Look What The Husband Dragged Home
Chapter 2
Love and Protection
A few months have passed, it is now late June and little Max has grown to be a large Max and getting larger by the day. William was playing fetch with him on a Saturday morning while Eliza had some shopping to do. As he threw the stick not too far away on the grass, William spotted Eliza returning from her shopping. He waved to her. Eliza waved back until she saw Max bounding up to her wagging his tail.
"Yes, Max, I did get something for you," Eliza said to the large puppy as she rooted in her bag. Max was nosing at the same time and accidentally caused Eliza to lose her balance and fall on her behind. Max was so enthusiastic that he grabbed the treat from her bag and ran away with it.
"Max, what do you have here?" William said to Max as he knelt down and rubbed behind Max's ears and neck.
"Drop it," William commanded to Max who dropped a red rubber ball into his hand.
William rose keeping the ball in his hand.
"Heel," William commanded and Max stopped immediately and seated himself next to his human parents.
"I take it this was not a treat for him," William mentioned holding the ball between thumb and finger.
"William, please help me up," Eliza said as William gave her his hand and helped her back to a standing position. William helped Eliza brush the dirt from her bright yellow dress. The dress combined with Eliza's striking golden hair and fair complexion she looked like a ray of sunshine herself taking William's breath away.
Before calling Max to them to walk home, William stood before Eliza and taking her hand, kissed it, and said in his deep brogue, "In that dress, wife, you look like a treat yourself."
Eliza blushed at his compliment and reached up to kiss him.
"Let's go home, husband. We need to eat. I'm starving!"
"Seriously? I give you an invitation like that and all you want to do is eat?" William teased and smiled at his beautiful wife.
"You forget William," Eliza said in almost a whisper. "I didn't say what we were going to eat."
"Come on, Max," William called to the lagging German Shepherd dog.
Eliza took the little red rubber ball from William and placed it back in her bag and then fumbled again in her bag and found the small round treats she had purchased for Max.
Max's nose accompanied Eliza's hand, also, searching as well in the bag for treats. When she found one and took one out, she held it up for Max.
"Sit," Eliza commanded and Max obeyed. Max ate it from her hand and Eliza pet him enthusiastically and told him what a good boy he was.
Eliza stood on her toes and offered William her lips and they kissed. Then William looked into her eyes. Eliza lowered hers and placed her hand in the crook of his arm. She smiled widely when she watched William put his other hand over hers.
"Max, come on," William called as Max seemed to lag behind them as they began to walk down the path toward home.
"My, it's very warm here," Eliza observed looking up at her tall broad husband. He was dressed very casually with only a thin blue striped shirt and a light jacket around him. He did not have a hat on today, so what little breeze there was blew his shaggy curls. Eliza was wondering what William was thinking. He looked like he wanted to ask her a question.
Eliza sighed then and as she watched where she was going on the grass strewn path she would look up and admire at how handsome her husband was. She knew not only was he handsome, but on the inside he was a kind, generous, protective man. She loved him so, so much and she knew she was lucky that he loved her in return so completely.
"Dear," Eliza said as they continued to walk the path and watch Max who was now walking a short way in front of them. Max was still a puppy but a large one. He just graduated from obedience school and was a top graduate in walking close and barking at strangers approaching either herself or William.
"I was thinking maybe we would like to try Max out in the field," William stated eyeing Eliza to see her reaction.
She looked away. She felt like Max was her baby since her miscarriage, so to expose him to the field may lead to other unpleasantness. Since opening their own detective agency, William and she have had their close calls. William had been shot again last year, though, thankfully, it was just a flesh wound, how could he want to expose their puppy?
"Do you think he's ready for that?" Eliza asked carefully. She was not looking at William as she asked because she was afraid to see the earnestness in his face.
"Oh I think he would do very well. He's tenacious and determined like you. You've played fetch with him you know he doesn't give up too easily."
"He also barks at the door of our home until I'm sure our neighbors wish us to put a muzzle on him. He'll grow out of that I'm sure."
"Yes, until there is a real threat, I'm certain," William laughed and looked in his wife's eyes.
Max stopped at the corner of the path that led to the street and obediently waited for Eliza and William to catch up. He looked up at Eliza with big brown eyes begging for another treat.
"Oh, ok, Max." Eliza reached into her skirt pocket where she had placed a few treats for Max.
"Paw," Eliza asked.
Max licked the sides of his mouth and then obediently gave Eliza his paw.
