Page 24 of Pumpkin Patch Cutie
“Thanks alpha.”
“I’ll be there soon.”
“Ok.”
I hung up and rushed back to the horse’s side, where my tech was doing a stellar job of cleaning the wound. Then I called over the rancher, showed him how to care for the scrape and gave him some ointment to apply.
The look of relief as I told him that he only needed to call me back out if it got worse was all the proof I needed that opening my own practice had been the right move. My client list had exploded as soon as they realized that I wasn’t going to ignore their intuition about their animals in an attempt to make more money.
I trusted the farmers and ranchers, and they trusted me in return.
I called my virtual assistant as I drove home, instructing her to forward calls to the vet tech until the baby was born. I knew he’d be able to handle most minor needs until I could get out again, and he’d shown good enough judgement that I trusted him to make the right call if he thought an animal needed more care than he could give.
I discussed any scheduled checkups for the following days with him as I drove home, and made sure he was comfortable with what I wanted him to check. Then we pulled into my driveway.
He drove off in his own car while I rushed inside to find Scott sitting on the couch, grimacing through what had to be another contraction.
“How far apart?” I asked.
“Five minutes,” he gasped as it ended. “But it hasn’t been long.”
“Ok, I’ll put the bag in your car so we’re ready to go.”
He smiled. “Thank you.”
It felt weird. I’d helped deliver hundreds of calves, colts and other livestock babies, but I still had the flutter of nerves in my stomach about my own mate giving birth.
Maybe that was just human nature.
I made sure the bag was in the car, then checked that the passenger seat was all the way back so he could get in and out easier. Finally I looked in my wallet, sighing with relief at the money I’d tucked there for just this day.
No way was I leaving Scott at intake while I parked the car. The hospital had a valet service and I intended to use it.
I walked back in to see Scott putting on his shoes.
“Go time?” I asked.
“Go time,” he confirmed. “I just got off the phone with the nurse line and they said to come in.”
I walked over and rested my hands on his arms, then leaned in to kiss his cheek. “We’re about to meet our baby. Are you excited?”
He glanced up and gave me a small smile. “I’m excited for them to be out. Does that count?”
“Close enough.”
I helped him to the car, then we were on our way.
∞∞∞
“Alpha…”
I blinked my eyes and lifted my head. Slowly I remembered where we were. We’d headed to the hospital late that afternoon, but Scott’s labor hadn’t progressed much in several hours and I’d sat next to his bed while the nightly news played on the television.
“Did I fall asleep?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said, voice full of fondness, but also strained.
“I’m sorry.”
