“Can I feed Lucy again?” Lauren begged, and Dad handed her the bottle.
“You might as well – you certainly seemed to have the knack earlier!”
Going downstairs might not have woken Lucy, but the smell of the puppy formula certainly did, and she was gasping and squeaking with excitement as soon as Lauren held the bottle to her mouth.
After she’d cleaned Lucy up, Lauren took her over to Bella. She and Dad hovered anxiously, not too close to the puppy pen, watching to see how Bella would react.
“I hope Lucy will be all right,” Lauren muttered. “It said in that leaflet that sometimes the mum tries to lick the human smell away and accidentally hurts the puppy.”
Dad put an arm round her shoulders. “We’ll watch really carefully,” he promised. “And it’s not as if Bella’s a dog at a big breeder’s, who lives outside and doesn’t really know people that well. She’s part of our family. Hopefully our smell won’t upset her too much.”
“Look!” Lauren whispered.
Bella was sniffing thoughtfully at Lucy, and Lauren held her breath as Bella started to lick the little puppy. But Bella didn’t look at all upset, just a little surprised.
Lauren giggled. “I think Bella’s so worn out I bet she’d hardly noticed Lucy was gone!”
Over the next few days, Lauren was sure that Lucy had started to recognize her. If Lucy started squeaking in her box, she would calm down as soon as Lauren picked her up, but not if it was Mum or Dad. Lauren knew it was probably just that Lucy recognized her by smell as the person who usually fed her, but it still made her feel special. She couldn’t wait for Lucy to open her eyes, so that the puppy could see her as well as smell her.
Mum and Dad were supposed to be taking it in turns to do the night feeds, but Lauren couldn’t help waking up when she heard the alarm go off in their bedroom. And once she was awake, she just couldn’t stay in bed. Mum even stopped telling her off about it by the end of their second night of puppy-rearing.
Lucy was putting on weight now, although not as fast as the other puppies, who were fat and glossy-furred. She adored her feeds, but Lauren suspected she might always be a bit smaller than her brothers and sisters.
Lucy squeaked and sucked at Lauren’s fingers as Lauren scooped her up. She knew Lauren’s scent, and she was sure it was time for Lauren to feed her, and she was so, so hungry.
Lauren giggled as Lucy’s little pink paws flailed around. “I’m just waiting for it to cool down. You don’t want to burn your mouth!”
Lucy squeaked even louder. Where was the milk?
“OK, OK, here you go.”
Lucy sighed happily, and settled down to sucking. That was much better.
After the first week, Lauren and her parents could leave Lucy for six hours in the middle of the night without a feed. Dad said he’d do the midnight feed on his own – he was used to staying up late working anyway. Lauren had to admit it was really nice to get a proper night’s sleep again, even though she still had to get up super-early for Lucy’s morning feed.
Millie came to visit the puppies when they were about two weeks old.
“Can I feed Lucy?” she asked hopefully. “That photo you sent me of you feeding her was so cute. She’s even more gorgeous now her eyes are open, though.”
“She is, isn’t she?” Lauren agreed, handing Millie the bottle.
Lucy watched Lauren the whole time she was feeding, and Lauren could tell she was a bit confused why somebody else was holding her bottle.
“You have to burp her now, like your mum burps Amy!” Lauren told Millie, when Lucy had finished.
Now that the puppies were two weeks old, their eyes were open, although they still hadn’t really started to move around much. The really exciting thing was that their markings were starting to come through. Lucy had more brown on her face now, not just her pretty eyebrows, and all the puppies were changing every day.
Even though the puppies were still too tiny to really play with, Millie didn’t want to leave when her mum came to pick her up.
Lauren waved goodbye from the door, and sighed as Millie’s car disappeared down the lane. She really missed seeing her best friend every day.
“Lauren, I’ve got some really exciting news,” her mum started, as she came back into the kitchen. “Hey, what’s the matter?”
“I just wish I could see Millie more often in the holidays, that’s all. Email and phoning aren’t the same as having a friend close by.”
Her mum gave her a hug. “This is going to be extra-good news for you, then.” She beamed at Lauren. “We’ve rented out the cottage. To a family with a boy the same age as you!”
Lauren blinked. The cottage was on the other side of the orchard, just beyond the farmyard. The old tenant had left ages ago, and Lauren had forgotten they were trying to find someone new.
“He’s called Sam Martin, and he’s got a little sister called Molly. Isn’t that wonderful? You’ll have a friend really close by!”
Lauren nodded slowly, but she wasn’t sure it was all that wonderful. What if she didn’t like this boy? And even if she did, he wouldn’t be as good a friend as Millie.
Chapter Five
“Oh, that sounds like the Martins at the door!” Mum fussed around the kitchen, putting the kettle on. “Would you open it, Lauren?”
It was two weeks after Mum had broken the news about the new neighbours moving in, and they’d said they were going to pop round that afternoon. Lauren still couldn’t help wishing it was a girl her age rather than a boy. And she didn’t want some strange boy and his little sister messing around with Lucy and upsetting her. Instead of opening the door, she quickly dashed upstairs with Lucy, and stashed her in the box she’d slept in on the first night. Mum still let her take Lucy upstairs occasionally, and Lucy couldn’t get out of the box yet, although she really liked trying.
Lucy whined in surprise as Lauren put her down. What was happening? She had been having a nice cuddle, and now she was being left all on her own! She stood up with her paws against the edge of the box, scrabbling hard. Where was Lauren? She whimpered miserably.
Lauren ran back downstairs, and tried to look friendly as Mum introduced her to Nicky Martin and Sam, a blond-haired boy who looked just as embarrassed as she felt. Sam’s dad was still sorting things out at the house, and his little sister was asleep, Nicky said.
Sam cuddled one of the puppies, the big boy that they had named Buster, and didn’t really say much. Lauren was just hoping that they might go soon – surely they must have loads of unpacking to do? But then her mum nudged her, and said meaningfully, “Why don’t you show Sam round the farm?”
Lauren frowned. It was nearly time to feed Lucy, and she didn’t want to anyway!
Her mum glared at her, and she gave a tiny sigh and turned to Sam. “Come on, then. You can bring Buster, if you like.”
Sam nodded, and followed her out into the yard. “He’s really nice. Is he your favourite?”
Lauren shook her head.
“Don’t you have a favourite? He’d be mine, he’s great.” Sam snuggled Buster up under his chin.
Lauren didn’t know what to say. It would sound stupid to admit she’d hidden Lucy away. “I like them all,” she said, a bit vaguely.
Lauren trailed around the farm, showing Sam the orchard, and the old barn on the other side of the yard. There were a few bales of hay in it still, and she liked to hide out in there sometimes.