Her Cowboy Dilemma

by C. J. Carmichael

  So she’d just hang on until then.

  “Looks like it’s going to be a long night,” she said, speaking out loud as she set up the cot they used when keeping watch over pregnant mares. She made a pot of coffee in the office and found a box of granola bars stashed in a bottom filing cabinet. She ate one for herself and broke up a second for Sky.

  They had an old radio in the barn tuned to a local country station and she put that on.

  It helped to have a little music and the radio announcer for company, though she could have done without the ads, which were jarring at the best of times.

  She wondered what Josh was doing and took her phone out of her back pocket. Two missed calls and three text messages.

  Going out for lunch with Kate and Liam—two of their college friends. Then, an hour later, Wish you were here, too. And the final message, sent just fifteen minutes ago. You’re quiet. What’s up?

  She thought about answering, but her heart wasn’t in it. Josh had grown up in Great Falls and had never even owned a pet. He’d try to be sympathetic, but he wouldn’t really understand why she was so upset. Besides, she didn’t feel like talking. She hated to see any animal suffer and when they were animals she knew and loved it was even harder.

  She sat on an overturned wooden bucket at the back door of the barn, with one arm looped around Sky’s neck. The sun was setting and the rolling hills to the west had never looked lovelier against the swirls of vivid orange and red.

  “This must be the most beautiful place in the world, don’t you think?”

  For answer, her dog rested her muzzle on Cassidy’s knee.

  “They’ll be okay, right? I mean, strangles isn’t fatal.” At least not usually. Gosh, she was tired. She’d only managed a few hours of sleep last night and today she’d been a lot more active than usual.

  Thankfully the rest of the horses seemed fine. The four horses she’d groomed earlier were enjoying their evening feed with the rest of the small herd.

  Once the sun was down, Cassidy decided she might as well try to catch a little sleep. Leaving on the lights in the office and the tack room, so she didn’t feel quite so all alone, she sank onto the narrow mattress and closed her eyes.

  A few minutes later she became aware of a high-pitched noise rising above the music on the radio. Sky growled and went to the closed barn door, whining to be let out.

  Coyotes.

  “Come back here, Sky. Ignore them.”

  It was a mark of Sky’s obedience that she listened and returned to lie at the foot of Cassidy’s cot.

  But by the dog’s uneasy stirrings, Cassidy could tell she wasn’t going back to sleep. They’d always had coyotes here on the ranch. Just like moose, elk and white-tailed deer, they were part of the natural order.

  But tonight their nighttime cries sounded closer than normal.

  Eventually they quieted, though. Probably they’d moved on, farther down the valley.

  Cassidy relaxed and finally drifted to sleep.

  * * *

  FARLEY WAS SURPRISED to find the Lamberts’ house completely dark when he pulled up in his SUV at ten o’clock that evening. He felt like a fool for taking Amber home early after their dinner and for driving out all this way.

  He started to pull a U-turn, then he noticed a couple of lights on at the home barn where Lucy was quarantined.

  So he parked and grabbed his black kit from the passenger seat. A series of motion-activated lights illuminated the path for him as he made his way to the barn.

  His boots crunched on the graveled path, mixing in with the chorus from the frogs in the nearby lake. As he drew closer to the barn a new sound rose softly in the night air.

  He recognized the melancholic refrain of a popular country tune. The radio was on. He’d been listening to the same station on his drive over here.

  Sky was waiting at the barn door for him. Where you found Sky, you were bound to find Cassidy, but at first he saw no sign of her.

  Two horses nickered at him. One was Lucy. The other—at the opposite end of the barn—had to be the second horse Liz had reported Cassidy suspected was sick, too. A closer look told him it was Finnegan—the mustang Cassidy had ridden when she was growing up. This wasn’t good news. Finnegan had to be getting on in years by now. The older horse would have a tougher time with strangles.

  Once his eyes had adjusted to the low light in the stables, he finally spotted Cassidy. She was sleeping on a cot next to Finnegan’s stall, curled up with a blanket that he’d seen in the office the other day.

