Here to Stay by Margot Early

the filthy shelters he visited and helped shut down or reform. Eventually she would be breeding dogs in their house, and it was imperative not to bring home diseases that their kennel could catch.
    “They bathed her at the vet.”
    “What’s wrong with her? We don’t need another dog.” Then she saw his eyes and realized she’d spoken too fast and too angrily.
    “Just German shepherd puppies?” he asked.
    “God, what’s wrong with the back of its head? Was it a dogfight?”
    “She’s from a laboratory,” Elijah said, “and she’s deaf, but she’s probably getting the idea that she’s not very welcome.”
    Indeed, the little dog was edging backward. The puppies cried in their crates, and Whiteout had arrived to see the newcomer. “Gentle, Whiteout,” Elijah said.
    “They might kill her,” Sissy said frankly. “She’s weak. That’s how packs work.”
    She saw his eyes again, and he said, “Well, in case our child should happen to be weak, let’s start protecting the weaker members of the pack.”
    “How dare you?” she snapped. “Of course, our baby is going to be weak, and just who do you think is carrying our child? Who do you think is protecting this baby?”
    Five had sensed the arrival of a new dog, but seemed totally uninterested in the arrival. Teddy, like Whiteout, had come for a sniff. Elijah said, “Sorry, Sissy. I shouldn’t have said that.”
    “Thank you,” she replied, clearly unmollified.
    Elijah scooped up the small white dog. He hadn’t meant to lash out at Sissy. The lab he’d visited that day had been very bad. He’d photographed dogs, cats and monkeys that had been abused, removed them to the shelter where most of them had to be put down.
    Sissy came forward slowly, looked long at his face,then reached out for the white dog. “It’s a puppy!” she said in outrage.
    Elijah nodded. There had been others from the same litter—this was the only one that could be saved. He had taken her to the vet himself before coming home.
    Sissy’s slender hand reached up and touched Elijah’s face, then she petted the puppy. She took her from his arms. One of the puppy’s eyes was mostly closed.
    “I think she’s blind in that eye.”
    Sissy held back her feelings—wrath at people who could do this to an animal and at Elijah, who’d just had to bring this deaf and half-blind puppy home. Instead, she kissed the puppy’s pink nose and said, “You have a wrinkly little face, don’t you? I bet you’re a smart girl.” Actually, she didn’t bet that at all, but if it was one things dogs had taught her—and, to give credit, Elijah had taught her, as well—it was the necessity of praise. “What are you going to call her?”
    Elijah shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t…gotten that far.”
    “Well, I have a mess to clean up. The puppies dumped out white shoe polish and walked around the house.”
    Elijah couldn’t help it. He laughed. Then he noticed Sissy’s face. She’d been crying. Quickly he offered, “I’ll clean the floor if you make dinner.”
    “Other way,” Sissy suggested, frowning. She really hated to cook.
    Elijah kissed her. “Want me to watch her? I didn’t bring a crate for her.”
    “She can keep me company,” Sissy said. “We have to start getting to know each other.” She added acidly, “And I didn’t hit Martha.”
    Elijah looked at her for a long moment. “Thank you. Thank you very much.”
     
    A S SHE SCRUBBED the carpet, she replayed the things Elijah had said, his protectiveness of weak things. Surely he would be protective of the baby, even if he learned it wasn’t his? Surely he wouldn’t reject her; he hadn’t rejected Maureen, just seemed shocked by what she’d done. Maureen’s baby was due the month before Sissy’s, and both women were looking forward to the cousins being the same age.
    Except they won’t really be cousins.
    Well, it would be just as though Elijah had adopted the baby. Except he wouldn’t know that the