Straddling the Fence

by Annie Evans

  Eli and his brothers hung on every word, catalogued every action.

  Once she had the cow’s rump cleaned, she picked up another bottle, wrestling with a grin. The grin won. “Lube is imperative. Use as much as you think you need then add more. It can only help the process along. Petroleum jelly will work in a pinch, but never use soap.”

  She slicked up her gloves before pouring her hand full and smearing it on the cow’s vulva. “Next, you’re going to gently insert your hand into her vagina. Cow parts are the same as girl parts, boys.” Sage snickered. “They’re just bigger and aligned a little differently, but it’s basically the same principal as when your mother gave birth to you. The cervix has to dilate enough to allow the calf to enter the birth canal. If she’s not dilating naturally after several hours, and especially after she’s expelled the water sac, you can help her along manually by carefully manipulating the cervix back.”

  Bellamy paused for a moment while she assessed that part of the cow. “She’s fully dilated. Now I’m going to feel for the calf, see if it’s in the proper birth position, which is forelegs and head first. The feet should present themselves just before the head. Sometimes they get one leg forward and one back, or both legs back. In those instances, you want to push the calf’s head back and straighten the forelegs if you can. Any other presentation and you need to call the vet until you get some experience with it.”

  She bit her lip as she felt for the calf. “The baby’s in the right position, I think it’s just the size that’s giving her trouble.” The cow mooed, making Bellamy chuckle. “We’re telling you, huh, Momma?”

  “Now it’s your turn. Whoever wants a go, lube up.”

  Eli dropped to his knees beside her and coated his gloved hand.

  “Remember—be gentle.”

  Bracing one hand on the cow’s tailbone, he eased the other inside. It wasn’t as weird or gross as he imagined, just different. The process, her knowledge and calm demeanor, it all fascinated him and made him more eager to learn as much as he could.

  “You’ll feel a thicker area of tissue lining the walls several inches in.”

  “I feel it.”

  “That’s the cervix. It gets thinner as she dilates. There should be very little resistance against your closed fist. Now push your hand a little farther until you feel the hooves.”

  Eli smiled when his fingers touched the hard, sharp ends of the small hooves. “Got them.”

  “Farther back, you should feel its nose. Don’t poke at it too much.” When he nodded, she said, “Ease your hand out.”

  Another strong contraction hit the cow, making her grunt and stir on the ground. Bellamy grabbed a set of chains. “I think we need to go ahead and attach these and start pulling since the feet haven’t appeared yet. I’ll show you the proper way to loop them around the legs once we get the calf out. If you don’t have a set of pull chains, you can use rope, but make sure it’s not twine or anything thin that can cut into the skin of the calf.”

  Something prompted Bellamy to speed up, though they hadn’t been dawdling at all. Eli scooted back so she had plenty of room to work. When she had the chains secured, she waited until they’d stripped off the slick gloves, then handed one chain to Eli and Fritz took the other.

  “This part is very important too. Never snatch the chains and never use a tractor or a truck for pulling. You apply steady pressure, working with the cow’s contractions. When she pushes, you pull, first one leg, then the other, like you’re walking the calf out. If there’s just one of you, it’s okay if you’re not able to do it that way, but always keep the chains taut. Don’t let the infant slip back inside. You’re going to pull in alignment with the cow’s spine or slightly upward until the head and shoulders are exposed. Once that happens, you’ll need to stop and turn the calf ninety degrees in either direction so the hips fit easily through the birth canal. It also helps to start pulling down toward the cow’s hocks at that point. You can use your hands to aid the process along, but again, lube up and be gentle. Ready?”

  Sitting on their asses in the dirt, legs splayed, chains in hand, Eli and Fritz nodded.

  “Fritz, you’re left, and Eli is right. Let’s go left first.”

  When the next contraction hit, they began to work, following her instructions as they went. Once the small hooves slid out, she quickly explained how she’d attached the chains and the proper position for them on the calf’s forelegs. Eli was moved by how patient she was being in doling out details. After all, a vet charged for their services, and telling someone else how to do her job could cut her out of some business. She didn’t seem to mind though, and the teaching part came naturally to her.

