“But I will let you in on a secret, so you can start placing bets on a new romance.”
“What is it?” they asked in almost perfect unison and breathless anticipation.
“It’s her daughter I have my eye on.”
“What?” Pru choked.
“Are you crazy?” Molly exclaimed.
Darcy looked at him like he’d grown another nose, while Gramma Finnie sucked in a low, noisy breath of raw disapproval.
“Sweet Saint Patrick, I’ll not be havin’ any of that nonsense, young man. Or should I say old man?”
He started laughing, and every time he looked at the horror in their expressions, he laughed harder.
“Dad!”
“Grandpa!”
“Daniel Seamus Kilcannon.”
“Not for me,” he finally managed to say between burst of laughter. “She’s barely thirty years old. But have you forgotten I’m the Dogfather? I’m not done matchmaking this family. Colleen has four kids, and they all need Uncle Daniel’s help.”
A collective sigh of relief practically rocked the room, followed by an instant barrage of questions.
“For Braden?”
“No, Declan’s the oldest. Wouldn’t he be first, Grandpa?”
“Connor could use some settling down, don’t you think?”
He lifted a shoulder. “I’m thinking Braden.”
Darcy shook her head. “Ella said he’s not over Simone.”
Simone Schimone. Braden was ripe for the picking. “Don’t mention this to Ella,” he said to Darcy, who rolled her eyes because she and her cousin barely breathed without consulting each other first. “None of the Mahoneys will be here tonight, so your job, ladies, is to get to know Cassie and help me decide who we should set her up with.”
“Is that how you do it, Grandpa?” Pru asked. “I thought the Dogfather went on raw gut instinct.”
“I do,” he replied, acknowledging the compliment. “But that was before I had a committee of experts working with me. I’m relying on your second opinion.”
Darcy crossed her arms, clearly intrigued. “So, what’s she like?”
“A spitfire,” he said, using the first word that come to mind.
“Perfect for Braden,” Molly said.
“And very attractive.”
“That would be Connor’s top requirement,” Darcy said wryly. “Possibly his only one.”
“But she struck me as intelligent and kind.”
“Exactly what my Declan needs,” Gramma announced.
“See?” He gave a light laugh. “I need you to help me on this one. Can I count on an assist?”
“Absolutely.” Molly reached over and high-fived Darcy.
“We’re your team, Dad,” Darcy assured him.
“Only if I can do a blog about it,” Gramma said. “I’d like to have something ready for Valentine’s Day, so can you work quickly?”
They all laughed as Pru took out her phone. “I’ll start a list of questions and notes, then we’ll all meet and give you our recommendations. Sound like a plan?”
“Sounds like I put the right person in charge.”
“Dad.”
He turned to see Shane filling the door behind Molly, just in from the kitchen. “Yes, son?”
“She’s here.” A huge smile broke across Shane’s face, and his eyes twinkled with the next joke. “I’m revising the pool and putting all my money on this one.”
“Did I tell you?” He glanced at Molly, Darcy, and his mother for some help, but they were cracking up or—God help him—agreeing. “Bring him in on the new plan, will you? I’m going to greet our guests.”
He stopped at the kitchen window to see a small group gathered in the driveway and quickly spotted Katie and Cassie, already talking to Garrett, Aidan, and Trace, surrounded by a few dogs.
His gaze immediately locked on Katie, taking in how little she’d changed in all these years. Her dark hair still had a saucy swing when she moved her head, and she had maintained a lean figure that looked both elegant and feminine in a creamy white sweater and gray slacks, her jacket slung over her arm. She smiled at something one of the dogs did, but then she glanced to the house, and that smile flickered and faded and turned into a look of…fear?
He could have sworn he’d seen the same expression that morning in the bakery, but what the hell did she have to be afraid of?
Maybe all this gossip and whispers of romance had gotten past his family and back to her. Of course she’d be scared. She didn’t want to replace her late husband any more than he wanted to replace Annie.
