Vetted

by K'Anne Meinel

  Fiona wished she had known that tomboy Allyssa and found herself jealous of the high school boys who had known her. Still, she knew she was her wife’s first and only, and that helped.

  * * * * *

  “Fiona?” Allyssa called on the intercom between the phone in the office cabin and the barn where she was attending a particularly nasty cow that had thrown her calf bed (a veterinary emergency where a cow continues to push after her calf is born and pushes her uterus completely out) and wouldn’t stay put. They had her up in a sling so she couldn’t walk around or throw it again. Fiona had stitched it in place, and still the bitch had born down and pushed it out again, breaking the stitches. She’d been to the farmer’s place twice in the middle of the night and had finally had the farmer bring her to the ranch where Fiona rigged up the sling to hold the back end of the cow in the air. It was very awkward for the cow and she didn’t appear to be happy.

  “Yeah,” she pushed the button from the cow’s stall, the cow angrily trying to butt her with horns that were no longer on her head. She’d been properly dehorned years ago, but apparently forgot. Still, the sharp beating of her head against the doctor’s shoulder hurt.

  “Your father is on the line,” she told her.

  Fiona wiped her hands on her jeans, a frequent practice in her line of work as she reached for the phone and pushed the button for the line. “Hello?’

  “Heya, darlin’,” her father’s voice came through loud and clear, almost as though he was trying to yell his way across the miles. “How is it goin’?”

  “Hey, Dad. It’s going well. We’re building up the practice,” she explained. She thought she had written that in her last letter.

  “I got a letter,” he began and she had a start, thinking he had read her mind, “from the insurance company. I don’t know why they sent it here instead of direct to you, but it says they are going to pay on the house.”

  “That’s great. We’re living in kind of cramped quarters here.” She was thinking about the camper she stayed in when it got too late to drive home or she was too tired, and the mobile home where they cooked. She kind of loved the quaint digs that Allyssa had created in the now warm and cheery cabin.

  “Well, I didn’t get the mail, Rosemary did,” he began and he could almost hear his daughter’s exasperated sigh. He didn’t resent any of the inheritance she had received. He figured she deserved it for the way she had been treated. He knew his own weakness had allowed his second wife to bully him into sending her away and spending so much time with her sons and their own two children. His parents had really stepped up and loved that child, like she deserved to be. He knew he had failed. Still, they had a pretty good relationship. “She read it and must have memorized it, and she’s furious at the money that is getting away from us. She wants to come up and ‘inspect’ the property,” he warned her.

  “Can’t you control her and keep her at home? She’s not welcome here,” she told him, becoming angry. It reminded her of Allyssa’s family and how they had opened her mail. “We’re just getting started here. The place is a bit discombobulated. I just got the garden plowed and cleaned up the burn site,” she informed him. Hauling away the ashes of the fire, the burnt pieces, had been difficult. She was certain that pieces of her beloved grandparents were in the ashes whether physically or spiritually. Allyssa had understood and insisted Fiona teach her how to drive the backhoe with the front-end loader so she could remove the debris when Fiona was away at work. She’d done it too.

  “Have I ever been able to?” he asked, annoyed at himself. “She’s using the excuse that your brother and sister need to visit and see their heritage or some bullshit,” he explained. “We both know it isn’t just to give you this check.”

  “You got the check too, not just the notice from the insurance company?”

  Keith nodded into the phone, almost as though she could see it. “Yeah, I didn’t find out about the notice until I happened across the check. She’s practically frothing at the mouth and I think she’s contacted an attorney.” He could almost hear his daughter’s hackles rising. “Don’t worry, I called Seth Daniels, the trust attorney. He is well warned.”

  “Oh, for crying out loud, Dad. I don’t need this. Mail me the letter and the check,” she sounded tired and looked annoyed at the cow that had kept her in to receive this phone call. ‘It’s all your fault!’ she thought.

  He ignored her because he knew it would be useless to argue. He also knew he was caught between a rock and a hard space. He loved Rosemary despite her faults and he desperately loved his children. He had never let on that he didn’t even like Rosemary’s sons; they were greedy and conniving boys who thought the world owed them. Only upon entering the military had some of that been beaten out of them. Now they were simply bullies who used what they had been taught by the military to their advantage. “So, we will be there next Friday,” he told her sadly.

