Happily Letter After(18)

“You’re not lying. That’s the beauty of this. You’re . . . you. You just also happen to be training that dog—in German. You are the dog trainer. You’re earning this. Who cares how you got there?”

“And my name is Gretchen? That’s not a lie?”

She shrugged. “Small detail.”

I pulled on my hair. “How do you say ‘fraud’ in Deutsch?”



It was a beautiful, sunny late-summer day on Eighty-Third Street. The perfect day for a picnic at the park or a stroll with a cup of coffee. There were a ton of things I could have been doing today—anything besides continuing this facade. But with my heart pounding, I made my way up the stairs of the Maxwell brownstone and proceeded to knock on the door.

From behind the door, I could hear Marmaduke’s paws scratching against the wood floor as he frantically raced to greet me.

When the door opened, there he was, immediately jumping all over me. Who had even opened the door? All I saw was him. It was as if he’d opened it to let me in himself.

I turned my cheek, trying to avoid getting slobber in my mouth. “Whoa. Sitz. Sitz.”

Apparently, he’d forgotten everything he learned last time. Sitz had done zilch to keep him from standing on his hind legs and attempting to french-kiss me.

“Come in,” Magdalene said from somewhere behind Marmaduke. “So sorry about his energy today. As you can see, he’s being very rambunctious, so it’s perfect timing for another lesson.”

I’d been expecting that Birdie would be waiting at the door like Magdalene had said she might, but there was no sign of her.

As Marmaduke trailed behind me, I followed Magdalene inside as I looked around in search of Birdie. Magdalene led me into the kitchen. My eyes eventually landed on Birdie’s blonde locks.

There she is.

She looked like she was hurrying to put something back into the cupboard. When she turned around, her cheeks were filled like a chipmunk’s.

“Are you alright?” Magdalene asked.

She nodded fast and mumbled with her mouth full. “Uh-huh.”

Did Magdalene not know what she was doing? Because it didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that Birdie had taken the opportunity of Magdalene going to answer the door to steal cookies. I laughed inwardly. My little cookie thief. She strikes again.

She turned around briefly with her back to us, and when she faced me again, her cheeks were hollow. She’d apparently swallowed the cookies. Now that I wasn’t distracted any longer by her cheeks, I really got a look into her beautiful baby blues. Birdie was a stunning little girl, and looking into the eyes of the kid who’d charmed my heart for so long from afar was truly surreal. I couldn’t stand to look into those eyes and lie to her. So I decided I would try my best to be as honest as possible under the circumstances.

“Birdie, this is Gretchen, Marmaduke’s dog trainer,” Magdalene said.

“Actually, Gretchen is only my work name. You can call me Sadie.”

Birdie had a confused look on her face. “You have two names?”

I paused. “Yes.”

“I want two names! I’m gonna think about another name.”

Smiling, I said, “It’s kind of fun, I suppose.”

“Are we taking Marmaduke to the dog park?” Birdie asked.

“Yeah, I was thinking I’d let you watch me run through some commands with him, and then I’d have you both try them as well.”

Birdie bolted out of the room. “I’ll get my sweater.” With his tail wagging, Marmaduke followed her down a hallway.

After she returned, Birdie, Magdalene, and I walked together to the park. Well, it was more like Marmaduke ran to the park and took me along with him while Birdie and Magdalene ran behind us. I needed to figure out how to teach him “slow down.”

When we got to our destination, we went in search of a good spot to run our lessons.

Birdie turned to me and asked, “Are you German?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Then how do you teach Marmaduke in German?”

“I taught myself the important words, and I’m going to teach you, too, so that you don’t need me anymore. The goal is to get him to listen to you, and to Magdalene and your dad.”

“Can you teach him not to jump on my daddy’s face in the morning? That’s how Marmaduke wakes him up, and he gets so mad. I’m afraid if he keeps doing it, Daddy will want to give him away.”

“I don’t think your father will do that.”

I probably shouldn’t have made that promise on Sebastian’s behalf. At least I hoped he wouldn’t break his daughter’s heart in such a way.

This time, I came armed with a bag full of treats I’d brought. Having the right kind of reinforcements would hopefully make this easier than last time.

I demonstrated sitz (sit) and platz (down) a few times myself before handing over some of the treats to Birdie. As usual, Marmaduke’s tail was wagging like crazy whenever Birdie took the helm. The level of excitement he had for this little girl was unlike anything else. Birdie squealed in delight the first time the dog listened to her command for a treat. It was truly miraculous how this dog-training thing seemed to be coming together. I really hadn’t thought I could pull this off, but it seemed I was—for now.