His Hometown Girl

by Karen Rock

  His hand encountered something smooth—the calf’s side—and he traced its length to see how much turning was needed to get the front legs and face forward. After another minute, he withdrew his arm, heart heavy. He couldn’t risk ripping Sandra Dee’s uterus, a real possibility given the tight fit and his large hands. That was delicate work if it was possible at all. The calf was not going to make it.

  Jodi slipped in beside him, her phone stowed, her arms encased in gloves.

  Surprise chased away his dejection. “What are you doing?”

  “The doctor’s on an emergency call up at Pine Ridge Farm. He can’t be here for at least another hour, so unless you can manage on your own, I’m all you’ve got.” Her blue eyes snapped at him and for the first time he admired the new no-nonsense, business side of Jodi.

  At his stunned silence, she nudged him aside. “Now keep Sandra Dee still. My hands are smaller than yours, so I’ll turn the baby.”

  “It’s too breech. You’ll tear up the uterus.”

  “If I can’t, I can’t. But I’m not quitting.” And her jaw set in a way that told him she meant every word.

  Her hands slid inside as he watched, her face taut with concentration, her arm muscles straining. He imagined her delicate fingers performing a task most wouldn’t attempt. Her no-fuss manner disproved every judgment he’d made of her when he’d picked her up at the airport. She still cared about farming; it was obvious in the way she’d jumped in to help Sandra Dee. Something else motivated her homecoming besides money or revenge, and now he was determined to figure it out.

  “I’m turning it,” she gasped quietly. “Almost. There.”

  He watched her closely, amazed at her single-mindedness, her ability to blot out everything and focus. No wonder she’d done well at a large company like Midland. She’d succeed at anything she set her mind to. He didn’t like what she stood for, but he respected that she defended her principles, as misguided as they were. Would he mind losing to the person Jodi had become? With stakes this high—yes. But part of him wondered if there were two sides to this argument and if, by ignoring hers, he’d missed out.

  Sandra Dee jittered to the right and he saw Jodi wince when a hoof grazed the side of her foot. But she didn’t make a sound, only lifted her ankle once the cow moved and kept shifting her arm slightly in different angles.

  “I’m taking over,” Daniel said, his voice firm and low. “She’s getting more agitated and I want you out of here before you get hurt.”

  Jodi’s eyes narrowed and she gave a sharp little yank before she stumbled back against the railing, panting.

  “See. The calf’s too—” Daniel stopped speaking when his hand encountered a pair of hooves and then the outline of a face. He looked at Jodi, stunned, and her elated expression lit him up inside.

  “You did it! You turned her.”

  Sandra Dee fell to her knees, the head holder sliding down on the pulley.

  “Daniel, pull that calf out! It’s still caught in her pelvis.”

  He braced his heels on the slippery straw and pulled with all his might. The calf didn’t budge and Sandra Dee brayed, her keening wail trailing off to an even more chilling silence.

  Arms slid around him from the back. Jodi. “On the count of three,” she said. “One. Two. Three.”

  They strained, grappled and tugged until at last he felt a slight give. All at once the calf tumbled out in a wet heap on the straw, he and Jodi along with it.

  “I’ll get Sandra Dee loose.” She scrambled to her feet and flinched, grabbing the post when she stepped down.

  Her foot. If Sandra Dee’s full weight had pressed on it, she’d have a broken bone or two. Farm life’s dangers had never felt as real as they did looking at her ashen face. He unhitched the anxious new mother and removed his gloves. Scooping up Jodi, he carried her out of the pen.

  Her head rested against his thudding heart while they paused to watch Sandra Dee and her first offspring begin the afterbirth rituals. After much licking, the calf wobbled to its feet and they both cheered.

  His arms tightened around Jodi. “Jodi, I—” He was at a loss for words. He looked down at the beaming face that had occupied many of his thoughts lately. She was incredible—strong and tough when she needed to be, loving and generous when it counted most. His heart expanded, making room for his growing feelings.

  Her hand came up and touched his cheek, igniting a storm of sensation that made him pull her closer still. “You don’t have to say it, Daniel. It’s what neighbors do.”

