“When do you want to shop for this?” she asked, holding up the papers.
“I’m not sure of our finances. I usually let Allyssa handle that, and I don’t want to screw things up, ya know?”
“Well, at least you can look and test drive a few vehicles, so you know your options before she shops? We can pick up the third car seat and bassinet while we’re out shopping too.”
“Good idea,” she nodded, wondering how Allyssa was going to react to this new expense. Things could be so tight somedays. She’d coordinated the rescue admirably, so they were not out of pocket on the food, and with the rental income for the fields from Brock Woodson, even in a slow month the veterinary practice made out.
Renee watched her boss for a moment, wondering how the two women would cope with three babies and then, she shook herself mentally. She did not want to think about it. “Just let me know when you want to go,” she said as she left the papers for Fey to read.
“I think we’ll go tomorrow after you get here.”
“And your brother and sister?”
“They have school,” she pointed out.
“They won’t be happy.”
“Oh, well,” she answered with a smile as Renee left. She only had a half day today since the vet clinic was basically closed with the doctor on maternity leave.
Fey thought about things a while, patting Erin until she realized he was asleep again. Gently, she put him in his bassinet, face to the side and with the blanket across his back. She checked to ensure he had plenty of room to breathe, Allyssa’s fears about a baby not being able to breathe transferring to her. She turned on the baby monitor, took the extension, and headed downstairs.
Stepping out on the porch, she watched the kids playing with the dogs. Even Rex was playing, something that didn’t happen too often. Lexy getting all the attention seemed to motivate him more these days; the Pit Bull played exuberantly. Today, Lexy was trying to carry a stick, only the stick she chose was a long tree. She must have found it down by the creek and was attempting to fetch it to Sean, who was encouraging her. Her tail was waving madly as she smiled, panting around the tree bark, her eyes dancing as she brought it to him.
“Let’s see you throw that for a fetch,” Fey challenged her brother.
He laughed, praising Lexy when she dropped the tree at his feet and then hopping when it hit his sport shoe-clad foot.
Fey saw Traci enticing Rex to chase her, which he obliged while keeping an eye on the terrier in case she got more attention than him. She saw Rhonda and Woody working in two of the corrals with mentally challenged students, their parents watching from the fences.
Fey realized the breakfast bar her siblings had brought her from the store wasn’t going to be enough for her and went in to make herself something a little more substantial. Realizing how late in the day it was, she decided to put supper together for herself and her siblings.
As they ate dinner, she outlined her plans for school the next day and received the arguments she had prepared for. “Look, I need to go shopping, and you need to go to school. You can’t keep taking time off. I still need to send in a note for today since you missed it.”
“Don’t you need us to help you pick out a car?” Sean tried, but even he knew that was a lame argument.
“No, I need my wife to help me, but she’s in the hospital, so you’ll go to school and stop arguing.”
Fey looked at the paperwork Renee had printed out. She agreed that the Suburban seemed best for their needs. It easily sat eight people, and they could put three car seats facing backwards in the middle row. They’d have to install a wider mirror, so both the driver and the passenger could easily see the three babies, but that was the least of their worries now.
* * * * *
Fey had stopped in at the clinic that evening, bringing Erin to visit his brother and sister and mother. She’d waited until after he’d been bathed and fed before heading out in the hopes he’d remain asleep.
“Hi, there,” she said to her wife as she walked into her room carrying the baby.
“Oh, there he is,” she said, glad to see both her wife and Erin.
“Shhh, he’s sound asleep. I drugged him,” she teased, then went on to explain her strategy of filling him up, bathing him, and tiring him out before coming to visit. She put Erin and his basket in the chair and balanced herself on the edge of Allyssa’s bed, so she could keep an eye on him. He was firmly asleep, his mouth working occasionally as he dreamed of suckling.
“Can you see any resemblance to the twins?” she wondered.
“It’s hard to tell; they’re too new,” her wife said, laughing at her. “How are you? Did you get enough sleep?”
“Yes, until they woke me to feed the two babies,” she said. She still looked very tired.
“I’m sure it’s harder to manage two,” she sympathized. “How are we going to do this?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I’m sure between the two of us we can manage three babies but what about when you and I go back to work?”
“Yeah, that’s going to be a problem,” she admitted. “What are we going to do?”
“We’ll figure it out,” she said with assurance, not wanting her wife to worry. “I’m going to pick up a third car seat and bassinet tomorrow. I also think I should look at another SUV.” She pulled out the paperwork Renee had printed for her to read and said, “I just want to look. I won’t buy anything until you’re with me.”
“Can we afford it?” Allyssa fretted. Having one baby was expensive, much less three, and they hadn’t even gotten the ‘extra’ bills the insurance wouldn’t cover yet.
“I was thinking we could let someone rent out the pasturage over on the north side of the ranch. It’s rockier there. That’s the area where the Roberts’ land was located.”
“Isn’t it funny how we can refer to it as the Robert’s land even though it hasn’t been their land for over one hundred and seventy years?”
Fey chuckled, nodding. She was pleased with what they had learned from the journals. “I think we have plenty to handle on our own place, and with Brock wanting to expand his fields we will make out financially. I just worry about making payments on anything we buy. Those,” she indicated the papers Allyssa was perusing, “aren’t cheap, even if we buy used.”
