Three Dog Night (The Dogmothers Book 2) Read online

  Nick shot him a look.

  “The news about Dad? And Daniel?” Alex guessed. Why should that change anything? When Nick remained silent, Alex fell into step with an equally long stride and tried to think of how to get his brother to open up. “Africa has gotta be a tough place to carry on a normal relationship,” he finally said.

  “Oh, CAR is not normal,” Nick said on a dry laugh. “Which is what Luci loves about it. About…us.” He looked out toward the horizon, his jaw locked, his eyes tapered to slits, his thoughts about seven thousand miles away. “She lives for anything…unorthodox. Nothing normal for my Luci. The less like a traditional relationship, the better.”

  Alex threw him a look. “I imagine that’s exciting.”

  Nick looked skyward. “It was, for a few months. Then it got exasperating. The idea of a ring, wedding, vows, and a marriage contract makes her hair curl.”

  Ring? Vows? Marriage contract? Alex almost choked. “Oh, sorry. I thought I was talking to Nick Santorini, bachelor to his last breath, saving the world one disadvantaged patient at a time.”

  Nick let out a sigh. “Those two things are not mutually exclusive, but hey. Things have changed, and not just because I had another birthday last week that put me so deep into the forties, it’s a little scary.”

  “Forty-three. Not scary. So this is about Daniel Kilcannon?”

  Nick kicked a stone on the path with his work boot. “Yep.”

  “How so?”

  “I’m not the man I thought I was for forty-two years, Alex. And I often wake up and feel like I’ve lost Dad twice.”

  “Man, that sucks.” It was bad enough to remember the night they gathered around that bed and said goodbye to the greatest Greek who ever lived. Feeling that loss all over again must have kicked poor Nick in the nuts. “But how did it change your relationship with Luci?”

  “Well, it’s kind of hard to admit, understand, or explain, but since you asked, I’ll tell you.” Nick slowed his step and turned to look Alex in the eyes. “For some reason that I cannot possibly explain, finding out Daniel Kilcannon, not Nico Santorini, is my father has made me want to have children.”

  Alex choked softly. “Whoa. Wasn’t expecting that.”

  “Neither was I,” Nick said on a laugh. “I was happily planning to go childless my entire life. But then I found out that my DNA is…half Irish. Half complete stranger. Half not what I thought. And all that has made me want to do is be sure I stamp that sucker on another human and make sure that this single, thin limb of the family tree gets to continue. Think I’m crazy?”

  A little. “I think you’ve changed,” Alex said honestly. “And I’m sure you’ve given a lot of thought to what a responsibility a kid would be and how tough it would be in your current lifestyle.”

  “How could I not? Luci reminds me every time I say a word about it. Fact is, mention kids and she practically laces up her running shoes and heads for the door. She does not want children, ever. Which was why we were a great match until…” He shrugged, then turned to Alex. “If I leave the program and come back to the States and return to private practice, I’ll lose her. If I don’t, I’ll never have kids.”

  “And there’s no compromise?” Alex asked.

  “Not her favorite word,” he admitted.

  They turned and headed back to the house, the sounds of dogs barking and laughter rolling over the hill toward them.

  “Have you talked to Daniel about this?” Alex asked.

  “No. Haven’t told anyone. Wouldn’t have told you, but I just spent an hour trying to get through to the mobile unit in CAR, only to find out Luci’s not on duty and no one knows where the hell she is.” Low-level fury darkened his voice, and Alex understood Nick’s need to unload. “It’s not a safe country, and she loves nothing more than to…go off and explore. Like it’s freaking London or something.”

  “She’s smart, and I’m sure she’s safe,” Alex said. “But maybe you should get Daniel’s opinion.”

  “Because he’s my father?” There was just enough resentment in his tone for Alex to know he hadn’t yet embraced this new normal.

  “Because he’s a smart guy. He gives great advice and really seems to understand this whole…” He made a sweeping gesture to include everything, from the raucous group on the back porch to the dogs in the pens outside. “Family thing.”