  A feeling that was both powerful and tender welled up in him. Why? It didn’t seem to matter that she’d treated him like dirt. That she’d spurned his way of life. He wished like hell that he could transfer those feelings to Amber, a woman for whom such a longing would make a hell of a lot more sense.

  The song ended, and the radio announcer started in on a weather update.

  Cassidy’s eyes slowly opened. She stared right at him. Blankly, at first. Then her eyes rounded and she whispered, “Farley? I can’t believe you’re here.”

  “Liz said it was an emergency.” He turned away, fighting an impulse to hold out his hand and help her up.

  She didn’t need one anyway. Quickly she stood up, planting her feet—she hadn’t taken off her boots—on the concrete floor. “What time is it?”

  “About quarter after ten,” he guessed.

  “Really? Thanks for coming out so late.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” he said, brushing aside the thanks. “Just wait till your mother gets my next vet bill. You’ll probably hear the shriek all the way to Billings.”

  “Well, it was still awfully nice of you.” She was up now, moving to Finnegan, stroking the horse and crooning. “Hey, baby, don’t worry. The vet’s here now and he’s going to help you.” She turned to Farley.

  His heart clenched at the sight of her face, and all that he could read in it. It seemed so genuine, her concern for her horse. But in a few more weeks she’d be in Billings—how much would she care then?

  He put a hand on the mustang’s flank and began his inspection. “How was he acting today?”

  “Kind of listless. Wouldn’t eat, not even his oats or a carrot.” She exhaled despairingly. “Everything you said to watch out for.”

  “Well, he is running a fever,” he confirmed ten minutes later. “And there is a little clear discharge. I’ll take a swab for testing, but I think in this case it would be smart to start on antibiotics right away. Maybe we’ve caught it early enough that it will help.”

  He moved to Lucy next. “How’s our other patient doing?”

  “She hasn’t eaten much today, either. And starting late this afternoon, she seems to be struggling to breathe. I’ve been changing her hot compresses every twenty minutes—except when I fell asleep,” she added guiltily.

  “Lucy’s having trouble breathing because those swollen lymph nodes are pressing right up against her airway. We need to relieve the pressure and soon.”

  “Poor Lucy. Should I get some more hot compresses?”

  “No. I was hoping the abscesses would burst on their own, but since they haven’t, we’ll have to lance them.”

  “Will it hurt her?”

  “Not if we do it right. Are you willing to help?”

  She looked insulted. “Of course I am.”

  “It won’t be pretty.”

  She put up her chin. “You don’t think I can handle a little pus?”

  “Not a little. A lot. And I don’t know what you can handle, Cass. I just thought it was fair to warn you.”

  Chapter Six

  Why did being around Farley always have to be so complicated? She’d been so relieved, at first, that he was here, and she was no longer alone with her worry and fear. True, she could have called Corb or Jackson, but handling the strangles outbreak was her responsibility and her brothers had already put in long days.

  Besides, what could they have done that she wasn’t already doing?
r />   Farley was different. He was a vet, obviously. But he also had a calm, take-charge attitude. Just his presence was enough to make her feel better.

  For a while. But it didn’t take long for other emotions to tangle up her heart. She felt defenseless, confused...and even angry.

  He had this disapproving way of looking at her that made her feel so small.

  Yes, she’d behaved abominably at the Harvest Dance four years ago. But it had been four years. And she’d finally apologized.

  So what was he holding against her now?

  She felt sure it was something.

  “I’ll need some clean rags,” Farley said as he pulled equipment from his open case. She saw a bottle of antiseptic, cotton swabs, a big, ugly-looking knife... Suddenly she felt woozy. She went for the rags, glad to have an excuse to look the other way for a while.

  She’d put on a brave front, but the truth was she hated icky things like pus and vomit...and especially blood. But she would get past all of that tonight. She had to do it for a horse whose heart was as wide and open as the Montana skyline.

