Old Dog New Tricks

by Roxanne St Claire

  “A fact I keep quiet about,” John joked.

  “Alexander, as in the Great,” Cassie finished, pointing to her other brother. “And there’s also Theo, which is short for Theodoros. All Greek,” she added, her dark eyes glinting with pride and maybe a little bit of a challenge.

  “But only one named after a princess and a prophet,” Braden said, pinning a dark blue gaze on her.

  She inched back and glanced at her mother, unable to hide her surprise. “Why, that’s right.”

  “The prophet no one believed,” he added.

  Her jaw actually dropped. “Yeah, wow. Someone paid attention in…where did you learn that?”

  “I read a lot.” There was a hint of humility and humor in the comment that Katie didn’t expect from someone so big and handsome.

  “He’s a literal bookworm,” Connor told them. “Just ask the rest of the people at the firehouse. We’re cooking, eating, playing video games, or watching movies, but Braden has his nose in a book. And no digital stuff for this dude. He’s got an actual library card.”

  “And you read Greek mythology?” Cassie voice rose with piqued interest.

  “I like the classics.”

  Katie almost choked, the echo of Cassie’s list of requirements still fresh in her memory. Good heavens, Daniel was good at this matchmaking thing.

  Over Braden’s shoulder, she saw the kennel doors open and caught sight of Daniel’s silver head of hair among the group of people who walked out. Instantly, she felt her muscles tighten in anticipation of seeing him, hating that she zeroed right in on the man and wanted to stare at him.

  “There’s Goldie,” Connor said, following her gaze.

  “Oh!” Katie hadn’t even noticed the dog. “Yes, there she is.” She felt her whole face light up, but her gaze went right back to Daniel, taking in how broad his shoulders looked in a black pullover, imagining that she could hear his now familiar laugh from here.

  “Mom, you’re smitten,” Cassie teased.

  Katie looked away quickly, probably appearing as guilty as she felt. “Well…I…I just have fallen so hard for that dog.” With a secret, smug look at Cassie, she gestured to her sons. “Come with me, I’ll introduce you to the one who’s stolen my heart.”

  “The dog or the man?” Alex muttered as they walked away.

  Both.

  * * *

  Daniel leaned against the kitchen counter, his post-Sunday-dinner coffee warming him almost as much as the laughter and talk that echoed through the entire first floor of his home.

  With all of the Mahoneys here, including his sister, Colleen, plus Katie and her three kids, and every one of the Kilcannon clan, the head count reached twenty-six, and the decibel level hit deafening. Gramma’s buffet had worked perfectly, feeding the crowd and giving everyone a chance to find a place to eat and mingle.

  With dinner over and the last of the daylight fading, some of them had gone out to play with dogs or take walks or offer tours, while others sat in groups talking and laughing. Young Christian led a few of his aunts and uncles to the family room for what sounded like a rousing round of Mario Kart.

  “Take her, Dad?” He turned to see Liam’s outstretched arms holding nine-month-old baby Fiona. “Andi and I are going to sit down with John Santorini to talk about some of the construction they need done for the new restaurant. Now that they’re thinking about buying it instead of renting, she thinks she can easily design the architecture modifications they have in mind.”

  “As if I need a reason to take my granddaughter.”

  Fiona’s big blue eyes sparkled at the sight of him. With a little drool on the side of her rosebud lips, she reached her tiny hands toward Daniel, greedy for her grandpa.

  “Hello, wee Fee,” he whispered, kissing her head as he snuggled an armful of sweet delight.

  She gurgled and instantly plopped her head on his shoulder with a sigh of contentment that Daniel knew he hadn’t imagined.

  “Now she’s happy.” On his other side, his nephew Declan came closer.

  “Now we both are.”

  Declan laughed, revealing a few crinkles around his eyes and turning his head so the light caught the first few strands of silver at the temples of his nearly black hair. Good God, that was a shock. He still thought of Dec as a fourteen-year-old fishing in the lake or running around with Liam and Garrett playing tag all over Waterford Farm.

