by Holly Webb
For William and Robin
For more information about Holly Webb visit: www.holly-webb.com
CONTENTS
Title Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
About the Author
Other titles by Holly Webb:
Copyright
Chapter One
“Bella’s looking so fat!” Lauren peered under the kitchen table at Bella, the family’s beagle. She was sitting in amongst everyone’s feet, panting and looking rather uncomfortable. Her tummy was huge, and the expression on her face was a bit grumpy.
Dad checked under the table too. “Well, she is due to have the pups any day now. I’ll take her temperature later on, to check if it’s gone down.”
Lauren nodded. They had been taking Bella’s temperature every day for the last couple of weeks, as their vet, Mark, had told them it was the best way to tell if the puppies were about to come.
Bella padded heavily out from under the table, and wandered over to her cushion. She took hold of the edge in her teeth – it was a big, soft cushion, made of red fabric – and tugged it closer to the radiator. Then she nudged it with her nose, this way and that, as though she couldn’t get it quite how she wanted it.
Lauren watched her hopefully. “Does that look like nesting to you?” she asked.
“I don’t know. It might be…” her mum said doubtfully. It was the first time Bella had had puppies, and they were having to learn as they went along, even though Lauren’s mum had bought three different books on dog breeding.
“We need to set off for school,” Dad pointed out, checking his watch.
Lauren sighed. “I bet Bella has the puppies while I’m at school, and I really, really want to be there. Couldn’t I just stay at home? It’s the last day of term, we’re not going to actually do anything, are we?”
Mum shook her head. “No. Besides, don’t you want to say goodbye to all your friends? You won’t see most of them for the next six weeks, remember.”
Lauren frowned. It was true. She loved living way out in the country. Their home had been a farmhouse originally, and it had a huge garden. The old cowsheds had been made into her parents’ office, and there was a barn across the yard that Lauren could play in. But there were bad things about it too. She lived twenty minutes’ drive from the village where her school was, and her best friend Millie lived in a village that was about twenty minutes’ beyond the school! So arranging to see Millie in the holidays always meant lots of planning.
Lauren fetched her bag and the present she’d got for her teacher, Miss Ford, and took one last look at Bella on the way out of the kitchen door. The beautiful brown and white dog was squirming around on her cushion as though she couldn’t quite get comfy.
“Can you just hold on until I get home?” Lauren pleaded. But Bella looked up at her with big, mournful eyes. Lauren stroked her lovingly. “I see what you mean. You must really want to be back to your old self again. If it happens today, good luck, Bella. It’ll be worth it, you’re going to have gorgeous puppies soon.”
“She’s going to be very tired,” Dad pointed out. “We’ll have to look after her. I remember doing all this with Rusty, my parents’ dog, when I was just a bit older than you. Now come on, Lauren, we’re going to be late.”
As they were bumping down the lane in the car towards the main road, Lauren asked, “How many puppies do you think Bella will have?”
Dad shook his head. “Hard to tell – could be anything from one to fourteen, according to those books your mum bought. Rusty only had five.”
Lauren frowned. “It can’t just be one. Bella’s enormous.”
“I think you’re probably right – she is very big. I’d say we’re looking at quite a few,” Dad agreed.
He sighed as he noted her sparkling eyes and excited smile. “Lauren…”
“What is it?” Lauren looked over at him worriedly.
“Sweetheart, just remember that we aren’t keeping these puppies. They’re all going to go to new homes.”
Lauren hesitated for a moment. “I know,” she said quietly. She was silent for a little while and then added, “But we’ll have them for a couple of months, won’t we? That’s all the summer holidays to play with them, and more.”
Dad nodded. “Exactly. Of course we’ll miss them when they go, but it’ll be easier if we remember that they aren’t ours to keep.”
“I won’t forget,” Lauren promised. “Oh, there’s Millie, Dad! Can you let me out here? I can walk up the road to school with her and her mum, can’t I?”
