"You know Tig had a pit bull? Loved it almost as much as he loved his daughters," Jax said, finally sitting cross legged near the puppy. "Hell of a surprise though."

He tried to convey what he was thinking to Tara over the boys' heads. That he wasn't angry or even against having a puppy. Hell, she was so cute there was no way he was gonna send her back, especially not when she had three more pairs of puppy eyes backing up her claim to stay here. It just struck him as being far more impulsive than Tara usually was.

But maybe that was the Tara he'd known, missing three years. He needed to remember that she'd changed in ways that neither of them could articulate, even when she explained some of what had happened.

"You got all the stuff she needs?"

Finally, he reached out and ran his fingers gently over the puppy's velvety ears.