anything.
Over the months, he’d fixed a couple things that had broken at her house and given her money for some incidentals. The last time he’d seen her, he’d opened an account for her with nine thousand dollars in it and he’d paid her rent for a year. When she wasn’t interested in coming to the MC, he’d known he had done all he could.
He’d even touched base with her before Thanksgiving and asked if she was okay. He’d also asked if she needed more money. She’d indicated she’d met someone and was pregnant with his baby and due in December. Now he had more questions than answers but none of that mattered. What mattered was how was he going to take care of these kids?
Phoebe’s arms were wrapped around his neck and her tears were soaking his shirt. He patted her back.
“Yes, I’m Benton.”
“I’m with social services. Cassidy Glickson listed you as the father on all three birth certificates and named you as who the children go to in case of her death. An incident happened and she passed away.”
War walked up beside him. “What do you need?”
“I guess I need help figuring out where we’re going to stay. What do you need so they stay with me?” Bear questioned, patting Phoebe’s back as she continued to cry.
“Although you’re listed as the father, I’ll need to see where they’ll be staying.”
Winnie walked up beside him and crouched down beside David. “Hi, I’m Winnie, Bear’s fiancée. What’s your name?”
The gasps in the room would have probably worried him but right now, the kids needed him and his sunshine was stepping up and letting the world know about them.
Preorder Bear here: https://books2read.com/BearbyNatLogan