  “Well, no, he’s kind of busy this week.” His gaze shifted to the right, past Alex. “Is that your puppy girl?”

  He turned and caught sight of Grace crossing the wide lawn from the vet’s office, talking to Yiayia and Gramma Finnie.

  “She’s not a girl,” he corrected. “She is one very…enigmatic woman.”

  “Enigmatic?” Nick gave him a playful jab. “Run, don’t walk, little brother. The last thing you need is a woman you don’t quite understand.”

  “Good to know, Nick.”

  Nick put a hand on Alex’s shoulder and nodded his goodbye, taking off toward the house. That left Alex to decide whether he should follow him, or go snag Grace before the “Dogmothers” persuaded her to marry John.

  It was a no-brainer, but as he walked toward Grace and the two old ladies, he had to wonder just what had the three of them so deep in conversation.

  * * *

  Grace remembered the lost purse the minute she saw the older Greek woman coming toward her.

  “Oh, Mrs. Santorini.” Grace held out her hand in apology. “I couldn’t find your handbag anywhere. I’m so sorry.”

  “We heard you found puppies, though.”

  She smiled, amused and a little amazed at the way news traveled in this family. “Three of them.” She gestured toward the vet office she’d left a few minutes ago, before the kids, Prudence and Christian, had taken her on a tour of the kennels. “Molly’s running some more tests, so I wanted to find Alex.”

  Gramma Finnie’s white brows lifted. “Alex? Why do you need him?”

  A question she’d asked herself for that whole kennel tour. “Oh, well, we took a guess on genders, and it turns out we were right.”

  Yiayia inched back. “We? You’re a we now?”

  Grace felt the heat rise to her cheeks and cursed her fair-skinned tendency to blush. “He showed up right after I found the puppies, so…” She shook her head. “Anyway, about your purse. I feel awful, but I promise I’ll contact every server who worked last night, and Overlook Glen will—”

  “Tell her, Agnes.” Gramma Finnie nudged her friend with an elbow.

  The other woman shuttered her eyes closed on a sigh. “You didn’t find my handbag because I didn’t lose it,” she said. “It must have been all that delicious wine you served.”

  “And the Jameson’s,” Gramma chimed in.

  “And the dancing. When I do the sirtaki, I lose my mind.” Yiayia gave a quick laugh. “So it turns out I hung the bag on the back of my bedroom door when I got home and never looked there. It was my mistake.”

  “Oh, well, I’m so relieved.” Grace put a hand over her chest, smiling. “I thought someone might have taken it.”

  “The only thing taken is my pride,” Yiayia said. “And to think Alex had to drive all the way out there.”

  “But I’m glad he did. I’m not sure I could have gotten those puppies here by myself.”

  “John wanted to come.” Yiayia reached out and put a hand on Grace’s arm. “He really did. But he had a meeting.”

  “That’s all right, I—”

  “But he’s inside now, lass.” The little grandma flanked Grace’s other side. “So you can talk to him right this minute.”

  “Okay.” She drew the word out, trying to let them down easy. “But I really should find Alex and…”

  “Oh, Alex.” Yiayia flicked her hand like Alex was a bothersome gnat. “You know, John can take you home when you leave. No reason for Alex to make that drive twice in one day.”

  “It’s not that far, but…” Grace looked from one to the other. “If it’s a problem for Alex, then…”


  “Oh, he’ll want to go cook,” Yiayia said. “He was planning to do that all afternoon anyway. Trying out those crazy recipes he learned in France. Did you know my Yianni has a master’s degree in…something very difficult? I can’t remember what. He’s very intelligent. And handsome.”

  Wait. Did she just say… “Alex trained in France?”

  “Oh, he just disappeared for years over there,” Yiayia said. “He finally came home when his father got ill.”

  “He studied cooking in France?” Why wouldn’t he mention that?

  “Which is why he’s always trying to fancy up the Santorini’s menu,” Yiayia said. “And hang those awards, not that something called Les Lebey de la gastronomie would impress our customers. They want spanakopita!”

  “He won a Les Lebey award?” Which was, if memory served her, the equivalent of an Oscar in French cuisine. “That’s amazing.”