“So, you want a Suburban?”
“I think it makes the most sense unless we get a van, but that won’t have 4-wheel drive,” she quickly added when she saw the face Allyssa made at the word van. She knew her wife was thinking of those mom vans that suburban wives drove their kids to school in.
“You are planning to look tomorrow?”
Nodding, Fey added, “And pick up the car seat and bassinet.”
“What are we going to use for the down payment? These aren’t cheap.”
“What about the check from the cellular company? That will pay for at least half of any used vehicle we purchase.”
“That’s a good idea,” Allyssa agreed, enjoying the conversation now that they had a plan of action that wouldn’t put them in a financial bind.
Fey was relieved. She had thought Allyssa would be much more upset. She knew Allyssa worried enough for them both, but she liked that her wife was good with their finances and handled things for them, so she could concentrate on her patients and work. Allyssa did so much behind the scenes for her and she hoped she was appreciative enough.
The next day, Fey and Renee headed out early. Renee was as eager to shop for vehicles as her boss was. It was exciting to look at all the new and used vehicles. She kept saying she was ‘just looking,’ but the salespeople were anxious to make a sale and they kept pushing. The two women stopped at a fast food place, so Fey could feed Erin and take a break from pushy salespeople. “I really liked that blue Suburban,” she was saying as Erin greedily sucked down his bottle. “I wish Allyssa was here to help me decide.”
“I think the best deal you were offered was the blue Suburban, although the s
ilver one was just as nice, and that Cadillac Escalade was awesome.”
Fey shook her head. “The Escalade was too fancy for what we need, and its price was way beyond what I want to spend on a used vehicle. The blue Suburban was less than I planned on paying and the mileage wasn’t bad for a used vehicle.”
“Maybe you better put some money down to hold it before someone else snaps it up? They may try to tell you it’s gone to try and get you to buy another one.”
“I think I’ll call Allyssa and ask her what she thinks. I can’t spend money like this and–”
“You mean, like she did with the RV?” Renee asked, biting into her hamburger mischievously.
“That was different, and we had to get the truck replaced anyway. That was a once in a lifetime deal, and I don’t have any regrets about her buying it. It was one of the best investments she ever made. By the way, I want you to schedule a complete tune-up for the RV before I get back to work. Allyssa can’t do it all, and I know it’s due for one.”
Renee sent herself a note on her smart phone to remind herself to make an appointment for the RV and to look for a shop rather than a dealer because dealers were always more expensive.
Fey dialed Allyssa’s cell phone, which she had recharged for her yesterday. She was pleased when her wife picked up right away.
“Hi, there,” she said, recognizing Fey’s number.
“Hi. Did you get the pictures I sent you? Did they come through?”
“I got a lot of pictures. Which did you like best?” she asked.
“What’s that noise?”
“Our daughter is trying to eat and she’s not doing well. I think her brother ate it all,” Allyssa complained good-naturedly. “Hang on. I’m going to change sides and try this again.” There were fumbling noises, the muffled sound of an infant crying, then fumbling noises again. “Hello? Did I lose you?”
“No, I’m here. Maybe I should let you go, so you can deal with her?”
“I’ve got it for now. Which did you like best?” she repeated.
“The blue one. I think it’s the best for the price,” Fey told her.
“Thanks for sending me the stickers. I think that’s a good price too, but you can look up the actual value online.”
“You can?”
“Sure, and Renee can probably show you on her phone too. That way, you won’t pay sticker price, but you can negotiate from the actual price the dealer paid or something close to that, maybe even blue book price?”
“Okay, how do you know all that?” Fey asked, incredulous at her wife’s untapped knowledge.
“I learned a lot when I was shopping for the RV and I read a lot of articles,” she explained, attempting to have the baby latch onto her nipple while she tried to talk to the baby’s other mother on the phone.
“I’ll have Renee do that, then when you come with me we can–”
“Oh, no! If it’s a deal you can live with, you should buy it. Don’t wait for me or we might lose it.”
“You trust me to make such a major purchase without you?”
“Of course, I trust you. Didn’t you trust me on the RV?”
“You, my dear, got an awesome deal on that, and it’s all due to your incredible talents,” she complimented her sincerely, meaning every word.
“Well, thank you,” Allyssa said, blushing. She was glad her wife couldn’t see her at that moment. “Seriously, though. If it’s a good deal and you don’t have to drive up again, then buy it. I trust you,” she repeated.
“I don’t know...” she began.
“Fey, quit being a wuss and get it if it’s what you want and it’s a good deal. Did you drive it?”
“Of course.”
“Did you like how it drove?”
“Yes.” She was beginning to feel a little bit trapped by her wife and her direct questions.
“And it’s that purty blue color,” she teased, knowing they both liked that color.
Fey chuckled. “Yes, it is. Okay, you. I’ll let you and our daughter go. Have you decided on any names?”
“Well, we both know what her name is going to be.”
“We do?” she asked, to be sure.
“Yes, Margaret, so we can shorten it to Molly after your great-great-grandmother,” she said logically. “I think we could use your grandmother’s name for her middle name. What do you think?”
