Page 18 of A Twist of Faith
“Gypsy? The cow’s name is Gypsy?”
“Alright, Doc, either stop your yappin’ or come help me. Unless you ain’t got the stomach for it.”
She took the minor challenge with a lifted chin. Marching closer, she reached down into his bag and drew out a pair of his sterilized gloves. With the ease of familiarity, she snapped them onto her hands and walked over to him, wiping her filthy heel against the grass in front of Reese, no doubt out of pure spite. “Ain’t is not a word.”
Now heknewhe wasn’t dreaming.
“What are you doin’?”
“You said either stop talking or come help.” She ran her hand along the side of the cow’s abdomen. “She’s having another one. Pull.”
The chain in Reese’s hand tightened with Gypsy’s contraction. It was a good thing one female in his presence was the gentle sort, and he wasn’t thinking about the Doc. Gypsy was about as close to a pet as a cow could get, which was a blessing in disguise if trouble with birthing arose. At least she’d stay put so he had a chance at helping her. He pulled down on the chain and a pair of black front hooves came into view. About time. He was exhausted. The mama had to be worse.
Blessed silence followed for a minute while Dee examined the hooves.
“Words that end with ’ing’?”
“Yeah?”
“The ’ing’ is there for a reason. Use it. Pull.”
Reese grunted but complied with her command about the cow. The calf’s front ankles emerged. The little thing was gettin’ a whole lot closer to daylight. He replayed his own sentence back in his mind, ‘getting a whole lot closer.’Good grief, he was even thinking with more ’ings.
“She’s so close.” Dee took hold of the chain above Reese’s grasp. “Pull.”
As she leaned back to help tug, her gloved hands slipped over the chain. In a flash she’d landed firmly against him and all that wild hair pressed right up onto this face. The silky dark mess smelled like lemons and green apples. Both sour. He fought his grin.
“Sorry.” She pushed away and dusted off her suit as if she’d landed on something dirty. “I slipped.”
A beautiful rush of rose spread across her cheeks and he liked it a little too much. She was one weird puzzle to figure out. For being a high-class city girl, this woman sure knew a thing or two about cows. “Where did you grow up?”
Doc rubbed the cow’s side again. “Keene, VA.”
“Keene, VA?” He almost let go of the chain. “That ain’t.” Reese caught himself. “That isn’t a city.”
“I never said I was from the city.” Dee stepped back to the cow. “I see the head. Oh, it’s a little black head.”
For somebody who didn’t like animals, she seemed awful excited about the calf’s head. Did the woman even know what she liked and didn’t like? Reese pulled again and the head popped through.
“You got a good look at him?”
“Have. Do youhavea good look at him?” She examined the calf’s face with her fingers. “He’s not responding. His tongue is dark. We have to get him out of there.”
Reese pulled again and took hold of the sides of the calf to help the shoulders slide out, Dee beside him all the way. The crazy woman in a blue pantsuit and heels knew how to birth a cow? Reese couldn’t even find words to speak, and even if he could, she’d probably correct them. He was going to beg Rainey to teach him, possibly pay her.
Another tug and he caught the calf as it slid from its mama to the ground. It lay motionless on the grass. Reese passed a handful of hay to Doc and she waved it under the calf’s face without one directive. As she swabbed the calf’s nose and mouth, Reese took the calf’s front legs and pressed them into its body, in and out, working the new lungs. The calf sneezed. Good sign.
“Oh! The little thing is breathing.” Dee smiled up at him and the entire awkward scene slowed down.
She’d been pretty before, but when she smiled, a genuine smile, she literally took his breath—her face flushed from exertion and framed by a wind-blown halo of dark hair. Man, in all his life he’d never imagined city and country could mix so well, even more surprising than Jana.
The calf sneezed again, drawing Reese out of his embarrassing trance. The little thing moved its head and even tried to push himself up. Gypsy turned and nuzzled her baby, animating the calf even more.
“So, Keene, Virginia, is where you learned about birthing cows?”
Dee took off the gloves and nodded. “My father used to own a farm in Keene. He had a few hired hands because the farm was more of a hobby than a job for him. Hisrealjob was as a professor at UVA.”
Reese digested the new information for a minute. So, country-born Adelina Roseland wanted to leave her roots and be a city girl? Why would such a smart woman want something like that? “I don’t know of too many folks who have farming as a hobby. It’s a livelihood for most.”
