“Oh, you are a bear?” Hannah asked in surprise.
“He is, a big old bear,” Elvie said and tugged on her mate’s beard.
“Elvie is a snow leopard.” O’Brian kissed her on the cheek. “O’Malley here is a cougar.”
“Good to meet another cat.” Elvie looked at Hannah. “And you are not a shifter.”
“No, I’m not. I just a plain old human.” She took a sip of her drink and licked her lips, savoring the taste.
“There is nothing plain or old about you,” Elvie assured her. “Since you have captured this cat shifter, there must be something very special about you.”
“I haven’t captured anyone,” Hannah replied but she shot a questioning look at O’Malley.
“Oh, I thought you two were mates.” Elvie’s eyes narrowed as she watched O’Malley closely.
“Are we mates?” Hannah’s direct question knocked him sideways and he took a large gulp of his drink as he tried to formulate an answer.
“Of course you are,” O’Brian did the answering for O’Malley. “I could see it the moment I set eyes on the two of you.”
“We haven’t gotten around to talking about it yet,” O’Malley told his friend.
“Then let’s talk about it right now.” O’Brian refilled all their cups and O’Malley picked up a piece of bread and cut a chunk of cheese in the hope it might blot up some of the alcohol that was threading its way through his veins. O’Brian wasn’t wrong, the liquor did seem to make his tongue loose in his mouth.
“O’Brian, leave these two people alone. They can talk about things when they are good and ready.” Elvie’s warning to her husband was met with a cowed expression from O’Brian. “The man hardly gets to meet anyone new. And since he already knows all the business of everyone in the village, he is like a child in a candy store when new people arrive here.”
O’Brian shook his head. “You make me sound like the town gossip.”
“You are the town gossip, my love.” Elvie looked at her husband with such devotion, it made O’Malley’s heart tighten in his chest.
“Can we talk about Norton?” O’Malley steered the conversation back to the real reason he and Hannah were seated at the table with one of his old soldier buddies.
Who would ever have thought that O’Brian would have settled in a small town like this? his cougar asked. The guy was always the life and soul of the party. I would never have expected him to come here on a pilgrimage to find himself.
We all hide who we truly are and what we truly need, O’Malley answered.
“Norton. Karl. Yes, we kept in touch a little after I left the Army.” O’Brian frowned. “When we were serving together, he asked me a couple of direct questions about shifters.”
“He knows I am a shifter,” O’Malley said. “He saw me shift when I rescued someone in an ambush.”
“Ah, that might explain it.” O’Brian glanced at Hannah. “Don’t get me wrong, I like your brother, it was just strange.”
“At least someone liked him,” Hannah said pointedly at O’Malley.
“Oh.” O’Brian chuckled. “I remember now. You and Norton did have a prickly relationship. It started when you beat him at poker that time.”
“It did?” O’Malley asked.
“Karl is a great poker player, he used to beat everyone all the time back home.” Hannah took a sip of her drink she was barely touching. Probably because she wanted to keep a clear head and not allow the alcohol to loosen her tongue.
Which is probably a good idea, his cougar warned.
“He might have been great back home, but I beat him fair and square,” O’Malley recalled the incident. The squad hadn’t been together long, and Norton had beaten everyone until O’Malley took him on. Norton’s frustration at losing had bordered on anger. They had gone from the best of three to the best of five. Finally, Norton had reluctantly admitted defeat.
I don’t think he ever played again, his cougar said. At least not with the squad.
“So, you kept in contact and then you came here.” Hannah was trying to keep them all focused on Norton.
“Yes. I came here to find myself and found Elvie instead,” O’Brian glanced at his wife adoringly. “Although, in finding her, I did find myself. The self who was happy to live off the land and raise a brood of children.”
“It’s a good life,” Elvie nodded. “Simple but good.”
“Norton asked to visit you here?” Hannah asked.
“Yes, we spoke on the phone one time and he asked if he could come here. I think he was in a dark place, not sure what he wanted to do with his life and where he fit into it.” O’Brian glanced at O’Malley. “You will agree that is a familiar feeling when you leave the forces.”
“It is.” O’Malley swirled the liquor around in his glass. “I opened my bar. I poured everything into it. O’Malley’s and building up my own business kept me sane.”
“I didn’t know Karl felt that way,” Hannah admitted. “He always had a plan. Sometimes it was work, sometimes it was traveling.” She looked toward the door, her eyes unfocused. “Although, the jobs never lasted long, and he would take off for weeks at a time to see the world. He never settled at anything for too long.”
“I think in those times he was trying to find himself. The part of him that was a free-thinking individual.” O’Brian sighed, looking suddenly tired.
“I think we should all get some sleep.” Elvie finished her drink and began clearing the remains of the food from the table. “Tomorrow with clear heads is the time for talk. We will make a plan and go find Karl.”
“We don’t expect you to come with us,” Hannah assured them.
“We can talk about it tomorrow,” Elvie repeated.
The hour was late, and the lady of the house had spoken. As O’Malley got unsteadily to his