  But this firefighter captain was closer to forty than fourteen. Maybe Declan should be on the receiving end of Daniel’s matchmaking skills, he mused, sliding a look out the picture window to notice that Cassie and Braden were still talking, as they had been since the minute Katie and her kids had arrived. Could his work already be done there, or at least getting started?

  “You look as happy as Fiona does,” Declan mused, nodding at the crowded kitchen. “Nothing like a full house for your Sunday dinner.”

  “Nothing like it,” Daniel agreed. “And it’s been more than a month since you’ve been able to make it.”

  He glanced skyward. “Captain’s duties. I don’t know why I thought this promotion would make things easier, but it seems all I do is work.”

  “You need time for fun, Dec,” Daniel said. “And a woman.”

  He choked a laugh. “Shane’s been warning me I’m next on your list.”

  “It’ll be a rare woman who’s got the right heart for you.”

  He gave a tight smile. “Relax, Uncle Daniel. If you need to be the Dogfather, go to work on Connor, if you can find a woman he hasn’t loved and left in a fifty-mile radius. That boy needs some settling down. Me? I’m too busy for a life outside of the firehouse.”

  Daniel gave him a skeptical look. “No one’s too busy.”

  “Not even you.” He gave a pointed look to Katie, who was deep in conversation with Daniel’s sister at the kitchen table.

  Daniel opened his mouth to deny the suggestion he’d heard over and over again that day, sometimes in subtle ways like this and others less so. But like he had every other time, Daniel closed his mouth and refused to set the record straight. They all thought there was something going on with him and Katie, and that was probably because there was. Just not what they imagined.

  Colleen gave a soft hoot, and she and Katie looked at Daniel as if they were talking about him.

  “He never knew,” Colleen said.

  “Never knew what?” he asked, coming closer.

  “Something that happened the day I came here for dinner all those years ago,” Katie said, the color rising in her cheeks.

  “What was it?” He sat down on the long bench facing them, patting Fiona’s tiny back.

  “You two were caught kissing on camera,” Colleen told him.

  “What?” Daniel’s voice rose in surprise, making Fiona lift her head for a second, before finding her thumb and dropping back onto his shoulder. “No one took pictures that day.”

  “Not that you knew of.” Colleen flipped her long, brown hair over her shoulder, her eyes dancing mischievously. “But Dad bought that Sony camcorder, remember? He couldn’t figure out how to use it, so he let me play with it.” She gave a toothy grin, suddenly looking very much like the pesky little sister she’d been before she grew into a wonderful woman.

  “What did you do?”

  “Followed you on that nice long walk you took.”

  Katie hung her head in pretend humiliation. “I don’t think I want to hear any more.”

  “You didn’t do much, just made out like a couple of fools down by the lake.”

  “And you filmed it?” Daniel practically choked on the words, and this time, Fiona let out a whimper of unhappiness. “I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he said, gently guiding the baby’s head back to his shoulder, but glaring at his sister. “But your great-aunt Colleen is in big trouble.”

  “Why?” Colleen asked. “I never showed it to anyone.”

  “But we saw it, lass.” Gramma came over, slipping in from the sidelines where she obviously had been listening to
every word. “Seamus and I discovered it when we were watching some family movies one night. Had a good laugh, we did.”

  Katie put her face in her hands. “And I am mortified.”

  “No need to blush, lass,” Gramma assured Katie. “You didna do anything too terrible, just a whole lot of smoochin’.”

  “No worries, Katie.” Daniel reached over to lift her chin so he could look at her. “It was long ago, and there’s probably not a working VCR anywhere in this family.”

  Gramma sat next to him and peered up over her glasses. “Which is why we had all those old plastic tapes put on DVDs ages ago, before Seamus died. Sometimes I watch them and remember my youth.” She gave a yellowed grin at Daniel and Colleen. “And yours.”

  Once again, Daniel and Katie shared a look at a situation that was both hilarious and embarrassing.

  “You want to watch?” he asked her.

  “Uh, not with the whole family gathered for a group viewing.”

