Page 28 of The Forever Formula
I rose from the bed and watched as Noah headed to answer the door. I could just make out Natalie’s frantic words.
“It’s Marice, she’s giving birth. I need your help.”
Marice? I wondered who that was.
“She in the birthing pen?” he asked.
I rounded the corner to see him stepping into his shoes. Then it occurred to me, they must be talking about their goats. Natalie had mentioned as we sipped wine last week that she’d started a herd this year. She wanted to make her own cheese.
Natalie nodded. “Yeah. I corralled her in there last night.” She looked past Noah, then at me. “You come too, Rach. We could use any medical knowledge you can offer.”
I walked quickly to the door and pulled on my muck boots, then sprinted to catch up to them.
I didn’t know the first thing about goat delivery, but how different could it really be from human birth?
12
OH, BABY
Noah
We made our way toward the small barn behind Mom’s house. The smell of hay hung in the air, and it was chilly tonight, which was a good thing. Maybe the cold would stamp out the lustful urges I was having.
Did I hate that we got interrupted? Of course. But at the same time, I wondered if it was for the best. Hooking up with Rachel while she was in town? That hadbad ideawritten all over it. I just needed my body to get that memo. A goat giving birth was the perfect distraction. There was no time to think about how hot Rachel’s mouth felt moving against mine, or the perfect way her curves had felt….
Ugh. This was torture. I was still half-stiff and needed to get my head on straight.
“Thanks for coming.” I turned to Rachel as we entered Marice’s pen.
“I have no idea how I can help, but I’m happy to try.” Her face held a worried expression.
Marice bleated as if to say she was also worried that our resident medical professional looked so unsure of herself.
I patted her rough head. “Easy, girl.”
“Here are the gloves.” My mom returned with a box, and I pulled a glove free.
“Rach?” I asked, offering her a glove.
“What’s this for?” she asked.
“Didn’t you work in the ER at one time?” I asked her.
“Yes. With people. Not goats,” she said before tugging her bottom lip between her teeth.
“Just need to check if there are two hooves,” I told her. “You want to do the honors?”
Rachel sighed. “See with people, you want to feel a head. I would have never known that.” Pulling the glove over her hand, she got on her knees behind Marice.
“I’ll hold her steady,” I told Rachel.
She gave me a nod and then fixed a sure look on her face as she checked Marice’s progress. “Holy cow. There are two hard nubs in there.”
I nodded. “That’d be the hooves. Good. That makes this a lot easier.”
Rachel removed the glove and tossed it in a nearby trash can. “Now what?”
“It’ll happen fast now. Get the towels ready. There will be a few kids coming. Ma, you got the nose sucker?” I looked over at the table of supplies.
