Harlequin Love Inspired January 2017, Box Set 1 of 2 by Margaret Daley

Author:Margaret Daley
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488018077
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2016-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

The truck Daron loaned her was about ten years newer than her old farm truck. It shifted easily, started without pumping the gas and didn’t die going up hills. On Saturday morning she drove through the field looking for the cow she’d expected to calve. She parked and got out. There were several head gathered under a tree. She walked the area, checking behind brush.

She found a section of fence that the cattle had ridden down, pushing their heads through to get grass on the other side. After all, it was always greener over there. She headed back to the truck for tools and work gloves. She pounded the posts back into the ground, made sure they were sturdy, then tightened the few strands of barbed wire.

The sound of a cow in distress caught her attention. She stood still, listening. No. No. No. Not the heifer. She hurried back to the truck and drove in the general vicinity she thought the sound came from. As she pulled up to a stand of trees, she caught sight of the black cow stretched out on her side. She was heaving, raising her head to cry out and then heaving again.

“This is not how I wanted this to go, Mama.” Emma knelt beside the heifer. “I’d prefer you do this on your own.”

She got up and hurried back to the truck, but then remembered, it wasn’t her truck. She didn’t have her calving jack, gloves or anything else she might need to pull a calf. She did find some rope. She could make do if things didn’t happen on their own.

When she got back to the cow, she was heaving, pushing. The calf’s hooves were out. The cow looked as if she’d been at it a long time. She was worn slick, too tired to really try.

“Listen, Mama, I understand. Really I do. Twelve hours of labor, all alone. Believe me, I get it. But you’ve got to get this baby out or I’m going to lose you both. And I don’t want that.”

Obviously the cow didn’t really care what she had to say.

“Okay, you push, I’ll get these ropes around those hooves and we’ll do this together.”

On the next push she got a loop around each hoof of the calf. It wasn’t going to be easy without the calving jack to wench the baby out, but she’d done it this way before. It took muscle, and probably more strength than she had. But somehow her adrenaline kicked in. Fifteen minutes later the calf was curled up on the ground and the mama cow found a little energy to clean her up.

Emma sat down on the cold ground a short distance away. She was too exhausted to care that it was damp. She didn’t really mind the cold. It was a good morning, watching that new baby get up on her legs, wobble a bit, then find her first breakfast, safe at her mother’s side.

A truck idled up. She turned, not surprised to see Daron McKay.

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