“After Mom died, the courts hired you to locate Dad. We’d gotten word he lived in the city. Your name was on the report I smuggled from the social worker. I remember thinking how ironic it was the PI they’d hired being only a couple of years older than me. That name on paper was already an adult, and yet I was still stuck in the damn system.” He shook his head remembering how frustrated he’d been to realize that.” He took a deep breath, eyes on the road, memory a thousand miles away.
“I did some grunt work for the courts when I first opened my business,” she said. “What was your dad’s name?” she asked quietly.
“Williams,” Jake said, anger coating the single last name.
Delilah nodded but didn’t say more. She remembered.
Jake went on, determined to get it all out. It wasn’t something he could quit halfway through. “My dad always had a gambling problem. Cards, roulette, you name it. It only got worse as Jonah and I got older. When I was thirteen, my dad finally left. I knew it was for the best, but my mom didn’t see it that way. She was fragile. Jonah was just pissed.”
He blinked away the memories of what that had been like. Being so relieved to have that pressure gone and still having to hold it inside while his mom grieved for a dad that he’d come to hate. “Anyway, Jonah and I were separated. We spent the next five years in foster care. He moved away when he turned eighteen.”
“Williams,” she repeated finally. “I do remember that. He was … I tracked him to a dive bar known for high stakes gambling. I … found his body in the alley.”
Jake nodded. “Cause of death was listed as suspicious. That’s it. No formal investigation. Why bother, right?” He snorted and shook off the ugly fury that came with remembering that bit of paperwork he’d come across in the file he’d stolen. True, the guy had been a shitty father, but he was still a person deserving of justice, right?
She slid her hand around his arm and squeezed. “I’m really sorry for your loss, Jake,” she said. “I wish I’d known.
“Doesn’t matter now.”
“For what it’s worth, I would have changed my name too,” she said. “River—it suits you. The water, the mountains here. It’s who you are. River Bear.”
He didn’t answer, too touched by how clearly she saw him. A part of this place. Jonah had left, needing space and distance from the memories. Jake couldn’t fault him but he also couldn’t imagine giving up the family he’d built for himself here. Despite everything that had happened with his parents and the nightmare of foster care after, Blue Hole was a part of Jake. Delilah was right. He was River Bear.
Jake rounded the last bend and spotted the gravel drive leading to the cabin Xavier had said would be here. No mailbox but he knew the spot. It was damn close to another cabin he knew all too well. Probably what had stirred up all those feelings from back then to begin with. The cabin of the last foster home he’d lived in had its own set of nightmarish memories.
It made him wonder if Delilah’s foster care experience had been just as bad. God, he hoped not.
A pit of unease settled in his stomach as he parked and studied the cabin for signs of life. Whatever happened next, Delilah knew him. The real him. Fucked up parenting and all. It was more than he’d ever shared with anyone outside his crew. He wondered if she understood how much of himself he’d already given to her. And how much more he stood to lose if he lost her now. His bear had chosen her. Despite the danger of Nash’s stupid vision and whoever was coming after them now. He couldn’t leave her. He’d bonded to Delilah in a way he’d never connected with anyone before. She was his now. All of her. All of him. Not just today but always.