I panted, trying to keep up behind Hael and this girl—er, woman—Bree-elle.
“Ellie’s fine,” she said when I used her full name.
If I was going to pull my weight around here, I’d need to start working out again.
I’d dropped out of the last aerobic dance class I’d signed up for just as I had with every other fad workout I tried.
I used the excuse that a lot of jumping around hurt my double D’s, but in reality, I knew that it was really because I felt embarrassed trying to keep up with a room full of skinny bitches.
Well, here I was once again, trying to pace myself after Ellie, a tiny sprout of a woman, at least six inches shorter than me, with better arms and abs than I could ever hope to have.
I didn’t need to be told by the way she looked at me that she was possessive of Hael. She had to be his girlfriend. Or wife. Whatever.
Ellie was beautiful, but she seemed pretty young for him. Of course, that was really none of my business.
She had said that someone named Sadie was dying. I didn’t have the faintest clue who Sadie was, but I was scared for her.
“You okay back there, city girl?” Ellie glared when she saw how far I was behind her.
“Fine, I just…”
“Haven’t been to the gym in a while.”
She slowed down enough for Hael to get ahead of us.
“Don’t think I missed you eye-fucking Hael,” she said in a hushed, but harsh tone. And with that, she hurried back in front of me.
We finally reached a cattle shed.
Upon entering, I spotted Ronnie crouched down beside a huge cow with blood and fluid gushing from under its tail.
When she saw Hael, Ronnie said, “Don’t look like we’ll be saving the heifer, but I’m not sure yet about the calf.”
I stepped in closer. “Is there anything I can do?”
Ellie scoffed and rolled her big blue eyes as she and Hael rolled up their sleeves.
“It’s okay, Cora. We got this,” Hael said.
I stepped back and watched in horror as Hael lifted the cow’s tail and reached in—I guessed, trying to get ahold of the unborn calf—all the way up to his elbow. The sight was unbearable, and I had to look away.
“Ellie, get the calf puller!” Ronnie exclaimed.
“No. No, I got it,” Hael said in a calm voice.
How he stayed so calm was beyond me. After some more tugging, I saw two hooves coming out of the birth canal. My eyes watered as I hoped for the poor thing to be okay.
Finally, after some maneuvering, Hael managed to pull the entire calf’s body out, as gently as he could. He tried to get the poor little thing to move, but it was limp.
With Ellie’s assistance, he tried to get it breathing to no avail. This went on for a couple of minutes.
“It’s gone,” he finally said glumly.
I watched Ronnie comfort the bleeding cow, stroking her neck and giving light shushes, while Hael put the lifeless calf down beside its mother.
Over the next several minutes, the poor thing let out some low attempts at mooing as she lay on her side, her breath rapidly slowing. We all stayed there solemnly as the cow took her final breath.
It was the most horrible thing I’d ever seen. Tears cascaded down my cheeks as I leaned against the wall for support.
“I’m sorry, Cora.” Hael looked at me, blood all over his arms and shirt. “This heifer was one of Greg’s... I mean, yours.”
“What happened…to them?” I said stupidly, trying not to let out an audible sob.
“Looks like she suffered toxemia,” Ronnie replied.
Ellie’s eyes shot up at me. She stood, blood covering her clothes.
“None of this woulda happened if Greg was still around,” she said bitterly before marching back outside.
I knew what she was getting at, that this had all been my fault. I hadn’t lifted a finger since I'd arrived, and these poor creatures had paid the price. Shame filled every fiber of my body.
“I... I’m so sorry,” I murmured as I backed out of the shed.
“Ain’t nothin to be sorry for,” Ronnie said. “These things just happen. Cora, you’re looking a bit shook. Are you okay?”
“Why don’t you go on back to Cedar Ranch?” Hael said in a comforting voice. “We can take care of things here. I’ll catch you up on all this later.”
My feet moved of their own accord, and I walked dejectedly back through the shortcut of the pasture between our two ranches to my own house.
