did. “Well, thank you so—” A high-pitched howl echoed behind her, making her suck in a sudden breath. “Judah!”
“Your dog? Or a wolf?” he joked.
“Right the first time.” She inched back and put a hand on the door to close it, lifting the card with the other. “Thank you, Mr. Bell…Jim.”
“Think about it, please.”
“I will.”
Judah howled again, even louder, if that was possible, so she closed the door quickly, flipped the dead bolt, and jogged toward the stairs. She picked up speed on the third howl, not at all sure of what she’d find when she finally reached Granddaddy’s door.
Rushing into the room, she came to a sudden stop…not expecting that.
“He wants to get on the bed, Evie.” Her grandfather was sitting up, smoothing the covers next to him as if he was making space. “But every time he lifts his head, he cries.”
“It’s his spine,” she said. “He could probably use another dose of medicine, and…do you want him up there?”
“More than anything, right, boy?” He patted the bed and gave a toothless grin to Judah, who stood next to the bed with nothing but longing and frustration on his face. “He’s good company.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Granddaddy. I thought you were asleep.”
“He woke me up. Can you put him up here?”
“Let me get a pill in him and take him out one last time. Then I’ll bring him back and get him on the bed.”
“Well, hurry it up, or I’ll be asleep again.” He beamed at Judah. “But I need some company in here.”
She took care of the dog and gave him some chicken with his painkiller, then walked him back upstairs to find Granddaddy still wide awake.
“Okay, Judah.” Evie wrapped her arms around him. “Up you go, big guy.”
With a soft grunt and braced feet, she lifted his back half, helping him onto the bed.
He immediately walked up to get next to Granddaddy, going right to his face to give it a grateful lick with his long tongue.
“Well, he sure likes you,” she said with a chuckle.
“I like him right back. Now you settle there, Judah, and I’ll tell you a story until we’re both asleep.”
Her heart practically folded in half as she watched the dog carefully position himself where he was comfortable and Granddaddy was safe.
“God, we don’t deserve dogs,” she whispered as her whole being swelled with affection.
Granddaddy patted the thick fur with his spotted, knotted hand. “Once upon a time,” he started, “there was a man named Thad.”
“The first or junior?” Evie asked with a smile.
“The first. I’m going to tell him the whole story of our great family line, since he’s part of it now.”
“Um, he’s Declan’s dog.”
“Like I said, he’s family now.”
She shot him a look, but he was fully immersed in petting Judah, and the last thing she wanted to do was get him worked up over whatever he’d said to Declan. It could wait until morning.
She walked over to the window seat to settle in and listen. He started with how Thaddeus Ambrose Bushrod, a captain in the British Royal Navy, had moved to America to stake his claim and build a small town in North Carolina. From there, Big Bad Thad, as they called the man who stood more than six and a half feet, marked off the town square and opened the first business, a bar the locals still called Bushrod’s.
Evie looked out the window as the evening lights of that very town flickered to life, a half moon rising over the square named after her great-great-great-grandfather.
He said you should have a baby…my baby.
She closed her eyes and listened to the biographies of all the Bushrods and Hewitts who’d come before her and gave up the fight.
While Granddaddy droned on, she let herself sink into a dream she thought she’d long ago given up.
Chapter Ten
Declan had texted only, Coming over around ten, because texting Evie, I can’t freaking stay away, would probably have a stalker-y tone. Let her think he wanted to check on Judah, which he did, but he’d thrown enough tools in the truck to do more than that.
He’d start with the broken stair rail, take a look at the warped windows, then work his way through the house to help with whatever it needed. It was the least he could do for how much she was doing for Judah.
And it was the best way to spend more time with her…which, face it, was all he really wanted. And maybe, with a little time, he could find