Molly nodded with sympathy and glanced around. “I guess most of the troops have disappeared.”
“Reluctantly,” Katie said. “My kids headed back to Chestnut Creek while you were all in the vet office with Rusty, and Liam and Andi wanted to get the kids home. Garrett practically carried Jessie out of here.”
“She’s gonna pop any minute.” Molly tapped her barely noticeable baby bump. “Makes me wish I could fast-forward to August and join her.”
“Do you feel okay? The first three months are so hard.”
“I haven’t been sick much, but poor Chloe, who’s a few weeks behind me, can’t even look at food. Speaking of my offspring, where’s Pru?”
“She and Gramma Finnie went upstairs to work on a blog.”
Molly gave a wry smile. “Code word for Gramma needs to pray, and Pru is probably sound asleep on a mountain of embroidered pillows right next to her, like she’s two again.”
“They’re sweet together.”
“Sweet and sassy.” She inched back to get a look into the kitchen. “And Trace?”
“He’s with…Aidan, I think, and Darcy and Josh. In the kennels with all their dogs.” She patted Goldie. “Basically, all dogs have to clear out, or Goldie will bark their heads off.”
“It’s a shame she has that problem,” Molly said. “But my brothers will train it out of her. They’ve already made good progress.”
“I know,” Katie agreed. “I just wish she could get good enough to slide into a permanent slot here with Rusty. But Daniel…”
Molly snorted. “That won’t happen. He’ll never let another dog into his heart.”
“Why not?” Katie asked. “Is it really just because she’s not a setter? That’s so out of character for a man like him.”
“Oh, that’s what he says. Just like my Grandpa Seamus. The Kilcannon house dog has to be from the line of the ‘great Fergus and Enya of County Waterford…’” She grinned at the imitation of her grandmother’s Irish brogue, only in a deeper, more masculine voice. “But the truth is, Rusty is Dad’s great one.”
“His great one?”
“All dog lovers have dogs, obviously. But in your life, there’s usually one that stands out. That amazing, one-of-a-kind creature with a soul that utterly connects to yours. For Trace, it’s Meatball. For Jessie, it’s Lola. For little Christian, well, he’ll compare every dog for the rest of his life to Jag.”
Katie smiled, knowing the deep connection the young boy had with the remarkably well-trained German shepherd who once saved him.
“No dog will ever reach Meatball’s status for my husband,” Molly continued. “The great one is a person, really. One that’s there with you for the best and worst days of life. Rusty is my dad’s great one. He’ll love other dogs, welcome them and take care of them and appreciate them. But in his heart? There’ll never be another Rusty, and so he says at his age, he doesn’t need to start over and try and build that kind of attachment. Doesn’t want to. He’s had his great one.”
Katie stared at her, vaguely aware of the lump forming in her throat.
He’s had his great one.
“Well, you’re a great one, Goldilocks.” Her voice caught, and she cleared her throat and leaned over to put her face in the dog’s fur to hide the emotions from Molly.
But Molly put her hand on Katie’s shoulder and eased her up. “I’m talking about dogs, you know.”
Katie fought a smile and willed her eyes to be dry. “I know.”
“Because my dad has been different since you’ve been around. Happier. Younger. Just…better.”
“We both are,” Katie whispered.
“That’s good.” Molly searched her face, no judgment or smile or scorn on her lovely features. Only warmth in eyes that somehow managed to be both brown and green, the same as the eyes of a girl Katie remembered gazing at Daniel with an unabashed crush. “And whatever happens between you two,” Molly said, “you know you’ll have our family’s full support.”
For whatever happens? Once again, Katie’s stomach dropped with the knowledge that there was so much more that these young men and women didn’t know. They would all be tested by the truth soon enough.
“Thank you,” she said simply. “And can I just say that you are a carbon copy of your mother?”
Molly’s smile grew to blinding. “Thank you. It’s my life’s goal to be more like her.” She leaned forward. “I always wondered about you, you know.”
“About me?”
