“Wyatt and I haven’t had a chance to mention it, Uncle Slade, but we’ve had wolves coming in on our camp. Wyatt thinks they’re after the horses, but it probably isn’t safe for a little bear out here, either.”

Slade scowled. “Where did Four Toes get off to?”

Kennedy chimed in. “I didn’t see him leave, but I’ll bet he’s following Ginger. Maybe he’ll get her settled down and bring her back.”

Slade wasn’t content to stand around and wait for his bears to return. “She’s used to people. I think I’ll go scouting on Bogey to see what I can see. Maybe if I call her, she’ll come running. She’s never been out in the woods alone, and she must be frightened.”

Slade was gone over an hour, and his mission was unsuccessful. “I didn’t see hide nor hair of either bear. Damn it! Now I’ve lost both of them.”

His hangdog expression didn’t bode well for the double wedding scheduled for that evening. Erin had envisioned herself going to her and Wyatt’s wall tent to change into her wedding dress so she could enjoy wearing it over the afternoon. It was a simple, floral sundress with coordinating sandals, exactly like Julie’s ensemble. The two of them had decided to be twins for the day. Only Erin couldn’t just wander off to do her own thing when both bears had gone missing. She and Wyatt could always get married another day. If they didn’t find Four Toes and Ginger, the bears might meet with a bad end, and that had to be her main focus whether it was her wedding day or not. The men were talking about forming a search party on horses before it got any later.

Erin had just whispered to Julie that she feared the weddings couldn’t take place until Ginger was found when Four Toes lumbered out of the woods. The three-year-old bear rolled over onto his back as if he wanted to sunbathe. It was then that Erin saw Ginger peeking out through the bright green boughs of a sapling ponderosa. She had clearly followed Four Toes back to camp, but now, whether due to fear of the bigger bear or of people, she mewled and wouldn’t come out of the forest.

Four Toes groaned and regained his feet. He lumbered back over to Ginger and lay down in the shade of a towering ponderosa. At that point, the male bear began bellowing for food, as was his habit. Jake grabbed a tub of baked goods and carried it out to Four Toes. Instead of eating, the bear ignored all the goodies and rolled onto his back again, looking silly and harmless, which lured the smaller bear from her hiding place. When Four Toes reached up with a massive front paw to touch Ginger’s chin, she scampered away from him, crying in fear as cubs will.

“Well,” Slade said, “she’s hanging in close, and I know she can smell the food in that tub. Hopefully, Four Toes will convince her to lie down with him.”