  “I may not be here,” she told him truthfully. “And there is nowhere to stay unless you want to stay in the mobile home and that’s full of stuff.” That wasn’t technically true anymore. They’d used up a lot of the supplies they had stocked up on during the winter and Allyssa had scrupulously been cleaning and putting things away to eliminate the piles. Still, the mobile home was cramped quarters and depending whether her brother and sister came too, there was really nowhere for them to stay.

  “Well, I guess we meet your bride then.” He knew that his wife was a terrible homophobe, which was why Fiona had had to go. She’d shown signs very early with her tomboy behaviors. Rosemary had been worried that Fiona’s influence would rub off on her sons who were both a bit misogynistic in behavior. He, at least, had some influence over his younger son and daughter.

  Fiona was going to have to warn Allyssa of the impending visit. It seemed there was nothing to keep them away. Her father had catered to that woman for twenty years and her much younger brother and sister did deserve to see where their family had come from. She sighed as she hung up the phone, checked on the ornery cow once more while avoiding her head butting, which would have gored her for sure if the damn cow had the horns she thought she did, and headed for the office cabin. She stopped in the doorway which was wide open and stared.

  Somewhere her wife had gotten two filing cabinets made of wood as she had requested. On top of that she had placed a large door from one of the outbuildings that hadn’t been used. She’d sanded it a bit to remove splinters and stained both sides. Now she was applying a layer of polyurethane. The smell permeated the cabin.

  “Babe, that looks amazing,” she complimented her sincerely. It really did. The surface was huge, making for a big desk, which she needed for all the work she did, and providing an even platform for the computer.

  “Thank you,” Allyssa answered, rubbing at her nose with the back of her hand. She paused for a moment to look at the hand and see if she had anything on it that was now going to be on her nose. She’d gone around one day with paint on her forehead and didn’t realize until Fiona got home and pointed it out. Funny how you always get itches on your face when you are doing such work. “This is only the first coat, but it’s going to shine,” she mimicked some huckster they heard on the TV selling some gadget, “when I get through.”

  “I hate to tell you this...” Fiona began.

  Realizing that Fiona’s dad had been on the phone and deducing what Fiona would hate to tell her, she quickly figured it out. “They are coming for a visit?” she finished for her wife who had hesitated.

  The brunette nodded weakly as her hand came up to rub through her hair, a familiar gesture to her wife.

  Allyssa looked around. There were so many half-packed and unpacked boxes laying around still. They’d only just recently been able to plow up the garden and plant things. She’d found a pile of old window frames that she used to form a V with old hinges that Fiona had screwed on to form mini-greenhouses over some of the more slow-growing plants or plants that weren’t supposed to grow in this zone. There w
as so much work to do, and Fiona was busy attending to their bread and butter…their clients. “To what do we owe the honor of this visit?” her eyebrow was raised as she rubbed her nose again. The fumes of the polyurethane were getting to her too, and she really needed to finish the coat, so she resumed her work as they talked.

  “The check for the insurance on the house came in. Rosemary opened it.”

  Allyssa looked up surprised. “Why did …?”

  Fiona shrugged, knowing exactly what her wife was thinking. “She might have seen my name on it and known what was in it, but apparently the notice came in first and she didn’t say anything. The check came after.”

  “And…her nose is out of joint because the money came for you and not everyone?” she guessed accurately.

  Fiona nodded miserably.

  “So, why are they coming here? To give you the check?” she added sarcastically, knowing it could have been mailed to their post office box just as easily.

  “Well, supposedly to show my brother and sister their heritage, to meet you, and then lastly to give me the check.”

  “Uh huh,” she said, the tone suggesting she didn’t quite believe that either. “Where are they going to stay?”

  “Do we have an old pig pen?” Fiona teased, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

  Allyssa snickered as she was supposed to. “I guess we could put your mother and father–” she began and was cut off by Fiona’s near shout.

