now, she bowed her head. “I know you love me—” she met his eyes again “—but I never imagined you’d take time off when you have such important business to sort out.”
The car rolled up. He opened the passenger-side door, thinking that he would never have imagined it, either. What an eye-opener. He hadn’t analyzed the dichotomy before, but it was true. He had put business first. When they’d been married, the company was still climbing and he’d had no choice but to put in the hard yards. Or that’s what he’d told himself. Truth was when things started to slide between him and Laura, he’d hid behind his job, used it as an excuse not to face his problems at home.
He slid in behind the wheel.
How often had he said to himself, If I had my time again? Now it seemed he had.
Thirty minutes later, the car slowed down and Laura brought the dented fingernail out from between her teeth.
“I’m nervous.”
Bishop swung the Land Rover to the curb. “If you don’t like any of them, we’re under no obligation.”
“I’m worried I’ll like them all. What do you think? A girl or a boy?”
The engine shut down. “Your choice.”
“A girl, I think. Maybe we could get a friend for her later on.”
“I’d better watch out or we’ll be taking all four home.”
On the drive, Bishop had let the cat—or dog, as it happened—out of the bag. Laura had been beside herself, she was so excited to be actually looking at puppies. Now, as a tall, wiry lady answered the door of a pristine suburban cottage, Laura held Bishop’s hand tight. The woman introduced herself as Sandra Knightly then ushered them around the back to where a silky coated retriever lay in a comfortable enclosure, nursing four adorable pups.
“As I told you on the phone earlier, Mr. Bishop,” Sandra said, “we have three males, one female.”
Besotted already, Laura hunkered down. “Only one girl?”
“Right there.” Sandra pointed out the smallest. “She’s the quiet one. They’re six weeks old. They’ll be ready to go to their new homes in a couple of weeks.”
“Will their mother miss them when they go?” Laura asked.
“Think of it as your own children leaving for college,” Sandra replied.
“I don’t know that I’d ever like them to go.” Laura reached out a hand then drew it back.
She looked up and Sandra asked, “Would you like to hold her?”
Laura’s face lit up. “Can I?”
“Of course. It’s good to have human contact at this age.”
Sandra scooped up the female puppy and laid her in the cup of Laura’s palms. She snuggled the sleepy baby close and brushed her cheek along the pale gold fur. The puppy turned her head and nudged her nose against Laura’s.
“Oh, my.” Her sigh was heartfelt. “She smells so … puppyish.”
Standing again, Sandra laughed. “Would you like me to put her aside for you?”
“Not yet.” Bishop stepped forward.
And Laura’s head snapped up.
“Why not?” Hearing her own tone, more a bark, she bit her lip.
She’d only meant that she knew this puppy was the one. They could look at a dozen more, but she would always come back to this darling. If they didn’t put something down to keep her, she’d be snapped up by someone else. She even had a name picked out.
Looking to Sandra, Bishop rolled back his shoulders. “We’d like to discuss it.”
“It’s a big decision,” Sandra agreed. “All the relevant information is on the website where you found me. But feel free to call if you have any questions.”
Hating to leave, Laura kissed her puppy between her floppy ears. “You stay put, little one,” she murmured against the downy fur. “I don’t want to lose you.”
Two minutes later they were back in the car, buckling up. So happy and anxious and excited, Laura felt as if she could burst. She gave her thighs a hyped up little drum. “She’s totally perfect, isn’t she?”
He put on sunglasses. “She’s a cute pup.”
“So we can get her?”
“I’d like to be thorough. We want to make sure.”
Laura clenched her jaw and held back a groan. Why must everything be put through the Samuel Bishop tenth degree decision sieve? For once, couldn’t he say, “Yeah. Let’s do it!”
“I don’t care if she isn’t from a long line of champions or if she’ll need a hip replaced when she’s twelve,” she told him. “I’d want her anyway.”
“And you wouldn’t be crushed if down the road we found out she had a problem … that we might lose her?”
“Of course I’d be crushed. But I wouldn’t love her any less, and I wouldn’t blame anyone. I certainly wouldn’t blame you.”
“You wouldn’t, huh?”
“I know you want to protect me, Bishop. You don’t want anything bad to ever happen. And I love you all the more for it. We can plan and hope and dream our lives will turn out a certain way. We can care for each other and pray that nothing goes wrong. But no one’s immune. If we put ourselves out there, sometimes we’re going to get hurt. The alternative is to hide away. Wrap ourselves in cotton wool. I would never hold you back from your dreams. If you want to build Bishop Scaffolds into a multinational corporation, I’m one hundred percent behind you. If you want to sell to pursue another venture, I’ll support you there. I know you’ll support me in my dreams, too.”
She was talking about more than buying a puppy, and he knew it.
He searched her eyes for the longest time. She saw the battle going on inside of him. Bishop was a man who made precise moves. He needed to anticipate, to strategize and arrive at the best possible solution to advance. As a wife, his process could be frustrating; impulsiveness didn’t feature in Bishop’s personal dictionary. But he wasn’t indecisive. Quite the opposite. When he made up his mind, that conviction was set in cement. But he had to be sure … as sure as he’d been when he’d asked her to be his partner in life.
A deep line formed between his brows as he frowned and he thought. Behind his sunglasses, he was looking deeply into her eyes, but she knew he was envisaging the future …. Her concern if the puppy developed joint problems, her misery should she be struck by a snake or get lost in the bush. He wanted to shield her from pain. That was noble. But Laura wanted to feel, to love, and if that meant a possibility she might lose, then she was prepared to accept that, too.
He flicked a glance back at Sandra’s house and, after another long moment, nodded once.
“It’ll
