“That is so sweet of them.” Stevie’s voice cracked.
“Now, tell me about this cat thing. Why are we taking a mama cat and kittens to Sunflower Ranch?” Jesse said.
Cody explained how Dixie had adopted the cats, and ended the short story with “I’ll take them back when the cria adapts to her new family on the ranch.”
Jessie stopped at the end of the lane and pointed to his right. “See what I’m talking about?”
Stevie and Cody both turned their heads at the same time. The entire cab and hood of Cody’s truck was covered with snow, and all that they could see of the back end was the tailgate. A huge tree was lying over the top and spread out all the way to the other side of the road.
“I guess I’ll be looking for a new truck when this thaws out,” Cody said. “What’s the weatherman saying?”
Jesse shifted the tractor into gear and pulled out onto the road. “We’ve got sunny days until the first of next week, but the temperature isn’t going to be above freezing. Dad thinks it will be the end of next week before the roads are clear into town. And we got news about Max. He had a heart attack, and he’s still in the hospital, but he’s not going back to his ranch when he gets out of the hospital. He’s going to live with his son in Oklahoma.”
Stevie heard what they were saying about Max, but it was like words coming through a staticky phone line. The last time she’d felt such a rush of emotions had been when she and Cody were dating back in high school. So much for being completely over him and moving on with her life the past twenty years.
* * *
Cody felt like a little boy at Christmas when Jesse made a turn down the lane onto the Sunflower Ranch. Even with snowdrifts as high as the porch, the house was a welcome sight, but then Jesse drove right past it, toward the barn.
“What are you doing?” Cody asked. “You could let us out at the house.”
When Jesse was close to the barn, he drove the tractor off the plowed path and turned it around so he could back into the barn. “Somebody—that would be you, brother—has to get out and open the barn doors and help me get Stevie’s van unhitched.”
“And then we can have coffee?” Stevie groaned.
Jesse kept an eye on the rearview as he slowly backed up to the barn doors. “You haven’t had coffee for four days, for real?”
“We had coffee one morning,” Cody answered.
“That wasn’t coffee,” Stevie protested. “That was something between road tar and mud from the bottom of the Red River.”
When he braked, Cody slid Stevie off his lap, got out of the tractor, and opened the barn doors. Once both tractor and van were inside, he closed the door and went around the tractor to help Stevie, but she was already headed for the van. He had liked having her so close to him on the trip home. She had been a beautiful girl, but she’d grown into an even more lovely woman—so warm and kind and funny that he was already wishing that they were back in the tack room with just Dixie and the cats to keep them company.
Jesse was right behind her. “There’s a mama alpaca in one of the stalls. She gave birth a couple of days ago. Hopefully, she’ll adopt your cria and raise it with hers.”
“If the hembra won’t take on another baby, then we can put Dixie in a separate stall, and I’ll come feed her every four hours,” Stevie said. “Hopefully, the cats will bed down with her once they check out the place.”
Stevie opened the side door of the van before it was even unhitched. Dolly jumped out and meowed several times. Kittens came from different corners and followed her over to where the hay was stacked up. She flopped down on her side and started to purr, and soon all her babies were kneading her belly and nursing.
“I guess she figures a barn is a barn, no matter where it is,” Stevie said as she picked Dixie up and carried her toward the stalls.
The mama hembra began to hum when she saw Dixie, and her baby ran over to stick her little nose out from between the rails. Dixie wiggled as if she wanted to be free from Stevie’s arms, so Stevie opened the stall gate, set her down, and removed her diaper. The hembra sniffed the new baby all over, and her daughter headbutted the newcomer. Stevie moved slowly into the stall with all three alpacas and put Dixie’s nose against the hembra’s milk bag. Dixie’s tail shot up and she started nursing.
“Thank you, Miz Hembra,” Stevie sighed.
“Would you look at that?” Cody came up beside her. “Looks like you won’t have to come to the barn every four hours in the cold to feed the baby. I was going to suggest that we take her and the cats to the bunkhouse if Maggie didn’t adopt her.”
“That’s sweet, but she’s so much better off here, and the cats have probably never known anything but a barn. They’d feel all cooped up in a bunkhouse,” Stevie said.
“I’m not surprised.” Jesse joined them. “Alpacas are herd animals, and they’re loving toward their own. The only trouble you’re going to have now is if you try to take that baby back from Maggie. She will fight you for it.”
“I’m just glad she’s found a good mama. I think the cats saved her life, but she needs her own kind,” Stevie said.
Jesse’s phone rang, and he slipped it out of his hip pocket. “Hello, darlin’. Yes, we’re in the barn and yes, Maggie has taken to the cria, so all is good.”
He listened for a few minutes and then said, “That’s a great idea. I’ll tell them.”
“Tell them what?” Cody asked.
“Mama says that she’s put food in the oven at the bunkhouse, and that she’s pretty sure Stevie would like food and a bath before she comes up to the ranch house.” Jesse put his phone back into his pocket. “Mia has plowed a path from the ranch house to the bunkhouse and out to here. You can either use the work truck or walk, but be careful. It’s still pretty slick.”
“And?” Cody asked. “I can see by that grin you can’t wipe off your face you’re hiding something.”
“Y’all just go get cleaned up, have some food, take a nap, watch television or whatever you want to do. Supper is at five so be there for that,” Jesse chuckled.
“I’m heading straight to the bunkhouse,” Stevie said. “I’m going to eat and then take a long, hot bath. Tell Pearl and Addy I love them both for everything.”
As soon as she was gone, Jesse chuckled again.
“What’s so funny?” Cody asked.
“You and Stevie O’Dell stranded together,” Jesse laughed, “and now you’re going to have to live with her for another week. That’s funny, I don’t care who you are.”
“I may be moving up to the house and sleeping on the sofa,” Cody said, “but even that would beat the hard floor of that tack room.”
“Good God, brother!” Jesse gasped. “You could have both slept on the sofa.”
“Yep, and it even made out into a bed—with a bare mattress that was lumpy—but…” Cody shrugged. “We were like a couple of banty roosters, ready to spar most of the time. I wasn’t about to suggest that we share the sofa bed, and she didn’t offer.”
Jesse shook his head. “Missed your chance, brother. Has it been so long that you need one of those how-to books to learn how to flirt?”