Dad pulled up, and Lauren jumped out of the car, waving to her best friend.
“Hi! How’s Bella? Have the puppies arrived yet?” Millie asked breathlessly.
Lauren shook her head, then smiled. “Bella was being really funny this morning. She kept messing around with her bed as if she was nesting. There might even be puppies when I get home!” she said, swinging her school bag excitedly.
“You’re so lucky,” said Millie. “Mum, can we have one of Bella’s puppies? Pleeeease?”
“Oh, Millie, you know I’d love one,” said her mum, hitching Millie’s baby sister Amy higher up on her hip. “But it just wouldn’t be fair to have a dog – I’m busy with your sister, and your dad’s at work during the day. A puppy would get lonely.”
Millie sighed. “I suppose so.”
“You’ll be able to play with them when you come round in the holidays,” Lauren promised her. “And I won’t get to keep the puppies either. Dad was reminding me in the car.”
Millie nodded. “Still, you’ll have weeks and weeks to play with them all. Oh, there’s the bell. See you later, Mum!”
The two girls ran into class, and joined the crowd of children round Miss Ford, all begging her to open their goodbye present first.
Chapter Two
Lauren usually spent ages chatting to all her friends at the end of school, but today she was desperate to see if the puppies had arrived. She dashed out into the playground to find Dad waiting by the gate. Millie chased after her.
“Has Bella had the puppies yet?” Lauren gasped. She’d been running so fast she had to grab on to Dad’s arm to stop herself falling over.
Dad steadied her, laughing. “Yes.”
“How many?” Lauren squeaked excitedly.
Dad smiled. “Guess.”
Lauren frowned. “Five?”
“Nowhere near. Ten!”
“Ten puppies?” Lauren turned round to Millie, her eyes round with amazement. “Ten? That’s a huge litter!”
Millie laughed. “You’ll have to think of ten names!”
“That’s going to be tricky,” Dad said. Lauren gave him a worried look. He didn’t sound quite as happy as she thought the owner of ten puppies should. A sudden horrible thought hit her. Ten puppies was loads – it must have been such hard work for Bella, giving birth to so many. What if something was wrong with her? Lauren opened her mouth to ask, and then shut it again. She didn’t want to talk about something so scary in the middle of the school playground.
Instead, she hugged Millie goodbye, and promised to email her a picture of the puppies later.
But as soon as she and Dad were heading for the car, she grabbed his hand. “Dad, is everything OK?”
“What do you mean?” Dad looked at her carefully.
“I just thought you seemed a bit worried – after you told us there were so many puppies. Is Bella all right?”
Dad gave her a hug. “Bella’s fine. I mean, she’s exhausted, but she d
id really well. It’s not Bella…” He hesitated. “Lauren, one of the puppies is a lot smaller than the others. Mum and I – we’re not sure this one will make it. It’s such a tiny scrap of a thing, and when it was first born, we weren’t even sure if it was breathing. Bella had another puppy straight after, and she didn’t have time to lick the little puppy like she did with the others, or bite through its cord. I had to cut the cord myself, and I rubbed the little pup with a flannel to bring it round.” He shook his head. “It did start to breathe, but it’s not as strong as the other puppies, not by a long way.”
“Do you think it might die, Dad?” Lauren whispered.
Dad sighed. “I hope not – but we have to face the fact that it might.”
“That’s so sad.” Lauren felt tears stinging her eyes. The poor little puppy.
“Nine healthy puppies is a great litter,” Dad reminded her.
Lauren nodded. “I guess so. But I can’t help worrying about the little one.”
“I know, me too. Still, it might perk up. You never know.”
Lauren crossed her fingers behind her back. She wanted Bella to have all ten of her wonderful puppies safe and well.
Lauren crept in the kitchen door. She was trying very hard not to upset Bella.
