I had to wonder what he had up his sleeve, but his ideas were solid so far. "Give, I love surprises, but if you're at all unsure about this one, let's hear it. I promise I won't shoot it down just because."

"I want to stop at a breeder. She's got a couple of older pups, who have been returned a couple of times. They need a rescue from someone who knows the breed."

My skin shot shivering goosebumps up my arms. "I can't resist a rescue, no matter the breed."

"I think you'll like this one. It's a pair, male and female, from different blood lines, so breedable later on. The male is nine months, the bitch is ten. Championship lines for both, but their herding drive is more than the prospective owners could handle." Chayton's grin was more than I could handle.

"So, spill, what are they?"

"Great Pyrenees." He sounded incredibly smug.

Tears welled up before I could stop them. "Oh my God! I'd take them no matter what. Malia will train them as easily as I could. We could run goats again. For the wool. Angora's. The girls could learn to be Navajo again, it's so right." I sniffed hard and reached for a tissue.

"I thought we could take them with us on our rides. It's a great way to socialize them a bit and teach them some manners."

"How far do we have to go?"

"We're here." He turned onto a gravel road. We weren't too far from the summer cabin settlement he told me about.

"Smart ass. Good thing though. I would have been worse than a kid asking you if we're there yet. Thank you, Chayton. What made you think of it?" I couldn't wait to get him out under the stars and jump him.

"The pictures at your great-grandfather's home when I dropped Malia there with two healers and all the girls. Ella asked about the dogs as soon as she saw them."

"You're a softie under all that gruff crust, aren't you?" I dabbed at my eyes again. The emotions hitting me were rare. Walls were crumbling.

"Busted. But don't tell anyone." His smile was a mile wide when he pulled to a stop in front of the breeder's house. The din of barking dogs alerting was music to my ears. I was out of the Tahoe in a flash, walking up the gravel path to greet the woman who came out to meet us.

"Where are they?" I asked. I knew I was a little over eager, but the thought of having dogs again, even if I wasn't able to be there for them as often as I would like, was overwhelming.

"Chayton said you would be all over this idea. I'm Lucy, you're Alyana, right?"

I nodded, enchanted by the puppies tumbling over each other in the pen next to her front door. "Nice bunch you have here."

"From the same pair as the bitch I want you to have. Let's go meet your dogs. She wasn't supposed to breed this heat, but---" She shrugged her shoulders and led us around the puppy pen and over to a multi-run kennel about a hundred feet across an open area behind the two-floor farmhouse she lived in.

"They're in the first two runs. They'll herd kids and keep them from running around given half a chance, so be warned."

"Have you named them?"

"He's Patch, she's Snow."

I agreed. No need to change them. The male was bigger, even though he was a bit younger. He had a couple of pale beige patches, one on his right side the other just over his left shoulder. The bitch was pure white like I've never seen on a Pyrenees before. They're usually closer to ivory.

Lucy unlocked the padlocks on the latches. "I've had problems with curious looky-loos. Especially at night. Annoying because they set the dogs off, and wake everyone up." She answered my unasked question.

"I know. It's infuriating," Chayton said.

I knelt down. I wanted to see just how rambunctious these two were. Snow barreled out of her run, and slid to a stop in front of me, sat and offered a paw. I shook, charmed.

"I thought you said they were untrainable," Chayton commented.

"Not so. Just incorrigible herders."

Patch was right behind Snow. He almost knocked me down, licking my face with his rough tongue.

Chayton whistled, a sharp single note.

Both dogs sat, watching him expectantly.

I looked up at Lucy, "That looks more like they need the right owner, not like they're a problem. We whistle trained all our dogs. My grandmother taught me, and my sister who will be in charge of most of their training because I'm not going to be around." I turned to look at Chayton, and asked, "Where did you learn?"

"Mom runs a cattle ranch on the north end of the reserve. We use heelers, red and blue. "We'll teach these two to run with the horses. I'm sure Malia will want that as well."

I stood up, Snow pushed her head under my hand, and looked up at me. I gave her the down signal, before thinking if she knew it, and she was on her belly instantly. "How much do we owe you for the training you've already done?"

"Nothing. I just want a male and a female from their first litter, please. I'm sure you'll let them breed when they're ready," Lucy said. "Chayton's already paid the normal puppy price for them; the rest was necessary. They're smart, I couldn't let them get out of control."

"I'll need a proper whistle, then. My sister has one already." I followed Lucy as she turned to walk along the kennels. Snow followed at heel.

I glanced over my shoulder to see Patch with Chayton.

"Get the gear we need as well," Chayton called. "I'm taking Patch over to meet the horses."

I stopped. "Can you handle them both?"

He whistled a long note, and Snow looked up at me. I waved my right hand toward Chayton and she walked over to join Patch at his side. These dogs were a joy. Malia was going to scream when she got hold of them. They were an answer to my secret prayers, a dream I wasn't sure I could ever fulfill. My heart did a flip in my chest. Did we have a chance at more than scratching an itch?