The Moment Of Truth

Little Guy looked up at Dana. She’d have to buy a dog bowl. And puppy pads. A kennel to keep him in while she was attending class. But she’d need those things on hand, anyway, as the newest pet placement counselor of the Love To Go Around Program.

“I’ll give him a home.” Josh Redmond stood up. “If you don’t already have a permanent home in mind for him, that is. I’m new to town. I...live alone. And would like the company.”

Dana knew what it felt like to be alone.

“I’ll fill out whatever paperwork you need,” Josh said, his gaze moving between Dana and the vet. The earnestness in his voice caught at her emotions even more than the look in his eyes. He seemed to feel he had to convince them.

Dana recognized that note in his voice, almost as if he was trying to convince himself that he was good enough....

“I can do the home checks, if you like,” she offered.

And maybe she’d get a puppy for herself, too. One that was smaller and could live happily in a duplex.

Dr. Tate explained to Josh Redmond about the pet adoption program requirements. Adding that Dana would perform periodic home checks for the first month or so, and asking if that was all right with him.

“Absolutely,” the man said. He wasn’t smiling, but he seemed eager enough to take the puppy home with him.

Dana handed over the leash and, counselor packet hugged to her chest, ignored the sting of tears as she turned to go and leave Little Guy behind.

She’d best get better at turning the unwanted pets over to new families if she was going to be any good to the Love To Go Around program. And really, how selfish of her to think that she deserved all the stray love.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” the man’s voice sounded behind her.

“I already paid my bill,” she assured him, needing to get outside, to take a breath of fresh air. She’d be fine in a second.

“How are you going to visit him if you don’t know where he lives?” Josh Redmond asked.

Oh, right. Turning back, she waited patiently while the man wrote his address on a pad of paper Dr. Tate handed to him. She gave him her cell number, as well, in case he had any problems with the puppy. And she bent to kiss Little Guy goodbye.

“This address is only temporary,” he said as he handed her the piece of paper. “Until I can find something more permanent.”

Dana’s smile, while still shaky, wasn’t forced the second time she turned to go. She’d see Little Guy again. Very soon.

CHAPTER FOUR

“ARE YOU SURE I can’t get you something to eat?” Sitting outside at a picnic table in the little courtyard behind the clinic, Cassandra Montford was absolutely nothing like Josh had expected.

On the bench across from her, his knees beneath the cement tabletop avoiding hers, Josh shook his head. He’d chosen Cassie deliberately because she was one step away from blood relation. One step away from someone who would be directly affected by what he had to say.

“We’ve always got fresh veggies and sandwich fixings in the fridge,” Cassie said. “For days like today when there isn’t time for a proper meal.”

“You always this busy, then?”

“Sometimes.” The beautiful redhead took a bite of a sandwich and shrugged. “My partner, Zack, is out of town with his wife this week so things are a little more crazy than usual around here.”

His mind reeling with the knowledge that he had a four-legged creature waiting for him in a kennel inside that back door, Josh said, “I won’t keep you long.”

“What can I do for you?” Cassie asked.

She took a sip from a water bottle and offered him a bottle of his own. He declined that, too.

“I have a favor to ask,” he said, suddenly conscious of the fact that the pretty veterinarian had limited time to offer him and was already halfway through her sandwich. “Of sorts,” he amended.

He’d told himself he wasn’t going to ask anything of anyone.

And he wasn’t.

Not of material value, anyway.

“You said your place is only temporary. You’re new to town?” The doctor’s expression was serious.

“Yes.”

“Here to stay?”

“For now.”

Cassie Montford swallowed her last bite of sandwich and wrapped her hands around the plastic bottle, looking at him expectantly.

“I’m Josh Redmond.”

“I know. You said so. Should that mean something to me?”

“I’d hoped not, but I wasn’t sure. My mother promised me she’d stay out of things, but I wasn’t positive she had. It was also possible someone from here had done the same research she did.” Which had been another reason he’d waited to do this in person. He was hoping for anonymity and he wouldn’t have had any chance of success at all if his identity preceded him.