  The entire process felt like it took hours, but in reality, it only lasted about thirty minutes, start to finish. Sweat trickled down Eli’s spine, soaking the cotton of his shirt. He could see the fine sheen of perspiration on Bellamy’s skin too, the determination etched into her pretty features. She’d bitten her bottom lip until it was swollen and red.

  One last contraction-tug combo and the calf slipped free of its mother, landing on the scattered hay in a slimy, white-and-russet lump. Bellamy removed the chains and poked a gloved finger inside each nostril to clear the amniotic fluid from its nose. The calf didn’t move.

  Eli swallowed hard and glanced up at Bellamy’s face. Her forehead was creased. She lifted a shoulder to wipe a trickle of sweat from her cheek, chest rising and falling with her deep breaths.

  Silence hovered between them for a few heartbeats before Sage blurted, “Is it dead?”

  Panic swelled in Bellamy’s chest. Her mouth went dry as cotton.

  Please don’t let it be dead. Not Eli’s first.

  She grabbed a piece of hay and tickled the calf’s pale nose. It wobbled its head back and forth then its long gray tongue slowly retracted inside its mouth. A collective sigh of relief gusted from all four of them at the first signs of life from the infant.

  Bellamy inspected the cow’s birth canal for any tears or excess bleeding. Satisfied the young mother was okay, she stood, stripped off her gloves and started gathering up her supplies. Eli took the chains from her hands, rinsing them off in the clean water before dropping them inside the plastic bucket she’d brought along. Tomorrow she’d give them a thorough scrubbing and disinfecting before stowing them away for the next use.

  The cow shifted and staggered to her feet. Bellamy breathed a relieved sigh over that too, because occasionally paralysis did occur. Momma turned and nosed her baby a few times, then began to lick it clean, the natural maternal stimulation rousing the calf from its birth stupor.

  “Good girl,” Bellamy murmured. “She should expel the afterbirth within a few hours. If she hasn’t by this time tomorrow, call me and I’ll come check her over again. I’d give her some feed and water, let them spend the night in here, then turn them loose in the morning.”

  They stepped out of the corral to give cow and calf the bonding time they needed without the stress of humans hovering. Bellamy reached for her bucket of supplies, but Eli was already carrying it to her truck. She didn’t follow. Instead, she used the guise of watching the newborn to avoid an awkward, inevitable conversation where he’d try to save face by making up some lame excuse as to why he’d bolted so her feelings wouldn’t be hurt. Her feelings were just fine.

  “Do we have a boy or a girl?” Fritz asked from beside her.

  Bellamy glanced at Eli’s brother, noting his profile matched Eli’s almost perfectly. Appearance-wise, they were a lot alike. Eli’s hair was longer, but the same rich shade of dark chocolate, and he was taller too, by a few inches. Sage’s hair was several shades lighter and he was stockier than his brothers, but in no way could he be considered overweight. All three of them were as handsome as the day is long. She wondered if they shared Eli’s magnetism, as well as his memorable skillset in bed.

  “Girl,” Bellamy said.

  Awareness flared when Eli slid in beside her to prop his arms across the top of th
e corral fence. He pushed the lower half of his face into the crook of his elbow and stared at her, gray eyes sharp and intent. Heat and the smell of the sweat on his skin drifted over her, making rebellious desire tighten her stomach. Damp strands of hair clung to the side of his neck. She wanted to push it out of the way, drag her tongue up that hot, tan slope. Taste the salt on his skin. Sink her teeth into his jaw and hear him make a hungry sound deep in his chest—the same one she’d had stuck in her head for three damn weeks.

  When Sage spoke, she tore her gaze away.

  “It’s our firstborn. We should name her.”

  The adorable calf was making several wobbly attempts to rise to its feet. Momma had her almost clean now, its small white face damp and bright as freshly fallen snow. Herefords were a beautiful breed of cattle, with their creamy faces, rich russet coats and thick, muscled bodies. Angus was the most popular choice for beef production in the states, but Hereford ran a close second. They also tended to be one of the more docile breeds.

