Lost and Found on Foxglove Street (The Foxglove Street #9)

Chapter 35

35

STANLEY

When I woke from my nap, it was to find Grace and Ryan together in the kitchen, warming up some of Miriam’s leftover beef bourguignon that they’d taken out of the freezer. Twilight was already falling outside and I realised I’d been asleep for a long time.

My escapades in the woods that afternoon had left me more tired than usual. I thought I’d lost Grace, but then she found me and everything was right with the world again, and an experience like that can’t help but tire out a little dog like me.

Well, it was the big man I encountered in the thick woodland who found me, to be precise. When he grabbed me, I thought I was being dognapped and careening from one calamity to another. But it turned out he was part of the search party that was out looking for me, which I realised as soon as Grace appeared and I saw her face light up with joy as she thanked him.

It’s quite a thing to feel so treasured and loved.

Perhaps getting lost in the woods had its own sort of silver lining, too. The panic brought back all those memories of how I’d ended up abandoned in the first place, long before I stumbled into Grace’s life. While being lost in the woods was no fun at all, it helped me to remember Fred, who I loved so much.

I’ll always miss him and I’ll always feel sad that he’s gone. But at least I remember him now and can cherish the memories of our time together.

The terrible events with his son, Edward, and his treacherous abandonment of me—well, I wish I could forget all about that. But if I’ve learned one thing from all that has happened to me lately, it’s that in life, you have to take the good with the bad.

Edward’s terrible treachery led me to Grace, after all. If Edward hadn’t abandoned me in those woods, who knows where I’d be right now?

And so I was very grateful that night for everything in my doggy life.

I had the friendship of Grace and Ryan, and the pleasure of seeing romance blossoming between the two of them.

I had a cosy bed to keep me warm.

I had tasty beef bourguignon mixed in with my dog dinner, which is a treat beyond measure.

Most of all, I had the feeling that I belonged, the feeling that I was home, and the knowledge that no matter how lost you are, happier days will always find you, just as long as you never lose hope.