  They held each other’s gaze during the laughter, and for a moment, it felt like all the noise and family and even the baby on his arm disappeared. And last night in the garden seemed like a million miles and as many second-guesses away.

  In her eyes, he saw a reflection of what he was feeling, a need that had practically strangled him since they’d said good night in the garden. As much as he loved this day, surrounded by his family and hers, he ached to be alone with her again. Just for a few minutes, just…alone.

  “Want to go see Goldie?” he asked, knowing she was disappointed they’d had to put the dog in the kennels for the day, but the house was full of granddogs that would have tested all of Goldie’s lackluster socializing skills. “We could put Fiona in her stroller and take them both for a walk.”

  “To the lake,” Colleen teased, cracking them all up.

  Katie laughed, too, pushing away from the table. “I’d love to see Goldie,” she said. “And, Gramma Finnie, name your price and I’ll take that DVD off your hands.”

  “Oh, lass, I’ve no idea where it is.”

  A few minutes later, he had Fiona buckled up in her stroller and let Katie push it across the driveway toward the pen, where they were both surprised to see Goldie walking slowly near the fencing.

  “She’s out,” Katie exclaimed at the sight of her. “And there are other dogs!”

  Garrett waved them closer to where he stood with Alex and two border collies who would be part of a training class launching the next day.

  “She’s staying to herself, but no aggression so far,” Garrett said proudly.

  “That’s fantastic,” Katie said.

  “Did you guys do something different yesterday with her? She seems so much more settled.”

  They glanced at each other, both knowing that the only thing different was that Goldie had slept in the house with Katie, but that couldn’t help with socializing, right?

  “We had her with us all the time,” Daniel said.

  “That was a good call,” Garrett said. “I got an email this morning from a family in Boone looking to adopt a golden retriever, so I’ll tell them we’ve got the girl they want.”

  Katie sucked in a quick breath. “Really?”

  “It’s a good family,” Garrett assured her. “They don’t have any other dogs and lost a retriever a few months ago. Two kids, big property. I like the fit. You taking her for a walk? Let me go get a leash.”

  As Garrett walked away, Katie gave Daniel a concerned look. “What about Rusty?”

  “What about him?”

  “Daniel! Goldie is his girl. His best friend. His comfort.”

  He let out a sigh. If he let Goldie into his life and heart, she’d never leave. Could he commit to that? He’d sworn Rusty would be his last. There were so many dogs around here and kids, and she wasn’t ever going to be his dog.

  Katie slipped behind the gate and knelt down next to the retriever. “I’m so proud of you, Goldilocks. You’re a good girl.”

  But maybe Katie would change her mind about taking the dog.

  “Here you go.” Garrett returned with a long walking leash, handing it to Katie, who clipped it on like a dog pro. Yes, maybe she would change her mind.

  “Hold off on that call to the family in Boone, Garrett,” Daniel said. “Let’s be a hundred percent sure about Goldie.”

  Garrett frowned, obviously not expecting that. “Sure.”

  All leashed up, Goldie did her happy circles, then trotted over to give baby Fiona a passing sniff before heading down the path. They took a few steps ahead as Daniel got behind the stroller and kicked the brake free.

  “You want to keep that dog, Dad?” Garrett asked quietly. “I know she’s pretty tight with Rusty.”

  “I want to…” His gaze shifted to Katie. “Make her happy.”

  Garrett gave a tight smile and nodded, smart enough not to ask if Daniel meant the dog or the woman. Daniel pushed the stroller and caught up with them quickly.

  “Where to?” she asked as they reached the first fork.

  “Right takes us to a huge field. Left takes us to the lake.”

  She glanced over her shoulder. “Should we make sure no one is following us this time?”

  “Can you believe my sister?” Daniel shook his head on a laugh. “What a brat.”

  “What a memory,” Katie said under her breath.

  Yeah, it was. He put one hand on her back and steered Fiona’s stroller with the other. “So what do you think of our family matchmaking efforts?”

  “Big success,” she said. “You were right to put them together like this to build a bridge. It was genius.”

