Page 6 of Second Chance with the Rancher
She nodded and stood up. “I’ll go see if I can find something I don’t mind burning afterward.”
His chuckle lasted until the door closed behind him.
“You coming?” Mieka asked her sister as she grabbed the handle of her suitcase.
Triss shook her head. “I would love to, but I’m honestly exhausted. I can barely keep my eyes open, so I think I’m going to go lay down upstairs for a bit.”
“I remember Pasha saying the first trimester is brutal and all you want to do is sleep.” Mieka remembered that part of her own first trimester, too. Though it only lasted for a couple of weeks. But the exhaustion was hard to forget.
Triss stood up and nodded. “I remember Pasha saying that, too. And she’s not wrong.” Her expression softened and she hit Mieka with a probing look. “I don’t want to say it because I know that’s not what you want to hear, but…”
“I know,” Mieka said, knowing exactly what her sister was planning to say. “I’m just having a pity party right now. So let me wear my pointy hat, hit the piñata, and play pin-the-tail on the depressed donkey, okay? I’m sure I’ll snap out of it eventually. Watching new life come into the world in a field under a blue bird sky might do the trick.”
Triss’s expression said she wasn’t so certain Mieka would just snap out of it that fast, but she nodded anyway. “Okay.”
Mieka knew watching a foal being born wasn’t going to get her out of her funk, either, but it was still worth a shot.
They hugged again, then Triss disappeared upstairs, while Mieka rolled her suitcase down the hallway to the guest room. “Now to find something I don’t mind getting horse vagina gunk on …”
“Dystocia,” Nate said, facing Asher as they all stood in the field with two of the ranch hands. “Foal’s not in the proper position. She’s struggling.” He was wearing long rubber gloves that ran over his thick biceps and all the way up to his armpits. Before putting them on, he’d ditched his flannel shirt and was now in just a white ribbed tank top.
“Fuck,” Asher grumbled. He approached Callie who was making all kinds of worrisome noises. Her nostrils were flaring on her silky black head and her eyes were wide with fear. He patted her cheek. “It’s all right, baby girl. We’ll get you sorted. We’ll get your baby out. Don’t worry.” He kissed Callie’s cheek then turned to Nate. “You want to or me?”
“Don’t mind doing it,” Nate said. “Already got the gloves on.”
Mieka knew both Asher and Nate had been in the armed forces, but it still made her pause and caught her attention when Nate’s dog tags swung out from under his tank top and bounced against his chest as he bent down and opened up a gray rubber tote and pulled out various pieces of equipment. The tags glinted in the late afternoon sun, but he quickly tucked them into his shirt again, then stalked back toward Callie.
“Hold her steady while I get in position.”
Asher did as he was told and stayed at Callie’s head. The other two ranch hands stepped up and helped keep Callie from moving too much. All of them were rubbing her, scratching her ears and speaking softly to try to keep her calm.
Mieka felt like a helpless idiot.
“What can I do?” she asked, hating that she couldn’t be put to work like the rest of them. Her sister probably wouldn’t have to ask, she’d just jump right in and know how to help.
Your sister also lives on the ranch, is married to a rancher and has witnessed many foals being born.
Right.
She couldn’t compare. At least she wasn’t shying away and not offering to help.
“When I ask for something, give it to me, okay?” Nate said, jerking his chin toward the tote.
She nodded. “Okay.”
“I’ve called Jacob,” Asher said, “but he’s at another birth and can’t get here for at least an hour.”
Jacob was probably the vet.
“She doesn’t have an hour,” Nate said. He turned to Mieka. “Can you put more KY Jelly on my glove, please?” he asked.
She bent down and grabbed the big tub of lubricant.
“Smear it on for me, Minx.”
She barely startled at his nickname for her. He’d started calling her that when they were planning the joint bachelorette and bachelor party for Asher and Triss. When the flirting had started. She’d liked it.
She smeared the jelly onto his gloved hand and watched as he carefully inserted it into Callie again. The horse’s tail was taped up to her back using green painter’s tape, and she’d watched them use soap and water to clean her vulva and teats.