But Bella looked like she’d be impossible to disturb. She was stretched flat out on her side, fast asleep on the pile of old towels that Mum had put aside for her and the puppies to sleep on, in the special low wooden pen Dad had made for them. They’d been worried that the puppies might fall off Bella’s big cushion.
The puppies were all snuggled up next to their mum, fast asleep in a pile of heads and paws. Lauren knelt down beside the pen and tried to count them, but she couldn’t work out where one pup ended and the next began. She couldn’t see which was the one that Dad was worried about, either.
“They’re so tiny!” she whispered to Mum.
“I know, aren’t they beautiful?” Mum beamed.
Lauren frowned. “They’re all black and white! I can hardly see any brown on them at all. That’s really weird, when Bella’s brown and white.”
Mum shook her head. “I thought that, but then I looked it up in our beagle book, and it says they’re usually born mostly black and white. The black might change to brown over the next few weeks, or stay as it is. Most beagles are black and white with brown patches – tricolour, it’s called. Bella’s quite rare, being all brown and white.”
“Look how pink their noses are,” Lauren breathed. “And I can hear them snuffling! They’re so gorgeous.”
“Aren’t they?” Dad agreed. “Oh, look, Bella’s waking up.”
Lauren watched Bella yawn and blink sleepily, and crouched closer to the pen, expecting Bella to want to lick her hand. She was such a friendly dog, and she loved to cuddle up with Lauren – preferably on the sofa watching cartoons.
But today Bella seemed not to see her. She was only interested in her puppies. She nudged them awake, pushing them gently towards her tummy so they could start feeding.
“She was like that with me too,” Mum murmured. “Not interested. It’s as if she’s only got eyes for her puppies now.” She put her arm round Lauren’s shoulders. “Don’t worry. She’ll only be like this for the first couple of weeks, until they open their eyes and start to move around. Then they won’t need her so much, and she’ll be our sweet Bella again.”
Lauren nodded. “Can I pick up one of the puppies?” she asked. “Will Bella let us?”
“We haven’t touched them yet,” Dad said. “We didn’t want to upset Bella.”
Lauren peered at the pile of puppies, as Bella woke them up. “Which is the little one – the one that was having trouble breathing properly?” she asked anxiously. “Oh! I think I can see – is it the one Bella’s licking?”
Mum nodded. “Yes, that one’s definitely a lot smaller than the others.”
“Oh, look, you can see its little brown eyebrows!” Lauren said admiringly.
She edged closer to the pen, and Bella glanced up, as if to check that she wasn’t going to harm the puppies. Lauren shuffled back a little, and Bella quickly went back to licking and nudging at the tiny puppy. The others were all feeding already – Lauren could hear the strange, wheezy squeak as they sucked. She giggled. “Look, Mum, that puppy’s sitting on the other one’s head!”
Mum smiled. “I don’t think they mind as long as they’re getting their mum’s milk.”
Dad was looking at one of the others. “Hey, pup. I don’t think that’s going to do you much good,” he chuckled. “Look, that big puppy’s trying to suck Bella’s paw.”
Bella looked round at the sound of Dad’s voice, and spotted the confused puppy. She wrinkled her nose, and then gently pushed the puppy over to her tummy to feed with its brothers and sisters. Then she went back to trying to rouse the tiny pup.
“That one really is loads smaller than the others,” Lauren said worriedly.
“And it’s going to stay that way if it doesn’t feed,” Dad put in. “Oh, hang on though, look. Bella’s got it moving.”
The littlest puppy scrabbled wearily, its paws waving. It was making sad squeaking sounds, as though it wished Bella had left it to sleep, but at last it managed to burrow in among the rest of the litter.
“Is it feeding?” Mum asked hopefully.
“I think so.” Lauren tried to listen for sucking sounds, but it was hard to tell with nine other puppies feeding at the same time. “Its head’s moving backwards and forwards, like the others.”
Dad nodded. “That’s good, I was getting worried.”
