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Mocha, who I hadn’t realized had followed me in, walked up to my side and barked at the other German Shepherd, letting her support of me be known.
“Uhhh,” Lock said. “I think Mocha actually likes somebody.”
I looked down at Mocha, who’d parked her behind right next to me and leaned against my leg, and then I petted her.
There were gasps throughout the room, even from my husband.
I looked up, blinking when a woman came in from the kitchen and stopped in her tracks looking poleaxed.
The woman was small like me. She had brownish hair that was streaked stylishly with silver. She had an athletic build, and she was holding a dry-cleaning bag with what looked to be a set of uniforms in it.
I licked my lips when I saw her drop them on the ground in surprise.
“Uhhh,” she said, sounding surprised. “What the hell?”
I looked over at Jonah, who was staring at me in awe.
“Behold,” he teased. “Piper Crew, my wife, the dragon tamer.”
“Are you referring to yourself as the dragon, or Mocha?” Lock teased.
I watched as he walked up to me out of my peripheral vision.
“What’s so surprising?” I wondered. “She’s sweet.”
The woman that’d come in the room last, who was obviously Downy’s wife seeing as he walked up to her and pulled her into his side, started to explain.
“Mocha is very protective of her family,” she said softly. “But Mocha also doesn’t really like anybody. She’ll deal with us. She’ll even be affectionate every once in a while…but that’s just with us. A stranger is danger to her. She’s never met anybody that she liked…until you.”
I licked my lips and continued to rub my hand between the dog’s ears.
“And she sure as fuck doesn’t allow anybody to touch her, not even us,” Lock said as he reached down and tried to do the same thing I was doing.
Mocha snapped at him, biting him on the hand.
He laughed and wiped the drool onto his pants.
“You’re lucky she doesn’t have any teeth,” Jonah admitted.
That was true.
If she’d had teeth, she would’ve hurt him.
Speaking of teeth…
“Where is your dog?” I asked.
“That’s one of them standing in front of you,” a third woman said.
I blinked, turned only my head seeing as Mocha was still leaning on me, and found a much older version of the men, only in feminine form, standing behind me.
I inwardly winced.
“Ummm,” I said.
“Jonah, did I hear you correctly when you introduced her as your wife?” the older woman asked.
“Yes,” Jonah didn’t beat around the bush. “You did.”
I cleared my throat.
The woman’s eyes returned to me.
I held my hand out to her awkwardly. “Piper Mack…Piper Crew. Formerly Piper Mackenzie.”
“Mackenzie…” Lock said. “Any relation to Sam Mackenzie?”
Jonah’s mother took my hand as I answered. “Yes, Sam Mackenzie is my father.”
Lock made a whistling sound with his tongue pressed to his teeth, then looked at Jonah. “Does Sam Mackenzie know you married the prodigal daughter yet?”
I felt a nervous titter in my belly when I thought about having to tell my father the big news tomorrow.
He’d called when he’d gotten home from the hospital not too long ago announcing that he wanted a day before all the girly squeals returned to his home. I’d granted him that and told him that he had no choice about me coming to see him tomorrow, though.
Then commenced a group chat with my mom, sisters, and reluctant father as we discussed what we were going to have for dinner.
It was still on-going. I could feel the vibration of the phone in my pocket even now.
“Macey,” Jonah’s mother introduced herself. “And obviously you’ve met my sons and Lock. The woman over there with Downy is Memphis, his wife. Their kids are Lock and Ares. Rune isn’t just left.”
“Rune’s probably not coming back,” Ares announced. “She’s studying for her final nursing exam.”
I winced. “Ewwww.”
Macey’s eyes came to me. “You commiserate?”
I nodded. “Yep. I’ve been a nurse now for years, but I still remember the awfulness that was nursing exams. Find the best right answer. The bad thing was, all of the answers were right. You just had to find the answer that was most right for the situation. It’s definitely a Catch-22.”
“Here’s your uniform, Jonah.” Memphis held out her dry-cleaning bag to Jonah. “I had them dry-cleaned for you.”
Jonah frowned when he saw it.
“What the fuck is this supposed to be?” he asked, glaring at the bag.
I looked more closely and saw that the uniform looked small. Very small.
“The chief also texted me telling me you weren’t answering your phone. You have a meeting today at 1500.” He looked over at me. “If you can pull yourself away, that is. But make sure you actually go. I think you need to be there for this important stuff.”
Jonah sighed, then looked at me. “I was going to go with you to meet with your sisters, but I have a feeling I’m going to want to go to this meeting.”
