Vetted Again

by K'Anne Meinel

  “It’s the whip,” Fey answered, straight-faced. She laughed when Lorna looked up, surprised. Lorna didn’t interact with Fey as often, and for one heart-stopping moment, she’d thought she was serious. She joined in on the laughter.

  “Are you planning another gather?” she asked as she joined them for a moment.

  “No, I think we got all the mavericks and that bull that was frightening people,” Fey shook her head, remembering how amazing he had been. She’d seen him a couple of times since she’d sold him. He was producing amazing calves even without a pedigree.

  “How’s the shire?” she asked, having seen the beautiful draft horse they now owned.

  “We’ve named him Big Ben,” Allyssa told her and laughed with her at the apt name. He was old, he was stately, and he knew exactly when it was time to be fed. They no longer had to keep him in the near pastures. He showed up regularly for meals, the old hay burner.

  Lorna loved the stories and pictures Allyssa shared on her blogs for the rescue and the veterinary practice. “Hey, the Olesons are watching for your discount clinic. Are you going to do that this year?” She addressed Fey, including her in the friendship she shared with Allyssa.

  “We hadn’t discussed it but maybe we should have one soon. It’s been a while,” Fey said musingly to Allyssa as they walked along admiring the different 4-H projects and the various winners.

  They finally finished walking through the 4-H building and let Sean run off with his friends. Gretchen showed up with a bunch of her daughter’s friends and asked if Traci would like to come with them. The hopeful girl looked up at Allyssa and Fey pleadingly, so they let her go. The babies were all fussing by then and they stopped to feed them.

  “Looks like you could use a third set of arms,” Lorna offered.

  “Sure could,” Allyssa said, handing her Molly and a bottle. Molly immediately extended her hands, not reaching for the woman but the bottle. Allyssa smiled at her daughter, who she nicknamed the Oompa Loompa. She loved when babies were a little chubby instead of looking spindly and unhealthy. Leslie was surprised at how Tom had nearly caught up to his siblings, a big change since she had last seen the babies. No one who saw that baby now would have believed how small he was at birth.

  “I really marvel at you two. I often wonder how I coped with one,” Lorna commented as she smiled down at Molly. Molly tried to smile back around the bottle she was so greedily sucking on. She was studying the strange woman’s face, not frightened at all, just very curious.

  “It isn’t easy,” Allyssa admitted.

  “We would have gone crazy without Juanita and the kids to help,” Fey added, nodding towards where her siblings had disappeared.

  “What have I heard you say...it takes a village?”

  “We have our own team here, don’t we?” Allyssa cooed down at Erin, whom she was feeding. He seemed to be thinking over what she said.

  “So, when are you two having more?” Lorna teased, but she secretly wondered if they would have any more.

  “Oh, God,” Fey said dramatically, nearly dislodging the bottle, which made Tom fuss. She smiled as she secured the bottle for the busily sucking baby and then wrinkled her nose. He had obviously filled his diaper.

  Lorna chuckled, realizing Fey was faking. “Come on, you could easily have nine on that ranch.”

  “Where would we put them? Bunk beds, three high,” Allyssa commented as though she had already been planning it. “It’s been a busy year,” she reminded her friend. It had been a difficult year.

  “I’m amazed how the older kids have bounced back,” she remarked, remembering their previous visits before they came to live at the ranch.

  “They still have their moments,” Fey mentioned. “I mean, it’s hard enough to lose one parent, but two in the same year?” She was also having her moments over the loss of her father, and the doubt cast by the coroner’s inconclusive report still upset her. Thinking of that, wondering if it could be true, haunted her.

  “I’m sorry, Fey. For a moment, I forgot that Keith was your dad too.”

  “It’s okay. I’m an adult, and I can deal with it. I’m just so glad he got to see his grandchildren before he died,” she admitted, looking down at the baby she was holding, who wanted to squirm but also wanted his bottle.

  After burping and changing the three babies, they walked around the carnival part of the fair, and Fey asked Allyssa to go on some rides with her. “Oh, no, no, no! I’d get motion sickness for sure.”

