When the back door opened, revealing Max, she dashed past him into the house, anxious to wrap herself in the protection the cabin offered.

"Shut the door, Max! There's a bear!" "Where's Ronan?" Conner looked around the room, causing Gillian to do the same.

"Um, out?" Max replied, not looking at either of them, but finding something on the floor very interesting.

Oh, God. Ronan had gone outside... with the bear!

"Do you two have guns? You should go get guns and save Ronan from the bear." When neither of the men moved, she urged them further. "Go! Ronan's your brother and he's in trouble and..."

"Oh. Who's in trouble dear?" A short, rotund woman with cinnamon skin and deep black hair stepped from the kitchen, dishcloth in hand. "Are you boys scaring this dear child?"

Conner's exclamation of "Mom!" was drowned out by Max's reassurance of "No, Mom". Mom. Good Lord, now she was meeting their mother. The slut-of-the-universe in the same room as the mother of the men who'd turned her into said slut. Lord, strike her down now and make it quick.

Shocked speechless, she let Conner mumble introductions. When their mother, who she now knew as Ethel, embraced her, she distractedly patted the woman's back as she shot panicked looks at Conner and Max of her shoulder. Couldn't they do something? Why had they not told her their mother was coming to visit? Not that she truly had any place with them other than a woman who liked to give and receive oral sex, but... damn it! Somebody should have said something!

Clearing his throat, Conner spoke up after introductions had been made. "Um, Mom, this is a surprise." He shoved his hands in his pockets, reminding her of a small child who'd been caught doing something they shouldn't. "You didn't call or anything. What brings you here? I assume you brought Dad?"

Ethel, with one arm slung around Gillian's waist, turned back toward the kitchen, dragging her along. "I had a dream that my boys needed me, so here I am. Why don't you two leave us ladies to dinner and go help Father and Dad with Gillian's car? I heard Father cursing up a storm, and I could hear Dad laughing like a damned hyena."

Gillian gave Conner and Max a pleading look, but both men shrugged their shoulders as if powerless against the vibrant storm that was Ethel.

At least Max tried. "Um, Mom, we can introduce Gilly to..."

"Nonsense. You boys go on outside and let everyone know dinner will be ready shortly. Gilly and I have some talking to do and its best done without the 'men' of the family hanging around. Now, out with the two of you."

No. Not out. Please not out. Maybe Gillian was the only one who remembered the bear lurking in the snow. Bears were big and strong with massive teeth, which could rip a person to shreds. Why weren't they afraid?

"Um, what about the bear, Mrs. Bearclaw?"

Ethel patted her arm. "Now, don't you worry about the bear. The bear wouldn't dare come near the house, or I'll have something to say about it. Didn't I tell you to call me Ethel, dear?"

Ethel's kind blue eyes, so similar to Max's, met hers and Gillian felt some of her tension flow from her body--as if a simple look from their mother could ease her fears and calm her.

Conner tried one last time to get Gillian out of the situation she found herself in. "Mom, we can..."

"It's okay, Conner," she stopped his plea before he could finish. Maybe getting to know the woman who had raised the three men she'd been spending time with would be a good thing. "I'll be fine, and if your mom says you'll be safe outside, then I guess you will. But, please be careful."

"You sure, poppet?" She wanted to run and jump into his arms and shower him with kisses. His nickname for her gave Gillian the deep down warm-fuzzies like nothing else.

"I'm sure." Smiling, she walked with Ethel into the kitchen, leaving two of her three men standing in the hallway.