—what, that she was a workaholic who was never home to water her plants? He knows that already, she reminded herself.
And he was okay with it. That was another thing that had always made her think she was totally unsuitable to date—her work schedule was impossible and she had no domestic skills or ability to cook whatsoever.
But Ty clearly wasn’t looking for a domestic woman—a natural-born mom like Pauline was. He liked that she was out in the field, protecting the town. And that was something to treasure.
“Anyway,” Ty was saying, “even with a devoted husband, it was really hard for her. Steve worked long hours to make enough to support them all, and sometimes he had to travel for work, and Iris was at her wits’ end half the time. So when I got back, while I was in school to become a social worker, I practically moved in with them. I’d write papers with a baby on my chest, take study breaks and play with the kids, cook dinner for everyone to give Iris a break.”
“Wow,” Misty said. “That’s—really impressive.”
Ty shrugged. “Everyone is always surprised that I’d do something like that, but they’re my family. Of course I wanted to help Iris and the kids.” He grinned. “And I play a mean game of tag, if you recall.”
Misty remembered that breathless chase through the woods. “Did you shift with them?” she asked, imagining it with six baby jaguars. “Are they all shifters?”
Ty nodded proudly. “Every last one. And I brought each of them up to the mountains, taught them how to hide from humans if they were about, to run and jump and hunt if they had to. Uncle Ty’s Wilderness School, they all called it.”
“It sounds like the sort of thing my father used to do with me, when I was a kid,” Misty said wistfully. “I can’t tell you how valuable it was. Both the education, and the time I spent with him.”
Ty smiled. “It was great. I wouldn’t trade any of the time I spent with them for the world.” He took a big breath. “But, now they’re all up and out of the house—even the youngest one, Rayanne, just went off to college this fall. And so I’ve been at loose ends. Tried to throw myself into my work, but...” He spread his hands. “You saw how that ended up.”
“You must miss them,” Misty said sympathetically.
Ty nodded. “I do, but I’m glad they’re all out there living good lives. I wouldn’t have wanted any one of them to cut off their dreams and stay home just to spend time with old Uncle Ty.” He smiled, looking thoughtful. “And now it really is like I’ve entered a totally new phase of my life. One that’ll be just as good as the last, if not better.”
That warm look again. He wasn’t even smiling, just...using all the same muscles as a smile would. Misty thought she might like that look even better than the big grin. If that were possible.
But Misty was still thinking about that enormous family, the big city...”Are you sure you’re going to be happy up here? It’ll be much lonelier than LA. And—I don’t want children of my own. I never have. We wouldn’t have a big family like your sister’s.”
Ty squeezed her hand. “LA can be lonelier than you can believe. There’s so many people that no one can afford to care about all of them, and it’s easy to get lost in the anonymity. I saw it every day—people slip through the cracks. Up here, it’s small enough that we can actually stop everyone from slipping through the cracks. We can have the biggest family ever: the whole community. We can watch Pauline’s kids grow up, and Cal’s baby, and I can be Uncle Ty forever.”
He grinned. “Actually, now that I say that, it sounds amazing. I was really missing being Uncle Ty, and I knew it wasn’t going to be the same even when Iris’ kids start having kids of their own. But now I don’t have to lose that, after all.”
Misty shook her head, wondering. “I really admire how optimistic you are. I’ve never been able to be as cheerful as that.”
“It takes work,” he said, sobering for a moment. “It doesn’t always come naturally. But when I’m faced with a challenging situation, I have a choice: I can look at it negatively, and think about all the ways it could go wrong, or I can look at it positively, and think about all the ways it could be beneficial. And things always turn out better when I do the second one.”
“That makes a lot of sense.” Misty bit her lip. “I really admired my father,” she said after a moment. “I used to think that he had all the answers—that I all I had to do was keep living out his vision, keep doing everything exactly as he’d have done it, and I’d have it all figured out. But I’m starting to think that his perspective might have been...incomplete.”
Ty was watching her, looking thoughtful. “Everyone’s perspective is incomplete. You just have to decide which pieces work best for you.”
Misty smiled at him. “I’m glad I have your pieces now. They’re working for me better than I ever would have imagined.”
“I feel the same,” he said.
Misty wrinkled her nose. “Really?” She tried to think what she was bringing to the table, exactly. She had a strong work ethic, a good sense of community responsibility, and a respectable amount of courage—but Ty already had all of those things, and had had them back in LA, long before they met.
“Really,” he said. “Just in the last couple of days, I’ve been so inspired by how grounded you are. How much you know what you want and where you belong, without depending on anyone else around you to say what that should be. All of my life, I’ve responded to the needs of others. And while I think that’s admirable to an extent, it can’t carry you through everything. When the others aren’t there, who are you?”
He picked up her hand and kissed it. “You know who you are, and you choose for yourself, based on your own values. I love that about you.”
Great. Blush number eighty-seven, right on cue. “Well,” Misty said, trying to get herself together a bit, “it’s good that we can help each other, then. I—I believe in always working to be better.”
“That’s exact
ly what I mean.” Ty ran his thumb over her knuckles. “I never thought I’d have a mate, and I’m so glad to experience that connection—but even more, Misty, I’m so glad that it’s with you. I couldn’t have asked for a better woman to be my mate.”
“I couldn’t have asked for a better man,” Misty whispered.
“Good.” He grinned. “I’m really looking forward to the rest of my life, now. I can’t wait for all the new undiscovered heights of happiness we’ll be experiencing.”