“The one that had to let him go,” she said on a laugh. “I mean, the blind date meet-cute is a fun story for us, but Darcy and I would always climb into bed as teenagers and ask each other, ‘What about the girlfriend? Wasn’t she super put out by the whole thing?’”
“We weren’t really…” But they were serious enough, as everyone would soon learn. “I told you I was in love with…” But still had sex with Daniel, as they would no doubt realize. “I was fine with it,” she finally finished. “We both ended up exactly where we were supposed to spend our lives.”
“But your life isn’t over,” Molly said. “And neither is his. Don’t you think it’s kind of poetic to reunite after all these years?”
Katie smiled, not sure how poetic any of this was.
“Of course, I say that as a woman reunited with the father of her child,” Molly added. “A man, mind you, who didn’t even know he had a daughter. And a woman who thought he’d disappeared after one night together.”
Katie almost melted into the sofa. “Talk about poetic.” And surely this young woman would be sympathetic when she learned the truth. On impulse, Katie reached over and pulled Molly into a hug, not explaining it and not having to. She got hugged right back.
“Good news.” Daniel’s entrance broke them apart.
“Evie’s coming,” Molly said, no question in her voice.
He nodded. “She’ll be here early in the morning, and she’s confident she can operate in our Bitter Bark surgery center. She’s bringing a vet van from her hospital, and they have a few bells and whistles we don’t, including a mobile MRI that’s better than what we have and should help us find that sucker. She’s convinced it’s a tumor.”
“That’s good news, Dad.”
“She thinks she can find and remove a tumor and firmly believes that it’s better for Rusty not to travel to her surgery center in Raleigh. If all goes well, I can take him there after the surgery for a few days of observation and checking to see if…”
If the cancer spread. Katie knew the drill all too well. “And she’s not concerned about surgery at his age?” she asked.
Daniel came over to her, his face softening. “I don’t have a choice, Katie. If there’s a tumor, even if it’s benign, it’ll grow, and the seizures will get worse, and he’ll be in pain. She is adamant that time is of the essence, too. It’s our only real option.”
“Rusty’s strong,” she said. “I have faith in him.”
That made him smile, the first one she’d seen since they were on their walk hours ago. “Thanks for staying.”
He put a hand on her shoulder, the look in his eyes saying he wanted to do more than that. He wanted to hold her, and if Molly hadn’t been there, Katie would have obliged.
“I wouldn’t dream of leaving.”
“I’m going to spend the night in the vet office on a cot next to Rusty,” he said.
“We’re keeping him on a potassium bromide drip and a heart monitor,” Molly explained. “To prevent a seizure in his sleep, although it’s still possible.”
“Which is why I won’t leave him,” Daniel said. “The guest room is yours again, though, because it’s too late to drive back to Chestnut Creek.”
“I’ll be in the vet office with you,” she said, leaving no room for argument. “And Goldie.” She patted the dog. “Who is a great source of comfort.” She slid a sly glance to Molly, who winked in response as she scooted off the sofa.
“Then I’m going to gather my sleeping daughter and darling
husband and go home.” Standing, Molly reached up to hug her father. “Glad you have Katie, Dad.”
He looked over her shoulder and right into Katie’s eyes. “So am I.”
* * *
A soft moan pulled Daniel from sleep, making him sit up with a jerk to check Rusty. But it wasn’t the dog who’d moaned, not that one, anyway.
It was Goldie, who’d given up a dog bed and planted herself on the cold tile floor as close to the special treatment crate where they had Rusty as she could get. His paw had slid out between the metal wires, and Goldie was currently lapping at it with a loving tongue.
Katie slept as soundly as Rusty, curled in a fetal position under a plush throw Daniel had brought from the house, on the lone sleeping cot they had in this office. He wouldn’t hear of her staying in the big rocking recliner that Aidan and Josh had dragged over from the trainee dorm, but now that he’d slept on it for a few hours, he wondered if it wasn’t more comfortable than the cot.
