“Watch, Gina!” Daisy instructed, then turned back to the puppies. “Okay, you rugrats,” she yelled. “Let’s sing!”

Jacob started “The Twelve Days of Christmas” again, but quickly fast-forwarded a bit. When the song came to the point of eleven pipers piping, Daisy and the puppies began singing, which according to Daisy, translated into eleven puppies howling. This continued until the song ended, with Jacob laughing the whole way through.

“Oh, my word,” I whispered, sitting on the couch next to him.

“Gina! I taught them to sing!” Daisy said, trotting over to me. The puppies followed and before I could argue, both Jacob and I were covered in squealing little dogs, licking and nibbling us.

“Gina! Pet me instead of them! I’m the one who taught them to sing the song!” Daisy yelled, placing her nose in my lap while pushing a puppy out of the way at the same time. “Move it, February Dunner,” she grumbled. “That’s my human, not yours.”

I giggled as the little ones attacked, but in the back of my mind, I was worried about the sofa and carpet when they became over-excited. Already tired of wiping up the kitchen floor, I didn’t want to have to pull out the rug cleaner.

“Okay, everyone back into the kitchen,” I said, grabbing a few little bodies and standing. Maybe I’d get lucky and the rest would simply follow.

Jacob was right behind me, also carrying a few. The rest were running all over the living room and a couple headed for the hallway.

“Get over here, you little turds!” Daisy shouted as she ran after them. After jumping over them, she nosed them back toward the kitchen. I tried to count once we thought we had all of them corralled, but they kept moving.

“Do we have all eleven?” I called, searching the living room.

“I think so,” Jacob replied from the kitchen. “I’m trying to count but I can’t keep track.”

“No!” Daisy interjected. “We’re missing April!”

“Okay, April,” I muttered. “Where in the world are you hiding?”

Minutes passed while I searched. Just as I was about to head into the kitchen and attempt to count them all myself, I saw something move down the hallway out of the corner of my eye. The puppy was running from Jacob’s bedroom. Well, I should say, she bounced. Those stubby little legs weren’t quite capable of running.

“I’ve got her,” I called. I scooped her up and brought her to the kitchen where I found Jacob on the floor bottle feeding those who wouldn’t eat from the bowl.

“Thanks, honey,” I said, taking a seat next to him. “I’ll take over if you want.”

“Awesome,” he replied, handing over the bottles and puppies. “I told Eric I’d meet him today. He should be here any minute.”

Eric was one of Jacob’s high school friends who hadn’t run off to college, but instead was going to trade school to become a welder. I often wondered if Jacob would be better served in life following that path, but he’d been the one to obtain a full ride to the university. I couldn’t complain about that. Hopefully he’d figure out what he wanted to do one of these days.

“I’m glad you’re meeting him,” I said. “It’s important to keep in touch with old friends.”

His phone buzzed. “That’s him. He told me he’d text when he got here.”

“Go have fun,” I replied.

Before standing, he gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Then I’ll see you later, alligator.”

I smiled as he hurried to the front door. When it clicked shut, I sighed and glanced over at Daisy. “So what was all the howling about?”

“They kept whining about how they wanted their mama, so I thought I’d put all that noise to use.”

“It was cute,” I said. “Very clever.”

She trotted over to me and lay down next to my thigh. “Gina, they need their mom. I’m not a good mother, and neither are you.”

“What do you mean?” I was really trying not to be offended but deep down, I knew she was right. I did my best to care for them, but nothing could replace their mother.

“We have to find their mom.”

“And where do you suggest we look?” I asked.

“Maybe we should start back at Charlie’s barn,” she replied. “If she’s alive, she’ll come back for her little brats, right?”

“Daisy,” I admonished. “Come on. Have a little sympathy for them. And we can’t leave them alone, so we’ll have to wait for Jacob to⁠—”

The front door opened and a moment later, Jacob and Eric stood in the doorway. “He wanted to see the puppies,” Jacob said.

“Hi, Eric,” I said, standing. “It’s good to see you.”

“You, too, Gina.”

Eric stood a few inches shorter than Jacob’s six feet and was quite thin. His curly black hair sat like a mop on top of his head. I’d known him since he was three and always liked him. After giving him a quick hug, I motioned to the dogs.

“If you two want to babysit for a bit, I do have an errand to run.”

As the young men exchanged glances, Daisy asked, “Can I come? Please? Don’t leave me here with these tiny monsters!”

“Sure, we can do that,” Eric replied.

“I won’t be more than an hour,” I said. “I appreciate you guys!”

“Gina! Gina! Take me, Gina!” Daisy yelled.

I motioned for her to follow me and I quickly grabbed my coat and gloves, then fled the house before the boys changed their minds.

“Where are we going?” Daisy asked as I backed out of the driveway.

“You said you thought we should check the Tupper Farm for mom, remember?”

“Yes!”

“I thought we’d take a look around while we’re there and see if we can find any clues.”

“Like what?” Daisy asked.

Thankfully the roads were still clear and we sailed into town without issue—right into the tourist traffic clogging up the main thoroughfare, Comfort Road.

“I don’t know,” I replied as we inched along. “Both times we’ve been out the farm, we haven’t really looked around. Who knows what we may find?”

“We can be super sleuths, and I’ll use my super sniffer!”

A few more moments passed, and we finally got a break in traffic. Miles later, we turned into the Tupper Farm.