“What about the basset hound mother?” Linx asked. “I feel bad for her, since all of her puppies gotadopted.”
“She has a new family, too.” Grady beamed at Cait. “Now, both of my sisters have basset hounds, a male one and a femaleone.”
“I can’t wait for the puppies,” Dale exclaimed, wiggling hiseyebrows.
“Did you say puppies?” Jessie skipped over. “Who haspuppies?”
Linx’s father picked Jessie up and put her on his lap. “Are we ready for your birthdaypresents?”
“Yay, and then we have cake!” Jessie flapped her hands. “I get red, white, and blue because I was born on the Fourth ofJuly.”
Everyone gathered around as Jessie picked from a pile of gifts and posed for pictures with each person. Linx marveled at how quickly the little girl took to all of her new aunties and uncles, as well as two new grandpas and one newgrandma.
“We’d better hurry if we want to see the fireworks,” Pastor Patterson said, while Mrs. Patterson carried in a sheet cake complete with miniature flags and the stars andstripes.
“I wish we’d had time to give Jessie a present,” Linx whispered to Grady, as she sat with her head on hisshoulder.
“Being godparents means we’ll have plenty of chances to spoilher.”
“Yes, we will.” Linx pressed a kiss onto his lips. “And plenty of chances to be together as afamily.”
She’d never truly appreciated her large family until now. In the past, she’d felt stifled and suffocated, but this past week, both her and Grady’s families had been full of comfort and hope—knowing there was always someone to help and many someones whocared.
The conference room door swung open and Paul stepped in. He was wearing a Santa Claus costume and held a squirmy sack over hisshoulder.
“Is that the only costume you could come up with?” Grady laughed and clapped his friend on theshoulder.
“Hey, all the miner and sheriff costumes are gone,” Paul said. “But, ho, ho, ho, I’m delivering Jessie’s birthday present from you andLinx.”
“Santa!” Jessie skipped over to Paul and twirled around, showing her cape and muscles. “You’reearly.”
“Ho, ho, ho, and a very merry birthday to you.” Paul opened the sack and extracted the wriggly red-haired puppy. “From your godparents, Mr. Grady and Miss Linx, to their little sweetangel.”
“Grady, you didn’t!” Linx exclaimed, clapping a hand over her mouth as she stared at feisty littleGinger.
“I didn’t.” Grady’s eyes popped wide. “She was too expensive,remember?”
“I love her.” Jessie squealed as she took the puppy she had survived the fire with from Paul. “Thank you, Santa, and thank you, godparents! God bless us everyone.”
Grady and Linx embraced Jessie and Ginger, and then both families and the Pattersons piled in for a giant grouphug.
“Wooahh!” Little Ginger howled from the center of all the loving arms. She was most definitely the summer love puppy who brought many heartstogether.
Thanks for reading Grady and Linx’s story. If you enjoyed it, please write a review so you can let other readers know yourthoughts.
Dale and Vanessa are up next inDog Days ofLove.
Can a woman looking for Mr. Perfect settle for a happy-go-lucky Mr.Wrong?
Vanessa Ransom has high standards and she’s on the hunt for the perfect man. With limited time for a social life, she hires college dropout Dale Hart to walk her dogs and clean her house. Just for kicks, she decides to motivate him to succeed, only to find herself falling in love withhim.
Can Dale show Vanessa that love doesn’t come with a perfect report card or will Vanessa refuse to settle for Dale until he gets his acttogether?
