The First Gardener (12 page)

“They’re shih tzus. My girlfriend thinks they’re the cutest dogs she’s ever seen. Sweet, too. They love everybody.”

Maddie spoke up. “But me mostest.”

“Oh yes, absolutely. You mostest.”

Mackenzie laughed when the one she was holding all but stuck its tongue up her nose. And within a few minutes, she and Maddie and their new shih tzu Sophie were on their way home. Gray was going to kill her, but she didn’t care. And once he got a whiff of that puppy breath, he wouldn’t care either.

Gray did care. He cared more than she had thought.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, Mack. As if either of us has time for a puppy. Maddie can’t even pick up her clothes off the floor, much less take care of a dog. And you paid three hundred dollars for that thing?” he said as they walked toward their bedroom after tucking Maddie in bed.

Mackenzie nuzzled her nose against Sophie’s soft fur. The puppy turned like a contortionist so it could lick her face. “Gray, you’re being ridiculous.” She laughed. “Here, let her kiss you.” She held Sophie out toward him. “You’ll fall in love with her, I promise.”

He held up his hand. “I am not letting a dog lick me in the face. And we should have talked about this.”

She pulled Sophie back against her. “Okay. Okay. We should have talked about this. But I couldn’t resist. She’s so cute. And she loves Maddie.”

“I’m being serious, Mack. You should have talked to me. Puppies are a huge responsibility.”

“Good grief. It’s just a dog, Gray. And I know a thing or two about responsibility.”

He shook his head. “It’s just one more thing right now, Mack. One more thing on top of an out-of-control budget and all these issues with my dad and us trying to have another baby. It’s not right for you to just bring a dog home without talking to me.”

She stalked past him and marched toward the bathroom, where she set Sophie down on the floor.

“Did you even hear me, Mack?”

She crossed over to the closet and pulled a pair of pajamas from one of her drawers. There would be no sexy nightgown tonight. “No. Honestly, I didn’t hear a word you just said because I have no desire to talk to you when you’re being perfectly unreasonable.”

He stepped to the other side of the massive bank of drawers that separated their sides of the closet and leaned over it so his face would be close to hers. “I said, it’s one more thing. I’m buried in problems right now, Mack, and I don’t need a dog on top of it all.”

She looked up into blue eyes that were more tired than angry. And this time she heard him. Really heard him. She laid the pajama pants on top of the cabinet and walked around it toward him. “This isn’t about a puppy, Gray. What happened today?”

He shook his head. Her arms circled his waist. He let out a heavy sigh and his shoulders dropped. She knew the weight he had to carry outside these four walls, but she was grateful every time he could let down his guard and be just Gray inside her arms.

“They called from the nursing home again.”

“Again?”

“It’s just getting so much worse. He doesn’t know me anymore, Mack. My own father doesn’t even know my name.”

There it was. She saw the hurt in his eyes and, for a moment, the humanity of this man whom even she sometimes thought superhuman. He could seemingly handle the world and then ask if anyone needed anything else. But he had his limits.

She wrapped her arms tighter around him. “Think we could get my mom to forget our address?”

He popped her on her arm, but a brief smile escaped. “Mack, I’m serious.”

“I know. I’m sorry. But really, Gray, let me help you with him. I’ll meet with your dad’s doctors. I can take some of this off you if you’d let me.”

“Thanks, babe. But I keep thinking I’ll go in there and it just might be the day he recognizes me, that one moment he remembers who I am. And I don’t know if I might go in one day and he’ll be gone. I don’t want to miss either of those moments.”

“I hear you,” she said. “Just promise me you’ll let me know if I can help.”

He wrapped his arms around her, then kissed her on the head. “I promise I—ow!”

She looked down to see Sophie chewing on Gray’s foot. He gently shook her off. “How does something so little have such sharp teeth?”

She giggled, then bent and scooped Sophie up. “Want to let her sleep with us?”

His words came out quick and clear. “Absolutely not.”

