Three Dog Night (The Dogmothers Book 2)

by Roxanne St Claire

  “We all did.” She pointed her thumb into the back, where the puppies scrambled in excitement to see Alex.

  “Hey, kids.” He opened the back door and grabbed the leashes that hung over the crate. “Molly just told me they’re good to go on the grass now, so we can walk them.”

  He had them leashed up in no time, while Grace opened the other side and pulled out a bag. “I brought another surprise,” she said, holding up one of the bottles. “Unlabeled, but it’s Three Dog Night. I thought we could share the first few bottles with your family.”

  “My buddy dropped off the labels at Santorini’s this morning.” He grinned at her. “We can put them on these bottles.”

  She came around the car, laughing at how tangled the three puppies already were in the leashes, but between the two of them, they got the knots undone and took the crew toward the house. Of course, there was a multifamily welcoming committee, led by Pru and Christian, who pounced all over the dogs.

  As Grace greeted everyone, Alex went to his car to get the wine labels, and almost immediately Cassie sidled up next to her.

  “Talk to you for a sec?” she whispered.

  “Of course. Everything okay?”

  “Oh yeah, I just want to ask you a favor.” With all the attention on the puppies, they slipped a few feet away toward the empty wraparound porch. “Would you go dress shopping with me?”

  “Oh, of course, but are you sure you don’t want to take someone you’re close to? One of your cousins? Though I know that would ruin the surprise for them.” She’d noticed that Cassie was tight with Ella and Darcy and wondered if she’d bring those two in on the wedding plans.

  But Cassie shook her head. “There is no such thing as a secret in this family,” she said. “I love them all to death, but everyone’s so damn close, there’s no way to keep anything quiet. I’m determined that they are all stunned and shocked on Sunday. So, some day this week? There’s a great dress store in Chestnut Creek where I grew up.”

  “Can you get a wedding gown in a week?”

  “Nothing formal or traditional. Off the rack is fine for me, and it doesn’t even have to be a big old wedding gown. If it’s subtle enough, I’ll wear it to the event. If not, I’ll slip away and change there. Oh, I did talk to the pastor at church today. Him, I can trust.” She laughed. “I think.”

  “And you don’t want anyone else in the wedding?”

  “Just my Jelly Bean and the three stooges. But honestly, I’ll need a second opinion on the dress.”

  Grace nodded. “I’d love to go. I’m honored.”

  Cassie gave her an impulsive hug and kiss, which Grace was almost getting used to with this family, breaking away as Alex arrived.

  “Come on, let’s take these inside, and we can all gather for the first labeling.”

  “Family labeling?” Grace joked.

  “Family everything.” He took the bag with the bottles of wine and led her inside. There, even more of them were all grouped around the kitchen table, where Katie Santorini—now Kilcannon—flipped through a large book, holding baby Annabelle with the ease of a woman who had had five babies and the joy of someone ready to be a grandmother.

  “Perfect timing,” she said, greeting her son and Grace. “The wedding photographer dropped these off yesterday. Overlook Glen looks amazing, and he did a great job.”

  “Good to hear, since I hired him for the event next week,” Grace said, leaning over to see a gorgeous shot of Katie coming down the curved stairs. “Oh wow. You look amazing.”

  She smiled up at Daniel, who’d come to stand behind her, sipping a cup of steaming-hot coffee. “I look happy, that’s for sure,” Katie said.

  “And amazing,” Daniel added, putting a loving hand on her shoulder.

  “And we’ve got something to make everyone happy,” Alex announced, pulling out a wine bottle. “The very first bottles of Three Dog Night, which will be the custom blend for Scooter and Blue. Check out the labels.” He produced the labels, spreading them on the table with much fanfare and oohs from the crowd.

  “They’re perfect,” Grace said, admiring the sleek purple and teal design that included the shapes of three dogs. “And if we don’t get picked to do their wedding, we can still sell this wine using this label.”

  “If you don’t get picked?” Yiayia flattened her hands on the kitchen table and narrowed her eyes at Grace. “How can you have any doubts? Alex is cooking, and this entire family is behind you.”

