Page 100 of Puppy Christmas

With a sinking heart, Ford recalled his suspicions the day after the attack, when Emily had frantically called Lila back from the driveway. He’d never actuallyseenJeeves do anything wrong, and had even wondered if his daughter had exaggerated her fears to get her own way, but this went far beyond crying wolf.

“Six-year-old teeth?” Ford asked.

“If I had to make a guess, yes.” Patrick took one look at Ford’s face and nodded. “I can see this isn’t a total surprise.” Raising his voice loud enough for Neil to hear him, he said, “Neil, will you let Emily know that her father wants to speak to her? I think we should give these two a moment alone.”

“Aw, man. But the game was just starting to get good,” Neil protested.

“Yes, but I, uh, need your help.”

“My help?” Neil echoed suspiciously. “With what?”

The doctor thought fast. “I appear to be the only person at this party not in costume. Your mom didn’t warn me to dress up. Do you think you can help me come up with something?”

“I guess so,” Neil said as he forced himself into a standing position. He surveyed the doctor through critical eyes. “You’re too big to wear my hat.”

“Er, yes. Probably.”

“But we can tape some knives to your stomach.”

“Tape some knives…?” Patrick drew a deep breath and caught Ford’s eye. “As long as your mom doesn’t object, I guess it can’t hurt. The things we do forl-o-v-e, eh?”

“Gross,” Neil announced, but he followed Patrick out of the room anyway.

As delighted as Ford was to have the mystery of what Patrick was doing here cleared up, he felt no delight at the prospect of confronting his daughter. The look of innocent inquiry she shot up at him indicated that she had no idea what was coming.

“Emily.” Ford tried to keep his expression as neutral as possible, but he must not have done a very good job. Her innocent look slid into suspicion. “You and I are going to have a talk about your hand.”

The suspicion changed almost immediately to crossed arms and a mulish tilt to her chin. She didn’t speak, either, and turned her head away from him in an effort to avoid the conversation.

“I need you to look at me when I’m speaking to you.” Ford lowered himself to a seated position on the floor and waited. “Emily, I’m not leaving this room until we talk, so you might as well give in.”

Even if she couldn’t make out the words, she knew he was speaking. He could tell from the way she kept sneaking covert glances at him, as if hoping he might suddenly disappear or be replaced by someone she liked better.

Someone like Lila.

“You have to tell me the truth,” he continued, ignoring the way that thought made his chest squeeze. “Did you bite your own hand? Did you lie about Jeeves attacking you?”

Emily didn’t move.

“I’m not mad, moppet. I just need you to talk to me. I need you to tell me what’s going on.” He reached and took her uninjured hand, those tiny, trusting fingers slipping easily between his own. “Do you not like Jeeves? Is that it? Do you want to trade him for a different puppy?”

Emily snatched her hand out of his the moment the wordstrade himcrossed his lips, but at least she was looking at him now.

Encouraged by this, he continued along in the same vein. “It’s okay if you’ve decided you don’t like Jeeves. Remember what Lila said that first day—you’re going to be with this dog for a long time. If you don’t want him, we need to figure something else out.”

“But I do want him,” she said.

“Well, that’s a good first step. If he’s dangerous, though, we can’t have him in the house.”

“No, Daddy.” Her voice wobbled. “Please.”

“I don’t like it, either,” he admitted. He didn’t like his daughter’s wobbling frown or the series of events that had brought them to this point in the first place. “But we might not have a choice.”

“Don’t make him go back. Don’t make him go away.” A small sob escaped Emily’s throat. “I love him. He’s my first real friend.”

As tragic and painful as her confession was, Ford forced himself to push harder. “Then why did you bite yourself and blame it on Jeeves?”

She sniffled, one large tear gathering in the corner of her eye. She didn’t bother to wipe it away as it fell. “He’s a very good boy, isn’t he?”