  “Come on, when are we going to get this chance again? Another year? These guys are only going to keep growing,” Fey said, gesturing to the triple stroller. She handed each baby a sugarless cookie Juanita had baked and each little hand fisted over the treat.

  “I’ll watch them if you want to go on any rides,” Lorna promised. “Go on, ride the Ferris wheel with your wife,” she encouraged, eager to help her friend.

  “Okay, the Ferris wheel but nothing else. And no rocking,” Allyssa warned her wife as Fey rushed off to buy the tickets. “I swear, she’s like a kid in a candy store.” She shook her head, laughing at her wife’s antics. Fey was supposed to be the older, more mature one.

  “I envy your relationship sometimes,” Lorna admitted as they waited for Fey to return, the stroller between them. Tom was drawing on the stroller with his cookie, Molly was mouthing hers, steadily working it into her mouth, and Erin was breaking off pieces, which went easily into his mouth, much to his amazement.

  Allyssa looked at Lorna speculatively. “You do things with your husband,” she stated, then at Lorna’s blank look she added, “don’t you?”

  Lorna shook her head. “I throw myself into the kids’ activities. We don’t do anything, and when the children turn eighteen, I intend to file for divorce. Our marriage has been over for years.”

  “That’s why you are so active in 4-H,” she mused aloud. “I’m sorry, Lorna.”

  “Got any nice girlfriends? Maybe I should jump the fence?”

  Allyssa laughed, sure she was being teased, then realized her friend was serious. “No. Fey and I are the only lesbians I know. I didn’t know I was a lesbian until Fey asked me to marry her.”

  “Wait! What?”

  Allyssa nodded. She had never confided this to anyone before. “We’d been working at the clinic in Denver, healing Rex, and we got to know each other. I respected her enormously. I loved the work and admired her. I thought I wanted to be a vet at one point, but she was just a friend, or so I thought. Then, she told me she was coming to Oregon to take over the ranch her grandparents had left her, and I realized my friend...my best friend was leaving me.” She almost added her only friend but refrained. She offered to take me with her as her partner, and then, after she explained the meaning of that word a little more thoroughly, I agreed.”

  “Didn’t the sex worry you?”

  “Yes...no...not with Fey. She’s my best friend and that made a big difference.” She smiled nostalgically as she thought back to the odd proposal her wife had made in that café so long ago. It had only been a few years, but it seemed much longer with all that had happened to them.

  “So, I just have to make a best friend and propose to her?” She smiled at the irony that Allyssa was a friend and was into women, but Allyssa was already taken by Fey, who Lorna also considered a friend, although Fey intimidated her a little.

  “No, I don’t think that would work,” she answered, taking her seriously. “I don’t think Gretchen would be into that,” she teased a little. “If you were serious and your marriage were over, I think a different approach would be in order.”

  “I don’t think I could get past the sex,” she admitted.

  “Don’t knock it until you try it,” Fey said as she came up with the tickets and caught the last line. She smiled at the now blushing Lorna to show she meant no harm. “I got them,” she said, showing the tickets to Allyssa. “Come on, let’s get on the ride before the kids know we are gone and Lorna loses her mind.” She grabbed Allyssa
’s hand and tugged her towards the line for the Ferris wheel.

  Lorna, still blushing, smiled as she watched them go before looking down on the three babies. She only hoped the lights and noises kept them distracted long enough for their moms to enjoy the ride.

  “What in the world made you think of doing this?” Allyssa asked her wife with a smile, enjoying this romantic gesture.

  “We barely get a moment alone together on the ranch, and I wanted to be with you, even if it’s only for a few rounds on the wheel,” she nodded towards the ride as the line moved. When they got to the front of the line, the ticket taker took their tickets, directing them to the next seat as it came around and stopped. They got in and another guy closed the barrier. “It’s like a date, isn’t it?”

  “We should date more often,” Allyssa said before she had time to think it through, and she saw a flash of hurt on Fey’s face.