  “And you have the most beautiful venue,” Katie added, flipping the photo book to a page that included the winery’s breathtaking view. “I looked at the other two wineries, and they might be a little bigger and more established, but they’re slick and inauthentic. I can see Blue getting married at Overlook Glen.”

  A chorus of agreement rose, strong enough to make Grace laugh. “Okay, okay. I’m buying into this family’s confidence.”

  As they chattered, Alex cleaned and dried one of the bottles and made some space on the counter to affix the label, with the group around them growing as he made a huge deal about the first label.

  “You’re nothing if not enthusiastic, lad,” Gramma Finnie noted, tugging Grace’s hand to ease her onto the bench next to her. “Did you find the lawyer?” she asked softly.

  “We did, but he couldn’t shed much light on things for me,” Grace told her. “I’d love more time with Ruth.”

  Gramma played with the top button of a black-and-white cardigan. “My needlepoint group has disbanded, or I’d invite you, lass.”

  “Her husband was loath to share anything with me about Overlook Glen’s former owners,” Grace said, choosing her words carefully, as Cassie’s warning about family secrets was still fresh in her head. “Of course, he’s saddled with attorney-client privilege. But Ruth?”

  Gramma gave an unladylike snort. “She’s a good Christian woman, but if that man says, ‘Bark,’ Ruth asks, ‘How loud?’” Gramma rolled her eyes. “Your best bet is to get her alone.”

  “Any ideas?” Grace asked.

  “Let me think on it, lass. And, oh my, would you look at that!”

  Alex lifted the bottle to a round of applause and cheers, including one from Grace. Three Dog Night was a spectacular-looking bottle of wine.

  “And now we drink it,” he said. “Feel free to open the other one, but I’m going to take Grace on a walk, along with the three puppies who inspired this wine, and open bottle number one. Yes?” he asked her.

  As if she could say no.

  * * *

  As they were headed out the door a few minutes later, Yiayia snagged Alex’s arm and squeezed. “Hang on a minute, boyo.”

  Grace turned and looked from him to his grandmother, then said, “I’ll get the dogs outside,” as if she’d read the request for privacy in Yiayia’s eyes. Alex certainly saw it.

  “What’s up?” he asked.

  “I have some treats for you.” She dragged him to the coffee counter and handed him a small basket. “I made some kataifi.” She sang the word the way his father and grandfather used to. “It’s the one thing I can make better than you.”

  He smiled. “No argument, Yiayia. Yours are absolute nests of deliciousness, and mine are…”

  “Well, I wouldn’t use pistachio.” She sniffed. “I think that’s where you went wrong last time.”

  He had to laugh, taking the basket. “There’s the Yiayia you’ve been hiding all these months.”

  She angled her head and looked sad. “I’m trying,” she said, the honesty in her eyes touching him. “Have you talked to Garrett yet?”

  “No, I haven’t even seen him. Why?”

  “He’s had a call about the puppies. Someone who claims they lost them and wants them back.”

  His eyes widened. “Really?”

  She tsked and shook her head. “There are unscrupulous people out there, and Garrett says they have to produce the mother, and the puppies need to respond to her. He’s not just going to hand them over to anyone who mig
ht sell them off.”

  The very thought of that gave him a sick punch in his gut. “I’ll talk to him.”

  “And Grace? Will you tell her?” Yiayia asked, looking out the window. “Because she’s getting mighty attached to those pups.”

  He followed her gaze, getting a glimpse of Grace sitting on the purple blanket as Gertie climbed on her lap and Pru handed her baby Fiona to hold. As she threw her head back with a heartfelt laugh, the puppy nuzzled the baby. Christian sat on her other side, playing with Jack, and Pru was running around trying to grab Bitsy’s leash.

  He couldn’t hear what Grace said, but whatever it was, it made Christian giggle and lift Jack high in the air. As if on instinct, Grace reached up to make sure the puppy was safe in the little boy’s hands.

  Attached. Oh yes, she was. And if the puppies’ mother showed up? “That might break her heart,” he whispered out loud. The poor woman had had a life of broken attachments. “But it would be best for the puppies.”