Then Lauren winced as one of the other puppies kicked the tiny one in the stomach – not on purpose, the bigger puppy was just scrambling to get back to Bella’s milk. The tiny puppy lay there, kicking feebly, and then it seemed to go back to sleep. Lauren watched anxiously, willing it to wake up and feed again. But the littlest puppy just lay where it was, while its brothers and sisters wriggled and kicked for the best spot.
Chapter Three
Hi Millie,
Here’s a photo of the newborn puppies! I bet you can’t count all ten in this picture, though, they’re all squeezed up together. They’re really gorgeous, but there’s one tiny one that won’t feed properly from Bella. I just hope it’s going to get better. Please come and see the puppies soon.
Love Lauren x
Lauren sent her email to Millie, and went downstairs to find Dad making the dinner and Mum cuddling one of the puppies, while Bella sat at the edge of the pen and kept a close eye on her.
“Oh, wow, she let you pick one up!”
Mum nodded. “But I was very careful. I washed my hands, and then I stroked Bella first, so that I didn’t make the puppy smell like me. The book I was reading said that it was good to start handling puppies early, to get them used to people, but I don’t want to worry Bella. She doesn’t seem too bothered, though – we thought she would be OK, as she’s such a friendly dog.” Mum ran her finger very gently down the snoozing puppy’s back. “If you wash your hands, you can stroke the puppy, too.”
Lauren carefully washed her hands, and made a fuss of Bella first, stroking her with both hands to get Bella’s scent on her fingers. Then she stroked the puppy with one finger, like her mum had done. It felt like slightly damp velvet – and it was no bigger than one of the Beanie toy dogs she had on her windowsill upstairs. “It’s so soft…” she breathed.
Bella made a little snorting noise, and lay down next to her puppies again, but she was still eyeing Lauren and her mum.
“Look how fat its tummy is,” Mum pointed out. “This puppy’s absolutely stuffed.”
“I think we should put it back,” Lauren said. “Bella looks a bit worried. But she hasn’t growled or anything. She’s such a good dog.”
“And a good mother too,” Dad said, from over by the cooker. “She’s taken to it so well.”
Lauren’s mum gently slipped the puppy back into the pen next to Bella, who licked it all over. The puppy m
ade a squeaking noise as Bella’s big tongue licked its head, but it didn’t wake up.
“Where’s the tiny one?” Lauren asked, trying to count the puppies.
Mum frowned. “I’m sure I saw it just a moment ago, and I think it had some more milk, which is really good. Apparently Bella’s milk is full of all sorts of good stuff on the day they’re born. The puppies get all the benefit of the vaccinations she’s had, that kind of thing.”
“I can’t see the little puppy now,” Lauren muttered anxiously. “What if it’s under all the others and they squash it?”
Mum knelt down next to her. “Isn’t that it?” she asked, pointing to a puppy.
Lauren shook her head. “No, brown eyebrows, remember? That one’s just black and white.”
“Oh yes.” Mum edged round to the other side of the pen. “It’s here, look, behind Bella. It must have got pushed out of the way by the others.”
Lauren followed her, moving slowly so as not to disturb Bella. “Is it OK?”
Bella was watching carefully, and as soon as she realized what had happened, she wriggled round and tried to nudge the puppy over with her nose. But the puppy was fast asleep and didn’t move. Bella glanced up at Lauren and her mum, almost as though she wasn’t quite sure what to do.
“Should we move the puppy for her?” Lauren asked, frowning.
Mum was starting to say, “Maybe we should…” when Bella leaned down and picked up the tiny puppy in her mouth.
“Mum, what’s Bella doing?” Lauren whispered in horror.
“Don’t worry,” Mum soothed her. “It’s fine. Dogs do that, Lauren, she won’t hurt the puppy.”
But it didn’t look at all comfortable. The puppy’s legs dangled out on either side of Bella’s mouth, and it wheezed and squeaked unhappily. Bella swiftly tucked it in along the row of teats on her tummy, and watched hopefully.