Page 35 of Cole's Joy
They exchanged laughs, and Lois felt proud that the pup sat and watched everyone that came up to give him a pat on the head. The next person to arrive was Tom, and Lois sighed in relief at the cake he carried. When Naomi questioned her, she explained that she had pie, but they had to have enough dessert for everyone. Instead of taking the puppy inside the house, Lois found a chair off to the side, slipped his leash on one of the legs, and pointed a finger at him.
“Stay,” she said, and gave him a little treat. She stepped back and watched the dog watch all the activity. When she was confident he wouldn’t tear off and run away, she went into the cabin to help the women. It was controlled chaos, and she loved it. At one point she looked around and Pru asked what was wrong.
“How is Cole getting here? I wanted it to be a surprise, but I never even talked to Ducky or Clem about it. Cole was supposed to come over to my house this evening for dinner.”
“I called and asked him to come over to my place,” Naomi said. “I told him to be here around three o’clock.”
“What excuse did you give him?”
“He’s working on a special project and I told him to bring Clem and Ducky with him so we can discuss it.”
“He tried to tell me what he was doing, but he talked about his past last night, then we ran into that little problem on the way home.” Lois shook her head sadly and saw everyone looking at her.
“What problem?” Duane asked in concern. Lois told everyone what had happened with the woman accusing Coleof being her dead-beat dad, and the others looked at her in shock. At the end she turned to Duane and Erin. “We gave the police your phone numbers in case they needed to contact our employers. Duane, I told them you’re former FBI and my future son-in-law. They were impressed and said they’d call if they needed to.”
“I think,” Laurie spoke up then, and looked between Erin and Duane. “I think we should put up some outside cameras at our place. I love my mother, and trust her, but what if we aren’t home and this woman comes by? We would not only be warned about trespassers, but it would be proof we could give the authorities.”
“I agree,” Erin said, and looked at Duane with a stern expression. “You’ll look into getting that done? Also, you’re not over at New Double as much as you are at Erin’s Way, I don’t see any reason not to have security cameras put up over there. Not that I don’t trust Cole and Clem to keep an eye on Ducky, but they can’t watch him all the time, they have work to do, too.”
“I’ll look into it. I think the first step would be to contact Jake over at Brotherhood and see what he recommends.”
“Okay, get me quotes first.”
“I’ll do that.” The conversation ended there, and everyone went back to setting up for the surprise birthday party. By quarter to three, they were ready, and Naomi went over to her house to wait for Cole. She didn’t have long to wait, because he arrived five minutes later with Clem and Ducky with him. Instead of going into her home, she said it would be better to go over to one of the cabins because there was more room to lay out the papers. At the last minute, she had Cole put the folder he’d grabbed back in the truck for a few minutes. Naomi led the way across the small road, and into the cabin. She had talked with Clem and he and Ducky stayed back until Cole entered, and as the entire crew of people yelled “Surprise!” they joined them.
“What’s this?” Cole turned to Naomi with an expression of shock and confusion.
Lois stepped forward, while holding the puppy, and grinned. “It’s your birthday surprise. I talked it over with Naomi the day after you asked me out to dinner. I thought we could all celebrate it with you.”
“Thank you,” Cole said, and everyone could tell he was choked up, so they hustled around to get the meat out on the hot grill in order to give him time to gather himself. When he was done, he scrubbed his face with both hands, then really looked at Lois. “Thank you, but I have to ask, what is this?”
“This is my puppy. When Rose had them, I claimed one. I got him this morning.”
“What’s his name?”
“I don’t know, I’m waiting to see his personality.”
Cole laughed and reached out and took the little guy in his hands. He turned him to face him, and laughed when the dog tried to lick his face. Cole allowed it, then laughed when the puppy tucked himself up into Cole’s neck like he was a little baby.
“You’re a tiny little thing,” he laughed and looked at Lois. “How about Tiny Tim?”
“Perfect,” Lois laughed and laid her hand on the puppy’s back. “Do you like that Tim?” The dog gave a little yip and snuggled further into Cole’s neck. They walked around and just before the meat was taken off the grill, Lois looked at Lorissa with a gigantic grin. “I think I lost a puppy.”
“Naw, Tim still likes you, it just shows that he’ll love Cole when Cole comes over to visit you.”
“I hope so,” she sighed happily as they continued to get the meal on the table. It was a lively afternoon and Lois watched Cole with an eagle eye when the cake was brought out and saw his slightly wrinkled nose. He had set Tim down before they ate,and the little dog stayed between the two of them all afternoon. The cake was set down in the center of the table, then Laurie brought out an apple pie with a single candle in the middle, and Lois grinned when Cole’s eyes lit up.
“Please, tell me that’s an apple pie.”
“It is, I baked it earlier today. Naomi told me you didn’t like cake, but I thought the cake could be for everyone, and the pie for you.”
“Thank you, I don’t think I’ve ever been treated so specially before.”
No one commented on his comment, and he blew out the candle, and got the first piece of pie. They sat around and laughed the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening. By the time Lois left that night, she was happy her surprise had gone over so well. At her truck, Cole stopped her, gathered her in his arms, and kissed her soundly.
“Thank you. You made me feel special today.”
“You are special, Cole. At least you are to me. It made me happy to make you happy.” They kissed again, and he helped her into the truck, but told her to wait until he could walk around and tell Tim goodbye. He came back around and promised that he’d be over the next day after work.
