As Anna made her way through the large backstage area, a familiar voice called out to her. “Darling girl, is that you?” Anna stopped in her tracks and turned around to see Geneviève R., Vronsky’s mother, standing near the bench of a majestic Russian wolfhound named Tolstoy, who had won Best in Breed and was waiting to go before the judges in the Hound Group, which would start right after the Working Group. Anna smiled and greeted the lovely woman warmly, taking in her incredible Tom Ford slate-blue pantsuit.

“Hello, Mrs. R. It’s wonderful to see you again,” Anna said happily. She was pleased to see Vronsky’s mother, but the reason her heart started beating rapidly in her chest was because she now had even greater hopes her son would be here as well. Geneviève introduced Anna to Tolstoy’s owner, explaining that he was going to be the stud for next year’s litter and she was promised one of the puppies. Anna congratulated the owner for her win and was pleased when the woman knew exactly who she was, and her not-so-little dog, too.

“Speaking of, I need to get back to him. Again, it was so lovely to see you.” But Anna couldn’t make herself leave quite yet.

“You know, I was just asking Alexia about you,” Geneviève said, as though divining Anna’s thoughts. She waved her hand in the air and continued with a knowing smile. “He’s around here somewhere.”

Anna asked Geneviève to say hello to her son and then started to head off. Geneviève wished Anna good luck. “I’ll be keeping an eye out for Jon Snow.”

He’s here. He’s here. He’s here, Anna thought as she quickly made her way toward her own bench. She felt foolish for being so happy about it, but she couldn’t help it. She had felt his presence and was glad to know she could trust her senses when it came to such things.

An hour later Jon Snow placed second in his group, which meant he would not be advancing to the main event where Best in Show would be crowned. Anna was disappointed, of course, but she reminded herself that Jon Snow was only two and a half years old, which was much younger than most of the other dogs he competed against. The dog who had won Best in Show the previous year was four years older than him, so he had plenty of time to become the one true king of Westminster. Second place would bring a ribbon home, which meant she had now achieved her goal of showing a dog and winning a ribbon.