  He looked at her in wonder. She’d used his words against him. And even more astonishing, she seemed to mean them. Only, he wasn’t concerned about neighbors right now as he stared into her blue eyes. No. What he cared about most was more personal than he’d ever imagined.

  More and more, it felt as though he and Jodi were a package deal, and he couldn’t picture a better combination. It’d certainly worked when they’d birthed the calf. Yet Jodi would leave him and Cedar Bay soon unless he found a way to stop her. He’d hoped reminding her of her old life would convince her to stop her Midland plans. After today, he knew he needed to make her remember her old feelings for him. To trust him enough to give him a second chance.

  Something called her back to Chicago, and he couldn’t fight what he didn’t understand. At first he would have thought she preferred city life. But after seeing her drive a tractor, birth a calf and make homemade jam, he knew that wasn’t true. She’d looked too happy. And lately, he’d felt the same way.

  There was a mystery to Jodi’s homecoming he needed to solve and if he didn’t, he might lose her again. His arms tightened around her. It was a chance he was no longer willing to take.

  * * *

  “OH, MY GOODNESS, what happened?”

  Jodi gave Sue a sheepish grin as Daniel carried her over the last stair and onto the loft’s landing. He’d wanted to take her to the house, but she’d insisted on the loft instead. Tyler would be worried by her absence. Colton put down a guitar and Tyler looked around, his eyes wide.

  “I’m okay,” she protested, her face heating more from Daniel’s hold than the attention. The ease with which he carried her had made her feel as if she weighed less than a newborn chick, his touch gentle. Only the throb in her foot had distracted her from tracing the biceps encircling her.

  Daniel’s jaw tightened. “She got stepped on by Sandra Dee.”

  Colton shot to his feet. “Sorry, Jodi. Broke my big toe that way last year. Lost a nail, too, but that was from a fungus I—”

  “Daniel?” Sue cleared her throat. “You can put Jodi down over there.” She pointed to the rocking chair.

  Daniel gently placed her in the chair, his arms releasing her slowly, as if reluctant to let go. And she felt the same way. His physical absence made her feel alone in a way she hadn’t in a long time.

  “Let me get you some ice.” Sue hurried off and called over her shoulder, “Colton, will you grab the hassock?” A short stool was slid under her foot, its crocheted top a soft cushion that relieved some of the jarring pressure.

  Jodi hoped the injury wasn’t serious. After her horrible phone call with her boss this morning, she couldn’t be out of commission, not even for a moment. Her eyes lingered on her son as he toddled to the rocker on tiptoe, Ollie in hand.

  “Hi, Tyler.” She smoothed back his soft blond curls and centered Ollie’s slipping tiara, her love for him blotting out her tender foot.

  When Daniel removed her boot and felt her instep, she tried keeping a brave face but failed.

  “Ouch!” Yanking back her ankle only made the pain intensify. Of all the terrible luck. This couldn’t have happened at a worse time.

  Tyler started to cry and he tugged off his eyeglasses.

  “No, sweetie. It’s okay.” She brushed tears from his round cheeks and repla
ced the band when Sue handed it to her. “Mommy’s okay.”

  “Now, that’s an egg,” Colton exclaimed, settling Tyler onto her lap when he tried climbing up himself.

  A bag of icy coolness descended on her throbbing arch. “It looks serious.” Sue studied her through her rimless glasses, her oval face and sharp features reflecting her concern.

  Tyler’s flapping hands smacked Jodi face, his knees knocking the air from her stomach. Three pairs of hands descended on him, stroking, patting or tickling until his tears dried up and he looked around. Jodi’s heart swelled. For once, she and Tyler were accepted without judgment about his behavior. Her “Bad Mother” marquee blinked once, then dimmed.

  But despair returned when she looked at her rapidly swelling foot. How would she ever purchase the five thousand acres she needed for her promotion now? Especially given the curveball her boss had thrown at her this morning. Tyler would never talk again, and it would be her fault.

