“Maeve,” Jacob whispered. “I need a hand.”
“Use your own hand,” I mumbled, still half asleep.
“What?” he said. “No, it’s the doe. She’s in labor.”
“What?” I cried, propping up on my elbows.
“Get up. Hurry.”
I rolled out of bed after Jacob flicked on the lights and left the room. I didn’t bother changing out of my shorts and cami. I stumbled down the steps, threw on a pair of Aunt Meg’s galoshes, and followed Jacob to the barn.
“I couldn’t sleep and came out here to check on her. Grab some towels and a few feeding bags.”
I did as I was told and hurried back to the kidding stall. I tossed the stuff to Jacob who laid out the towels on the ground.
“Put this on,” he said, tossing me a plastic apron. “This is going to get messy.”
I cringed and tied it around my waist. We matched in shiny aprons and blue galoshes.
“What is that?” I cupped a hand over my mouth and pointed to the doe.
Jacob glanced back at me with a wry smile. “I forgot you have a sensitive stomach. That is the mucous plug.”
I tasted a little bit of bile in the back of my throat. “Oh my God…I can’t do this.”
“Yes, you can. Just hold this towel and wait for my directions.” He draped the towel over my arms. I squinted my eyes and paced the stall. The doe let out a painful bleat. Jacob positioned his face in front of the goat’s ass.
“Not so close,” I cried.
“I can see a hoof. She’s having another contraction.” A few seconds passed before he said, “Okay, I see the other hoof…and a tongue.”
“A tongue?” I yelped. “Oh God.”
“Relax. She’s going to sense your nervousness and make this very complicated.”
“Relax,” I panted. “Okay. I can relax.”
“Try some Lamaze,” he said with a smile.
“Very funny,” I replied.
Jacob grabbed a pair of long sterile gloves and slid them up to his elbows. “Okay, I’m going to try and pull the kid out with her next contraction. I’m going to hold it up by its back feet, and you need to wipe off its mouth and nose with the towel.”
I nodded and tried not to think about fainting.
The doe let out another painful bleat.
“Here we go.” He said it like we were about to take a ride down a roller coaster.
Jacob grabbed on to a pair of white hooves with gloved hands. My stomach flopped as I heard a gush of liquid. He slid the baby out and onto one of the feedbags.
“Oh, shit.” My stomach did another flip.
“Quick, come clean him off. We need to get him in front of the mother as soon as possible.”
I trotted over and used the towel to clean off the baby’s face and nose, trying not to think about what I was cleaning. Jacob used a pair of surgical scissors to cut the cord.
“Okay, that should do it.”
“Now what?”
He grabbed another feedbag, cradled the baby, and set it in front of the mother so she could lick him clean. “I’m going to make sure there isn’t another one in there.” He felt around the doe’s belly with both hands. “Squeeze her teats to make sure there’s milk.”
“Excuse me?” This was just getting a little too weird, even for me. “Never had a guy ask me that before.”
“You have to make sure they’re not clogged.”
I let out a sigh. “I cannot believe I’m doing this.” I grabbed at one and gave it a gentle squeeze, a little milk dropping out. “Definitely not clogged.”
“Okay. Good news—there was only one in there.” The baby started to wobble its head. “He might be hungry. We’ll give them a few minutes and then help him nurse.”
“Isn’t this all mother nature’s job?”
“Sometimes even mother nature needs a little help.”
Jacob collected the dirty towels, which I instructed him to burn. There was no way in hell I was putting them into the washing machine. After the doe cleaned the baby off, Jacob gently led the baby to the mom’s milk. Twenty minutes later and it still hadn’t taken in a single drop.
“Eat little guy,” I said, coaxing the kid closer to the mom. “For God’s sake, eat, so we can sleep.” I looked at Jacob. “Maybe he’s not a boob guy.”
He chuckled. “We’ll give him a few more hours to come to his senses. Then we’ll try the bottle.”
Jacob and I tore off our aprons and hosed them off in the back.
“Good job in there,” he said. The crickets chirped as we walked back to the house. “Thanks for not fainting.”
“I’m not going to lie. It was a close call.”
“What happened to the farm girl I used to know?”
“She got ran over by a tractor.”
He laughed and opened the back door for me. “Try to get some sleep. I promise I won’t be hovering over your bed anytime soon.”
Chapter Three
Jacob and I had retired to our separate rooms after another long day. I lay in my bed, twirling my wet hair, still fragrant from the shampoo. There was one television in the house, but I hadn’t been one for TV anyway. I hadn’t brought any books with me, since I didn’t think I’d be staying this long. I was having flashbacks of being bored out of my mind as a kid when the summer had lost its shiny new feeling.
Jacob knocked on the door, even though it was wide open. “Hey.”
I tossed back the strand of hair in between my fingers and looked up at him. “Hi.”
“I have to go to Target. I shouldn’t be too long.”
I practically bounced off the bed. “I’ll come with you.” His eyebrows rose just a hair. “I mean, if that’s okay.”
“Sure,” he said.
We hopped into Uncle Jim’s pickup and bounced in our seats as it negotiated the dirt driveway. Most of the twenty-minute drive was made in silence until I couldn’t take it anymore and turned on the radio.
I’d never been so happy to see a Target.
“Meet back here in fifteen?”
