“What’s happened?” she asked.
They all moved back a little and Otis pointed at a heifer that was down. “She’s goin’ to lose that calf if someone with long arms and know-how don’t go in there and pull it out. She’s too tired to push anymore. I can walk you through it, but…”
Emily was already rolling up her sleeves as she plopped down on the ground behind the cow. “What can you tell me?”
“It’s breach and my arm isn’t long enough to turn it around,” Otis said. “You have to…”
“I know how to pull a calf, but you could have told me that a heifer was down.” Emily shoved her long arm into the animal and found the calf. “Now come on, darlin’, and work with me.” She talked to the heifer as she got a firm grip on the calf and tried to turn it. Even with her strength, the calf slipped out of her hands, and she had to reach for it again. Another contraction created even more pressure on her arm, but she held on and maneuvered the baby around to the right position. “Now, sweetheart, give me a couple of real good pushes, and we’ll get this birthing done.”
“How’d you know how to do that?” Otis asked.
“It takes a butt load of power to turn a calf,” Sarah whispered.
“Save your applause,” Emily said, panting as she held on to the calf’s front feet and tugged with the next contraction. “That’s good. One or two more and we’ll be done with the hard part. Don’t give up on me now,” she crooned to the heifer.
Two hooves came out and then the calf’s head. Then a big bawl from the heifer and the shoulders emerged. After that it was just a whoosh, and the baby was lying at her feet. Birthing gunk covered her legs, her arms, and her shoes, but by golly there was a live baby. She hadn’t pulled a calf since she left the ranch, but she hadn’t lost her touch, and there was a fair amount of pride in her as she looked down at the new baby.
She wasn’t even aware that Justin had joined them until he stepped in with an old towel and swabbed out the calf’s mouth. It let out a whimper and its mama was instantly on her feet, licking it and taking over the responsibilities. “You did an amazing job. Pulling a calf takes a lot of power and sometimes even a rope. You did good.”
“You talkin’ to me or that heifer?” Emily asked.
Justin tossed a clean towel toward her. “I’m talkin’ to you. We’d have lost the cow and calf both if you hadn’t been here.”
“We found her,” Otis piped up. “We was ridin’ the four-wheelers and saw her. We didn’t know how to get a hold of you, Justin, so we called Emily.”
She wiped her arm as clean as possible and pulled her shirt sleeve down. Then she turned toward the Five and asked, “Did you ladies walk all the way out here?”
“Wow, where’d you learn to do that?” Patsy asked, evidently hiding something.
“I helped out a couple of times on my grandmother’s ranch,” Emily answered.
Otis grinned. “You’re a natural. Justin should hire you to work for him.”
“No!” Patsy gasped. “We need her at the center.”
“If she moves out here, I’m comin’ with her. I bet y’all wouldn’t charge as much to rent the bunkhouses as they do at that place anyway, and this is a lot better,” Sarah declared.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Emily said. “I thought you were going to see the little donkey.”
“We did, and we petted him, and I even kissed him on the nose,” Bess said. “But then Otis and Larry got on the four-wheelers, and we wanted a ride. So we all came together and we found the cow and called you.”
“How?” Justin asked.
“Look at that big old boy. He could be a breeder for you, Justin.” Otis sidestepped the question.
“You guys take the four-wheelers back to the barn. I’ll take the ladies home,” Emily said.
The women all hurried toward the van. The guys hopped on the four-wheelers and were gone before she could blink. The new baby wasn’t on its feet yet, so Emily knelt beside Justin and started rubbing her towel over it.
“Thank you, again,” Justin said. “You were amazing.”
“You’re welcome. Look, he’s trying to stand up,” Emily said.
It took two tries, but soon the little calf had its feet under it and was head butting his mama’s udder to find his first meal.
Justin slung an arm around Emily’s shoulders. “Nothing like this feeling.”
“Fresh new life. It’s pretty awesome.” Emily had forgotten how wonderful it was.