  Aunt Grace could drive her to appointments, but then who would watch Tyler when he wasn’t with Sue? The amount of help she’d depended on this summer staggered her. She couldn’t ask for more. This was it. She’d reached the end of her fading rainbow.

  A small sound escaped her and instantly Daniel’s warm hand grasped her calf, hazel eyes peering at her beneath a brush of lashes. “I’ll take you to the health center for an X-ray.”

  “Tyler needs to go down for his nap,” she protested. Why did it have to be her right foot? And why was her body as aware of his strong grip as it was of the pain shooting up her leg? Now that the euphoria of birthing the calf had worn off, the reality of her situation returned with a vengeance. And it crushed her more than the cow’s hoof. She’d been told by her boss that her colleague, Brady Grayson, was coming to Cedar Bay to “help.”

  Colton picked up a fussing Tyler and settled him beside his guitar. “Would it be all right if he stayed up a little longer to show you something special? We’ve been practicing.”

  Sue clapped her hands and rushed over to kneel by Colton’s chair. Jodi nodded, curious as he struck a melodic chord. Daniel shot her an amused glance and her lips quirked in response. It was sweet to see Sue so enamored with something other than her weaving, knitting or reading. But what did the guitar have to do with Tyler? He liked his sound soother, but that was the most he usually tolerated.

  A rich baritone filled the room, deeper than she would have expected from Colton.

  “Old Macdonald had a farm. E-I-E-I-O.” He grinned at Sue and strummed another cord. “And on that farm he had some—” He paused and Sue held up a picture of a chick. They waited a moment and their faces fell when Tyler looked from one to the other without speaking. Had they thought he’d say the word? Hope surged and her heart beat out its own song.

  “Chick,” Sue supplied at last and nodded at Colton to begin again. She held Tyler’s hands and patted them gently together. Her soft soprano blended with Colton’s voice as they sang, “with a chick chick here and a chick chick there, here a chick, there a chick, everywhere a chick chick...”

  The ice bag slid, and a lance of pain stabbed up her calf as she bent for it. She released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Would Tyler chime in? Sing a word?

  “Stay,” Daniel ordered, his murmur so commanding she sank back against the soft cushion. She’d grown independent, but being taken care of felt good, too. Not that she’d let herself get used to it. This morning’s news from Midland meant she’d have to work harder than ever, on her own. But if she heard Tyler speak, none of that would matter. Not by a long shot.

  The song continued with a pause for every animal, an expectant hush where Jodi could hear her own heartbeat. At last the song ended with a flourish of strums and cheers from Sue, who seemed determined to look optimistic.

  “I wish you could have heard him earlier, Jodi. He said dog and chick and duck. Look.” Sue held out a folder.

  Jodi’s hand rose to her locket before she took the file, her pulse stammering in her veins. Tyler had spoken, but not around her. Something about that thought niggled at her, keeping her from being as thrilled as she should be. Of all people, she knew that autistic children were unpredictable and did things on their terms. Yet something about his silence around her suddenly felt purposeful. Sue had mentioned in a previous phone call that he was getting close to speaking full words. Yet now that she was present, he didn’t even try. Why? She pushed the thought aside now that Sue’s excitement started to fade.

  “That’s amazing. Did you record it?” She fanned herself with the folder, both euphoric and strangely unsettled.

  Sue’s chest heaved out a long sigh. “It happened so fast that we didn’t have time. But we’ll keep working on it, right, Tyler? We were hoping he’d do it in front of you.”

  Sue’s last comment pierced Jodi’s heart. When she gasped, Daniel’s gaze snapped her way and she released the file to grab her ankle, pretending as though her pain wasn’t stemming from some unknowable place.

  Colton helped Tyler strum Ollie’s trunk across the guitar strings, and the boy didn’t turn.

  “Oh. Right. Next time.” Jodi’s voice was a notch above a whisper, disappointment weighing down her buoyant emotions.

  To hide her conflicted feelings, she picked up the folder again and studied Sue’s dissertation notes, her eyes drawn to what Tyler couldn’t do rather than what he had.

