It was a cool winter morning, the whole family was up, early for work and school. William was getting dressed and shaving, as Julia prepared breakfast.

"Susannah, darling, breakfast"

"Coming, mommy" as she came out of her room all dressed

She goes sits at her spot, and sees the morning paper, which she read as she eats her breakfast.

As William sits down, he noticed how engulfed she was in,

"Something interesting in the paper, this morning?"

"Yes, this" she says and points to an article about a golden retriever dog who recently given birth to 7 puppies.

Julia sits down, reads the article and sees William's face, as she places her hand on Susannah's shoulder, "we'll talk about it later, darling. It's time for school"

She nods gives them both a goodbye kiss and heads to school.

As she leaves, Julia asks William, "what do you think?"

"Julia, it's not the best time"

She gets up from the table and grabs her dishes, "you said this last year."

"Julia, we just don't have time to take care of a dog"

"William, Susannah will take care of the dog. Remember, when she looked after Mrs. Russell's little dog, while she visited her sister in Ottawa?"

"Julia, that's different. That dog is the size of a pillow. This is a golden retriever, she's asking for"

"Yes, so what of the size"

"Julia, she's too young"

"She's turning 9 in 3 weeks. She's more of an adult than all the kids at her school"

He nods slightly and agrees to that, "but still. I don't know. Maybe, just get her a bike"

"We did. For her 8th birthday. Plus, I promised her I would get her a dog for her 9th birthday."

"What, Julia"

"William, she's lonely, ok. She's technically an only child."

"She has Harry."

"Half-brother, who's 10 years older than her. Plus, she says she feels so alone. She doesn't have any friends at school"

"What?"

Julia nodded, "this was a few months ago, after her friend Ellie moved to Vancouver, she doesn't have any friends. She goes to school, does her work and at recess, reads, doesn't play. The other kids call her freak"

"What? Why didn't she say anything?"

"Because, she wants to deal with the matter herself. She needs a friend, William, and I believe a dog would help with that."

He wipes his face off, gives her a kiss on the cheek, "we'll discuss it later"

It was 3 weeks later, and Susannah's birthday had arrived. She didn't want anything big, only her grandpa Tom, Margaret, uncle George and aunt Effie, with their kids, Georgie and Maggie.

They also invited Detective Watts and Harry.

For their meal, they enjoyed Mrs. Kitchen's beef stew recipe, a double fudge chocolate cake.

It was present time, she got a new camping outfit from George and Effie and their kids, a violin from Thomas and Margaret, a bow and arrow from Harry and a diary from Watts.

"Well, thank you, everyone for the gifts"

William leaves the room for a second, as Julia says, "oh, wait darling this is from me and daddy" Julia says and hands her the box, as she gasp, and opens the box quick, but sees it's empty, "nothing in here"

"Well, it wouldn't stay in the box…so, William"

They looked at the corner and see William holding a golden retriever puppy, with a blue ribbon around his neck, "aww, a puppy" as she ran to it.

"We didn't know if you wanted a male or female, but we thought he was perfect for you" Julia said

"He is perfect" as she gave them both hug, "thank you"

"You're welcome, darling. Let's place him on the floor."

"Julia grab a towel. He might urinate"

Effie rushed to the linen closet and grabbed a towel, "thanks, Effie"

"It was so sweet to see her face light up"

"I feel the same way. I haven't seen her so happy"

For the rest of the party, everyone got a chance to play with the puppy, when Brackenreid asked William, "so Murdoch, when did you decide to get the puppy?"

"I was still on the defense about it last week, until Julia and Harry convinced me"

"How did they convinced you?"

William rubbed his forehead, "when Harry arrived, last week, he asked me to take a walk with him. We stopped by Susannah's school, where one of her classmates brought in their dog for the afternoon. I noticed how happy Susannah was with the dog, which happened to be a golden retriever."

"What about the dr how did she…"

William gave him a look…

"Oh"

When the party was over, Susannah took the puppy out to the bathroom, before bed time.

As she came back in, she asks, "where will he sleep?"

"For tonight in your room, in his bed, on the floor." Julia said

"Ok" she responds as she gives the puppy a hug and kiss

"What will you name him?" William asks

"How about Max, or Buddy?" Julia suggests

"Those are too common, Julia. How about after your favorite composer Beethoven."

Susannah giggled, "thanks for the suggestions, but I have chosen one already."

"Oh, what did you choose?" William asked

"I decided, I'll call him Toto. After my favorite book"

Julia pets his head, "he's definitely a Toto. William?"

"It's perfect for him"