The Price of Honor by Janis Reams Hudson

Author:Janis Reams Hudson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

It took hours to clean Harry up and put him back together. Jimmy stayed and helped Rachel and didn’t care that his hot date might end up having to cool her heels.

Joe came looking for Grady and was astounded to learn about David’s dog being alive and making it all the way home from the crash site. He rushed back to the house, and a few minutes later Alma came, with a jug of iced tea and a sack full of sandwiches.

Grady tried to get Cody to go back outside and play—even volunteered to go with him. But Cody was having none of it. Uncle David’s dog was in that room behind that closed door, and Cody wasn’t budging until he knew Harry was going to be all right. Not that he didn’t trust his dad or Louise or Alma, but he wanted to hear it straight from Dr. Rachel. Nothing less would do.

Finally, rolling her shoulders to relieve an ache, Rachel emerged from the surgery, her face etched with lines of fatigue. Grady felt the strongest urge to go to her and hold her, rub those tired shoulders.

She wouldn’t welcome his touch, so he’d just better get that idea right out of his head. That was what he told himself.

Cody jumped up from his chair. “Is Harry okay?”

Rachel smiled and brushed her hand across Cody’s head. “He’s still asleep right now, but I think he’s going to be fine. It will take him some time to recover. He won’t be able to go out and play for a few days yet, and when he does, he’s going to be hobbling on three legs because one of them is in a cast. He’ll need lots of rest, and lots of love.”

Cody looked up at her, then at Grady. “Would it be all right if I loved him, Dad? Do you think he’d mind?”

God, what a good heart this kid had. “I don’t think he’d mind at all, pard. In fact, it seems to me that Harry’s your dog now.”

Cody’s eyes widened. “No foolin’?”

“No foolin’.”

“You don’t think Uncle David would mind?”

“I know he wouldn’t. In fact, remember me telling you about a will, and how Grandad put in his will that he wanted you to have his ball cap and fishing tackle?”

“And the picture books.”

“That’s right. The photo albums,” Grady said. “Your Uncle David had a will, too, and in it he said that if anything happened to him, he wanted you to have Harry.”

If possible, Cody’s eyes got bigger. “Golly. Really?”

“Uh-huh. That means you have to take care of him now. You have to feed him and make sure he always has clean water.”

“And if he rolls in the manure, like he did when Uncle David brought him to see us that time, I have to give him a bath?”

“That’s right. Do you think you can do all of that? It’s a big responsibility, taking care of a dog.”

“I can do it, Dad. Honest I can.”

“I know you can, pard.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.