Page 97 of Quinton's Quest

Assuming Lucky’s bladder could wait another half minute, I emptied my own, washed my hands, then headed toward the front door.I’m going to freeze my balls off. True—but I wasn’twilling to risk an accident by stopping to dress. My thermal pajamas would be sufficient. Without Gideon as a furnace in my bed, I tended to run a little cold. Plus, I preferred a cooler ambient temperature when I slept. So I wore warm pajamas and had a thick comforter.

Quinton keeps me warm.

True. But do I have a right to count on him for the long term?

I called himbabyagain last night.I hadn’t done that since our night in the hotel.

After shoving my feet into my boots and hefting on a parka, I grabbed Lucky’s leash. Swear to God, the dog grinned. “Yep, you win.”

In the end, the weather was milder than I expected. Still bloody fresh—but we’d been without snow for a while now.

We hustled over to a copse of trees.

He sniffed, lifted his leg, and peed like a champ.

“Good boy.” I glanced back toward the house. The kids were old enough to handle waking up with me outside. Melodie would know to look for the leash. I eyed the dog. “Do you have more business to do, or are you ready for food?”

He barreled back toward the house.

Oh good. I forgot poop bags. Now I have to remember where you took a dump and come back later.On that, I made a note to add a pile of bags to my coat pocket. I had no idea how many times a dog could poop during a weekend—and I didn’t intend to find out the hard way that I wasn’t prepared.

We hustled inside and voices reached us.

“See, I told you he’d be back.” Melodie poked her head out from the kitchen. “He was just walking Lucky.”

Trevor tore around the corner and launched himself at me.

I dropped the leash and caught him up in a big hug. “Papa.”

“Sorry, buddy. Lucky had to pee. I promise I won’t go away again, okay?”

“Good luck.” Melodie rolled her eyes. “Lucky pees a lot.”

“Oh, he does, does he?” I held Trevor tightly. “When we go out today, we’ll have to count how many times.”

“We’re going out?” Melodie jumped up and down. “Yay!”

“You going to be okay?” I pressed a kiss to Trevor’s temple.

Melodie unhooked Lucky’s leash, and he bolted for the kitchen.

I smiled. “Can you feed him?”

“Of course.” She gave methatlook.

“Please don’t go.” Trevor clung to my neck.

“I won’t ever go. If you’re not with Daddy, then you’re with me. Okay?” I didn’t mean forever forever, but a nearly five-year-old child shouldn’t have to contemplate death. Even though my patient’s child had to do just that this week. I couldn’t imagine how Melodie and Trevor would cope if either Gideon or I passed. Or even Archer, now. Lucky would be the first to go, and given how much they adored him, that was going to be a blow.

“Okay.” He pressed a kiss to my cheek. “Cereal?”

“Or pancakes.”

“Yes!”

I let him down, and he scrambled toward the kitchen.

Crunching noises greeted me as I made my way over there. I clapped my hands. “Okay, you two get dressed, and by the time you’re back, I’ll have started cooking the pancakes.”