They’d both crashed not too long after getting situated, which was no surprise considering the stress of the day and night and the fact that neither of them had likely slept the night before. Around midnight, Daniel had dimmed the room to one single light on the corner table, which now cast shadows in the corners of a room that was always blindingly bright for the treatment of sick animals.
But the dim room seemed softer now. Safer. Sweeter, even.
Much like the woman lying on the cot five feet away.
Her face turned toward him, a thick lock of dark hair fallen over her cheek. Her feminine frame rose and fell with each breath. Right then, Katie looked very much like that young girl he’d slept with on a bed not much wider than the one she was on now…so, so many years ago.
The only sound was her breath and the clicking of Goldie’s tongue on Rusty’s paw. And Daniel’s heart, which for some reason felt like it was cracking. He put his hand over his chest as if that could stop this seismic shift he felt happening inside.
“Are you all right?”
Katie’s concerned whisper surprised him and made him realize he’d leaned forward and still had his hand on his chest.
“Yes. I think.”
Her eyes flashed as she sat up, all evidence of sleep disappearing except for her tousled hair. “Does your chest hurt?”
“Not like that,” he said, putting his hand down. “I just…no. No chest pain.” Heartache, but not pain.
She slipped her legs over the side of the cot, her bare feet peeking out of gray sweat pants, with bright-pink painted toes that drew his attention. Had he ever noticed before that she painted her toes? Annie had never done that.
He thought those toes were adorable.
“Are you sure?” she asked, leaning closer. “Something’s the matter. Is it just Rusty?” She instantly shook her head. “I don’t mean ‘just’ Rusty, but not your heart.”
“It’s my heart.”
“Daniel!”
He smiled and held up a hand. “Don’t worry. I’m fine. I’m…” Not missing Annie.
The realization—the powerful truth of it—stunned him, making him lean back.
“He’ll be fine,” she said, obviously not reading his true thoughts.
“I know, and if he’s not, I will be.”
“Are you sure? Because you look wrecked, hon.”
The term of endearment damn near did him in. “Long term I’ll be fine,” he assured her. “Not going to lie and say I’d be stoic if and when I lose that boy.” His gaze shifted to Rusty, snoring contentedly as his sweet nurse continued her ministration. “And you’re a good girl, Goldie.”
Her tail moved left and right to acknowledge the compliment.
“You like her,” Katie teased. “Admit it. You are crazy about her.”
He laughed softly. “Never said I wasn’t.”
“But she’s not a setter. Not from a long line of Irish perfection. She’s something new and different and not quite the same, maybe a little flawed, but still. You like her.”
He turned to Katie, the words hitting his heart harder than they should have. “Her only flaw is that she isn’t…” Annie. “Actually, she doesn’t have a flaw,” he finished. “She’s beautiful, caring, kind, sweet, and has a heart of gold.”
“So she’s aptly named.”
But he wasn’t talking about Goldie. “How’s the cot?”
“Hard. How’s the recliner?”
He pushed to the side. “Big enough for two.”
She stood slowly and wrapped the blanket around her like a cape. She opened her mouth, but he held up his hand.
“Don’t ask me if I’m sure, Katie.”
“How’d you know what I was thinking?”
“You’re pretty transparent.” He moved farther to the side and reached for her, taking her hand to guide her into the space next to him, where she fit perfectly under his arm. She slid the blanket free and covered both of them in it, turning sideways so she could rest her head on his chest with a big sigh that sounded like pure contentment.
“That’s better,” she whispered.
So much better.
He cuddled her closer, wrapping his other arm around her as she slid her leg a little over his. “There,” he said. “We fit perfectly.”
“Who’d have dreamed it?” she murmured lightly.
Not him. Not in a million years would he have dreamed anyone could comfort him when Rusty was this sick. And yet, she did. And right that minute, he didn’t want anyone else. No one.
No one.
“Tell me about him,” she said softly without lifting her head.
“What do you want to know?”