  “I don’t feel like much of a genius today.”

  She glanced at him, a question in her eyes.

  “I might have blown it last night.”

  “Nah. You’re right. We’re better off as friends. I think the paint fumes made me crazy.”

  He laughed. “I think the way you kiss made me crazy.”

  Goldie stopped, and so did Katie, turning to look up at him. “I heard you tell Garrett not to call the family about adopting her.”

  He gave a shrug. “Maybe she can stay closer to home.”

  “Like inside Waterford?”

  “Like in Chestnut Creek.”

  “You think I should adopt her?”

  “I think you two have a great connection, and that way, she’d be close to Rusty. We’d see her every time we see you.”

  “Which would be how often? I mean, considering this is…wrong.”

  Letting out a little grunt, he closed his eyes to stop the volley about dogs when it was them they needed to talk about.

  “I messed up,” he admitted. “I never slept last night.”

  “Lot of that going on,” she said.

  He stroked her cheek with his thumb, holding her gaze as his heart crawled up his chest and settled in his throat. “I’m confused. A little scared. Uncertain of what to do. For the first time in my life, what’s right and what’s wrong isn’t clear. The only thing that’s clear is that I want to be with you.”

  The corners of her lips hinted at the faintest smile.

  “I want to kiss you like I did last night. A lot. I want to hold you and know you and…and…” He lifted her face toward him. “None of that seems the least bit wrong.”

  “But will you second-guess that decision?”

  “I don’t want to, but…” He huffed out a breath. “I’m torn. I’m scared. I’m cautious. I’m…”

  “I’m none of those things, Daniel. But I do not want you to wake up on our first morning together and drown in guilt or regret. So you have to be sure.”

  Right that minute, he was so sure. He lowered his face to put his lips on—

  “Dad! Dad!”

  They jerked apart, spinning around to see Liam tearing down the path toward them.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “It’s…Rusty.” In the time it took Liam to take one deep breath, Daniel felt his heart stop. “He’s having a seizure
. Pretty bad. Molly’s with him.”

  He didn’t even stop to think except to angle the stroller handle toward Liam and give one quick look at Katie.

  “Go!” she said, pushing him forward.

  He did, running back to the house so fast the wind whistled past his ears. Screamed at him, actually.

  Damn it all!

  Was this what happened when he broke his vow?

  Chapter Twenty

  “She’s not exactly a lapdog.” Molly came into the den where Katie was tucked into the corner of the sofa with Goldie sprawled over her legs.

  “Tell her that,” Katie said. “Any news?”

  On a sigh, Molly sat down on the other side of Goldie’s hind legs, stroking her fur. “Dad’s on the phone with Dr. Evangeline Hewitt, who is not only an excellent veterinary neurologist, she was also one of my best friends in vet school.”

  “Oh, really.” Katie sat up a little. The dog experts in the family had been saying that a neurologist was needed but not easy to find outside of large cities. “So she lives nearby? She can see Rusty right away?”

  “She works at the N.C. State Veterinary Hospital in Raleigh, and she’s a qualified veterinary brain surgeon. She’s reviewing the scans we did today. That’s all I know, because Dad asked me to come out here and check on you.”

  “I’m fine,” Katie said. “But I don’t want to leave him. What’s your professional opinion about Rusty?”

  Molly took a deep breath as if considering her words. “It could be a tumor, which is my guess, and Dad agrees. Something we can’t see on the scans. If that’s the case, then it’s like any other tumor, either benign or…”

  Katie closed her eyes. “I hate cancer in a way that’s hard to describe.”

  “I bet you do.” Molly put a sympathetic hand over Katie’s. “And we hate to make you even relive a minute of it.”

  “Don’t worry,” she said. “At least I’m familiar with the terminology and surgeries.”

  “Yeah, surgery.” Molly sighed. “That’s the big question. Is Rusty too old to endure brain surgery? That’s what Evie and my dad were talking about when I left.”

  “The poor man,” Katie murmured. “I hurt for him.”