  “I try to get home when I can...” she began.

  “No! I wasn’t complaining. I swear. I know how hard you work. With all the kids and everything, I know you worry about money.” She felt terrible. She knew the ranch was a drain and sometimes there was not enough money coming in. Brock’s rents had gone a long way towards keeping them solvent, and now, they had the inheritance from Keith, at least they had the small percentage Fey would let them take before the remainder went into the trust. Neither Sean nor Traci knew how much was in the trust, and Fey wanted to keep it that way for now.

  “We just need to communicate,” Fey put in, smiling at her wife and pulling her close as the wheel began to move upward as it loaded more passengers. When they got to the top, the wheel had finally taken on enough passengers and the wheel began to go around and around without stopping. “Oh, look at that view,” Fey said as the evening sky began to take on a different hue. They could see beyond the fairgrounds to the various hills beyond.

  “What’s that?” Allyssa asked, pointing beyond the hills.

  “Looks like a grass fire,” Fey murmured, peering in the direction her wife was pointing. “God, I hope they get that under control before it gets too far. I’ve seen what happens to the animals in a fire.” She shook her head, imagining the panic. The corpses were macabre too, and she didn’t want to think about that.

  “Fey, isn’t that the direction of our ranch?” Allyssa fretted.

  Fey looked again when the wheel reached its zenith, and her heart began to thump harder. “I’m not sure,” she admitted. They both peered into the oncoming darkness each time they reached the top, trying to determine if the unnatural light Fey thought was a fire might be in their ranch area.

  “Do you think we should go?” Allyssa asked as the operator began to let people off the ride, slowly lowering the wheel until it was their turn.

  “Yes, if you don’t mind,” Fey stated, standing up as soon as it was their turn to depart.

  “I don’t mind. I’m worried too. How are we going to find Sean and Traci?”

  “What’s the matter?” Lorna asked when she saw their expressions. She had thought they would return all dreamy-eyed from being alone together for those few, stolen moments. The babies were fine. They hadn’t given her any problems at all.

  “We have to go,” Fey stated, scanning the crowd and looking for her brother and sister.

  “Why?” she asked, glancing from one woman to the other.

  “We thought we saw a fire burning in the direction of our ranch,” Allyssa told her as she bent to check on each of the babies.”

  “Oh, no,” Lorna stated, imagining the horror. She’d read Molly and Erin’s journals, and they had lost their ranch to fire a couple of times. She had vaguely heard of Fey’s grandparents’ place burning down, and of course, she knew the two women had lost their newly-built house once.

  “Yes...Oh, no,” Fey echoed. She knew trying to find the children in this crowd was going to be impossible.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “We need to get out of here,” Fey said, looking harder but knowing it would be useless; there were just too many people.

  “Why don’t you two go and I’ll meet the kids,” Lorna offered. “I can bring them to the ranch with my kids.”

  Fey looked at Allyssa, who nodded and turned to Lorna. “Thank you. Just tell them I got a call or something.”

  “I’ll do that. We don’t want to alarm them.”

  “Thank you, Lorna,” Allyssa said, checking the diaper bags and starting to push the stroller.

  “Yes, thank you, Lorna,” Fey repeated, reaching out a hand to squeeze the other woman’s arm.

  They headed back towards where they had parked the SUV. They were trying to hurry but people seemed to really get in their way as they moved along. More than once, Allyssa had to apologize for bumping into people with the stroller. Seeing three babies, some people wanted to chat, assuming they were triplets. Trekking across the dirt and bumps was brutal on Allyssa’s arms.

  “Excuse me,” Fey kept repeating, trying to clear a path to make it easier for her wife.

  Finally, they arrived at the Suburban, and Fey pushed the key to unlock the doors. They each took a baby and strapped it in. Fey finished first, so she got the final baby installed in its car seat. Allyssa put the diaper bags on the floor between the seats and together, they collapsed the large stroller and lifted it into the back of the vehicle.

  “I’ll drive,” Fey volunteered, getting into the driver’s seat.

