Margot was half-huddled under a chair and was letting out high-pitched whines. Allie scooped her up, and Kate stood as well, smoothing her skirt.
"I'll come with you," she said.
"Be careful," Grant said.
"It’s fine," Allie said. "I have a gun."
Grant seemed impressed in spite of himself.
"Does she have a license for that in Connecticut?" Jack asked.
"It doesn’t matter if no one finds out," Allie replied.
"Come on," Kate said, grabbing the corgi. "We can walk the dogs."
"Margot doesn’t like walks," Allie said as the door shut.
"What is the meaning of this?" Jack demanded of Carter. "Why did you bring her here? Why are you marrying her? How come we've never heard anything about this until now?"
"She’s notthatbad," Walter said, sitting down in a chair. "You're just mad because she isn’t kowtowing to you."
"No, I’m mad because she’s just like your now-dead wife. She’s going to bring ruin to this family. Mark my words."
Walter mimed shooting a pistol at his head. "She’s not anything like Danielle," he countered.
"You're just saying you approve of her because you know it will make me angry," Jack said.
"That’s just an added bonus," Walter said with a smirk.
"You are a terrible judge of character," Jack hissed. "Grant almost died because of your poor judgment. Am I the only person in this family who doesn't want any more of our kids to die?"
"Allie’s not a psychotic killer," Carter said.
"We don’t know that," Grant said, pouring himself another drink.
"Screw you, Grant!" Carter said. "Stop acting so high-and-mighty!"
Stefan cleared his throat in the doorway. "The elder Mr. Holbrook is here."
"My favorite child!" Carter's grandfather exclaimed as he walked into the room and wrapped Carter's uncle Walter in a bone-crushing hug.
Carter's grandfather, Harris Holbrook, looked good for a man in his seventies, Carter thought. His hair was a salt-and-pepper gray, and he had the same strong jaw and deep-blue eyes of the rest of the Holbrook men. He also had notoriously bad taste in women.
"And Jack!" Harris exclaimed, releasing Walter. "How's it going?"
Carter's father gave him a sour look. "What are you doing here, Harris?"
"I can't come visit my family?" Harris said, motioning Carter to the drink cart.
Carter made his grandfather an old-fashioned. He probably didn't do it as well as Allie did, though.
"Thank you, my boy," Harris said and took a long drink. "See, Jack, this is why I came! To visit my favorite grandson!"
"What happened to your… oh, what was it, fifth wife? Sixth wife? What was her name? Tiffany?"
Harris looked chagrined. "We decided to part ways."
"So the twenty-five-year-old stripper you married is divorcing you and taking what little is left of your money," Jack said. "Glad we cleared that up. You see, Carter? Look carefully, because this is your sad, pathetic future."
