Page 23 of Daddy's Little Farmer

He turned off the TV and ensured the blanket was over her before closing his eyes and sleeping. Her moving and whimpers woke him a few hours later.

“Shhh, baby. You’re with Rafael.”

She turned her face against his chest and started crying. He got worried when she started gagging, and it didn’t seem to stop.

Rafael kept rubbing her back, murmuring soft words to her, and wiping up the tears and snot on her face. Finally, after what seemed like an hour, she fell back to sleep.

He stared up at the ceiling. Everything he’d done since he got here was so out of his realm of knowledge and comfort that he was pretty surprised he hadn’t broken but had gone with the flow. He’d never cleaned someone as they cried. Hell, he doubted he’d ever touched snot before because he’d never been sick, and he certainly never cried.

She woke him up with two more crying episodes, so he was wiped out by the time the sun started over the horizon. It didn’t matter if she needed the sleep because they had to get up and care for the animals. She’d feel bad if she neglected them.

He started rubbing her back. “Baby, we have to get up and take care of the animals.”

She immediately started moving. When she lifted her head, he could see her eyes were still swollen and her face blotchy, but she was the most beautiful thing in the world to him. He smoothed her hair from her face.

“Good morning, baby.”

She blinked a few times. “Good morning.” She looked out the window and gasped. “Oh, God, Melly must be hurting. I should have milked her an hour ago.”

“Easy,” he said. “How about you start the coffee, and I get us clothes for the day?”

She nodded.

He lifted her to her feet and watched her rush into the kitchen. A groan tore from his throat when he stood, and a muscle cramped in his back. He was definitely not going to sleep on the bastard sofa again.

Upstairs, he got dressed, grabbed some clothes for her, and went down to find her looking out the window in the door with her arms around her waist like she was hugging herself.

“Here, baby, get dressed, then we’ll get outside.”

Mara nodded, reached for the clothing, and walked into another room. When she returned, he was waiting by the back door with two mugs in his hands. He held one out to her.

“Here you go. Just the way you like it. I only filled it halfway so you wouldn’t burn yourself.”

“Okay.”

Rafael followed her out, and they immediately went to the cow with the clean bucket she grabbed as she left the house. He could tell the cow was unhappy and uncomfortable by how it mooed and wouldn’t stop.

“I’m here, Melly.” She patted her side and sat on the stool they had out in the barn just for milking. Mara put the bucket under the udders and got the milk out and relief to the cow. It took longer because she kicked a few times because it was unpleasant initially. But Mara would soothe her and start again.

“I’ll take this into the kitchen and pour it in the crock while you feed the chickens,” he said.

“Okay.”

It was like she was running on autopilot, but he didn’t push her to rest for the time being.

When he returned from caring for the milk, she fed the chickens, goats, and cats. So now she only needed to get to the donkey and horses. He’d lifted a bag of food she needed and put it away without conversation.

After the animals were fed and watered, they tackled the stalls. It was one of his least favorite things. The worst was the chicken coop. God, he didn’t think anything smelled that bad. He returned to the barn to see her saddling one of the horses.

“Baby, what are you doing?”

“I’m going to go check out the grave. I won’t be gone long.”

“I don’t like it.”

Mara sighed and turned toward him. “I promise I’ll be safe. It helps me when I’m on a horse. It settles me. Can you ride?”

“No.”Dammit.

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