  “It is,” Gramma Finnie agreed. “But John is the logical one. No passionate outbursts for the lad, just a cool, steady, quiet way about him.”

  “That’s…nice.” And if Grace were looking for a husband, like she was beginning to suspect these little old ladies seemed to think, those would be terrific attributes. But she was looking for a chef. A Les Lebey award?

  “Oh, here’s Alex now,” Gramma Finnie said.

  Yiayia tugged on Grace’s arm. “Let’s go in the house, dear.”

  Just as he approached, with a gleam of humor in his eyes, Molly stepped out of the vet’s office and called for Grace.

  “I have some test results,” she said, coming closer with a clipboard at her chest. “Would you like to come and talk about them?”

  She glanced at Alex, who was instantly at her side. “I’ll go with you.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Gramma and Yiayia exchanging a most unhappy look. Alex must have caught it, too, because as the two women retreated, Alex whispered, “What was that all about?”

  “It was about John.”

  He rolled his eyes. “They’re nothing if not relentless.”

  “You won a Les Lebey award?”

  He slowed his step. “The student’s version of it, yes. Yiayia told you that?”

  “It slipped out in the John sales pitch.”

  That made him laugh. “Does it change anything?”

  “It might,” she admitted. “Let’s go find out about the puppies. Good news, though, we had the genders right.”

  He stayed next to her after Molly ushered them into a small waiting area lit softly to highlight the dog pictures on the wall—photos of all the Irish setters in the family, Pru had informed her earlier.

  Across from them, Molly spread some papers on the coffee table. “Preliminary test results are a bit of a mixed bag,” she said. “But the good news is they are relatively healthy, and any problems are treatable with medication, love, food, and time. Jack—the brown one?”

  Grace nodded, so happy that the little leader of their pack could be named Jack.

  “Jack has a low-grade fever, and that’s most concerning to me. Were there signs of vomit or nausea?”

  Grace shook her head. “I didn’t see any, but I don’t know how long they were in the house or…wherever they’ve been.”

  “What could cause a fever?” Alex asked.

  “Parvo, which can be dangerous and would make him super contagious. The other two don’t show symptoms, but I want to watch them. So they need to be in separate kennels until the blood tests come back tomorrow.”

  “How about the others?” Grace asked, surprised at how tight her chest was, considering she’d known these puppies for less than two hours.

  These abandoned puppies.

  “Bitsy? The kind of frantic one?” Molly asked.

  Alex and Grace shared a look and a laugh. “Yep,” Grace confirmed. “That’s…Bitsy.” Even saying the name gave her a little thrill.

  “She’s got a cough, and again, that could be a cold, or a sign of distemper, which we can’t vaccinate against yet. I can treat the symptoms with meds, and we’ll get a test back tomorrow as well. The good news is the quiet tan one—Gertie, right?”

  Gertie. The first name that had come to mind, as she couldn’t exactly call the puppy Grace.

  “She checks out perfectly, though I’d want to keep her under observation in case she picked up parvo from her brother. But I can vaccinate them all for that sometime this week, based on my age estimate.”

  “How old are they?” Alex asked.

  “At most, six weeks. More like five.” She blew out a breath and tapped her notes. “They’re at a very delicate stage. Just about ready for early separation from their mother, but not completely. The first four weeks are so critical for learning social skills—with dogs and humans—from the mother. If they’ve been separated from her too early, they risk health issues their whole lives, including susceptibility to disease. If we could do anything for these little guys, it would be to reunite them with their mother. The sooner, the better.”

  Grace’s heart hitched. “We have no idea where their mother might be.”

  “My brother Garrett might be able to help,” Molly said. “He has a lost-dog network that’s second to none. He’ll get on social media, and the word will spread all over this side of the state. If someone lost the puppies, it’s not out of the realm of possible that they could show up to claim them.”

  “Who loses puppies?” Grace asked.

  Molly angled her head, her thick curls falling, a sad look in her eyes. “It’s rare, but it does happen. As a brand-new mother myself, I sure hope the puppies were accidentally separated from their mother and not just left at your property. Dumping a dog is as bad as dumping a child, in my opinion.”