“Goin’ to have a sore arm tomorrow?” Justin drew her closer to him.
“Probably, but it’s worth it,” she whispered. “Otis is right. He’s going to be a keeper. Look at those shoulders.” The moment was surreal, as if she and Justin were the only two people in the universe and had just witnessed a miracle.
“Looks like it, but how do you know so much about—”
“I told you,” she butted in. “I used to spend a lot of time on my grandma’s ranch. Guess I’d better get these ladies back to the house.”
He stood up and extended a hand. She put hers in it and he pulled her to her feet. “I should get my phone and take a picture.”
He pulled his from a hip pocket. “Stoop down here beside the baby, and I’ll take a selfie of the two of us with him.” Justin held the phone out with his long arm.
“Send it to me so I can share it with my brother Tag. He won’t believe it without a picture,” she said as she headed back to the van and then turned. “How’d you know we were out here?”
“I didn’t. I was going back to the cabin to make sure the water was turned on, and to see if it needed cleaning before I move in. I just happened upon all this.” He caught up to her and walked beside her.
She got into the van. “See you later.”
He waved at the ladies and then jogged to his truck.
“I would have puked if I’d had to do what you did,” Bess said the minute Emily was settled into the driver’s seat.
“Are you going to make us go back to the center?” Patsy asked before she could even start the engine.
“We saved a calf so no, but after I wash up, y’all owe me some answers.” She drove to the bunkhouse without hearing another word from the ladies. When they were inside she went straight to the bathroom, stripped out of her clothing, took a shower, and washed her hair. Then she donned a knee-length terry bathrobe and went out to the living area to find them on the sofa.
“Okay, how did you all get out there on only two four-wheelers? I know y’all didn’t walk that far. It’s got to be more than a mile.”
Two minutes ticked off the clock on the wall. Not a one of them said a word.
“Okay.” Patsy finally sighed. “I’ll tell you what happened, but I still think it was pretty neat the way you knew how to deliver that calf. I had no idea you ever lived on a ranch.”
“You are beatin’ around the bush. I’ll tell it,” Bess said. “It’s like this. Otis and Larry had permission to ride the four-wheelers and we wanted to go too. So I got on behind Otis, and Sarah got on behind Larry.”
“And I rode on the handlebars with Otis and Bess, kind of like when we were all kids. Only then it was a bicycle, and it wasn’t nearly as much fun because it didn’t go as fast,” Patsy said. “And I pretended I was in a convertible with the wind blowin’ my hair. I don’t care if you make us go back to the center now that you know. It was worth it, because it was the most amazin’ thing that’s happened to me in ten years. I felt young again. I loved it so much that when I get bored, I’m going to shut my eyes and pretend I’m doin’ it again.”
Emily shivered at the thought of the four-wheeler hitting a gopher hole and sending Patsy butt over kinky red hair out into the pasture to break her fool neck. But what could she say? This might be the last time they ever got to be free and young again.
And nobody got hurt. Her grandmother’s voice said softly. Go easy on them. Getting old is a bitch.
“I would have carried the burden with me the rest of my lif
e if one of you got hurt. But since no one did, I’m not taking us back to the center. You have to promise me that you won’t do such a fool thing again.” Emily felt like she was dealing with rebellious teenagers rather than five people who were all over seventy.
“We promise,” they said in unison.
“And I promise I’ll hold her down and call you if she even tries it,” Bess said.
Patsy bowed up to her. “I’d like to see you try. Let’s go tell Otis and Larry that we get to stay. They’re probably back at the boys’ bunkhouse by now.”
“No strip poker either!” Emily called out as they picked up their coats and headed outside.
“How about strip gin rummy?” Sarah giggled.
Emily shut her eyes and prayed that the rest of the week would go smoothly.
Justin took his seat at the supper table beside Emily, his mother and father seated across from him. “Y’all hear that Emily’s been holdin’ out on us? She pulled a calf today, so she’s got some ranchin’ experience.”