  “It’s almost Halloween,” Fritz said. “We could call her Pumpkin.”

  “Or Sugar,” Sage said.

  “Maybe we should name her after the doc,” Fritz said, cutting her a sly smile.

  Bellamy shook her head. “I vote for Pumpkin.”

  “Clover,” Eli said. The decisive tone he used brooked no rebuttals from his brothers, whereas it made Bellamy’s heart pound against her breastbone like she’d run a marathon. Heat bloomed in her cheeks at the flash of carnal memories from that night.

  Time to go.

  She said her goodbyes and turned to leave. Except Eli followed her to the truck, bracing his hand on the doorframe so she couldn’t open the door. Bellamy leaned back against the cab and tried a preemptive approach. “Eli, I’m too tired to have this conversation right now.”

  “What conversation would that be? The one where you explain why you disappeared that morning?”

  Her spine stiffened defensively. “Me? When I woke up, you were gone.”

  “I left a note on the dresser telling you I went for our breakfast and I’d be back in thirty minutes.”

  “I didn’t see a note.” Did you look for one?

  “Well, it was there, scratched out in pencil on a cheap motel notepad.”

  She rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand. Over Eli’s shoulder, his brothers were easing toward their respective trucks. They’d have questions for him tomorrow. “So you slept with the doc, eh? How was she?” Her stomach churned, thinking about those three used condoms. Bellamy didn’t want to be another notch on Eli’s bedpost, but it was too late. The wood had a fresh gouge.

  “If you say you left a note, then I believe you. I’m sorry I didn’t see it, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.”

  Frowning, he cocked his head. “Why wouldn’t it have mattered, Bellamy?”

  “Because it was a one-time thing. I had no expectations going into it. I never thought we’d see each other again after that night.”

  His face went void of expression. He drew a deep breath, dropped his hands to his lean hips, then huffed out a sharp, bitter laugh. “So this is what it feels like.”

  Bellamy swallowed. She didn’t have a bedpost, but she got the impression Eli thought she was the one doing the carving. Pressure filled her chest. Her hands suddenly ached with the need to touch him. To soothe away the sting of cold words flung at him like a handful of rocks.

  This wasn’t her. She didn’t do mean or negligent. But once the hurt was out there, there was no way to take it back.

  She shoved her hands in her back pockets to be safe. “I didn’t mean that to sound so callous.”

  “No, it’s fine. I get it. I just thought we’d…” He shrugged those broad shoulders, leaving them both to mentally fill in the blank.

  Bellamy couldn’t fill it in though, because she hadn’t allowed herself to think of what-ifs since that morning. She’d thought it finished, that she’d never lay eyes on him again. Why spend time fantasizing when it would lead nowhere, except to more discomfort?

  Eli’s pride was bruised, that’s all. He’d recover soon enough and move on to the next warm, eager body. And besides, she didn’t plan on staying in Serenity long term, so what was the point?

  “Eli—”

  “Forget it.” He spun away from her and walked toward the only truck left that wasn’t hers, saying, “I’ll get your payment to you as soon as I can.”

  Bellamy drove out the open gate, glancing in her rearview mirror to see him closing it behind them. A hard, uncomfortable knot sat lodged in the center of her chest. Didn’t matter that her exhaustion was bone deep; she was facing a restless night.

  Chapter Three

  The pain jackhammering behind Eli’s forehead made his eyes water and sting.

  Late last night he’d swallowed enough whiskey for it to act as a sedative, but it wore off before dawn, when his thoughts eventually drove him from bed. Despite scrubbing his teeth ’til his gums bled, he couldn’t get rid of the sour taste that remained after his conversation with Bellamy.

  He chased four aspirin with half a bottle of water then climbed in his truck to go check on the new mother and daughter. The lingering fog muted the light as the rising sun bled through the trees. His eyeballs were grateful.