  “Stepmother!” she corrected icily.

  “Sorry, we could put your father and stepmother here in our bedroom, and your brother and sister in the mobile home. We can stay in the camper?”

  “No, I’m not being put out by them. They’ll go stay in a hotel...” she began angrily.

  “Babe, I know you don’t like this visit any more than I would like one from my family...” she began, but at Fiona’s almost crazed and wary look quickly added, “which they show no sign of doing, but be the better person here. Your soul will thank you for it.”

  Fiona knew the younger woman was right and watched as she finished the first coat carefully, making sure each square inch, including the edges that hung over, were covered in that glop. “How did someone so young get so wise?” she asked, immediately in a better mood.

  “My child, I learned from the best,” she stated in a sage-like voice, which had them both giggling. She placed the can of polyurethane on the floor, put the lid on tightly and the brush in a cup she had nearby to wash, before she wiped her hands on her jeans, which had seen better days. Walking across the cabin she took the shorter woman in her arms and held her. “I’m on your side, you know. Whatever you want to do—run away into the hills, hide, or poison them in their sleep—you tell me.”

  “Oh gawd, you know I have the perfect drug for Rosemary,” she considered half seriously as she held Allyssa close. “How did I get so lucky to have met you and convinced you to marry me?” she asked more seriously as she leaned in to touch foreheads, both sweaty despite the cool spring day with the wind blowing.

  “Well, there was this dog...” began Allyssa and at the word ‘dog,’ Rex’s tail began thumping. How he had learned that word meant him, they never knew. He always knew when they were talking about him.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Fiona saw something on the steps. “How did that little guy get in here?” she asked, seeing one of the kittens.

  “Oh, they visit quite frequently. I hope nothing gets them before they grow up. Mama Cat is usually around too.”

  “I have got to finish that operating room. They’ll be my first patients.”

  “Add it to the list,” Allyssa teased and received a squeeze that had her squealing as the shorter woman cupped her ass and pinched with her whole hand. She smiled, never imagining how much love play there could be in such gestures. “I love you, Doctor Herriot. Do you know that?”

  Fiona froze. Allyssa had mentioned that in passing, but she had never outright said it. She had thought the woman did, but she had only shown it, not spoken of it. She smiled as her eyes began to tear up. “I’m so glad,” she said in return. “Because I’m not only in love with you, but I love you too.”

  They shared a kiss that rapidly became heated. They didn’t bother to go upstairs to their nice mattress set, now on a bedframe worthy of this old cabin, but went at it right there on the cabin floor. The kitten was shocked, Rex, formerly Thumper was shocked, and Mama Cat, when she made an appearance, was properly scandalized. The door was never shut and they made love there in the afternoon, enjoying the fact that the phone hadn’t rung with work for the doctor, that there was nothing that required their immediate attention, and that nothing would stop them from loving the other.

  Allyssa pushed her tongue deep into her wife’s mouth, enjoying the immediate response in return as they caressed, played swords with the appendage, and aroused the other. Their lips were in the way as they sucked, licked, and caressed around them. Their lips came into use a moment later as kisses rained down on sweaty necks, tongues came out to lick at the salt, and nuzzling noses inhaled the scent of honest work. Fingers fumbled as they removed button-down shirts and pulled off t-shirts. Then they fumbled at the jeans that held in each other’s treasures, pushing at the harsh cloth that made jeans possible. They stepped on boots at the heel to remove them rapidly, flinging them off stocking-clad feet and causing them to fly in the room and startle animals that might have gotten in the way. Their humans didn’t care. At this moment, all that mattered was pleasing each other. Fiona groaned as Allyssa’s still learning fingers delved inside her panties. Allyssa threw her head back, nearly impaling it on one of the boards she had been working on where an old nail was sticking out. Fervently they licked, sucked, and kissed their way to excitement. Only caresses, probing fingers and hands, and rubbing would soothe the beast each had let loose.