Sometime this evening, he’d have to get her alone and assure her of that. Until then, his job was to make her feel welcome and remind her she was in the home of an old friend who had her to thank for every day of happiness he had for thirty-six years. Annie had been very close to leaving Vestal Valley College that semester, she’d been so lonely. If they hadn’t met that fateful January night, he might never have known she lived on this earth.
Oh yes, he owed Katie Rogers a great and profound debt of gratitude. For that, he would do whatever was necessary to make her feel comfortable in his home.
Chapter Five
The first hour—and what felt like a hundred introductions—passed in a blur. Not only did Katie have to take in the impact of Waterford Farm in all its glory, but she had to meet the family who’d once lived and now worked there. And finally, she had to look Daniel in the eyes every few minutes and know that, soon, she’d change his life completely.
So Katie tried to concentrate on the first two things instead.
In some ways, Waterford Farm had completely transformed in the decades that had passed since Katie’s one and only visit. Back then, it had been little more than a comfy clapboard house surrounded by lots of land, tucked deep in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. And while she certainly remembered Daniel had a dog or maybe two, it had been nothing like this, with dozens of dogs, trainees, and kennels all bustling, barking, and happily improving lives, both canine and human. Even the sweet and unassuming farmhouse had been updated and upgraded to a sprawling three-story manor with a wraparound porch and three chimneys puffing smoke.
But in other ways, Waterford was the same. The commanding view of rolling hills would always dominate the landscape, taking her breath away in winter even as it had when she’d seen it bathed in autumn’s most stunning colors. The air was still crisp and clean, and the smell of pine and earth permeated everything. And family—from the much smaller one back then to the seemingly endless one now—remained the life’s blood of this magical piece of paradise.
And then, as today, a small, spirited woman somehow stood as the heart center of it all. Daniel might have been the man of the house for most of his life, but it was his mother who seemed to sprinkle some sort of fairy dust on the place. She now went by the adorable moniker of Gramma Finnie and looked much older than the last time she’d greeted Katie.
Her hair had grayed to a soft white puff, her body had shrunk a few inches, but her Irish brogue was still as endearing, and her touch still held an underlying strength that no doubt guided her through whatever unexpected curveballs life threw at her.
Like the one Katie was about to fling at the family.
Surely this tiny woman with a massive heart would be forever rocked by the news that she had another grandson.
They all would. Like the bubbly blonde named Darcy who instantly slid her arm into Cassie’s and welcomed her as if they were long-lost cousins. And the warm and lovely Molly who so proudly introduced her new husband, Trace, and their daughter, Pru, and announced there was another on the way. All Katie could do was look from one set of hazel eyes to the other and notice how much Molly and Pru looked like Anne Harper. Pru’s hair was darker, but Molly’s was a replica of Anne’s auburn mane.
And all these young ladies were about to have their worlds shaken and broken and changed.
Then there were the sons and their significant others. She met the
youngest, Aidan, tall and good-looking and so very humble when his father heaped praise on him for the service he’d given to the country. A handsome man named Garrett whose wife, Jessie, looked like she could deliver yesterday and be past her due date. Yet, even with that concern, Garrett was talking about a retriever who’d been brought in when her owner had passed away and left her behind.
She met a charmer named Shane who made them laugh and instantly put her at ease, warning them about the water since his wife was in her first trimester of pregnancy, which gave Katie an unexpected twinge of jealousy. Daniel had three more grandchildren on the way?
And she hadn’t even met everyone, since Daniel and Anne’s oldest, Liam, had yet to show up and was bringing his son and baby daughter, whose very name made Daniel light up.
All of them, every one, would feel betrayal, pain, shock, frustration, disbelief, and anger. Jealousy, maybe. Resentment that their world had been changed by a stranger. Maybe a bone-deep disappointment in the father they loved, or fury with her for not realizing sooner that the son she was carrying when they rushed into marriage shouldn’t have been baptized Nico Matteo Santorini Jr. and called Nick his entire life.
