6
Kit
The soundof scrabbling claws over newly-polished hardwood made some primal part of my brain light up with joy, and I looked up just in time to see Father's dogs bounding past Mother, directly into the guest parlor and straight for Andy.
“Puppies!” he enthused, setting his teacup aside in a hurry and sliding out of his armchair to let them greet him, laughing as they licked his face enthusiastically.
“Ah, my darling,” Father said, beaming brightly at Mother. “I was welcoming our guest! You did say I was to use this room to do that.”
Mother looked sharply between Father, me, and the writhing mass of excitement that was Andy playing with the two Pointers.
I hadn’t met these ones yet—Father had acquired them shortly after I’d left—but I trusted that they’d be well-trained enough that I didn’t have to warn Andy to be careful of them.
“Pegasus,” Father said in a firm tone that did nothing to hide his fondness for the dog who looked up from nuzzling Andy’s crotch. “At least buy him a drink first.”
Andy burst into laughter all over again, now lying prone on the floor and letting both dogs clamber on top of him.
If I’d known he liked dogs this much, I would’ve gotten him one.
Mother looked unimpressed. Unimpressed by Father, unimpressed by the dogs, unimpressed by Andy and perhaps least surprisingly, unimpressed by me.
The very special Christmas she’d arranged just for me had lasted all of ten minutes, and only because it’d taken her that long to realize I was here.
All of which was exactly as I’d expected. Shewasup to something.
“Your name is Pegasus,” Andy cooed happily, scratching behind his ear. “Which makes this one...?”
“Bellerophon,” I supplied. “I take it Pegasus was rather less confident when he was a puppy?”
“He’s normally terribly shy and skittish,” Father said. “Absolutely useless as a gun dog. But he seems to have taken a shine to your fiancé.”
“We’re not engaged,” I corrected automatically. Boyfriend was one thing, but Andy hadn’t offered to pretend he was interested in marrying me.
“Hmm, well,” Father said, scratching his chin. “We’ll have to see what can be done about that.”
“Is that the Christmas tea service?” Mother asked, staring openly at the tea tray as Father pocketed the last of the Penguins like a guilty schoolboy.
“Dearest, you did lead me to believe that you wanted guests to have the benefit of it,” he said. “I’m only following orders.”
Feeling an argument coming on, I knelt down beside Andy and let Bellerophon bounce into my lap, laughing helplessly as he licked my chin as though it was the most exciting thing in the world.
Pegasus had settled a little, content to let Andy pet him while he looked up adoringly into his new friend’s face.
Andy had always had a way with shy, skittish things. Myself included.
I’d been so nervous when we first met that I’d stumbled over almost everything I’d tried to say to him. Somehow, he’d decided he liked me anyway.
“But he’s not... this isn’t... I...” Mother stuttered, still looking between us in a barely-controlled simmering rage.
A stab of hurt hit me in the chest as I realized what she wasn’t quite saying.
She hadn’t meant Andy, when she’d insisted Father greet guests with the good china, in the good parlor. She’d meant other people.
Not someone as unimportant as Kit’s boyfriend, who for all she knew was the love of my life, the most important person in my world, a man I might well have intended to marry and bring up a family and grow old with.
“You know,” Father interrupted, turning to Andy and I. “The dogs could afford to stretch their legs, and I’m sure the two of you have had quite enough sitting around for one day. There’s a bag of old tennis balls by the back door, why don’t you take them out for a game of fetch?”
Andy’s eyes lit up as though he’d been offered the greatest possible pleasure. If he’d noticed Mother’s cold reception, he didn’t show it.
