Page 46 of Clearly Charmed

I walked back to my bag and took out an OB glove, stretching it up my arm all the way to the shoulder. Bryce’s eyebrows rose to his hairline as I slathered the sleeve with a mix of soapy water and lubricant. I swallowed a laugh, because I was positive he had no clue what he’d signed up for by coming here.

‘Is Daisy struggling?’ George asked.

‘Let me do a quick exam to see how things are progressing.’

I followed Daisy around the pen at a safe distance. Her strides were slow from the stress of labor and weight of the calf. Bryce climbed up using the metal slats on the gate and leaned his elbows across the top.

When Daisy stopped moving, I safely approached her again. Once she clocked me, I took a few steps toward her backside, still using a calm voice. As I checked her, it only took a minute to figure out that the calf was alive, and in an anterior presentation.

‘It all looks good, George. She can do this on her own.’

George tugged down on his Stetson and let out a full breath. ‘Thank goodness.’

‘You’re doing good, mama.’ I patted the cow’s back and stepped away. Daisy walked around the pen again, her low mooing wafting all the way up to the barn’s twenty-foot-high rafters.

I removed my glove and headed back to the gate, which Bryce quickly opened for me. The look of wonder in his eyes was almost too much. ‘George is right. You really are the best.’

‘You’re too easily impressed. That’s all normal work for a vet.’

‘No. You didn’t see what we did, Dani. The minute you got close, that cow relaxed. It’s as if she sensed you were there to help her. That you could be trusted. It’s not a good comparison, but when I first got Indy from the rescue, he wouldn’t come near me. Wouldn’t let me pet him. It took weeks of working with a trainer and a lot of patience to build what we have now. But you.’ He shook his head. ‘You’ve got a gift.’

There was that lilt to his voice again. Like he believed there was something supernatural happening. I ignored it and climbed up onto the gate beside him.

‘What happens now?’ Bryce asked.

‘We let nature take its course,’ I said.

Daisy moved around the pen again. The volume of her moos rose and her behavior grew more agitated. George stayed still but clocked the cow’s every movement. She continued to pant and pace for another hour until she lay down on her side at the far edge of the pen. A few minutes later, the calf’s head appeared. After a few more pushes, the full body slid out and landed on top of the thick bedding of straw.

Bryce’s eyes widened. ‘Holy shit! Did that just happen?’

I gripped the edge of the gate, waiting for any movement from the calf. If it looked like it was in trouble, we’d have to go in and help. We collectively held our breaths until the calf started to shift on the straw. Daisy began licking at it. A few minutes later, the calf lifted its head, and George let out a cheer.

Bryce’s fingers threaded through mine, and that familiar connection between us made my nerve endings flare. For the first time in so long I didn’t feel the hollow ache of loneliness.

Daisy cared for her baby like a good mama. The calf shifted on the straw and rose forward in a wobbly kind of balance. Daisy nudged the little creature until it finally stood on its own.

George let out a rough ‘Atta girl.’

The calf turned to the side so I could get a good look at her. ‘Yep, that’s right.’

George let out a relieved breath. ‘More milk for the farm. That’s a good thing.’

Bryce beamed like the early morning sun as he watched Daisy connect with her newborn calf. ‘Does Daisy need any kind of care now? Because that seemed like a lot of work for her.’

‘No, but I’ll stay for a bit. Make sure the calf latches on all right. Babies need that important colostrum from the mother’s milk right after birth,’ I said.

George added more straw to the pen for warmth. After another hour, the calf began to nurse. Bryce stayed glued to the gate, enamored with the new addition to George’s herd.

‘I’ll be back in a few days to check on them, but if anything comes up before then give me a call,’ I said, stepping out of the coveralls and sliding them into my dirty laundry bag. ‘For now, please keep them together in the pen. The calf needs to stay warm, and space from the herd would be good for a little while.’

‘Of course and thank you for coming out so quickly.’

‘Happy to help,’ I said.

George reached out and gripped my hand. ‘There’s no doubt in my mind you are one of the best things that’s ever happened to Harvest Moon. I know it hasn’t been easy, but I’m real appreciative of the fact that you came home to practice, even when a lot of folks here gave you plenty of reasons not to return.’

Bryce’s head tipped to the side, surprise coloring the lines in his face.