And yes, up close, Bismarck was a little scary. This wasn’t the first mistake I’d made today.

I went over and laid a hand on each girl’s shoulder. “Bismarck is friendly. He’s not going to hurt you. He’s my favorite dog pal, right, Biz?”

“He looks like a wolf!” This from Noelle.

“He’s not a bit like a wolf.” I wished I could tell them how Bismarck had saved my life. But they didn’t need stories about bad guys and near-death experiences. This time I saw the mistake ahead of time.

Teo squatted next to Bismarck, as easily as he once had, with slightly different technique. He shifted his center of gravity, swung the leg with the prosthesis a bit, and then squatted down with the other, taking the first leg with him.

“I’m impressed,” I said.

“This took a long time to learn, and I won’t be down here long.” He raised his voice as he slung his arm over the dog. “Girls, Bismarck used to work for the police, and so did I. He’s protected me a dozen times. He’ll do anything to help the people he loves.”

He used Bismarck to steady himself and stood again. “Your Aunt Ryan doesn’t even like dogs, and look how much she likes Bismarck.”

“I do so like dogs. I just like Bismarck more.” I held out my hand. “Holly, you first. He loves to have his ears scratched.”

Ten minutes later, after Teo captured their loyalty forever by mimicking the silly voices of their television cartoon, the girls took Bismarck to their bedroom to show him where he was going to sleep. I had no say in the matter.

“They’re cuties,” Teo said. “I don’t remember you saying much about them.”

“I probably didn’t. I hardly knew them. They’re a little prissy. Are all little girls worried about gaining weight and getting dirty?”

“You’re asking me?”

Teo had a large extended family. I remembered, sadly, that his parents had liked me as much as mine had liked him. He had brothers, three of them, and a sister. Nieces and nephews were just part of the scenery, and despite feeling overwhelmed, I’d liked them all.

“I am asking you,” I affirmed. “How many nieces do you have now?”

“Five. They roll in the mud and sweat a lot, but they clean up nicely. I wouldn’t use prissy to describe them. Even the bookworm takes karate lessons.”

“Instigated by her uncle, no doubt.”

“Every one of them eats more than I do.”

“As I remember, you could pack it away.”

“Are we going to do this? Pull out all the old memories? To what end?”

“Maybe I’m trying to edge out some of the bad memories with better ones. So when we look at each other, we don’t always see a psychopath intent on killing both of us.”

“Think that’ll work?”

“I don’t know. But you’re here and Bismarck’s upstairs. We must be making progress.”

He looked down at his watch. “I need to make tracks. You have everything you need, and I wrote more instructions. My cell number’s on the bottom. Call me if you have any questions.”