The drive back to the inn was quiet. Danny held her hand and let her think. In the backseat, Bear pressed his nose to the window. They parked behind the inn. Jayne and Reed’s mammoth SUV dwarfed Danny’s new truck. On the other side of it, Conor’s beat-to-shit Porsche looked a little less like roadkill than it had the last time Danny had seen it.

“Your family’s early.” Mandy flipped down the visor and checked her eyes in the mirror.

“You look beautiful.” Danny opened the back door for the dog. Bear bounded up the back lawn.

“Danny.” His tall, redheaded sister bolted out the back door and across the grass. She grabbed him in a fierce hug. “Happy birthday, baby brother.”

Danny laughed and hugged her back. Jayne let go of him and moved on to Mandy with the same enthusiasm, then she wrapped an arm around Mandy’s shoulders and steered her toward the house. Happiness vibrated through Danny’s sister.

Reed stood on the back porch, his posture more relaxed now that Nathan’s threat to Jayne was eliminated. “Jayne was dying to see the puppies.”

They went into the kitchen. Bear nosed into the laundry room and trotted to Honey’s box. Six chubby furballs, two yellow and four chocolate, wiggled and yawned. Under Honey’s watchful eye, Bear sniffed his pups and wagged his tail.

“So, we’re making wedding plans.” Jayne peered around the doorframe. “Nothing huge, just a simple ceremony. Are you two going to be able to come or should we have it up here?”

“I don’t know,” Mandy said. “Bill’s pretty good as long as Honey is with him, but we have another four to six weeks before the puppies are ready to leave.”

“We can wait. God, they’re so cute,” Jayne said. Can you squeal and whisper at the same time? “Which one is ours?”

Mandy laughed. “Whichever one you want.”

Jayne leaned over the box and held her iPhone out. She snapped a couple of pictures. “Now for some video.”

“Where’s Pat and the gang?” Danny asked.

“On the way. They have to stop every hour. Someone always needs a pit stop.” The smallest pup, a yellow blob of fat and fur, climbed over her siblings, stood, and hooked her paws over the top of the box. Jayne lowered her phone. “Is the littlest one a boy or a girl?”

Mandy lifted the pup and cuddled her against her cheek for a minute. She set her behind her brothers and sisters. Undaunted, she beelined for the prison walls. “The escape artist is a girl.”

Bill shouldered his way into the fray. “I wanted to keep them all, but Mandy said that was way too many dogs.” He sat on the floor next to the box and stroked Honey’s head. The dog’s tail slapped on the floor. “We get to keep Bear and Honey and maybe one puppy.”