  “Oh, oh, ohhhh,” Allyssa screamed as her body tightened and then convulsed beneath her wife. This excited Fiona so much to see her in the light of day, the lithe, young body arching into her hand and mouth, the ruby-colored nipples getting harder in her orgasmic display. “More, more, more,” she demanded, panting to make herself and her needs known. Fiona obliged her willingly, delighting in her pleasure. Her own arousal reached a fever pitch as she watched the young woman become unglued. “More!” she demanded and the doctor thrust, rubbed, and sucked an orgasm out of her again…and again…until she cried, “Uncle!” Fiona ceased the actions of her arms, holding the panting young woman and her sweaty body in her arms.

  It only took a moment for Allyssa to catch her breath. Smiling wildly at her wife, she clutched her to her. Her body hadn’t even melted away all the little spasms of orgasm still seeping through her before she rolled on top of the smaller woman, trying to bear her to the hard floor of the cabin. Fiona was stronger, her muscles honed from a lifetime of hard work, and this excited Allyssa. To be held by her, to feel the strong hugs she was capable of, to caress those never-ending muscles in her arms, her back, and her legs was exciting. To know what she was capable of gave her so much pleasure to enjoy. She wanted to give a measure of that back as she kissed her way down her wife’s sweaty body, tasting the salt, relishing in the fact that the sweat was now from their intense lovemaking. She flicked each of the nipples with her tongue, sucking on the left one hard because she knew her wife liked that. She slowly kissed her way south, smiling as Fiona rushed her by pushing at her shoulder, guiding her between legs that needed her attention. She could smell the odor that signaled her wife’s arousal and at the first hot, sweaty taste, relished it. She didn’t care that neither of them had bathed since last night and then only in the tight-fitting shower of the mobile home. She didn’t care that the odor told her how aroused her wife was. She wanted this, she wanted the sweat, the excretions, and the wetness. Her fingers played with it for only a moment before she thrust three fingers in, contemplated a fourth, and then latched onto the clit that was barely discernable in the hair.

  “Oh gawd, yes!” Fio
na arched into her wife’s face, bucking and grinding against it as she held her in place, her hand fisting into Allyssa’s hair, not realizing she was practically pulling it out at the roots. Over and over she bucked against her face, hoping to feel the sensations that only a tongue and mouth sucking could engender. The fingers inside her felt so tight, and she clamped down on them, trying to resist and prolong the sensation. It was good that she couldn’t control it as Allyssa, despite her youth, was tiring, but was steadfastly determined to give her wife the ultimate pleasure. The orgasm ripped through the smaller woman and she grunted over and over, still thrusting up into the other woman’s face, grinding down on her mouth and fingers until every last moment was spent. As she slowed, panting heavily, Allyssa’s mouth let go of her wife and began kissing north. Her nose was tickled by the pubic hair, but she didn’t mind. She continued kissing up the firm, taut belly, stopping to pay homage to her wife’s bigger breasts. And all the while she could still feel the tiny convulsions in her wife’s private area, squeezing her still encased fingers. She smiled down on her wife before laying her head on her chest.

  “Well, maybe it’s time for the second coat?” Fiona asked dreamily as they both came down from the diversion that had enveloped them. Sharing giggles, they smiled at each other in a loving and endearing way.

  Chapter Sixteen

  ‘Maybe the visit won’t be that bad,’ thought Allyssa. Still, the thought of it had her hurrying to clean, not that things weren’t a lot cleaner than when they had moved there all those months ago. She was continually cleaning things, but she thought a doctor’s office should be as clean as possible. She worried about their first impression and scrubbed and scrubbed the porch that stretched out in front of the cabin. The thing that made her week before they visited was a listing she saw on a local group that was advertising things for sale that included wooden shelving units with glass that locked. Measuring the cabin, she wasn’t sure that these would fit, but the price and the look of them made her want them so bad she didn’t dare tell a harried Fiona who was working hard with the influx of sheep, cattle, and horses being born in the spring; she didn’t want to worry her. She knew that Fiona wanted to be off work for Friday, but animals didn’t keep to schedules or a nine-to-five job. Fiona knew if she didn’t do the work, other vets in the area would. She also knew, being the new gal on the block, that if she didn’t keep to her high standards of care they would look elsewhere.