“I trust them to accept us.”
“But you have all kinds of support right here on Gemini Island.”
“I know, but it’s different for you, Connor. Your parents, your brother, they’re all shifters. You have no secrets, none this big anyway. Life is short, even for us. I don’t want to live it under a huge cloud of mystery. I’ve had to distance myself from my parents out of necessity, but I don’t want to anymore. Seeing Ry and Lia with the new baby has made me reconsider so much. I don’t ever want to take my family for granted, not any of them.”
“I don’t want to see you get hurt, Elaine.”
“Neither do I, but they still need to know the truth. If they turn us away, they turn us away, but it’ll bother me if I never give them a chance.”
This conversation didn’t sit well with him, despite the logic of her words. “I’d still feel better if I came with you.”
“Oh, Connor. Believe me, I’m tempted. It would be easy for me to rely on you to fix my problems. You’re a fixer, and you do it well.” She stood on tiptoes and kissed him at the corner of the mouth. “But I need to start fixing things for myself.”
“I understand.” His mountain lion hissed. Okay, maybe he didn’t really want to understand.
“Besides it’ll just be a couple of days. A short visit.”
“Sure. I get it.”
A short visit.
He didn’t believe that for a minute.
* * * *
“I hear you’ve made plans to visit your folks.” Josh listened to Elaine’s heart as he made conversation. “Connor tells me you’ve planned some time away.”
“Just a couple of days.” Elaine breathed in whenever he gave her the nod. “If you give me the all clear, of course.”
Josh’s wounds were almost all healed. Despite a few bruises and a cut under his eye, he looked like himself again. He’d been hanging around the resort a lot more and always in Marcelle’s company. In fact, they’d been inseparable. Elaine envied them the ease with which they’d fallen in love. They made it look so easy.
Why was it she was fumbling so much?
Josh removed his stethoscope and pulled up a stool so he could sit opposite her. Still perched on the examination room table, she adjusted her shirt, doing up the buttons.
“Your heart is strong, Elaine,” he said. “How have you been feeling, in general?”
“Fine. No more shortness of breath. No nausea or pains.”
“Good. Been sleeping well?”
He’d seen her dark circles. Would she ever get rid of those? “Okay, I guess.”
“Tell me the truth.”
“Boy, I can’t get anything past you, can I? You’re right. I haven’t been sleeping well at all.”
“Why not?”
She slid off the exam table and pulled up a chair next to him. “Josh, how did you know Marcelle was your mate?”
His eyes widened, and he grinned. “Well, based on my knowledge of shifter nature, I reviewed the symptoms as they presented themselves and formed a hypothesis.” He laughed and shook his head. “You know what, Elaine? I could describe the phenomenon in a variety of scientific terms, but who the hell really cares? At the end of the day, I just wanted her. I wanted Marcelle more than I’d ever wanted anything in my life.”
“Sounds simple.”
“It was. I know we still have lots to learn about each other, but it doesn’t matter. The bond is there. It surprised the hell out of us both, but it’s there. Everything else will work itself out.” He gave her the side eye. “Is everything okay with you and Connor?”
“I’m not sure it is.”
