to an engagement to that old geezer Hamlin Harrington. His son, Devlin, was Layla’s age, for heaven’s sake. But all Fenwick saw was that Hamlin’s money would save Colton Energy and the Red Ridge K9 facility, and so that was what Layla focused on. As much as Patience loved her job, nothing was worth her sister’s happiness. She’d begged Layla to call of the wedding.
Layla disagreed. Their epic fight had occurred hours before Patience had found blessed escape in Nash Maddox’s arms.
Once the cleanup was done, she dismissed her remaining staff. Patience relished the alone time, a chance to pick through her thoughts over her family’s conflicts.
She stopped at the sink and ran the hot water, hoping she’d still be able to convince Layla to come up with another way to make bank. While she was grateful that Layla’s fiancé had postponed their wedding until the Groom Killer was caught, Patience still couldn’t contain the revulsion she had toward her sister’s fiancé. Naturally, their father wanted the killer behind bars so that the wedding could happen as soon as possible. Fenwick Colton was always about himself and his company and he’d stop at nothing to get the money out of Hamlin. Worse, Fenwick threatened to cut off his K9 endowment if the Groom Killer wasn’t apprehended ASAP. Patience shuddered at what she’d heard her father tell the police chief. Do your job or you won’t have one. Even as the mayor of Red Ridge, Fenwick was clueless as to the man-hours and emotional dedication required to nail down a hardened criminal, and it took that much more effort to corner someone as wily as the Groom Killer. But even her father’s intimidation hadn’t produced the killer, not yet.
“What are you going to do for dinner, Doc?” Ted Jones, the college student who volunteered as he waited to apply for vet school, spoke up as she washed her hands. Normally she didn’t mind having a meal with him and answering his myriad questions on the application process, but she was spent.
“I’ve got a lot of food in the staff refrigerator, and it’s my turn to pull night duty. You go ahead and get out of here. Don’t you have midterms to study for?”
“Yeah, I do. Thanks, Doc.” He grinned and sauntered off. Patience enjoyed the camaraderie her staff shared, paid and volunteer alike. It was what had made her want to be the K9 vet for the RRPD. The sense of belonging and being part of a bigger picture had wrapped its arms around her the minute she’d walked in here three years ago.
Patience waited until everyone had left the building before she went back into her office and sat at her desk. She needed some time to ground herself before eating dinner and then starting the care rounds for the dogs and cats, and the one parrot they were boarding for an elderly woman who’d broken her hip and was in ortho rehabilitation for the next month. Patience opened her top desk drawer and gazed at the pregnancy test result from this morning.
“Well, look at that. Still pregnant.” She giggled at her own joke, but her laughter turned to sobs as the enormity of her circumstances hit her. She was going to have a child and had no clue how to handle a baby. A puppy or kitten, sure, she could do that blindfolded. But a human child, her child?
Her father had been absent at best, throwing himself into his work and accumulation of wealth her entire life. Patience had never known anything but the selfish man Fenwick Colton was. Yet she’d never given up on him, or broken contact with her full and half siblings. Family was important to her.
A baby.
She was going to have a baby. Her profuse tears had to be from the hormones, since she usually prided herself on her self-control.
Loud guffaws sounded from the boarding area and she sniffed, unable to keep the grin from breaking through her tears. Mrs. Bellamy’s scarlet macaw was hungry. Patience’s stomach grumbled in response, and she wiped her cheeks with a tissue.
“Coming, Gabby!”
The brilliantly hued bird tilted her head in welcome and made kissing noises with her smooth white beak as Patience walked into the huge room and opened the birdcage door.
“How are you doing, sweetie?”
Gabby climbed out of her cage and onto the playpen atop her dwelling as Patience gathered some mixed veggies from the freezer and heated them in the microwave. The parrot let out a loud shriek that was half laugh, half scream.
“Stop it, silly. You still have plenty of pellets and nuts in your bowl, beautiful bird.”
After Gabby was busy with her warm supper, Patience checked on her other charges. Most of the post-op animals were resting, the effects of anesthesia and their bodies’ ordeals exhausting them. But Fred, the labradoodle gunshot victim, had his big brown eyes open and managed to wag his tail the tiniest bit when she approached.
“It’s okay, Fred. You’re doing great.” The poor dog had done nothing to deserve the hit from a bird hunter’s gun. It had been a legitimate mistake, as Fred had escaped his owner’s yard via a broken fence post, and the hunter wasn’t in a residential area. With his caramel coat, Fred had blended in perfectly with the South Dakota hills and underbrush. Fred and the hunter had been after the same duck. Fred had inadvertently saved the duck’s life.
“What am I going to tell Nash, Fred? How will I tell him? He needs to know, so there’s no sense trying to be all trauma drama and play ‘I’ve got a secret’ about this.”
The dog’s eyebrows moved as if he understood her dilemma. A part of her brain knew that Fred was a dog, and he was in the midst of serious recuperation, but as she looked around the room full of animals, he was her best bet.
She leaned in closer and opened the kennel door to stroke his sweet, fluffy head. “Let’s pretend you’re Nash and I go up to you. Should I go over to the RRPD? Or call him? No, can’t do this over the phone. This is a serious matter. I’m having his puppy! I mean, his baby. My baby. Our child.”
Gabby’s shriek of laughter rent the room and Patience jumped. “Jeez Louise, Gabby, you scared me! But you’re right.” She gently closed Fred’s crate door and went back to the macaw, who’d polished off her veggies and was scraping her beak clean on the cage bars. “Come here, sweet birdie.”
Gabby promptly got on Patience’s forearm and leaned close to her face. “Give me a kissy.” Gabby’s voice perfectly mimicked his elderly owner’s and Patience laughed. As shocking and emotional as her day had started, this was the best therapy anywhere. Being with her animals. Of course, they belonged to their various owners, the K9s to their handlers at the RRPD, but while they were under her care, they were her responsibility. It was a sacred commitment.
Right now, Gabby needed some human touch and affection. And Patience needed to calm down before she faced Nash again, most likely in the morning, to tell him the news. They were having a baby. Well, she was. She in no way expected anything from him.
“Okay, Gabby girl, come here and I’ll have you and Fred help me practice telling Nash.”
The parrot stepped daintily onto the T-stick Patience used to handle the exotic bird to prevent a bite. She’d learned the method during her avian course in vet school. As much as Gabby wanted to be on her shoulder, Patience never allowed it. Just as she exuded an alpha energy around the K9s and other dogs, she kept birds from thinking she was a tree and her shoulder a branch by using the perching tool.
She walked with Gabby the few steps to Fred’s kennel, which was at eye level.
“Now, you two tell me what sounds better. First choice—Nash, I’m pregnant and keeping your baby. I don’t need you to do anything. You’ve done quite enough already.” She looked from Fred to Gabby, surprised to find that they were both staring intently at her. Gabby was used to touring the dog kennel with other members of the staff for a break in the monotony of her cage. Fred wasn’t reacting to the parrot as he had to the duck earlier. Of course, he was heavily sedated.
Since both animals didn’t react, she tried again.
“Too serious? Well, having any man’s baby is serious business, but I get your point. How about this... Hey, Nash, how have you been since we hooked up after the K9 training