“Your favorite moments and memories. Cute stories. Things that make Rusty such a great dog.”
He didn’t answer right away, and she splayed her hand on his chest, right where it felt like it had been cracking before. She pressed lightly, moving her palm in a slow, small circle, warming him, calming him, somehow closing that crack.
“When he was little, he had a toy doll that he had to sleep with. It was all different colors, and we called it Rainbow. All you had to say was, ‘Let’s go see Rainbow,’ and he knew it was bedtime.”
“Sweet.”
“He was born when Darcy was a teenager, so they were pretty tight. When she went to college, he spent every single day for two weeks outside her bedroom door. Wouldn’t move except to eat and walk. We all felt the hit of the empty nest.”
“I know it well,” she whispered.
“And when Annie died…” He closed his eyes and felt his throat tighten with that familiar lump. “The night I came home from the hospital, I went outside, and he came and found me and…” His eyes stung. “I was on the ground. I don’t know for how long. Just…bawling. I wanted to crawl into the earth and never come out. I wanted to die. How could I want anything else but to die so I could be with her again?”
He felt her shift and knew she was looking at him, but he didn’t open his eyes.
“Rusty climbed right on top of me and licked my face, over and over and over. Then he nudged me with his nose, making me get up, and walked me back into the house.”
“Oh.” She reached up and wiped a tear from his cheek that he barely noticed had fallen. “He brought you back.”
Very slowly, he opened his eyes, a little stunned to meet her brown ones, as watery as his. “Tonight, when I woke up?”
She nodded, waiting for him to finish.
“I felt my chest split a little.”
“Split?” She scooted up. “Are you sure—”
He eased her right back into place. “I think it was making room in my heart for someone else.”
“For Goldie?”
“For you.”
“Really.” She held his gaze for a few long, steady heartbeats, then dropped her head, curled tighter into him, and sighed sleepily. “That’s some valuable real estate, your heart.”
“But you’ll want to redecorate.”
“Nope. It’s perfect like
it is.”
Smiling at that, he stroked her hair, and she curled her fingers, her fist still pressed against his heart.
Which didn’t hurt at all anymore. In fact, it felt whole.
Chapter Twenty-one
They closed Kilcannon Veterinarian Hospital in Bitter Bark for the day, but that certainly didn’t mean the place was empty. The waiting room was filled with Kilcannons, gathered with the seriousness Katie imagined they had when any loved one was in surgery. Pru sat on the floor with little Christian on her lap, the two of them quietly entertaining Fiona in a baby seat while parents Liam and Andi watched. Every few minutes, Darcy tapped texts into her phone, obviously keeping her beloved Josh up to speed, while Gramma Finnie embroidered what looked like a small pillowcase for the baby boy that Jessie Kilcannon would have any day now.
Shane leaned over his wife’s shoulder, helping her—mostly whispering jokes—do a crossword puzzle, while Aidan and his fiancée, Beck, flipped through a magazine and discussed plans for their upcoming wedding.
A few were missing, though. Garrett and Jessie had stayed home, only because Jessie had had a bad night. Trace was holding down the fort at Waterford, and Molly, of course, was assisting in the surgery.
Along with Daniel, who refused to be talked out of being in the room while Rusty’s head was opened by a brain surgeon.
And that was the reason Katie stayed, even though this was clearly a family affair, and he had more than enough love and support around him. But she had to see him come out of that room happy. She had to. She wasn’t ashamed by how much it mattered to her, and none of the members of the family seemed to question that. If they did, they were all far too classy to say anything.
And none of them had arrived with a dog, she noticed, as if Rusty deserved one hundred percent of their attention that day.
She shifted in her seat, her back a little sore after a night in the recliner, but it had been worth it. Sleeping next to Daniel, holding him and sensing the change in him, had made for one of the best nights she could remember in years.
But had it been real? Or was his heart really breaking over Rusty, and what he’d needed was the comfort she gave him? Which was fine, but not enough.
Old Dog New Tricks Page 24