  Cassidy’s determination to be brave was sorely tested in the next twenty minutes. It was awful watching Farley cut through the abscess.

  Lucy was a trouper throughout, a model patient, Farley said. And, fortunately, once the pus was gone, her breathing immediately returned to normal.

  When it was done, he showed her how to prepare a tamed iodine solution.

  “You’ll need to flush the wound once a day to keep it clear of infection.”

  They were arm-to-arm as he said this. She could feel his warmth, the solid bulk of his broad shoulders against her slight ones.

  “Like this.” He demonstrated, then handed the solution and gauze to her.

  She followed his example, feeling pleasure when he nodded his approval.

  “Good job,” he said. “Most people wouldn’t have been able to stomach a procedure like this one.”

  “It was tough,” she admitted. “But I was so worried about Lucy, I kind of put it out of my mind.”

  “I guess you haven’t changed all that much, after all. Still can’t stand to see an animal suffer.”

  Cassidy’s breath caught in her throat. He was so close she could smell his cologne over the pungent odor of the iodine. But wait a minute. The scent was too sweet and floral to be something a man would wear.

  And then she remembered what Liz had told her.

  “So how was your date?”

  Farley dropped his syringe, then recovered it from the straw bedding and tossed it in the bag containing all the pus-soaked rags. “What makes you think I was on a date?”

  She followed her nose, which led her to the collar of his shirt. “It’s either that, or you’ve started to wear Joy. Not the first choice for most men who wear cologne.”

  “Stop sniffing me.”

  She backed off, amused. “Why not? It’s nice. I bought a bottle for Laurel this Christmas.”

  “I do not smell like perfume.”

  He was embarrassed, she noted with glee. “My mistake. It must be Lucy, that silly horse. I keep telling her the stallions prefer her natural pheromones.”

  Farley looked pained. And then he laughed. “If you must know, I was out for dinner with Amber Ellis. I had no idea she wore Joy perfume. But at least now I know what to get her for her birthday.”

  Amber Ellis. Corb had dated her a few years back. Cassidy remembered liking her a lot. So why did she feel this sudden flash of irritation toward her?

  Farley packed up his bag, instructed her on the various medicines and treatments for the horses, then rolled up his sleeves and washed at the sink.

  “Should I stay out here and keep an eye on them?” she asked, when what she really wondered was whether Farley would be heading home now...or to Amber’s.

  “We’ve done all we can for tonight. Go inside and get a decent night’s sleep. They’ll be okay until morning. In fact, I’m expecting Lucy will be a whole lot better by then.”

  Cassidy didn’t ask about Finnegan. She was too afraid of getting the wrong answer.

  * * *

  THE NEXT MORNING Cassidy was up early to check the horses. As Farley had predicted, Lucy was much improved. Cassidy fed her warm mush, administered the antibiotics and mucked out the stalls. After, she burned the soiled bedding as before and disinfected the feed and water buckets.

  There wasn’t much she could do for Finnegan, though, who still had little appetite and the tell-tale strangles nasal discharge. While his glands hadn’t swollen as much as Lucy’s had, Cassidy prepared hot compresses for him anyway.

  She was on her way back to the ranch house when she spotted Corb on the other side of the yard.

  “Want to come out for a ride?” he asked. “I need to fix a section of fencing on the northern boundary.”

  The sun was shining in a cloud-free sky. There was nothing Cassidy would rather do. But she shook her head. “I better stay close to home and keep an eye on Finnegan.”

  “How’s Lucy?”

  “A lot better. Last night she was having trouble breathing but Farley came by and lanced the abscesses. She’s almost her old self today.”

  “Farley came by, huh? Must have been pretty late. Now that’s good service, I say.”

  Cassidy noticed the teasing gleam in her brother’s eyes, but she knew how to keep him under control. “Yes. Unfortunately he had to cut his date with Amber Ellis a few hours short. You remember Amber, don’t you, Corb?”

  He flushed, just as she’d hoped he would. “You pest. Better get to the kitchen. If you’re not coming out riding today, Mom has some errands she wants you to run. She got back about an hour ago and is in the kitchen making a list.”