When the introductions ended and small talk dwindled, Darcy whisked Cassie off to see the grooming studio, and Daniel suggested a quick tour of the canine part of the property, starting with the kennels, which were at the center of the whole operation.
They walked around a large fenced-in pen, with his dog, Rusty, trotting close behind. They were alone, Katie realized, but the kennels didn’t feel private enough to talk, and she hated to start with her news. Better to wait until after dinner, she decided.
Chicken.
She shoved the truth away and looked around the cheery hallways, taking in the rows of large cages, each outfitted with food, water, beds, and, of course, dogs.
“This is more like a hotel than a shelter,” she noted.
“It’s a refuge,” Daniel said as they passed a few sleeping dogs, one on his back with four legs in the air, dead-bug style. “When Annie and I were dreaming of the design, long before this place became a reality, she’d been to a similar farm out in Virginia and had seen kennels like this. You see the door each kennel has in the back? We train them to go back there and do their business, which of course we can hose down a few times a day. It was important that the individual kennels stay clean and bright.” He pointed toward the roof. “That’s why we have so many skylights in here.”
Even this late in the afternoon, sun poured in, warming the whole maze with a golden glow. “It must have been quite an adventure, building all this and raising six kids.”
“Oh, the canine business is only four years old.” He slowed his step and looked at her. “I decided to start this business the day after I buried Annie.”
“Oh.” That was a surprise. “I figured this was all her, since she loved dogs so much.”
“She fostered, and over the years, the boys and I built small kennels, very rudimentary compared to what we have now. At the most, we’d have five, maybe six dogs on the property at a time, and our Irish setter in the house.” He glanced at Rusty with a smile. “But when Annie and I were raising kids, I was a full-time vet in town, and she had her hands full with six kids all born within about twelve years, so we never did more than that.”
Katie nodded. “And I thought five in twelve years was some kind of a record. And two were twins. That really must have been a challenge for you two.”
“One kid is a challenge when you take parenting seriously,” he said. “But they all grew up and moved out, so we started dreaming about running a dog refuge. And you’re right, it was her dream first, but I loved the idea of a place to train people how to manage their dogs. You’d be shocked at how many people get a dog and are completely clueless at how much this pet will change their lives and have no idea how to train one.”
She studied him as he talked, lost for a moment in how the timbre of his voice changed when it was a subject he was passionate about. She could easily see the young vet student she remembered, now matured and mellowed by age, and pick up that same undercurrent of something she used to think of as fierce kindness. A serious, focused, driven man with a good heart and an unwavering need to help people.
Exactly like Nick.
“You look surprised at that,” Daniel said, reminding Katie that she’d never been very good at hiding her thoughts and feelings. Nico used to say he could walk in the door, take one look at her face, and know exactly what kind of day she’d had. And then he made it better.
“No, no,” she said quickly, trying to tamp down her thoughts. What had he said? She rooted around for his last sentence. “I think it’s wonderful that you made it happen after she passed away. A tribute to her, in a way.”
“In a way.” He eyed her for a moment, making her wonder if she’d done a poor job of covering what she was really thinking. “It was also a not-so-secret ploy to get my kids to come home and fill the void.”
“Really?”
He shrugged a shoulder that was no less broad than when she’d last put her arms around him. More so, in fact. “I woke up that morning after the funeral, and I looked out my bedroom window. I saw them all out here, the six of them. They were a far-flung pack then. Aidan in the military overseas, three of them on the West Coast working for Garrett’s dot-com company, Darcy flitting about the globe. And I wanted them here. Home. In Bitter Bark. And Annie sort of whispered the answer to me.”
“Build it and they will come?”
That made him laugh. “More like suggest it and they will build it and never leave.”
“Then it worked.”
“Like a charm.”
