Page 17 of In Love with a Ranger

Staring, she stood there motionless, listening. Her new roommate had a beautiful deep voice that kinda cracked when he got to some of the lead singer’s higher notes, but that didn’t dissuade him. If anything, it made him more real, more down-to-earth to her. Maybe Jill was right, and she needed to give the former soldier a chance to act up before shunning him automatically.

“All right Elsie, let’s milk you, sweetie. You look miserable…”

Hold up? Her data!

“Don’t milk my cow,” she blurted out and saw Gideon nearly topple over with his crutches, catching himself. “You can’t milk them. I’m doing a science experiment, and you have to be very specific.”

“How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough.”

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“And interrupt you in the middle of the chorus to ‘New Moon On Monday’? Puh-lease, you were belting it out and obviously a fan because you got the words right,” she hesitated, moving toward the cabinet where she had the scale and beaker.

Christina could feel Gideon’s eyes on her as she moved, picking up the items and moving them over to the table nearby along the southernmost wall of the barn. Picking up a stool, she walked toward him where he was standing in the stall and looked at his cast.

“How do you plan on milking Larry?”

“Boy cows don’t produce milk,” he chuckled, looking thoroughly amused. “Everyone knows that.”

“Yeah, I didn’t name them – Jill did – and you didn’t answer my question. How would you get down on a milking stool to do this?”

“I’d figure it out.”

“Have you ever milked a cow?”

“I’d figure it out,” he repeated, his lips twitching as he looked at her. There was something about his expression that made her relax slightly as she stood there. “It can’t be that hard, can it?”

“You don’t want to make her more uncomfortable nor waste your time.”

“And you’ve milked a cow before?”

“Several times.”

“Are you a farmer when you’re not… here?” Gideon paused to shrug as if waving his hands idly and looking at her. “Wherever ‘here’ is?”

“You are about twenty minutes outside of Laramie,” she began and hesitated. “We are west of the city. How come you didn’t know that?”

“Pain killers, a wing, and a prayer…?” he replied glibly and leaned back against the wall of the stall. “It was this, or head back to my parents’ house to rest and heal. I knew if I went home, my mother would coddle me to death. I just needed a break to figure out my next steps.”

“I understand,” she said quietly, kind of grateful that they were talking. “I can’t believe the Army kicked you out for a broken leg.”

Christina set down the pail and sat down on the small stool opposite where Gideon stood nearby, putting her almost out of sight unless she looked up. Squeezing and pulling gently, she began to hear the spray of milk hitting the pail under the cow.

She adored Larry the Cow. A jersey cross cow gives a lot of cream, producing a lot of butter, cream cheese, and other goods after the milk has a chance to separate. Because of the cows and the working farm, she was pleasantly surprised to see that Jill had quite a setup already in process. Sterilized jars, oiled and cheese cloths, and was even allowing some of the milk to clabber, making wonderful starters for so much more.

… Mid-thought, she realized Gideon wasn’t answering her question. Craning her neck, she saw him standing there, his expression pained. His profile was looking away, and there was a muscle ticking in his jaw.

“There was more to your injury, wasn’t there?” she said softly, pausing… except instead of answering her, he moved his crutches under his arms, leaving the barn – and her there. Obviously, it was a touchy subject with him, but if something was wrong and they were sharing a living space, shouldn’t she know in case something happened?

Sighing heavily, she immediately turned back to the cow that had her attention, milking the patient animal quickly. Taking her measurements, documenting them on a graph on her phone, and then carrying the pail to the kitchen, it was now dark out and she knew it would be close to dinner time. Everything would need to be washed carefully as she put the raw milk into a jar in the fridge to keep it from spoiling.

Entering the house, she saw Gideon speaking with Houghton near the fireplace. Looking away from them, she silently went into the kitchen where Lena, Daphne, and Jill were working on serving the food and setting the table nearby.

“Don’t you ever get tired of those cows?”

“Nope,” Christina said easily, smiling at the women. “They are wonderful to me. A bunch of big, gentle giants with pretty black eyes, and they provide so much in so many ways. I mean, you get milk, butter, cheese, ghee, clabber, yogurt, not to mention the meat and…” she paused, seeing their knowing smiles as they looked at each other. Yes, she tended to ramble about her cows. “I just love everything about them.”

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