  “Before you saddle up any of the horses, make sure they seem healthy,” she reminded him before she left. “Let me know if any of them aren’t eating or seem listless.”

  “You got your phone on you?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  “Okay. I’ll call you if there are any problems.”

  As she headed to the house, Cassidy wondered what mood her mother would be in. Olive had stopped by the barn earlier, making her morning rounds later than usual, as she’d spent the night in Lewistown. They hadn’t talked much, though, since Olive hadn’t wanted to risk spreading the strangles by stepping inside the barn.

  Having their riding horses in quarantine was bad enough. It would be a disaster, though, if the quarter horses were infected.

  She found her mother in the kitchen, making a fry-up in the huge cast-iron pan that had been in the family pretty much forever. Cassidy cringed as she thought of her crepe-making fiasco of the previous day. She should have known better than to try something new with her mother.

  Mother only liked new ideas when she thought of them.

  “Help yourself to coffee,” Olive said. “This’ll be ready in a minute. How’s my Lucy doing?”

  Cassidy caught her mother up with the latest developments, then listened to her mom talk horse prices while they ate their scrambled eggs mixed with sausage, tomatoes and onions. When they were finished, Olive asked her to move her belongings into Corb’s old room.

  “The painters are coming today.”

  “That was fast.”

  “The curtains and duvet cover won’t be ready for a few weeks,” Olive said. “But the new armoire is being delivered on Friday.”

  “New armoire?”

  “I paid for it in Lewistown yesterday. After my meeting,” she added, looking at her daughter as if she thought she was a little slow for not keeping up.

  In Cassidy’s opinion, the last thing they needed to be worrying about at this busy time of year was redecorating her bedroom, but she knew better than to complain. “That sounds great, Mom.”

  “Nothing is too much trouble for my kids.” Her mother got up and patted Cassidy’s cheek, then pulled out a shopping bag. “And look at what I found for Stephanie.”

  Inside were the tiniest pair of cowboy bo
ots that Cassidy had ever seen. “Gosh, these are cute.”

  Also in the bag was a tiny jumper with Cowgirl printed on the front, a velvety-soft stuffed horse and a picture book about farm animals.

  With the Lambert family, indoctrination started early.

  “That’s so nice, Mom.” She set the bag aside, feeling a pang for the other new baby in the family. Corb better tell their mother soon. The longer they delayed, the worse Olive was going to take it.

  Just then, her phone signaled an incoming text message. It was from Corb and the message was simple.

  Tell her.

  Heck and darn. Was he serious? Not my place, she texted back.

  Please?

  Cassidy sighed. She really did hate her mother not knowing this. “Mom? I found out something major last night when I dropped in on Corb and Laurel.”

  Olive frowned. “This sounds like bad news.”

  “More like a big surprise. Sit down, please.”

  She waited until her mother was actually in a chair before she continued. “You know how Winnie has been staying at her parents’ because of health issues?”

  “I always said that woman didn’t have the strength to be a rancher’s wife.”

  “Actually, she’s had a good reason for not returning to Coffee Creek sooner. She was two months pregnant when Brock died.”

  Olive gasped and Cassidy jumped up to get her mother a glass of water.

  “Winnie had a little boy in January.”

  “Brock’s son?”

  Cassidy nodded.

  “Oh, my word.... Why didn’t she tell us?”

  “Think about it, Mom. Can you guess why she might have been reluctant?”

  A rare flush rose on Olive’s cheeks.

  “She was grieving. And according to Laurel she had a very difficult pregnancy. So we’ve got to be understanding. Besides, if we get Winnie angry, we may lose out on the chance to be a part of Brock’s baby’s life.”

  Olive nodded slowly. “You’re right.”

  “Good. So don’t go doing or saying anything you might regret later.”

  Again Olive nodded. “I’ll have to think about this.”

  “In the meantime, do you need anything from town? Corb said you had a list of errands and I’m planning on going to the library this morning.”