Frowning, Cassie’s gaze remained open. “Do I know your mother?”

“No! And I’m making more out of this than I should. I need to tell you who I am and why I’m in town, but before I do, I’d like to ask you to keep what I’m about to tell you to yourself.”

“I can’t promise that. In the first place, I’m not in the habit of keeping secrets from my husband.”

“Sam, Jr.”

“You know Sam? Were you in the peace corps with him?”

“No.” But he was surprised to hear that Cassie’s husband, Sam, had been. A stint in the peace corps wasn’t typically something you found on the résumés of the sons of the elite.

Curious.

“I’m sorry, I just thought...” Cassie broke off. “Other than Sam’s time in the peace corps, we pretty much know all of the same people. We’ve been friends since kindergarten.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to keep anything from your husband,” Josh jumped in. “Though I’d hope that he’d keep anything you tell him to himself.”

“I still can’t give you any assurances that either one of us will keep your secret until I know the nature of it.”

“Fair enough,” he said. “I wouldn’t have bothered you at all except that I need you to send a letter to my mother, assuring her that I’ve arrived and am being properly looked after.”

She hadn’t asked him to do so. But he knew her. She’d manage to keep her word to stay out of things longer if she had some sort of contact, was involved in some little way.

The other woman’s frown deepened. As did the look of compassion in her eyes.

“Are you ill?” Cassie asked.

“No. I’m in perfect health.” As fate would have it. Michelle was the one who’d paid for his years of selfish indifference. “And I have absolutely no intention of being looked after.” He had to make that quite clear. Whether the Montfords agreed to keep his secret or not was not going to change his plan. It just might change his location.

“Okay, tell me who you are, and I’ll tell you what I’m willing to do for you.”

“I’m your cousin,” Josh said. “Or rather, your husband’s cousin. Twice removed, but not so much when it comes to the family fortunes. As near as my mother could tell, Sam and I are currently the only direct heirs, once our parents pass.”

Cassie’s mouth dropped open. “You’re a Montford,” she said, as though she’d expected him to show up some day.

“My mother is the sole descendent of the Boston Montfords. Your husband’s father is the sole descendent of the Arizona Montfords.”

“It’s my understanding that the Boston Montfords disowned our Sam and that the two branches of the family haven’t been in touch in all the generations since.”

Josh’s mother was an only child. Josh was an only child. The Boston Montfords just might die out.

“I know,” he said. “But my mother, as the only heir to the Boston half of the fortune, intends to change that.”

“And she’s using you to do so.”

“In a manner of speaking.”

“So what’s in it for you?”

Josh bowed his head.

Cassie Montford, who, according to his mother, had been born and raised in Shelter Valley, had obviously learned a thing or two about the outside world, as well.

He sized up the woman across from him. Like he’d study a client across the boardroom table. To see how far he could push, how much he could get.

He saw a spot of moisture on her lip.

A spot of moisture that, in that second, reminded him of Michelle.

“Peace,” he finally answered. “And it’s not something you or anyone else can give me,” he said, knowing that his life in Shelter Valley depended on his honesty in this moment, because it depended on her full cooperation.

“I don’t understand.”

“Like Sam’s great-grandfather, I’m in Shelter Valley to start a new life,” Josh said, looking her straight in the eye. “Also like him, I am choosing to do so without benefit of the family fortune.”

“Choosing to do so.”

“Yes.”

“So you aren’t on the run? Or cut off for heinous deeds?” She might have been joking, if not for the dead seriousness of her gaze.

“No. On the contrary. I’m in Shelter Valley because the only way my mother would be at peace with me leaving Boston was to know that I was coming here. My parents think that I’m living off my monthly inheritance draw.”

“And that’s why you want me to write to her and let her know that you’re here and being cared for, for her peace of mind?”

“Right.”

“What kind of care do you need, Mr. Redmond?”

“Call me Josh...please. And the only thing I need from you and Sam—other than this one communication with my mother who is, by the way, a wonderful lady who will want to meet you someday—is my space and a promise that you will not say anything to anyone, including family, about who I really am.”