  It was a brief trip from his house to the barn, a handy perk of living on family land. All total, the Carter’s owned over twelve-hundred acres around Serenity, most of it contiguous with the exception of Fritz’s place. But even that piece was close—their deceased paternal grandparents’ old homestead. Now that Fritz was engaged to Kai, it wouldn’t be long before they made plans to build something new to call their own.

  Just last year, Eli had finished construction on his log cabin, tucked back in a mature stand of pines and hardwoods a mile down the road from his parents’ house. It wasn’t big or fancy, but it was his free and clear, since he’d taken his time and paid cash as he went along with the construction, and there was plenty of room to add on in the future if the need arose.

  Sage, meanwhile, had bought a vintage Airstream trailer to live in and renovate while he decided where and when he was going to build. It was currently parked in a patch of woods not far from Eli’s place.

  At the sound of his truck door slamming shut at the barn, cattle lowed from the pasture, anticipating breakfast.

  Given what had happened last night with the calf, the decision to start small had been the right one. They had set aside eighty acres of land and purchased thirty cows and one bull. With just Eli, Sage and Fritz handling the budding operation, on top of farming obligations they couldn’t neglect, anything more would’ve been too much, too soon. Especially when the worry of failure always seemed to hang heavy in his mind. If all went well for the next year, they would look into gradually increasing the herd and pastureland, but farming was always going to take precedence over raising beef.

  Cow and baby looked healthy and mobile. The calf was bright-eyed and curious, and just about the cutest thing Eli had ever seen. Momma had eaten and drank some, expelled the afterbirth, and her teats showed signs her infant had nursed. This was a good thing too, because it needed the colostrum.

  He opened the gate to the corral so they could wander out when they were ready to join the herd, then climbed on the tractor to haul a fresh roll of hay out into the field. The cows still had grass to graze on, but it was dwindling as the days turned cooler and rain grew scarcer. While he rode, he let his thoughts wander back to his clipped conversation with Bellamy.

  Eli had always been careful he didn’t hurt women, and he never led them on. He made sure they knew going in it was purely physical, that he liked his freedom and disliked commitment. No personal attachments to make things messy or complicated. No deep emotions, just sensation. Bodies acting independently of their souls. Up until now, that attitude suited his needs, and his conscience and his heart never had to get involved.

  Bellamy had unintentionally opened his eyes last night, held a mir
ror up to his face, and he didn’t like what he saw. He was a user—and now he knew what it felt like to be used. He couldn’t lay any blame at her feet, though. He’d been the one who’d pursued her across that parking lot, not the other way around. She only reacted to his cues, saw an opening and took it. Followed his lead because he was a pro at taking.

  He dropped the roll of hay inside a metal hay ring and backed the tractor out of the way to watch the cows wander over to eat.

  When he tried to remember the last girl he’d been with before Bellamy, he couldn’t recall any specific details, not even hair color or the place. It hadn’t been that long ago, maybe a month before the rodeo. Faces and names swirled together, muddied as a riverbed.

  He couldn’t forget Bellamy Haile. Didn’t want to, and he didn’t know what to make of that.

  Pinpointing what it was that made that night in the motel different from other sexual experiences was damn near impossible. It started out the same as most when he’d first spotted her behind the chutes—want, seek, conquer. Thinking with his dick only. See just how fast he could get her out of her clothes and beneath him, hot and ready to be devoured.

  But then something turned his usual method of operation on its shallow, self-serving head. She made him laugh, kept him on his toes with their playful banter, worked her way inside some closed-off part of him with the vulnerability she tried to mask.

  Want turned to need. Need turned into a desire impossible to satisfy. He couldn’t stop touching her, kissing her, tasting her. Urgency became an uninvited part of the night, a sense that he should consume as much of her as he could in a few short hours. A subconscious warning perhaps. You won’t see her again. Savor this.

  Her voice and scent stayed with him for days, her soft pleas and cries echoing inside his head. The remembered clasp of her body stiffening his cock in the shower, the middle of the night or right fucking then, surrounded by a field full of animals and a cool, lifting fog.

  Now that he knew who she was, where she was, he wanted more—but would she? Could he perhaps convince her to give this undeniable chemistry they had a second chance?