“My grandparents have a little spread. I spent some time there until I went to college,” Emily explained.
Otis put two scoops of mashed potatoes on his plate and passed them on to Sarah. “Emily was amazin’. A vet couldn’t have done a better job. She knew just what to do and didn’t even flinch one time.”
“Yes, she was.” Justin smiled at her.
“I guess this isn’t your first time at that job, since you did so good,” Vernon said.
“No, it’s not,” Emily answered.
Justin expected her to tell them a little more about visiting her grandmother’s ranch, but she didn’t.
“I could never do that,” Gloria said. “I was more of a stay in the house and take care of the social duties and books. Like what Retta does.”
What in the hell was wrong with his mother? She’d taken to Retta and Claire both from the beginning, but she was looking at Emily as if she had horns and a spiked tail.
Emily smiled at Gloria and changed the subject. “I love sitting down to a meal like this.”
Very good, Justin thought. Mama was baiting you and you sidestepped it. Do you feel the little barbs she’s throwing your way?
“Me too,” Sarah said. “Y’all ever want to put in a retirement center on the farm, I bet you’d have a list a mile long of folks waitin’ to get into it. I’d be number one. I’d even be willin’ to double what I’m payin’ to stay at that center. It ain’t half as much fun as this place.”
“Thank you.” Justin took a biscuit and handed the basket off to Emily. There were definite vibes when their fingers touched, and he looked forward to seeing her for their drinking date in another week.
“We all thought Emily was a big city girl.” Larry went back to the subject of the calf. “We just called her so she’d bring some help from the house.”
“I am a city girl,” Emily said.
Justin wondered just what soured her on ranching life, but her short answers said that she didn’t want to talk about it. Maybe later, when she’d had a few drinks, he could get her to tell him more.
“How did all five of you get out there to begin with?” Levi asked. “We’ve only got a couple of four-wheelers. Did you ladies walk that whole way?”
Justin appreciated Levi changing the subject. “I was wonderin’ about that myself.”
Patsy dabbed her mouth with a napkin and said, “I’ll tell you the whole story.” She embellished it even more than she had when she told Emily. “Since that ride, I’ve been thinkin’ that ridin’ a bull would be fun. Y’all got one that we could try our hand at?”
“No, ma’am!” So many people answered at once that Justin could’ve sworn the ceiling raised up a couple of inches.
“Then can we have a picnic at that old cabin tomorrow?” Sarah asked. “We’d like to spend the day exploring back there.”
“That can be arranged,” Justin said.
“I’ll get a sandwich picnic ready,” Retta said. “Gloria and I have hair appointments in the morning. Any of you ladies want to join us?”
“Thank you, but we’d rather have a picnic. We got a beauty operator that comes in on Friday every week at the center,” Sarah answered.
“And you can bet your sweet little butts that I’m going with you ladies,” Emily told them.
“I guess that leaves out skinny-dippin’,” Larry said. “I noticed a little creek back there, but…” He shrugged.
“Good grief!” Emily sighed.
“I’ll go along with y’all,” Justin said.
“I was thinkin’ that you and I could go to lunch after Retta and I get our hair done. We really should stop in at the fairgrounds and take a look at what’s needed for the show.” Gloria shot a sweet smile across the table.
“We can do that another day. Or y’all can do a walk-through at the fairgrounds and take notes. I’m going with this bunch,” Justin said.
“Aha! Mama’s favorite is turning her down,” Cade teased.
“I don’t have favorites,” Gloria protested. “And if I did, today it would be Levi.”
“Why’s that?” Cade asked.
“Because he’s not buggin’ me about favorites,” Gloria said. “And getting back to the picnic tomorrow. It’s way too cold to even wade in Canyon Creek. We don’t want y’all gettin’ pneumonia.”
“Been sixty years since I got to go skinny-dippin’.” Patsy sighed.