“Let me guess, you want your mother to believe you’re here as a Montford, but you want no part of the family name and all that goes with it.”

“Pretty much. My mother has promised to stay out of my life for a while at least. She agreed not to pursue a relationship with your side of the family until I could get established on my own.”

It was the only way he’d agree to live in Shelter Valley. And maybe it was harsh, but he was only asking her not to get to know people she’d never met.

Cassie nodded. Obviously assessing him.

“You don’t seem surprised by any of this.”

“I’m not. Seems to run in the family.”

Josh remembered her peace corps comment. “From what my mother was able to find out from her searches, your husband, and his father before him, have been upstanding Montford heirs, honoring the family name.”

“She must not have looked far enough,” Cassie said with a not quite humorous, half grin. “My Sam was more like the man he was named after,” she said. “He left town when we were barely out of our teens. He’s only been back in Shelter Valley, living as a Montford, for the past twelve years. His father, James, had some health issues several years back. We thought we’d lost him, but he surprised us all.”

For the first time, Josh was actually curious about the family he’d come to town to avoid.

But getting to know his distant relatives was not part of his plan.

Neither was a dog.

But he was there to help others. And the little pisser needed a home.

Sam and Cassie Montford didn’t need him.

Leaning forward, he put his arms on the table. “I applied for...was offered...and accepted a job in the Montford University Business Affairs department.” He told her what he needed her to know. “Acquired only on the basis of my business degree from Harvard, not because of any other connection. Being out on my own...living without the benefit of name or fortune...is something I have to do for myself. To keep my mother off my back, I would like to do it here, in Shelter Valley. But I can’t do that without your cooperation. If anyone here finds out who I am, I won’t be able to become simply a citizen. From what I’ve gathered in the short time I’ve been in town, the name Montford carries weight around here. If I’m going to find some self-respect, I have to live off my own efforts, not the benefits that come with my background.”

“Sounds like you have something to prove.”

“I need anonymity,” he said. “If I can’t find that here, I’ll move on.”

Lips pursed, Cassie studied him for a long moment and then took a deep breath. “I have to tell Sam....”

“Understood.”

“And get his cooperation.”

Josh nodded.

“As long as my husband doesn’t foresee any trouble, I have no problem granting your request.”

“Thank you.” Josh stood, relieved. “For the time being, I’m renting a vacant house on the west side of town,” he told her. “I plan to buy something as soon as I get an idea of where I’d like to settle.”

Cassie mentioned some acreage with mountain views and Josh shook his head. “I meant it when I said I’m on my own,” he told her. “Any Montford monies I had, or will have in the future, are going in a trust designated for another use.”

He didn’t elaborate.

“The only house I can buy has to fall within mortgage qualification requirements commensurate with my new salary.”

Cassie Montford gathered up the remnants from her lunch and walked with him toward the back door of the clinic. “You’re really serious about this.”

“Completely.”

She reached for the door and stopped with her hand on the knob. “Can I ask why?”

He’d been prepared for the question. Not for the empathy he read in her eyes.

“I was born into a life of privilege, which, as it turns out, I didn’t deserve. And I’m terrified of dying with nothing but a wasted life to show for having been here.”

She wanted to ask more. He could see the questions in her eyes.

“I think my husband’s going to want to meet you.”

Not if Josh could avoid it. He couldn’t afford to let himself get that close to the life he was leaving behind. Not if he was going to make this work.

Because, like an alcoholic tempting himself with a drink, Josh was scared of what the smell and feel and taste of privilege would do to him after a week or two without it.

His resolve was firm. He just wasn’t sure he could trust himself to live up to it. Which was another major reason he’d left Boston, and everything and everyone familiar to him, behind.

“Maybe, at some point,” he said. “But not here in town. Not where anyone might see us together.”

“I’m sure that could be arranged,” Cassie said, grinning over her shoulder at him as they stepped back into the clinic. “My husband could probably fool God if he tried hard enough.”

Leaving Cassie his cell phone number, with the understanding that she’d let him know what Sam said regarding the favor he’d asked, Josh let her turn him over to Hope, who gave him a starter pack of something called puppy pads, a plastic container of vitamins and a small bag of dog food—all of which he carried out to the back of the SUV.

