Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96714 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96714 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
It was rare for me to see Ivan looking so calm, but also, that look on his face. I had a feeling that even as he smiled, there was nothing that amused him. This was the real Ivan, the face he rarely showed. I saw it for a fleeting couple of minutes, and then it was gone.
He moved toward his car, and there was a man in the front I recognized as one of his close guards.
In the next second, he was gone.
****
Lottie
I expected to go out to dinner. Ive had told me we were going out to a restaurant, and he’d even told me what outfit to wear. It was a pretty pastel-blue dress, with some lace over the top of the dress. It showed off a great deal of skin but was covered by lace as well. The dress was beautiful. Again, I didn’t go with makeup and I pinned my hair back as he preferred the length to be long.
This morning, on our first Valentine’s Day, he’d already given me a card, as well as a bouquet of the brightest red roses. Chocolates had arrived after he left, and a necklace and bracelet as well. Both of which I wore tonight.
We were not at any restaurant, but instead, I saw the signs for an animal shelter. It was quite late, so I was shocked to see the gates open. Then I realized they hadn’t been left open, but someone waited for us as they closed the moment we drove through.
“Ive, what’s going on?”
Ive opened the door and held his hand out to me, which I took. I looked around but it didn’t matter what I looked at, nothing made any sense. He pulled me into his arms as Hubert got out of the car. Like so many times before, he turned his back to us, giving us privacy.
“Your dad took something from you, something you loved.”
“Ive?”
“And you deserve to have something to love and to be loved,” he said.
Okay, now my heart pounded just a little bit. Neither of us had said anything to each other, not a single word of love, but I knew he wasn’t going to say anything tonight. I wasn’t even sure if Ive loved me. I think he might care for me, but I was fine with that. His care was addictive.
“There are a lot of dogs here, but you can have one, to start with.”
“One dog?” I asked.
“Yes, one dog. They do have puppies and dogs here. Unless you don’t want a dog.”
“I want one,” I said. That day when my father took the dog from me, it had broken my heart.
Tears filled my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. This was … so beautiful.
Ive took my hand and we stepped through the main doors. There was a woman waiting, and she led the way. She gave a brief description about the dogs, but as I came to one cage, the dog hadn’t even bothered coming to the door of the cage. Out of all the dogs, this was the only one curled up on her bed.
The lights were down quite low, but I saw from the tags that this dog had been here for over a year. She was two years old and surrendered at a year old. One year of living in a shelter, she had watched people come and go. No one wanting her. No one wanting to give her love, even though she had a whole lot of love to give.
I wasn’t going to move. This dog had given up. She expected to be ignored. Not anymore.
“This one,” I said.
“Charlotte, she’s not even bothered to come to the cage.”
“Because she is used to being overlooked. A year she has been here, Ive. She has watched people come and go, ignoring her. I can’t walk past.” The woman opened the cage and when she went to go in the cage, I stopped her. She was about to protest but I could imagine Ive giving her a stern look.
I didn’t rush to the dog. Instead I entered the cage and pressed my back to the wall and slid down. The dress would be ruined, but I figured after coming here, the restaurant was off the menu for the night. I didn’t mind.
Staying with Ive, wherever we went, was all I cared about. If he took us out to a pit for us to dig, I’d do it just to be with him.
“Charlotte?” he asked.
“Just give her time.” Like me, just give me time. I’m not a bad person. I’d had a lot of bad stuff happen over the years, but I was still good. Always still good.
I don’t know how long it took, and in all honesty, I didn’t care. The dog that had given up on people slowly made her way from the bed and moved toward me, putting her head in my lap. I knew this wouldn’t be the case for all dogs, and there would be some that were vicious, but this girl wasn’t vicious, she was beautiful, sweet, and kind. I saw it in her eyes. I wasn’t going to give up on her.