Chapter 11

“I swear, Mack, if this thing pees on my shoes one more time, she’s going outside and Jeremiah can use her as a watering can!” Gray heard Mack giggling from the bathroom.

“Sophie! Sophie!” Maddie’s voice came from down the hall. She burst through the bedroom door. “Daddy, where’s Sophie?”

Gray looked in one of the mirrors that flanked the antique pine armoire and straightened his tie. “You mean, where is the peeing machine your mother let you get?”

Maddie stopped in the middle of the room and put her hands on her hips, the pleats of her skirt bending beneath her fingers. “Daddy, she’s a baby. Babies pee.”

Mack came out of the bathroom with her hands behind her neck, trying to hook her three-strand beaded necklace. “Maddie, we’ve got to do a better job of making sure Sophie goes outside and does all her business. But, Gray, she is a puppy with a little bladder. And the dog trainer is going to start working with her today.”

“Yeah, she’s getting trained.” Maddie’s muffled tones came from under the round table that stood near the bay window, covered with photographs of family and friends. Gray bent down to see her curled up with Sophie, laughing as the puppy attacked her face with its tongue.

Gray had to admit he loved seeing his baby girl so happy. He crawled under the table with her. “Puppies are a lot of responsibility, Maddie.”

She leaned against him, keeping a death grip on the wiggling puppy. “I know. But I’m so big, I’ll take good care of her. Feed her. Pee her. Poop her. All of it, Daddy.”

“Oh, you will, huh?” Gray pulled both girl and puppy into his lap. Sophie squirmed her way out of Maddie’s arms, trying to get to Gray’s face. He laughed when her tongue caught the edge of his chin.

“She likes you, Daddy!” Maddie squealed. “Even though you screamed at her.”

“I didn’t scream,” he protested, handing the puppy back. “I announced.”

Mack finished buttoning her gray cardigan and pulled her white tank down at the waist. “Come on, baby girl, we’re going to be late for school. Gray, have you seen my keys?”

Gray shook his head. The woman needed GPS to survive. “They’re wherever your sunglasses are, I’m sure.”

“Have you seen my sunglasses?”

“No, I was being a smart aleck.”

“Well, I don’t have time for you to be a smart aleck because I have to get Maddie to school. So, seriously, have you seen my keys?”

He climbed out from under the table. “I’ll take her this morning. I’m headed to the office.”

“Can Sophie come?” Maddie jumped up, Sophie all but flying out of her arms.

Gray rescued the puppy again and handed her to Mack. “No, Maddie lady, I’m not coming home after I let you off. Mommy gets to take care of Sophie today.”

Mack pulled the wriggling ball of fluff up to her chest. “Mommy would be delighted. But I can take Maddie too.”

He could tell that Mack was enjoying this new school drop-off routine. He wouldn’t take it from her.

“You got to watch Lola too, Mommy.”

“I will. I’m Superwoman. I can take care of everyone,” she said with a smirk.

Gray leaned in and gave her a soft peck on her pink-glossed lips. “The trainer is coming today, right?”

“I’ve already told you that three times. Yes, he’s coming today.”

“Just making sure.” He noticed that Sophie calmed in Mack’s arms as they headed downstairs. “Hope you two have a great day.”

“It’s going to be perfect, Daddy!” Maddie’s feet bounced down the stairs and into the hall. She skirted her backpack at the garage door and headed straight to the car.

Gray picked up the backpack and held it out to Mack. “You do know who will be taking care of this dog, don’t you?”

She shifted the now-sleeping puppy so she could take the backpack. Then she cocked her nose up at Gray and walked out the door.

“Just making sure,” he called out as the door closed behind her.

Chapter 12

Mackenzie climbed the grand staircase of Conservation Hall, the “sinker wood” treads reclaimed from the bottom of the Tennessee River firm beneath her feet. Her phone vibrated, and Anna’s picture popped up. “Hey.”

“You ready for tonight?”

“Yeah, it’s going to be a perfect evening. Eloise and I just made a final pass, and every detail is exquisite. You should see the hall.”