  Grace closed her eyes, almost ashamed at how the puppies’ plight hit home with her. It was silly, nothing she would ever admit, but now that they were named and lost and…

  “What should we do, Molly?” Alex asked, putting his hand over Grace’s as if he could sense the turmoil inside her.

  “Leave them here for a few days at least,” Molly said. “We’ll take great care of them. And we’ll get Garrett moving on social media. We’ve had situations where a kid was in charge and the puppies got out, so a family could be searching for them. They’re not purebred, so I don’t think these come from a breeder, but I will say they’re solid, healthy dogs likely from strong parents. Puppies born to strays are often weaklings, and these aren’t. I actually think they’ve been protecting each other, instinctively keeping each other alive. So let Garrett post pictures, descriptions, an address of where they were found, if you’re okay with that.”

  “Of course,” Grace said.

  Molly gathered her papers, a slight frown on her face. “Are you planning to keep them or let us find them homes?”

  “I don’t know, but I do want them to stay together. Always.”

  Molly’s gaze flickered with the same surprise she saw in Garrett’s eyes when Grace made that announcement. “Have you ever owned a dog?” she asked.

  Three, over the course of her unorthodox childhood. And one by one, she’d had to say goodbye to the dogs and the families they belonged to.

  It’s best this way… It’s how the system works… It’s for your own good.

  “No dog of my own, no.”

  “Because three’s a commitment,” Molly warned with a soft laugh. “And these three, if they are a shepherd-Lab mix like it appears, could get sizable when full grown. If you want one, that’s doable, but—”

  “They need to stay together.” There was no debating that now that they had these names and had been taken from their mother. “But can we discuss who owns them later?”

  “Of course!” Molly reached across the table and took her hand. “I didn’t mean to overwhelm you. Plus, you and Alex have done exactly the right thing with these puppies, and they’ll all survive and thrive because you acted so swiftly and compassionately.”

  Grace managed a smile, aware that Alex had put hi
s hand on her back and added some pressure.

  “I know they’re in good hands,” Grace said, pushing up.

  “Want to say goodbye to them?” Molly asked, gesturing her toward a door that led to the exam rooms.

  “Of course we do,” Alex said, guiding her with that comforting hand.

  The puppies were in a room in the back, at eye level in separate crates against the wall. When Alex and Grace walked in, Jack barked, Bitsy started jumping, and Gertie just looked up and made that mewing sound.

  “Hey, you guys.” Grace went straight to Gertie’s pen, closing her fingers around the wire mesh. “You okay, little one?”

  She got the most pathetic look in response.

  At Jack’s crate, Alex stuck his nose right in front of the puppy’s. “You’re in charge, big boy. Make sure your sisters are happy.”

  Grace felt her chest crack a little.

  They both stepped sideways and stood side by side in front of the last puppy, Bitsy.

  “What kind of a name is Bitsy, anyway?” Alex asked, wiggling his finger in the crate so the puppy could nip at it. “Sounds like a spider.”

  How could she ever tell him that she didn’t have any proof, but believed in her heart she had a little sister she’d called Bitsy? She couldn’t. He’d think she was as crazy as anyone else she’d ever told. “It’s her name,” she said defiantly. “Itsy Bitsy.” Just like the sister she might have imagined.

  The puppy fell on her back, rolled twice, then jumped up and panted in Alex’s face.

  “Crazy Daisy would be better,” he joked.

  “I like Bitsy.”

  “Okay, then.” He smashed his face against the crate, and Bitsy licked his nose. “You chill out, Bitsy. And take care of that cough.”

  Grace took a step back, regarding him with no small amount of wonder.

  “What?” he asked, sensing her gaze on him. “I like them, too, you know.”

  “I know.” She slipped her hand into his, a move that was both utterly out of character for her and so right. “Now, will you tell me a little bit about this French training you’ve had?”

  “With pleasure. Can we go back to the winery now?”

  “Sure. Are you in a hurry?”