Juniper Rise: Sequel to Mayfly Hollow (Mayfly Hollow Series Book 2) by Anne Lucy-Shanley

Author:Anne Lucy-Shanley [Lucy-Shanley, Anne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ninth and Aries Publishing
Published: 2022-04-03T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Sofia held a wicker basket brimming with freshly washed clothes, balancing it on her hip as she latched the door to the staff laundry building.

“Sofia! Sofia!”

Sofia spun around, startled to see Nora rushing toward her. Her cheeks were pale and her cornflower blue eyes wide with panic. Sofia’s heart skipped, trepidation sparking. “Are you hurt? Is Ben hurt? Did Zs breach the fence?”

“Ben’s haying with Teller and Rob.” Nora tugged Sofia’s arm, urging her to follow. “Please, Sofia, come to my house!”

“O-okay.” Sofia set the laundry basket inside the building then permitted Nora to grasp her hand. She accompanied the girl on the now well-worn trail to Juniper Rise. “But why aren’t you in class?”

“Class is done early. Edna had a migraine. She’s napping.”

“You shouldn’t be wandering around on your own, Nora. It’s dangerous.”

“I do all the time,” Nora argued.

“Maybe that ought to be re-evaluated.”

“Just hurry, Sofia! It’s an emergency!”

The house came into view, and Nora’s pace quickened. She released Sofia’s hand and ran ahead. Sofia hurried to keep up with her. Nora’s sneakers crunched on the pebbled path as she sprinted along it and up the porch stairs. She disappeared into the house.

Once Sofia was inside, she glanced around. It was odd to be at Ben’s house during the day. Nora was nowhere in sight. “Where’d you go?”

“I’m here!” Nora stood in her bedroom doorway.

When Sofia entered the room, Nora waited by her closet, which was ajar. She gestured to the inner recesses, indicating the floor.

“What in the world…” Sofia muttered, peeking around the louvered closet door to where Nora pointed. A white cat with tan spots was sprawled on an old towel. Sofia had seen the barn cat around. Not much more than a kitten herself, her abdomen was distended in late-stage pregnancy. She panted and whined. “Does Ben know you have her in your closet? She’s probably infested with fleas.”

“No. I brought her yesterday. Her name’s Toffee. She’s in trouble!”

“She sure is—my guess is that Toffee’s in labor.”

“Duh. I know that,” Nora scoffed. “I’m not a dum-dum. I asked you here because Kate said you wanted to be an animal doctor. Look at her privates.”

Sofia kneeled and lifted Toffee’s tail. Inflamed tissue resembling two bloody sacs protruded from her. Her fur was stained red-brown with a small amount of similarly-colored discharge sullying the towel. Toffee’s gold eyes peered up at Sofia. She scratched Toffee under the chin, saying softly, “It seems scary, but cats generally do alright birthing on their own.”

“At first, she was crying and moving around, but she’s been this way forever! I think the kitten is stuck!”

Sofia reflected more to herself than Nora, “She’s not actively pushing. Maybe I should ask Rob to assess her.”

“Ugh! Are you deaf? I said Rob’s with Ben and Teller.”

Sofia sat back on her heels and reproached Nora, “Hey. Knock off the sass-talk. You really think that’s the way to treat someone you want to help you?”

“But—”

“You’ve been a real brat lately. Actually, you don’t deserve my help. I should refuse and sashay out of this house, little girl.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.