“Make you glad the former governor’s wife fought the Republicans to get it built?”

Mackenzie laughed. The new banquet facility had been a controversial addition to the former first lady’s preservation-remodeling project for the mansion. It had been built entirely underground in the mansion’s front yard. A huge courtyard outside the hall created a large hole in the center of the yard but afforded beautiful natural light for the otherwise-cavelike hall.

Before it was built, the mansion’s maximum capacity for state dinners had been only twenty-two people. Larger events had been relegated to tents on the grounds with rented staging and portable restrooms. But the stunning new facility could hold up to 160 people, with each backside having a seat, and restrooms right around the corner. A decided improvement, as far as Mackenzie was concerned. Tennessee might be full of good old country folk, but no one really wanted to use a Porta-John at the governor’s mansion.

The construction of Conservation Hall, along with many other aspects of the renovation project, had been bitterly protested by many citizens and lawmakers who felt the money was needed more in other places. Since the governor at the time was a Democrat, Republicans had been especially vocal on the issue. But whether they were right or wrong, the facility was beautiful. And tonight it would be enjoyed—along with every piece of artwork and priceless memorabilia it held—by the wonderful citizens of Tennessee.

“How did you do with your seating arrangements?” Anna asked.

“I believe I have ensured that no politicians will come to blows tonight.”

Anna laughed. “You’ve done a marvelous job with this, Mackenzie. With everything you are responsible for these days, I can’t believe you took this on.”

Mackenzie reached the top of the steps and headed toward the family quarters. Passing a marble-topped altar table that rested under a portrait of Andrew Jackson, she picked up Maddie’s gum wrapper and stuck it in her pocket. “It’s been on my mind for years,” she told her friend, “ever since the flood. I saw what the people of our city did for one another with no guidance. They just saw a need on their street or in their neighborhood and started ripping out carpet and drywall and digging through the mud. Then they did the same thing after the tornado hit and the ice storms and all. I mean, they’re incredible, and they do it again and again. I just want to honor them in some way.”

“You won’t get any argument from me,” Anna said. “Any word on protesters tonight? I know you said it was a possibility.”

“Yeah, we got a heads-up this afternoon that there will be some protesting the prisoner release.”

“Gray really thought that was what was best, huh?”

Mackenzie grabbed the handle of her bedroom door and stopped, the oil-rubbed bronze cool against her palm. “The other options were worse, except for completely shutting down the government. There are days I think that would suit all of us best.”

Anna echoed her agreement. “Well, enjoy yourself tonight. And be sure to get me Rascal Flatts’s autographs.”

Mackenzie chuckled. “Oh, the benefits of being a governor’s wife.”

Maddie and Gray were stretched out across the bed when she entered the room, Lola and Sophie between them.

“Hey, are we solving the problems of the world?”

Maddie shook her head. “Nope, just trying to tell Daddy how nice he’ll look in his tuxes.”

Mackenzie walked over to the bed and sat, the brown silk quilted Ann Gish coverlet crinkling under her. She ran a hand through her daughter’s fine locks. “I’m so glad you told him that. I think he looks fabulous in a tux too.”

Maddie turned her face toward her mother. “He said he’s cottin it.”

Gray nodded as if that was exactly what he said.

“Boycotting?” Mackenzie asked.

“Yep, he’s doing that to it, Mommy.”

“Well, if he’s boycotting his tux, then I guess that means I’ll have to find some other handsome man to go as my date.”

“You could take Jeremiah!” Maddie reared up suddenly, forcing Mackenzie to move her hand. “He told me ’bout one time when he took Miz Shirley to a really nice dinner, and he said he wore a tuxes. I think it might have been when he gave her a posal.”

Mackenzie smiled. “When he proposed?”

She nodded.

“Jeremiah’s a definite possibility.” Mackenzie caught Gray’s eye and winked. “He’s pretty handsome, after all.”

Maddie raised her right eyebrow and the right side of her lip with it. “Well, he’s kind of handsome, but he’s old like Gigi.”