She wished she didn't feel the need for a present. So, the bear was going to be her goodwill offering to her young niece and, by extension, to the man who appeared to be raising her. Some days she still didn't, although at the age of thirty-two she could usually hide her distrust better than someone Lilly's age. She'd bought him for her niece at a gas station outside of Grand Forks when it suddenly occurred to her that Lilly might not take to strangers. He wore a sequin studded pair of suspenders and corduroy pants. Smokey didn't answer her question, but his black button eyes did look sympathetic. 'If he only knew how many hoursmake that yearsI've worked to find them.' 'Since when is a woman in search of her family taking advantage of anyone?' she asked the bear. She'd already told the bear the whole story, especially the part about how the girl's uncle, Clint, had barely let her explain why she was calling before he accused her of trying to take advantage of the young girl.

She was supposed to meet her niece for the very first time when she arrived in Dry Creek. 'He can't stop me from seeing Lilly,' she turned to remind Smokey as he sat in the passenger seat of her car. So, before she left Chicago, she phoned and told Clint Parker that she was coming to meet her nine-year-old niece. She should have waited until she arrived in Dry Creek, Montana, to make the call to the Parker family, but her first worry had been that everyone would be away from their ranch when she got to the small town. If Smokey the stuffed animal hadn't been there, she'd be talking to the little brass button on her steering wheel by now. She'd been on the road for three days and her anxiety was building. Maegan Shay couldn't believe she'd started talking to the teddy bear.

Small-Town Moms by Janet Tronstad