Total pages in book: 248
Estimated words: 236036 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1180(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 787(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 236036 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1180(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 787(@300wpm)
“No one was hurt, babe…”
“Hey, she wasn’t no one!” I said causing Kate to spin again to stare at me.
“Oh, Livvy, I thought you’d just sprained your ankle! How can you even think of taking her out of the hospital, Lincoln! She’s lost a lot of—”
“She’s a cow!” Lincoln and I said at the same time, which had me connecting dots of a puzzle I should have already completed.
“I’m guessing she’s one of yours?” I asked as Kate sank down into the chair I’d just vacated.
“And I’m guessing you’re the one who played Florence Nightingale and provided first aid out in the field?”
“Well, it was more like in the middle of the woods, but, yes.”
“Hold on!” Kate lifted her hands and then grimaced as she dropped the sheet to the floor. “Start from the beginning.”
Which was how instead of feeling abandoned while the others went about their day, they rejoined me at the table as Lincoln and I caught them up. By the time Kate’s blood pressure was back to normal, I’d also been brought up to speed and learned that my patient had not one new baby but two.
“Let’s go,” I said, swinging my ankle off the stool. When Lincoln growled, I was ready and reached over to tap at his watch. “According to your math, I’m good to go. In fact, I gave it an extra couple of minutes.” As his eyes dropped to check the time, I stood and learned that there was no exact moment that all healing was magically complete. I shifted my weight onto my good leg. “Um, would you hand me my crutches, please, Daddy.”
It was actually sort of sweet to watch the tug of war going on in Lincoln’s head, or perhaps it was his heart, as he hesitated.
“I promise, if my ankle really begins to hurt, I’ll let you know. But, please, I really, really, really, really want to see the babies.”
“Fine, but I’m holding you to that, and I’m drawing the line at stairs, deal?”
Pretty certain not making the deal would assure I’d be sitting here the entire day, I stuck out my hand. “You drive a hard bargain, Daddy, but it’s a deal!”
He chuckled as he shook my hand. “Babygirl, you let me catch you breaking that deal and you’ll learn the definition of hard. Understood?”
And I don’t think he means the good kind of hard.
“Duh, you think?” is what I mentally snarked back though I was smart enough to answer, “Yes, Daddy.”
Chapter Nineteen
Lincoln
“They’re so adorable!” Livvy cooed as she looked between the slats of the stall. One calf had just nudged the other away to take a turn at nursing. “What are their names?”
“We don’t name animals, we brand them,” I said which I should have known was not the thing to say to anyone who taught lullabies to pregnant bovine. I’d just learned it had been Livvy I’d heard singing during the storm.
“What? Everyone deserves a name! You’ve got to name them!”
“Honey, I hate to break it to you, but giving a couple of hundred head of cows names simply isn’t possible.”
She looked beyond me and tilted her head to one side. “Remind me, who is that?”
I turned to look thinking someone from town had dropped by but only saw Luther as Kate was sitting on the haybale beside Livvy, her head swiveling as if she were watching a tennis match. Evidently it was my serve as both girls were looking up at me. I looked back again but beside Luther, only saw my horse sticking his head out of his stall.
“Do you mean Zephyr?”
“Hmmm, Zephyr is quite handsome but he sure doesn’t look like any man I’ve ever seen.”
“That’s because he’s a horse.”
“So you do name animals!”
“Horses, not…” At the sound of Kate giggling, I knew I’d been set up. “You know what, you win. You can name the babies, I mean the calves.”
“Oh, can I name one?” Kate asked.
“I’ll make you both a deal,” Luther said as he approached. “Since MC seems to be having a little difficulty—”
“MC?” I cut in to ask.
“Momma Cow, of course,” Luther said as if he’d always called our cattle by name. “Anyway, as I was saying, MC is gonna need a little help feeding her babies. Lincoln and I will take the first few turns until MC is more comfortable having people around her babies, but then you two can help with the bottle-feeding. Deal?”
“Deal!” both girls agreed with enthusiasm and huge smiles, hugging each other as if they’d won the lottery.
As they began to test out names, I looked at Luther. “You do realize that you just ensured they are going to try to name everything that so much as breathes on this ranch, right?”
“As long as they don’t start dressing them up and applying lipstick, I think we’re good,” he said with a grin as he passed me one of the bottles he’d prepared.