Page 34 of Dairy and Deadly

“Come on, little one,” she coaxed through her tears. “You can do it.” She suddenly and desperately needed a win to offset the emotional rollercoaster she’d been riding since yesterday evening.

Brie rose a few inches on her hooves, making Ashley catch her breath. She dashed the backs of her hands over her eyes to clear her vision.

Brie wobbled and almost toppled over.

“Come on, come on, come on,” Ashley pleaded softly. “Stand up, Brie!”

Then she did. Amidst Ashley’s soft cry of celebration, Brie pushed to her feet and stood there trembling.

“Oh, you precious baby!” She threw her arms around the adorable heifer. “You did it, sweetheart! You finally did it!”

Brie pressed the side of her head to Ashley’s wet cheek, and they stood there until Brie’s legs started to crumple. Ashley caught her and lowered her gently back to the straw.

Afterward, she couldn’t bring herself to leave the calf’s side. Though the bed of straw wasn’t nearly as comfortable as the mattress back in her cabin, she curled up next to Brie. Her furry body quickly warmed Ashley all the way to her toes. Then, miracle of miracles, she drifted off to sleep.

Ten minutes earlier

Johnny frownedand reached for the security monitor resting on his nightstand. Usually when an alert came through this late at night, it was a wild animal wandering through. After Ashley’s uninvited guest tonight, however, he wasn’t taking any chances.

He frowned in concentration as he scrolled through the live feeds from the cameras embedded across his farm. Then he stopped and stared. Concern rolled through his chest at the sight of Ashley running through the moonlit pasture beside her cabin. Had Martin returned? Was he chasing her?

Johnny leaped out of bed and stepped into his boots, watching her frantically from the monitor as she headed for the milking parlor. Though he tapped through the screens of each nearby camera, it appeared she was alone. His shoulders relaxed a bit, though he remained puzzled about what she was up to. Not once in the past week had she gone skulking around his dairy farm — day or night.

As much as he hated snooping on her like this, he was too worried about security to stop. He followed her movements all the way to the room that housed the baby calves.

And then he knew.

She’s with Brie.

The middle of the night was an odd time to pay a visit to the calves, though, no matter how he sliced it. Knowing he better go check it out, he shrugged on his coat and jogged to the barn. He crept stealthily across the milking parlor to crack open the door to the calf room. Then all he could do was stare.

Ashley was snuggled down in the hay beside little Brie. She was weeping quietly and murmuring something in the calf’s ear that he couldn’t understand.

Hoh, boy!

He longed to barge into the room and beg her to tell him what was wrong, but he instinctively knew she wouldn’t want to be seen like this. As hard as it was, he noiselessly shut the door and stood outside of it with his head bowed.

Please, God. Whatever it is, give her peace about it tonight.

It was with a heavy heart that he dragged his feet back to bed. He spent the rest of the night dozing with the security monitor resting on his chest. That way, he would both hear and feel the alert if anything else was amiss around the farm.

He rose like he always did at the crack of dawn. A quick glance at the monitor verified that the door to the calf room had not reopened during the night, which meant Ashley was still in the barn.

He wondered what had happened that had spooked her into leaving her cabin. He had some guesses, but only she could clear up the mystery.

He dressed as fast as he could and headed to the kitchen without shaving. He was in too much of a hurry to waste time sprucing up. Instead, he made two cups of coffee and grilled a pair of ham and cheese sandwiches in the toaster oven. It wasn’t fancy, but he knew Ashley wasn’t a picky eater. She was too hungry to be picky.

He would never forget the way her stomach had growled last night at the mere mention of food. He wrapped the grilled ham and cheese sandwiches in paper towels, then hooked the handles of both coffee cups with one hand.

He made it to the barn without spilling any of it, but only because Can Opener didn’t come flying his way. Clint and Tucker were already at work, feeding and watering the cattle.

He nodded at them. “Morning!”

Clint eyed the coffee, but all he did was nod back soberly. Tucker didn’t appear to have heard him.

Johnny moved to the door of the calf room and tapped on it with the toe of his boot. There was no answer. He had to cradle the sandwiches against his chest to free up a hand to open the door.

The calves on the other side mooed out an eager greeting. Or a hungry one, which was more likely the case. He set the coffee and sandwiches carefully on the cabinet and went to work filling bottles.

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