“Elizabeth? Isn’t that a mouthful, Margaret Elizabeth?”
“Sounds beautiful to me.”
“Me too. Now, what about our other son?”
“You mean short stuff?”
“Now, don’t you be giving him a complex. It isn’t his fault that Molly took over the womb.”
They both chuckled at their witty repartee. “I don’t know what to name him yet. We need to discuss that. Will I see you later?”
“Of course. Erin and I can’t wait to see you all. We miss you.”
“I miss you too,” she admitted. Her hormones had her ready to start crying at the drop of a hat.
“Okay, I should go. Renee is ready to resume shopping,” she said, hearing the emotion in her wife’s voice and not wanting to start crying herself. She was just as hormonal as Allyssa, but she had two weeks head start on her and hoped to get it together far sooner.
“Have fun!” Allyssa said as she hung up. She wished she could be there with Fey to buy the SUV but knew her wife was more than competent.
“You two are too much sometimes,” Renee complained, sounding sincere as she finished her fries.
“Why is that?” her boss asked her, amused.
“How is anyone supposed to measure up when you two are still as much in love as the day you met?”
“It wasn’t love at first sight. It grew, and then, she agreed to marry me and move to this ranch and get this business going.”
“I know, but you two are so obviously in love it could choke me up, if I let it.”
“Everything going well with your boyfriend?”
“Yes, it’s fine, but we will probably never marry. If I were to jump the fence, you two are a fine example of what two women in love could be like. If it wasn’t for the sex, I think I could enjoy that,” she admitted.
“The sex is pretty great too,” Fey admitted, although it had been a while since she had made love to Allyssa. The last time was playing with her body and giving her an orgasm just a few days before she went into labor. She still remembered how surprised her wife had been when she held her, rubbed between her legs, whispered dirty thoughts into her ear, and caused her to involuntarily orgasm.
“See that! You just got that faraway look on your face. You’re thinking of having sex with Allyssa, aren’t you?”
“Busted,” Fey admitted, blushing furiously.
Renee chuckled, seeing the red on her boss’s face. “That’s the sort of thing no one is ever going to measure up to. You two enjoy each other far too much.”
“Come on. We have an SUV to buy, and Allyssa mentioned you could look up the blue book value for the blue Suburban?”
“Is that the one you have decided on?”
“Better look up the silver one too, just in case,” she added as she picked up their garbage and threw it in the receptacle. She picked up Erin’s basket and smiled down at the infant, who was staring up at the lights in the restaurant. “Hey there, fella,” she cooed to him. She hated baby talk, but her tone did change to one of love and affection. She hadn’t known she could love this way. It was far different from what she felt for her wife but just as intense. She already felt a flutter of it for Molly and their unnamed son, whom she was looking forward to getting to know.
* * * * *
“Okay, Doctor Herriot. If you’ll sign here and here, we can get you the dealer financing,” the salesman assured her.
“Wait! I said I wanted to make a down payment, so you’d hold it. I’m going to get my own financing,” she told him, feeling almost out of her depth, but she had bought vehicles before and she wasn’t stupid.
&n
bsp; “Oh. Well, we can only hold that price we agreed on for a short time,” he tried.
“Then that would be too bad, and I’d expect my down payment back.” She wasn’t going to be pressured into paying more, and she knew the dealer financing was always higher.
“Of course,” he said indignantly.
Fey noticed they had shown her a lot more respect as soon as they heard she was a doctor. They had also tried to steer her to more expensive vehicles, but she had her heart set on the blue Suburban. It had a lot of fancy options on it, and the brown leather interior was nice, but mostly it was because it just felt right to her. “Let me make a phone call?” she asked, hoping he would go away for a few minutes to give her privacy. Renee was holding Erin, who had started acting up. They had been at this for hours. She was glad they had purchased the matching car seat and bassinet before looking at cars today, but now that she was ready to buy, she realized she should have talked to their banker first. She looked in her extensive contact list, searching through the lengthy list of clients before she found the name she was looking for. She should remove Charlie Hutchins, the old bank manager, who had died by the gun of Allyssa Herriot in the ranch yard of the Falling Pines Ranch.
“Hello. Could I speak with Sandra Miller?” she asked when someone at the bank answered. “Doctor Fiona Herriot calling,” she added before they could ask, hoping her title would give her an edge. She found it was useful sometimes.
“Hello, Fey. How are you and your baby?” Sandra greeted her warmly. She knew the Herriots and treated them well, becoming even more friendly after attending their housewarming a year ago. She’d been out of town for the baby shower but had sent a gift of a bond for each of the children that would be worth at least fifty dollars when mature. Knowing the history of the two women, she wanted their kind of hard-working patronage at her branch.
“He’s doing well, and Allyssa gave birth to twins yesterday,” she said happily.
“Twins! Were you two expecting that?”
She shook her head as she answered, “Nope, the second one was a total surprise. He was hiding during the ultrasound.”
“Wow, you two have your hands full!” she marveled, wondering how they were going to cope with that many babies. “I guess I will have to send you another bond?” She chuckled and Fey joined in.
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