They turned a corner to a cage that was easily four times the size of the others. Instantly, the dog inside lifted its head and growled, making Daniel stop and look from the penned area to Rusty, who was right next to him.
“Whoops,” he whispered. “I forgot our newest arrival isn’t socialized.”
“Oh, is this the dog your son mentioned? Goldie?”
“Yes, and she’s…” He hesitated, watching as Rusty went closer to the gate. After a second, Goldie stood up, stared at Rusty, and took one step toward him.
After a beat, she stopped growling and stared, and her silky tail swooshed. Rusty’s did the same. “Whoa.” Daniel gave a soft laugh. “Maybe she’s more socialized than we realized.”
Katie studied the dog behind the gate. “Maybe she thinks they’re related,” she suggested.
“You might think that,” he said, “but they’re not the same breed.”
“They’re not?” It was astonishing. “They look so much alike.”
“Goldie’s a red golden retriever, and he’s an Irish setter, and they…” Each got a little closer, still staring. “They don’t hate each other.”
“That’s good, right?”
“Always.”
Goldie looked up at Daniel, then at Rusty, then back to Katie with a gaze so pure and honest that it made her heart slip around a little.
“She thinks you brought Rusty,” Daniel explained, putting a hand on her shoulder. “I could be wrong, but I think she just said ‘thank you’ in dog language.”
Katie laughed and crouched down next to Rusty. “You like this boy, Goldie?” she asked through the wire mesh. “I bet he’d be your friend. I will, too.”
Goldie barked once, turned in a circle, then resumed staring at Rusty, wagging her tail with a contented tick-tock.
“So what’s going to happen to her?” she asked.
“Not what would have happened at the county shelter,” Daniel said, the edge in his voice unmistakable. “My sons will train her, and we’ll get her adopted.”
She stayed eye-to-eye with Goldie. “How old is she?”
“My guess is under five, but I don’t know for sure. She’s surely a little brokenhearted after what she’s been through.”
She looked up at him, frowning. “What has she been through?”
“Her owner passed, and the firefighters and sheriff discovered him on a wellness check. Goldie was alone in a trailer with the man.”
“Oh. How sad for her.” She straightened slowly as the impact of that hit. “She watched her owner die?”
Daniel put a hand on her back. “She’ll be okay, I promise.”
Okay? Maybe. But never the same, Katie thought. “Can I go in and pet her?”
“Yeah, but…” He angled his head and reached for the latch. “I’ll stay here with Rusty. She’s definitely an unknown around other dogs, but she’s fine with people.”
As the door opened, Goldie finally tore her attention from Rusty to focus on Katie, looking up like a small child who really needed and wanted affection.
“Oh, love,” she whispered, bending over to pet her. “You’ve been through a trauma, haven’t you? I know.”
Goldie lowered to sit, holding her head up for the affection Katie offered.
“Oh, Daniel, my heart.”
Behind her, she heard a soft, knowing laugh. “You can give her a treat from that container on the wall and pretty much seal the deal that she’ll love you forever.”
His voice was so tender, Katie’s heart nearly folded in half. She snagged a brown cookie-shaped treat and let Goldie eat it out of her hand, getting rewarded with another spin and happy tail.
Delighted, Katie clapped her hands and cooed at the dog. “Good girl, Goldie. You’re a good girl.” Turning, she looked at Daniel. “You’re positive someone will adopt her, right?”
“Now that I’ve seen her with Rusty, yes. She’s obviously trainable, as most retrievers are.”
“Did you hear that, Goldie? You’ll have another home. You’ll see.” She gave her head a good pet again, but Goldie walked by her to the gate to stare at Rusty some more. “I think she’s more interested in a four-legged friend than me.”
He carefully opened the gate to let Katie out but leave Goldie in. “She knows she’s got you,” he teased.
“She surely does,” Katie agreed. “How did that happen?”
“It’s dog magic. They get into your heart with one look. There’s like a connection that’s almost instant.”
Old Dog New Tricks Page 5
