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He threw a piece under the cottage, and she stood up right away, babies hanging off her, and gobbled up the meat. Leaving the plate on the ground outside the crawlspace, he gave Maggie the flashlight.
“Just aim it at the food. I’ll crawl under and get the pups while she eats.”
It worked, and in two minutes he backed out with a basket of puppies.
“Do you want to come back to the clinic with me while I get her situated? Afterward we can try to salvage what’s left of our night.”
“I’ll go with you.”
Justin placed the basket of pups in the back cab of his truck, and without hesitating, the mother hopped right in and got in back with them. She had definitely been someone’s pet. Back in the cottage, Maggie soothed Brulee, who was a little put out that she wasn’t involved in the puppy rescue, and then locked the cottage up. The food from dinner would be okay left out for a while.
Climbing in the front seat, she glanced in back. “They are perfectly at home,” Maggie said.
“I think that’s Brulee’s mother, Johanna,” he said, his voice a little angry, clipped. “Johanna was almost completely black. So is this dog.”
“I thought you’d found homes for all the pups and their mother.”
“I did too, but it looks like someone might have decided they didn’t want to do what they were supposed to do. We offered to fix all the pups and their mother free, but Johanna’s owner dragged their feet. It looks like they decided not to do it.”
“What breed do you think the father is?”
“It’s too early to tell,” he said.
He pulled through the gate and got out to shut and lock it. When he got back into the truck and put it into gear, Maggie remembered.
“Steve and Annie adopted the mother,” she said, disheartened. “I just remembered.”
Stony silent, the telltale tic in his jaw gave away his reply.
“Maybe she ran away,” Maggie continued.
“He should have let me know right away. I’m pissed!”
“Consider giving him a chance to explain. I wonder how she ended up under my porch.”
“Instinctive, I guess. She knew this would be a safe place.”
They drove slowly through the forest, the rough road making for a rough ride. They soon reached the clinic. A large heated barn occupied by horses would be the perfect place for Johanna and her pups to live for now. Maggie’s mother, Rose, and Justin’s father, retired vet Doc Chastain, came out to see what the commotion was all about.
“Aw, they’re newborn! Some of these pups still have remnants of the umbilical cord,” Rose said, helping carry the pups to their mother.
Justin arranged a clean saddle blanket on a bed of straw for Johanna, and she lay there, waiting for her pups. With her eyes closed, it appeared that she had a hint of a smile on her face.
“She’s so content,” Doc Chastain said.
A bowl of dry kibble and a water bowl up on a stand to keep wandering pups safe, and she had a safe haven for now.
“How’d your turkey dinner turn out?” Rose asked.
“Besides the fact that I used salt instead of sugar in the apple pie, it was tasty,” Maggie replied, grimacing.
Coming alongside her, Justin slid his arm around her shoulders. “It was a nice dinner. We’re going to go back there now and finish. The crying pups interrupted us.”
They said goodnight after locking the barn, and got into the truck for the ride back to Bayou Cottage.
“Is it too late to pick up where we left off?” Justin asked.
“Definitely not. We have the entire night ahead of us. Remind me what we were going to do again?”