When he returned, she handed him a leash attached to the ten-pound mass of jumping and peeing fur he’d just agreed to take home with him.

If only his mother could see him now.

CHAPTER FIVE

“DANA, WHERE SHOULD I put this towel?” At the sound of Lori’s voice on Saturday morning, Dana turned from the desk in her little living room where she was typing on her laptop. The girl had called sometime after ten the night before and told her Marissa’s boyfriend was spending part of the night at the dorm.

“Just hang the towels on the hook on the back of the door,” she told the younger woman. “In case you need them again. I’ll wash them the next time I do laundry.”

Kitty Kari, who’d been curled up on the corner of the desk, woke, stretched and, when her paw knocked against the edge of the laptop, started patting at the screen.

Lori grabbed her purse, keys and the backpack she’d brought her overnight paraphernalia in.

“You going home for Thanksgiving?” Dana asked.

“I’m not sure. If my dad’s going to be there, yes. I’m not leaving him there alone.”

“If?”

“A couple of his mining buddies have been talking about taking a hunting trip over the holidays. If they go, he will, too.”

“Has he done that before?”

“No, but I think he’d have liked to. He wouldn’t have left me home alone, though.”

Daniel wouldn’t have left Dana home alone, either. He just wouldn’t have played video games with her like he had with his two biological daughters. And he wouldn’t have asked the other two to help with the cooking or the dishes.

They’d done that on their own. Her half sisters, Rebecca and Lindsey—twenty and twenty-two, respectively—were good girls. Good sisters. To a point.

They just didn’t go to bat for her. Not that she blamed them. Her mother hadn’t, either.

And Dana didn’t blame Susan Harris for that choice. For an earlier one, yes, but not that one.

“Well, if you’re in town, you’re welcome to come over here. I’m getting a big turkey and making dinner for anyone at school who can’t make it home for the holiday.” She loved cooking Thanksgiving dinner. And even though the holiday was still three weeks away, she’d already started buying groceries as they went on sale.

“If I’m in town, I’ll help you cook,” Lori said and, thanking Dana for letting her crash at her place, let herself out.

Eight o’clock in the morning and she had her whole day ahead of her. As soon as she got her English paper done, that was. The five-hundred-word essay was due on Monday. And while Dana had an A in the class—straight As in all of her classes, actually—she wouldn’t be able to maintain her grades if she didn’t turn her work in on time.

She was two sentences farther along when her phone rang.

It was Jerome, from her English class. He’d lost part of his grant and was low on cash. He’d shown up for class one day in jeans that were wrinkled and had a stain at the knee and she’d made a joke about a rough night. He’d replied that he didn’t have enough money for laundry and was wearing things until they stank—at which time she’d offered him the use of her washer and dryer.

He’d been over every Saturday for the past three weeks. And was calling to ask if he could use her facilities again.

She told him that he was welcome, took a break from her laptop to clear her as yet unwashed clothes out of the washing machine and went back to work. Another paragraph, rewritten four times, and Jerome was at the door. She let him in and returned to her desk.

She heard him in the kitchen, settling at her kitchen table with his own laptop and thought to call out, “You going home for Thanksgiving?”

“No,” he answered back. “My folks and I decided to save the money so I could fly home for Christmas break instead of driving. It’ll give us four more days together.”

Jerome was from Missouri.

“I’m making dinner here for anyone who can’t get home,” she said. “You’re welcome to join us.”

“Cool. I’m there,” the eighteen-year-old said. “I’m no cook, but I know how to load a dishwasher.”

“Then dishwasher loader you are,” she said. Kari pounced on her keyboard, typing a series of As, just as Dana’s cell phone rang. “Hello?” she answered.

“Dana Harris?”

She recognized the voice. There was no reason to—she’d only heard it briefly—but she did.

“Yes.”

“This is Josh Redmond. I met you—”

“I remember you, Josh. I was going to call you in a little while to see how you and Little Guy are doing. I didn’t want to call too early.” With it being Saturday and all.