  “Maybe the owner will let her keep them, after all,” Yiayia said.

  Or maybe the owner wouldn’t. “We’d have to do the right thing,” he said, slipping the bottle of wine into the basket and closing the lid.

  Yiayia reached up, patting his beard. “You’re so much like your father, you know.”

  He turned to her, surprised by the comment. “I know.”

  “Except he would never close that lid without checking out my kataifi.”

  He laughed and tapped the basket. “I’ll check it out in my mouth, Yiayia. But right now, I’m trying to think of how to prepare Grace if she has to say goodbye to those puppies.”

  Yiayia nodded. “I was wrong about John,” she admitted softly. “It kills me to be wrong, but I was. She’s good for your soul.”

  He winked at her. “And the rest of me.” With a quick kiss on her forehead, he went out to find Grace and tell her the news.

  But as he walked toward the little scene on the grass, he slowed his step. Maybe the owner would fall through. Maybe Garrett would decide it was a scam. Maybe he could delay her heartbreak somehow.

  Because right now, right this moment, Grace was so soft and changed and different from the woman he’d tried to flirt with at his mother’s wedding. Her walls were down, her deep childhood pain—even though he suspected he’d done nothing but dredge it up again—seemed gone for the moment. It wasn’t just the puppies, but they were such a big part of it.

  In a few moments, they’d gathered up the dogs and the blanket, handed the baby back to Pru, and started down the walking path with all three tugging on their leashes.

  As they headed down the hill toward the lake, Grace looked around in wonder as more views of Waterford Farm spilled out for acres and acres. “Pru was just telling me how Daniel started Waterford as a canine facility so he could honor his late wife and get all his kids back to Bitter Bark.”

  “But it was their home first and Gramma Finnie’s before that. Has she told you the story of how she came here?”

  “Not yet,” Grace said.

  “She will, and she likes you, so you’ll get the long version.”

  “I’ll look forward to it.” She gave a wistful sigh. “What a way to grow up, though, at a place like this.”

  “No kidding. Even I get a little envious of how the Kilcannons lived, and I grew up in a big family. It’s Little House on the Prairie with dogs.”

  She slipped her arm through his and tugged him closer. “I’m not feeling that kind of envy,” she assured him. “In fact, for the first time in years and years, I feel hope. Gramma Finnie said she’d think about how I could somehow talk to Ruth Etheridge.”

  “That’d be great.”

  “That’d be…life-changing. You have no idea, Alex. I just want to know something. Anything. A connection to her.”

  “You do realize that you’re most likely living in the house where she grew up,” he reminded her. “If that’s not a connection, I don’t know what is.”

  “It is,” she said, but didn’t sound too convinced. “I just want to know something more about her. Something tangible. And my father, whoever he was.”

  They reached the lake and found a large spot of grass, spreading the blanket for them and the dogs. Grace watched and cheered him on, taking pictures as he ceremoniously unscrewed the wine, joking about how he really could be wrong about some things, then lifted the basket lid to show Yiayia’s pastries.

  “Yes, she kicks my butt in the kataifi department,” he told her.

  After he poured the deep burgundy-colored wine into two plastic cups, he handed her one.

  “Are we allowed to toast the first sip of Three Dog Night?” he asked.

  “Absolutely.”

  He lifted his glass and held her eyes. “To connections,” he whispered. “The ones you’re missing and the ones you’re finding.”

  She let out a sigh of appreciation. “You did that for me, Alex. You singlehandedly helped me make these connections, so yes, I’ll drink to that. And to you.”

  They tasted the wine at the same moment, both of them letting out a soft whimper of delight when the flavors hit their tongue.

  “It’s amazing,” he said. “The best Pinot Noir I’ve ever tasted.”

  She inched back and held the cup up, looking through the clear plastic with awe. “You did that, too! The best Pinot Noir that has ever had the Overlook Glen label, at least since I’ve owned the place.”

  Just then, Bitsy launched toward Grace, nearly knocking the wine out of her hand, making them laugh.