  “You don’t look happy.” Sue brought her a juice box, her eyebrows meeting above her glasses.

  Colton’s earnest face appeared beside Sue’s. “I heard him, Jodi. I swear. It was Sue’s idea to have me sing to him and he seemed to like it so much he joined in.” He looked abashed at Sue’s admiring look and hurried on. “After Sue held up the picture card, of course.”

  Jodi forced a smile and spotted the edge of a sticky note peeking out of her purse pocket. It had the name and number of the afternoon appointment she’d need to cancel. “I’m happy. Really.” But for some reason she started to shake, a shudder that seemed to start in her bones. Suddenly it was all too much: her injury, this possible hope for Tyler, her boss’s crushing announcement, these relentless, intensifying feelings for Daniel and the fact that her son had spoken, but not in front of her.

  “Time for the doctor,” Daniel pronounced.

  When he scooped her up, she clung to his neck, the familiar scent of him soothing. Sue carried Tyler and they trekked down the stairs and outside to Daniel’s truck.

  “Sue, bring Tyler to Grace’s and we’ll be there as soon as we get Jodi looked at,” said Daniel.

  “I’ll go with her.” Colton reached to pat Tyler’s back but somehow missed and got Sue’s shoulder instead. He jerked back as if burned and Sue buried her red face in Tyler’s curls.

  Daniel’s voice was so deep it vibrated beneath her ear. “Stay and check on Sandra Dee and her new calf.”

  Colton’s eyes grew wide and impressed as they reached the truck. “I meant to check on her earlier but Tyler was singing and I hated to leave. Did Jodi help with the birth?”

  She nodded. “Though Daniel did the heavy lifting.”

  Daniel gazed down at her, his expression tender. “If it wasn’t for Jodi turning the calf, it wouldn’t be alive. Maybe not Sandra Dee, either.”

  Colton whistled. “I’ll be darned. You two make a good team.”

  A short laugh bubbled out of her. They were a good team at the field day and in the barn, but in real life, not a chance.

  Jodi held out her arms to give Tyler and Ollie a smooch. “Love you, baby.”

  His blue eyes watched her over Sue’s shoulder as Sue carried him to Jodi’s car and buckled him in.

  “Will you be able to use this evidence for your dissertation?” Jodi asked. All signs pointed to her heading home soon and figuring out some way to pay for Tyler’s education. Sue shouldn’t be a
nother casualty to her misfortune.

  Sue sighed as she straightened. “Not until I can record it. But I’m sure I’ll get it the next time.”

  Jodi forced herself to smile at Sue’s assumption that Tyler would talk again. It would be a miracle, but now there was no guarantee that Tyler would return. Depending on her diagnosis, she might be doing what she’d promised Daniel when she’d arrived in Cedar Bay: taking the next flight to Chicago.

  “Colton. Would you get the door?” Daniel jerked his head toward the truck.

  Minutes later, they hit the road. She was nestled in the seat beside Daniel, an old flannel shirt wadded up around her aching foot, when he turned to her.

  “Do you want to tell me what really made you upset back there?”

  His green-yellow eyes saw too much, and she stared out the window, wondering which of the farms they passed would join Daniel’s co-op, which would be sold to Midland and which might remain independent.

  “I wished I could have heard Tyler say those words.”

  “Me, too.” His sincere tone touched her. “It’s been over a year since he’s talked, correct?”

  Her stomach bottomed out as she nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Daniel had a way of getting her to see things she’d rather not face. And after her frenetic day, she couldn’t handle any more.

  “That’s a long time to live in silence.” He steered the truck away from a pack of biking kids.

  She lowered her chin to her chest, her brain absorbing the thought like a thousand needle jabs. Chicago was lonely, her office the only place people spoke to her. A sharp blade of sadness went through her, deep and quick.

  “I have my work.” She leaned her temple against the window, the heat of the day as powerful as a hand pressing on her head.

  Daniel turned on the air-conditioning and cool air rushed across her face. “You don’t sound happy about that.”

  She shot him a look out of the corner of her eye. “Trust me. You don’t want to know.”