"Good boy! Mommy is proud of you!" Eliza fed him the treat and patted him again and continually patted his chest as they waited for some traffic to pass before they cross the street.
Later in the middle of the night around 3 am, something crashed through Eliza and William's living room window. Max immediately left his bed from his puppy room and started to bark incessantly.
William and Eliza were immediately out of bed. William forgetting something to cover his bare chest. It was June and warm but they never left the living rooms open in the middle of the night as they were right on a busy street and who knows what could happen.
"Put on your dressing gown, Eliza," William whispered as Eliza was doing it. William grabbed his gun out of his bureau drawer and started off with Eliza behind him.
Eliza said to herself. "I really need to learn to shoot."
William knew that Eliza was right behind him. He had learned how to protect her if she would only listen. However, he was learning when to pick his battles since they married not even a year ago.
William stealthily creeped out to the living room putting up a hand for Eliza not to follow too close. Eliza was able to calm Max down once she got to him. He turned and licked her in response.
Max saw William stop and picked up the item that crashed through their front window. William patted Max as he took a seat in his armchair near the cold fireplace. Eliza followed suit and took her own armchair across from William in front of the hearth. Max went over to Eliza to sniff her to ensure she was fine as well.
"I'm good Max," she said as she scratched under his chin and petted his long body. Max feeling everything fine laid down in front of Eliza covering her feet with his belly.
Eliza smiled and watched as William unfolded a message that was attached to the rock that crashed through their window.
"What does it say, William?" Eliza asked from her chair with her hands folded tight in her lap.
"It says: Quit now or you will pay later. That's it."
"Awfully cowardly way to send a threat. I would have preferred an ominous visitor to our office."
William sniffed a laugh.
"Well, my love, you know as well as I do that would not happen unless they planned to kill us. Now this person just wants to scare us off the Harbinger case."
Eliza looked over at the broken window. Still no breeze and the heat and humidity of the New York City night only increased the warmth in the house trapped from the sun all day.
The clock struck sounding four times.
"It's four a.m.. Too early for church, coffee, or anything. Let's go back to bed. I'll put something up in the window before I come back to bed so it will be covered," William said smiling and rising.
He bent down and kissed Eliza and brushed his knuckles against her cheek.
She clasped his hand as he ventured to go to the bedroom to change.
"William?"
"Yes, love," William said returned seeing the concerned expression on her face.
"Max is good and protects us but I agree with you. I think he needs field training. What if something…"her voice trailed off as she began to cry.
"William kneeled down over the side of the chair as Max sensing something rose and sniffed at Eliza to see if he could comfort her. Her hand went to pet Max's head.
"I know you must think me weak, but I really love Max and I loved what you did by bringing him home to me when I was sad about our baby," Eliza sobbed her body decompressing from the shock.
"Shh…Max is good. We'll get him some protection training soon. I know of a person who can help." He rose and picked her up and carried her to their bed.
Eliza had her hands buried in his hair at the back of his neck and placed her head on his shoulder as he carried her the short distance. He placed her in the bed and covered her up and kissed her with lingering lips for a long while. Eliza put her arms around him and just savored the feel of him in her arms. So many times she was thankful he was there but no more than tonight.
Once Eliza fell back to sleep, William dressed and taking Max with him on a leash went for a short walk to clear his head.
By 11 a.m, breakfast had been cooked, eaten, and dishes in the sink to be washed a little later.
"You have really come a long way in your culinary skills, Eliza. I'm proud of you. That meal was barely…not bad."
Eliza had learned to laugh when her husband decided to be sarcastic with some of her less excellent domestic skills. Once in a while she cooked but for the most part, Mrs. Carruthers kept them fed and watered as they both worked long hours at their office.
Max was busy eating his food near the table and looked up with big puppy eyes for table scraps which Eliza watched as William slipped him a bit of sausage.
"William! He'll get sick if you feed him too many!"
"I only gave him two. How many bits of sausage did you feed him?" William asked giving his wife a sarcastic "I know you did it" look.
Eliza laughed and smiled.
"Ok, I'm caught. I must have sneaked him at least three in his bowl. They weren't large though like the ones you gave him."
William leaned forward and placed his had on his wife's arm.
"He'll be fine. He lived on the streets for quite a bit…like me," William said encouraging Max to put his front paws on his lap so he could give him some love.
Eliza looked at her husband with the dog. She realized he had a bond with Max that she could never have. She rose and kissed the top of William's head and left the room.