I was in shock.
I’d never seen anything die, not even an animal, let alone dealt with the emotions of it. I felt helpless… Guilty... How could this happen?
I’d distracted Hael from his work because I didn’t want to eat alone, and now I’d managed to piss off his wife or whatever she was and kill two innocent creatures.
I was greeted on my front porch by the sweet, sad border collies, and they followed me inside.
I kicked off my shoes and changed out of my cutesy outfit, throwing on a white tank and some gym shorts. I plopped myself down on the leather couch.
I tried texting a couple of my girlfriends but got no response. Then I realized it was Sunday night. That meant margaritas and karaoke for our small group.
They were out having a blast in the city, and I was sitting here in the middle of nowhere feeling sorry for myself.
Tossing my phone across the couch, I found myself curling into a ball as I cried the hardest I’d cried since before my divorce.
It was only my second night here, and I knew there was no way I’d be able to make it a whole week, let alone the entire year I’d agreed to.
The crickets chirped loudly as I made my way back up to Cedar Ranch. It was late by the time Bree-elle and I got Cora’s cattle separated from ours.
I’d changed out of my bloody clothes and showered. I needed to talk to Cora, and I didn’t want to show up looking like I’d come from a slaughterhouse.
Riding up, I couldn’t see any lights on through the front windows.
I hitched Bolt to the post outside before making my way up to the house.
I’d hated seeing Cora cry like that. It hadn’t dawned on me until it was too late that she’d probably never seen something like that. I shouldn’t have let her in to watch the whole thing.
I remembered the first time I’d lost a calf. It was sad, and it has a way of making you feel helpless. There’s no way around it.
Reaching the front door, I knocked. I heard Cain and Dell barking from inside, along with Cora’s faint voice. “It’s open,” she said solemnly.
I opened the door to find that it was pitch-black inside.
Flicking on the light switch, I found Cora sitting at the corner of the couch, hugging her knees to her chest, arms wrapped around them tightly.
“Why were you sitting in the dark?”
She turned her head to me slowly. She’d washed her makeup off, and her hair was up in a messy bun. I’d never seen her look more beautiful, even if her eyes were all red and puffy from crying. She was naturally gorgeous.
“Huh?” she asked, blinking.
“Why were you sitting in the dark?” I repeated.
“Oh… I hadn’t noticed it got dark.”
I walked close to her and kneeled down by her side.
“Was it my fault?” she whimpered. I could see more tears starting to form. It always broke my heart to see a woman cry. And the fact that she was worried she’d done something to cause it...
“Why would you think that?”
“Hael, was it my fault?” Her sad green eyes bore into me.
“No.” I shook my head. “There was nothing that could have been done for that heifer and calf in the past couple of days. I’m praying it was an isolated case, but we need to keep a close eye on the rest of the herd.”
My own guilt was setting in. Sure there was nothing Cora could have done, but the wellbeing of the cattle was my job. It was a lot for me to be dealing with them on my own, especially with trying to keep up my own stock and ranch, too.
But I still felt like I’d let Greg down.
Let Cora down.
I wasn’t gonna let it happen again, though. Of that, I was sure.
“Is that something that can affect the other cows? Like, was she sick?” she asked.
“We went ahead and separated them out today. We’ll keep a real close eye on them over the next few weeks. I even got Geoff on it, too.”
“Okay.” She nodded absently.
“You want me to stay for a bit?” I asked. “I can make us some coffee.”
“No.” She shook her head. “You should go back to your wife. Thank you, though.”
“Wife...? Wh—What?”
“Whatever she is. I’m not going to do anything to cause tension between you and Ellie.”
“Ellie?!?” I let out a laugh as the realization of what she thought came to me fully.
“She warned me to stay away from you. I’m sorry. You’re probably going to get an earful when you get home.”
I shook my head as a look of confusion washed over her face.
“Cora, Bree-elle’s not my wife. She’s my sister.”
Her entire expression changed.
