Page 99 of Puppy Christmas

Even a tiny life could be a happy one, provided it had the right people in it.

Patrick must have considered the question a rhetorical one, because he didn’t answer. Instead, he steered the conversation gently off course. “By the way, I ran into Lila on the way in, and she told me that Emily and Jeeves had a bit of a scuffle a few days ago,” he said. “Since I’m here, would you like me to take a look at her hand? Lila said you didn’t want to take her to the hospital, but it never hurts to get a professional opinion. Bites can turn nasty pretty fast.”

“That would be great, actually,” Ford said, taken aback. Not only was the gesture a kind one, but the way it was phrased caused his heartbeat to stutter.He and Lila hadn’t arrived together?“Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Of course not. I like Emily. I always have.”

It was yet another example of what Ford had been talking about—of good people doing good things for no reason other than it being the right thing to do—but he didn’t have time to consider the other implications. Without waiting to see if Ford followed, Patrick started heading in the direction of the bedrooms.

“I hate to interrupt what looks like a rousing game of Candy Land, but would you two mind pausing for a moment?” Patrick stood on the threshold, waiting until the two children seated on the circular rag rug looked up. “I’d like to look at your hand, Emily, just to be safe. It won’t take more than a minute.”

Emily paused in the act of flipping over a card. “No, thank you.”

“Double purples! Gah! How are you so good at this game?” Neil leaned forward and began moving Emily’s piece for her. “I bet you cheat. Byron always cheats.”

Emily either didn’t hear him or planned to take the stricture in stride. “Your turn. I hope you get a yellow.”

As delighted as he was to see his daughter playing with Helen’s younger son, Ford adopted his most fatherly air. “Emily,” he said and waited until she reluctantly met his gaze. “Please let Dr. Yarmouth see your bite. We don’t want it to get infected.”

She tucked the bandaged hand under one armpit. “It’s all better now.”

“Emily…”

“Pinkie promise, Daddy. I’m okay. Ha! A yellow. I knew it.”

“Here. Why don’t you stay right where you are and play your game, and I’ll unwrap your bandage?” Patrick sat on the bed next to Emily. She showed every sign of keeping her injured hand tucked in place, but Neil sighed.

“You’d better do what they say. They’ll never leave us alone until you do. Grown-ups are the worst.”

Emily considered this for a moment. “My daddy isn’t too bad,” she said. “Princess Lila is good, too. And I like Grandma Louise and Princess Dawn and Princess Sophie, andtheirmom, who is the queen, but she doesn’t look like one.”

“I see I don’t figure on the list,” Patrick said dryly, but he used Emily’s monologue as a way to extricate her hand. Emily looked as though she’d like to voice further protest, but she’d spent enough time around doctors to know that it was useless to fight them for long.

Ford had cleaned the wound before they headed over to the party, so he wasn’t worried too much about it. The puncture marks were small and healing well, and nothing about Jeeves seemed to indicate he was planning on repeating the experience.

Which was why he was so surprised when Patrick cast a sharp look up at him. “The puppy did this?” he asked.

“Yes. A few nights ago. Emily woke up bleeding.”

Patrick turned her hand over and peered closer at the two broken spots, which were surrounded by a half-ring of bruised skin. “What did Lila say?”

“Just that we’d have to keep an eye on Jeeves for a few weeks. He’s officially in quarantine, but she doesn’t think there’s any lasting harm.”

“Did she look at the wound?”

“No. I didn’t think there was a need.” Ford thought about the puppy, bereaved and gated in the kitchen at home, and felt his heart sink. “Why? What’s wrong? Is it bad?”

“On the contrary, it’s healing nicely.” Patrick began to carefully rebind the wound before giving Emily her hand back again. He made the motion of his thanks. “Thank you, Emily. That wasn’t so bad, now, was it?”

Emily sighed and agreed, but she was clearly done with the doctor. Ford would have been, too, but Patrick tilted his head toward the door in a gesture that was impossible to ignore.

“What is it?” he asked as soon as they were out of earshot. They didn’t have to go far, since the sounds of the party muffled their voices. “What did you see that I missed?”

Patrick cleared his throat and cast a look through the door at the two children playing on the rug. Neither one of them was paying him the least bit of attention, but he lowered his voice all the same. “Just that there’s no way those marks were caused by a dog. That’s a human bite, no question.”

“What?” Ford stepped backward until his shoulders hit the hallway wall. “What do you mean, it’s a human bite?”

“I mean, she was bitten by human teeth, not canine ones.Smallhuman teeth.”