“They’re not yours?” Roman asked.
Dane shook his head. “We’ve been fostering them after someone found them abandoned on the side of the road when they were only a few weeks old. The one you’re holding, Hunter, is the runt so we’re having a little more trouble finding him a permanent home. He’s got a few health issues that means he’ll be on medication for a while and not a lot of people want to have to deal with that.”
“Poor baby,” Hunter murmured as he dropped a kiss on the puppy’s head. He got a kiss for his trouble and chuckled as they followed Dane and Jax up the stairs.
As soon as Dane opened the door, a shrill voice called, “Those puppies better not have dirty feet like last time because I spent all morning mopping the floor.”
Hunter froze in the doorway as his eyes focused on the stairs leading to the second floor. An old woman with a baby in her arms was carefully walking down the stairs. Her eyes were focused on each step so she didn’t see Hunter until she reached the last one and then she froze, her mouth open in a wide O. The woman was as thin as a stick and had her silver hair piled up in some fancy look that almost reminded him of the beehive hairdos women used to wear. She was wearing a black and white linen dress with a matching jacket and a pillbox hat. With her perfectly applied makeup, she looked like she should be sitting in some fancy tea room somewhere eating watercress sandwiches. Well, except for the shoes. Because instead of matching, dressy shoes, she was wearing a pair of sneakers that had some kind of jewels bedazzled on them.
“Oh, my darling boy,” she cried as she moved forward and handed the baby to Dane who ended up shoving the puppy he was holding into Roman’s arms.
Hunter didn’t move or make a sound as his grandmother’s arms went around him and neither reacted when the puppy began squirming between them.
“Gran,” Hunter finally whispered. He succeeded in pulling the puppy from between them and somehow Jax managed to take it even though his hands were full. Jax gave Roman a quick nod and he followed him through the kitchen to a small laundry room where a gate was set up to keep the puppies in the room. Roman carefully put the puppies he was holding down on the other side of the gate and then hurried back to the front door. Hunter and his grandmother were still hugging but Hunter was anything but lax as he held her close.
“Come, come sit,” his grandmother urged as she began leading him towards the living room.
“Gran, um, there’s someone I want you to meet,” Hunter said as he held out his hand to Roman. Roman took it and watched Hunter’s grandmother for any sign of contempt as Hunter said, “Gran, this is Roman Blackwell, my boyfriend.”
The old woman looked him up and down several times before saying, “You got a job?”
“Yes ma’am, I do.”
“A savings account?”
“Uh, yeah,” Roman replied.
“You aren’t hiding some wife and kids somewhere, are you?”
“No ma’am.”
Her sharp eyes flashed back to Hunter before settling on him once more. “You love my grandson?”
“More than anything else in this world.”
She studied him for another long moment before nodding her head. “Okay, you’ll do.” Then she was wrapping her spindly arms around him before turning her attention back to Hunter and leading him into the living room. Roman wasn’t sure where Dane and Jax had disappeared to but he was glad for the privacy. Roman wasn’t sure if Hunter wanted him present but he didn’t have to ask the question because Hunter held out his hand expectantly. Roman took it and followed Hunter into the cozy living room and settled down next to him on the couch. His grandmother kept patting Hunter’s face as if to confirm he was really there.
“My baby, what happened? Where have you been?”
“I’ve been at school Gran.”
“You never came to visit. You didn’t call me back.”
Roman had his hand on Hunter’s thigh so he felt him stiffen at his grandmother’s heartbroken tone. “I know Gran, I’m sorry. I was too ashamed to face you.”
“Oh my dear, I shouldn’t have been so hard on you. I never took time to listen to your side of things,” his grandmother said softly.
“I’ve been pretty messed up about everything, Gran. I didn’t want you to see me like that. But I talked to Finn, told him how sorry I was and he forgave me.”
“He is a sweet boy. I knew you two would work it out.”
“I’m going to set things right with the people in town too. Tell them what really happened.”
“Well, if any one of them gives you a hard time, you tell them to come see me, you hear?”