Claire laughed out loud. “Y’all remind me of my grandmother and her friend Franny, who lived right beside her. They were always into something. But I don’t think they ever went skinny-dippin’.”
Bess pointed her fork at Claire. “Honey, you might be amazed at what they did in their young years. We didn’t have all this fancy technology stuff, so we made up our own fun, and human nature ain’t changed since Adam and Eve got kinky after eating that big red apple.”
Justin glanced over at Emily. That pink glow in her cheeks was adorable. He could envision her, with all those luscious curves, dropping her jeans and all the rest of her clothing on the banks of Canyon Creek. Wearing nothing but a smile and maybe those cute little gold hoop earrings that she had on that evening, she’d wade out into the water and crook a finger to invite him to join her.
She turned, and her eyes locked with his. “What are you grinning about?”
“Just a picture in my head,” he answered honestly. “Wouldn’t you love to have had a photo of Patsy on the handlebars of that four-wheeler?”
“No, thank you.”
“Oh, come on now. You could tuck it away, and when we’re their age, we could see if we could reenact the whole thing,” he teased.
“I reckon you’ll have long forgotten about me by then,” she said.
He leaned over and whispered, “I don’t think so.”
After the kitchen was cleaned up, Emily said good night to everyone. Levi and Claire didn’t linger long before they left to go home. Retta and Cade were cuddled up together on the sofa.
Vernon yawned and looked over at Gloria. “Darlin’, it’s past our bedtime. We should be gettin’ on out to our place. These boys have plumb wore out this old man today.”
Justin had been sitting in a recliner, but he popped the footrest down and said, “I’m going out to the barn and check on Little Bit.”
“I’ll go with you,” Gloria said.
“No, you won’t. He’s been walkin’ out to the barn in the dark now for years, and sometimes a man needs to be alone with his thoughts,” Vernon said.
“You don’t tell me what to do.” Gloria glared at him.
Justin caught his father’s wink as he slipped out of the room and grabbed his coat. He was on his way around the house when he caught a flash of light in his peripheral vision. When he glanced that way, he could see Emily’s silhouette a brief second before the door closed. She sat down in one of the two rockers, and he changed his course.
“Hey,” he called out when he was a few feet away. “Want to take a walk?”
> “I don’t think I’d better get too far from them. After the past two days, I probably should be down at the boys’ bunkhouse watching movies with them.”
Justin rested his elbows on the porch railing. “They took Quigley Down Under, Steel Magnolias, and The Cowboy Way. I think they’re safe for tonight. Mind if I join you for a spell?”
“Not at all.” Gussie jumped up in her lap and started to purr. “Well, hello, pretty girl. Sarah’s been worried about you all day. Where have you been?”
“Probably out in the barn.” Justin eased down into the other rocker and propped his feet up on the railing. “Do you ever feel like a fifth wheel?”
“Just all the time when I go home. My oldest brother is engaged, and the twins, Taggart and Hudson, are always…well, let’s just say that they like to party…Tag is the rebel, bad-boy twin and Hud is the good boy, life-of-the-party twin who’s usually with Tag to keep him out of too much trouble,” she said.
“Here—hold my beer and watch this.” Justin laughed.
“You got it.” Emily nodded. “I’ve actually heard that too many times from my brother Tag.”
Justin could sure understand her younger brothers. Most Saturday nights found him at the Rusty Spur. The majority of the time he either went home with a woman or brought her to the ranch.
“Oh, really?”
She picked up Gussie. “It’s colder out here than I remembered. Want to come inside with me?”
He was on his feet in an instant and opened the door for her. “Love to. Do you like to party?” he asked. “We could go dancing at the Rusty Spur some Saturday night if you do.”
She carried Gussie to the end of the sofa and eased down carefully with the cat still in her arms. “No, thank you. That’s not my idea of a date.”
“What is?” Justin removed his hat and coat and laid them on one of the recliners and then sat on the other one.
“Anything but a noisy bar full of drunks,” she answered.
Cowboy Brave Page 6