  “Okaaay,” Allyssa hesitantly agreed, not sure about Fey driving with her current attitude.

  The drive back to the ranch was quiet, and more than once, Allyssa glanced at the speeds Fey was reaching. Only once, when Fey passed someone on the highway, did she say anything. “Remember, we have three children in the back seat.”

  “Yeah, I know that,” she said, glancing at her wife before returning her eyes to the road.

  “I don’t care if you kill me, but if you kill them with your driving...”

  Fey looked down at the speedometer, perhaps for the first time since they left the fairgrounds, and she reduced her speed slightly. “Sorry,” she said, glancing at her wife again to exchange a little self-deprecating grin before turning her eyes back to the highway and the traffic.

  They could see smoke as they drove along, but it was on the other side of the highway. They breathed a sigh of relief when they realized it wasn’t anywhere near their ranch. As they pulled onto their road, Fey asked, “Do you want to go back to the fairgrounds?”

  Allyssa considered her wife’s question for only a moment. She hadn’t enjoyed the noise of the carnival or their one and only ride. It was expensive, crowded, and too much hassle to get the children in and out of the place. “No, let’s just go home.”

  Fey nodded, feeling much the same. The babies, worn out from their outing, were already dozing in the car seats when they got home. The dogs, relieved that their humans were home, greeted everyone enthusiastically. A couple cats that were balanced on the railings of the house even condescended to flick their tails at the couple as they carried the children inside.

  “Let’s bathe the children and put them to bed,” Fey said as she carried two up the stairs.

  “Easier said than done,” Allyssa grinned, but they had this down pat and each shared equally in the chore. When the babies were washed, fed, and dozing in their cribs in Keith’s old bedroom, which they’d turned into a nursery, they left the baby monitor on before sneaking back downstairs.

  “Well, we have an evening without children ahead of us. What shall we do with it?” Fey asked enticingly.

  “Don’t take this wrong, babe, but I think we should water down the house and the lawn.”

  “You romantic, you,” Fey teased but smiled. She understood. Seeing the fire had her really worried too. Between them, they pulled out hoses and sprayed down the hill, the house, and even the spring house before pulling the hoses across the yard and watering down the cabin and barn next. They were spraying horses when Lorna’s truck came over the h
ill with the children in tow.

  “What are you doing?” they asked as soon as they saw the two women.

  “Watering down the horses,” Fey answered, as though that made perfect sense.

  Some of the horses were really enjoying the spray that was coming down on them like rain. Others had moved out of range of the spray and were eyeing it distrustfully. They could tell it wasn’t natural or coming from the clouds. One of the mares had moved as close to the spray as she could, so she could meet it full on. She wiggled from side to side, moving the spray across her back and butt as though trying to scratch an itch. Afterward, she rolled in the dust, making herself a muddy mess. Big Red was one of the horses accepting of the cool spray.

  “Aren’t you wasting water?” Sean asked.

  “Probably,” Fey admitted, turning off her spout. Allyssa followed suit. Fey checked the baby monitor attached to her belt and heard no babies. They’d been outside long enough, and she began to pull her hose back towards the spring house.

  “How was the fair?” Allyssa asked, pulling her own hose.

  “I need to get going,” Lorna called from the truck after the two children tumbled out.

  “Thank you!” both women called to their friend. The children exchanged waves as they began to tell the two women all about their fair experience.

  “Can we go again tomorrow?” Sean asked, hopefully.

  “It gets pretty expensive...” Fey began hesitantly.

  “I still have some of the money you gave me.”

  The two women exchanged glances as they circled up the hoses, and Allyssa nodded slightly. The kids needed entertainment, and they had looked forward to the fair for months, working towards it with their 4-H projects. School started next month, and they’d be busy again. Besides, this only happened once a year.

  “Okay, we’ll drive you over, so you can enjoy the day,” Fey promised.

  “Both of us?” Traci asked, checking to be sure she was included.

  “Only if you promise to stay with a group of friends.”