  Grace was way too happy right then for Alex to announce the puppies might have to be returned to their mother. He’d talk to Garrett when they went back to the house and suss out how serious this lead was. In the meantime, he just wanted to bask in the glow of a woman enjoying a rare moment of pure peace.

  “More pictures.” She got her phone out and leaned into him to snap a selfie. “And one with the dogs. You. And the wine.”

  She unleashed the puppies and let them crawl all over him, making him laugh and lean back on the blanket.

  “Oh, that’s perfect,” she exclaimed, standing over him and snapping pictures. “With the wine bottle at a jaunty angle, the label nice and visible. I can use this in Overlook Glen marketing.”

  Gertie snuggled between his outstretched legs, and Jack climbed up on his chest, and Bitsy stopped moving for one minute, turning toward the camera, making Grace squeal as she got the shot.

  “Oh, Alex.” She dropped to her knees on the blanket and scooped up Gertie for a kiss. “I love these dogs so much. I want to keep them.”

  Oh boy. Just when the owner showed up. “I could have called that the minute I found you with them,” he said.

  She let Gertie lick her face, laughing at his response. “Well, you’d have been right. These are my three little orphans,” she whispered into Gertie’s ear. “I’ll take care of you. In fact, I’m going to make first-press wine every year, and it will always be called Three Dog Night. It will be your legacy, my loves.”

  Alex sat up and took a deep drink of that wine, hoping like hell this wasn’t another attachment that would break her heart and already trying to figure out a way to protect her from that.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Training day!” Grace announced to the puppies as she carried Bitsy and Gertie downstairs on Tuesday morning, joining Jack at the bottom to leash them. “Jelly Bean is in the house.”

  They couldn’t have understood that, but the excited tone in her voice had all three of them barking, and Bitsy jumped at the bottom step and pawed at the marble, trying valiantly to get up onto it.

  “No, sister. You can’t do steps yet. But maybe your genius-level friend can teach you.” Grace opened the winery door to find Braden and Cassie embracing in the parking lot, with Jelly Bean waiting patiently next to them.

  Behind her, the puppies barked and shot out the door, their leashes dragging.

  “Whoa! Watch out!” she called to the couple, breaking
them apart.

  Grace went after Gertie, who was an easy catch. Braden snagged Jack, and Jelly Bean somehow managed to get Bitsy’s leash in his mouth and bring her to a stop. She turned and barked at him, then collapsed on the ground, rolled over, and offered her belly while her little legs paddled in the air.

  “Well, one of them is submissive,” Braden joked.

  “Not the one I would have thought,” Grace said. “But he certainly seems to have her under his spell.”

  “One down, two to go,” Cassie said, patting Braden’s arm. “Got your work cut out today.”

  “I can handle it,” he said. “I got treats and time. And you…” He tapped her nose. “Need to find a dress that will make you happy.”

  “You make me happy, Einstein,” she replied, getting up on her tiptoes for a quick kiss from her tall, handsome firefighter. “But a dress will be nice. You ready, Grace? I have an appointment, but I can change it if you want to wait for Alex.”

  “He just texted and said he was hung up with a vegetable distributor who’s supplying a lot of the food for Sunday,” she said. “He won’t be here for a while, so you might miss your appointment if we wait.”

  “You guys go,” Braden said. “I’ll take the dogs out back and start working.” He gave a whistle to Jelly Bean, who got up from his resting place next to Bitsy and tugged on her leash, then guided her into the house.

  Grace handed over the other two, grabbed her bag, and headed out with Cassie, still amazed.

  “Jelly Bean has actually calmed Bitsy. It’s stunning.”

  “I’m telling you, he’s Lassie. Have you heard about the time I fell down the steps and he saved me?”

  As they drove to the town of Chestnut Creek, Cassie shared story after story about her family and the Kilcannons, each one a little more sweet and romantic than the next. The whole time, Grace waited for the punch of envy or the twist of deep-seated resentment that families like these even existed while she’d grown up with a revolving door of strangers.

  But she didn’t have any. Mostly, she laughed and sighed and asked questions. By the time they reached Chestnut Creek, Grace felt that same sense of hope welling up that she’d felt after that brief conversation with Ruth Etheridge.