kids that she doubted he would have time at all for his fist litter. If the new litter had six pups, too, that would be twelve kids for Balto to be a father to, and make time for. It was an impossible task. Someone would have to be left out.

Balto saw her face, and he pushed past the mob surrounding him and placed his paw on her shoulder. “Hey, hey. No matter how many kids I have to be a father to, you will always be my sweet little bell, Dakota.”

Saba came up on Dakota’s other side. Balto put one front leg around his daughters’ shoulders and hugged them close. Dingo, Kodi, and Kenai showed up on his other side, and he grinned at his sons. They grinned back, even Kenai.

“You all mean as much to me as any other kids your mother and I decide to have,” Balto said, “That will never change. Never.” He took his leg from around Saba’s and Dakota’s shoulders and put it down. Balto gazed around at them all. “I love you guys.”

Dakota saw a pawprint Balto’s paw had made in the dust on the floor of the old mill. Her memory swam back to that day she had followed his pawprints in the sand, and how her paw had seemed so small in comparison. Now she placed her paw inside his pawprint once again, and saw hers was only slightly smaller than his. She had grown up.

This knowledge swept through her like a song, and Dakota smiled and brushed her head against Balto’s shoulder. “Merry Christmas, Dad.”

Dakota, Kenai, and Dakota’s owners © redwolf03

Balto, Jenna, Kodi, Aleu, Dingo, Saba, Sylvie, Dixie, Steele, Dipsy, Rosy, and Doc © Universal Studios