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Van had never cried again.
At last his vision widened again, and he saw Pepe, little jaws clamped, hanging for dear life onto the horse’s tail. Somehow Van knew, with endless gratitude, he hadn’t been gone inside his own head for more than a second or two. He ran toward the animals,heartpoundingasthoughitwouldleapright out of his chest.
He was too stupid to keep this helpless little dog safe too.
The big mare was skittish. He couldn’t blame her for that. Not when something strange was hanging on her tail. For long minutes, he couldn’t get near her, nor Pepe.
At last, he managed to grab the puppy into his arms. He sank down to the grass, his own ragged breath rasping in his ears.
The horse trotted to the far side of the paddock, swishing her tail madly, prancing nervously.
Pepe licked Van’s cheek, and the dog’s usually squirmingbodysnuggledintoVan’sarms.Thepuppy was fully intact, no sign of injury.
Guinevere and Lancelot herded the rest of the puppies together, and Van could see they were okay too.
This time.
Van’s heart refused to stop pounding. He knew it wouldn’t until he made sure this did not happen again.
Twohourslater,thePuppyPalacewentintothevan first. He didn’t want the canine family to be without it.
Vantookthetimetoplacethepalacejustsoandto stroke the rich, low gleam of the carved wood. It felt good under his fingertips. Comforting. Soothing. He would miss stroking it, he realized with surprise. He stroked it a little more. He had some time. The dogs were safe, for now. All of them were in the garage, locked away from horse hooves and all the other dangers his sanctuary suddenly bristled with.
How could this have happened? How could he not have realized this new home of his was not safe? He had to buy time to figure out what to do.
He could sell the horse, but that would take time. He couldn’t even find a boarding stable for the horse right this minute. In the meantime, what if he couldn’t keep the blasted horse safe, either?
He could tell he wasn’t being entirely rational. He didn’t know what to do about it. Except what he was going to do.
Take the dogs to the Hilton for Dogs on the other side of town.
They’d be okay there. The billboard out front promised walks every day and wide-screen, high-definitionTVwithhome-theatersoundandvelvetcushionedbeds.Hmph.Velvetbedsmightbeallverywell, but they had nothing on the Puppy Palace. It was one loving thing he could send along with the dogs.
When could they come home? When he got his head on straight and figured out what to do, that’s when.
Maybe when Aunt Cynthia got home from her honeymoon. Maybe when Mary got home from her business trip. Maybe when he figured out what to do about Van Deventer Ventures, if anything could be done, now the buyer was pulling out.
He walked over to the garage and opened the door carefully. He had to get leashes on the puppies before they got out. He couldn’t have them running free again.
Lancelot and Guinevere helped, nosing each puppy back who tried to break away. He started to leash the adults too but couldn’t continue. They looked at him with such hurt and betrayal and heartache in their eyes.
“I’m sorry,” he told them. “I should have thought. Leashes would be an insult when it’s not the law.”
Van led the way to the back of the van. “Hup.” He swung his arm up and toward the interior. Lancelot and Guinevere nudged the puppies on, then jumped up and in themselves.
Before Van could close the back hatch, Guinevere turned, settled on her haunches and looked at him, sorrowfully, straight in the eye. Why? Why are you doing this? Why are you ripping us away? Do you really not know we love you? Do you really not know we need you? And you need us?
Van bowed his head. He couldn’t face her. He couldn’t face the reflection of himself he saw in her sad brown eyes.
“I know you don’t understand, but you’ll all be safe there. Don’t you see? I — can’t — keep you — safe.”
He stiffened, then slammed the van’s back door. “Oh, hell, the dog is talking to me, and I’m talking to her. No wonder I think I’m cracking up.”
He climbed into the van and drove off.
***
Mary suffered through two days of nail-biting tension. She couldn’t do anything while she waited for the biz wiz to return for his interview. Not when she was also waiting for her publisher to say no because she’d said no to Van performing on a publicity tour. Her brain froze into one giant block of anxiety.