“The middle of the night wouldn’t have been too early,” the man said with a tired-sounding chuckle.

Dana remembered her own sleepless state a few days before. “He whined all night?” she said. She should have warned him. But why borrow trouble? The puppy might not have whined at Josh’s place.

And Little Guy needed a home.

But they needed it to be a good home, so that he would have a permanent home. And that’s where she came in.

“He whined. And then yelped. And pooped and peed. And whined some more.”

“Did you bring him into bed with you?” Most pet lovers knew how to solve separation anxiety issues. Or resolved to put up with the whining for the little bit of time it would take to train the animal to sleep alone.

“Hell, no, I didn’t bring it to bed with me!” Josh sounded affronted. “Why would I do that?”

“To get some sleep,” she said calmly, not sure they’d made the right choice in a home for Little Guy. Some animal shelters gave animals away to pretty much anyone who stopped in. A home was better than no home. But...

“I’m not sure how you think I’d sleep any better with him whining next to my ear than I did with him howling from the kennel in the bathroom,” he said. “I started him out with a pet bed in the kennel, but he chewed on that and left foam everywhere. So I tried a blanket. He peed on it. He ripped up the puppy pad and...”

The man was clearly beside himself. If she hadn’t been worried about Little Guy’s future, Dana would have smiled.

“Have you ever had a dog before, Josh?”

She’d assumed, since he’d been at the veterinary clinic, and seemed eager to take the dog, that he was an experienced pet owner.

“No.”

“You’re a cat person, then?”

“No.”

“Horses?”

“I’ve never had so much as a goldfish.”

Dana’s heart sank. She could hear Jerome in the tiny laundry room off the kitchen, moving clothes from the washer to the dryer.

“You’ve never had a pet?” She’d grown up with a kennel of them. Literally. And had made more than one road trip with her mother to deliver one of Susan’s purebred poodles.

“No.”

“And you’re there alone?”

With a growing and teething puppy who was going to get huge?

“I live alone, yes.”

He sounded tired. Frustrated. But he hadn’t asked her to take Little Guy back. Or called the clinic and dropped him off there.

He’d called her. His pet counselor.

Anyone who owned pets had to start somewhere....

“How about if I drive out there,” she heard herself suggesting before she’d fully thought about what she was saying. Her paper was three-quarters of the way finished. She had another day and a half before it was due. She could still make the movie she’d been hoping to see that afternoon. And the hair appointment she’d scheduled, if she was quick about it. “Puppies are a lot like two-year-olds....”

“I have no more experience with those than I do dogs,” he inserted.

Her curiosity flared. Josh was easily a year or two older than she was. At least. He wore expensive shoes. Was new to town and single. Where had he been before he’d relocated to the middle of nowhere in the Arizona desert?

And why did he choose Shelter Valley?

It was absolutely none of her business. She’d spent too much time with her nose in books. Wanted to know everything about everyone.

“He’s testing his boundaries,” she told the slightly desperate-sounding man. “And probably suffering some anxiety, too. As soon as he feels secure, and knows what’s expected of him, he’ll settle down.”

“How long does that normally take?”

“Could be a week, could be months.” She had to be honest with him. For Little Guy’s sake. As much as she wanted the puppy to have found a home, she didn’t want him to stay if it wasn’t the right place for him. “But there are some things you can do to make the process a lot easier on both of you,” she added. “How about if I do your first house check this morning and see what we can do?”

“Would you?”

“Of course.”

“We aren’t taking you away from something important, are we?”

“Just homework,” she told him. “And I’m almost done.” Or she would be. Soon. “I’ll be there within the hour.”

Right after she showered and told Jerome to lock up after himself when he was through.

* * *

JOSH WASN’T READY for company. He’d hauled a rented trailer behind the SUV for the trip out to Arizona with his brown leather sofa and recliner, his sleep mattress and bed frame and the solid wood dresser he’d had made in Spain during a weekend jaunt with Michelle and another couple. He’d brought the butcher-block kitchen table because it was the one he’d grown up with and had snatched from his mother when she’d been redecorating after he left for college.