Page 36

Chapter Eleven

Two days of nothing but work and Autumn was about to go out of her mind. A call came in to deliver twin calves, and it took all four of them, plus Summer to succeed.

Autumn glanced at the baby calves sleeping next to their mother and sighed with relief. Two healthy newborns just entered the world, and she helped them along the way.

Granted it took the men’s strength, Summer and Kristin’s quick hands, and her common sense to get them here, but they did. Two beautiful, black-coated newborns were lying next to their mother.

“Uh-oh. You’ve got that look.” Jackson’s eyes went wide.

“What look?” She packed up her tools in the stall, she and Jackson being the only ones left in the barn.

He propped his arms on the gate and met her eyes. “The look that says you want to have a baby. That look.”

She shook her head and stuffed the items in her pack. “You’re crazy.”

“Then why are you looking at those calves like you want to take them home with you?” He opened the gate and squeezed in the stall to help her clean up. Both were covered in birthing fluids and neither smelled the best in the world. Showers were definitely next on the agenda.

“I don’t have that look.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “It just gives me a reality check when I do this. I mean that’s another life. A little baby who is now in this world with the rest of us. It makes all the bad days worthwhile, you know?”

He nodded. “Did you always want to work on both small and large animals?”

“I hadn’t really thought about having a mixed practice since most only do either one or the other. In school, I was stuck doing my rounds at the small animal clinic and then a call came in for a cow in labor and bleeding out. I was apart of the critical care team, and I got such a high from it. I’d love to open up my own critical care center specializing in both large and small creatures. That was actually one of my dreams.”

Autumn yawned, tired from the day and the events within it. A hot bath and cozy bed sounded better and better as the moments went by. Jackson lifted her case for her and carried it out into the main alleyway.

“So you don’t want a baby? Am I safe to breathe again?”

“You’re not funny.”

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and leaned close to her ear. “Maybe not, but I am up for the challenge of perfecting the craft. You know, baby making and all. In fact, we could do it here, right now in the hayloft.”

“Lord. Does your libido ever take a holiday? I’m covered in birthing slime and blood and you’re ready to jump me.” With one e arm around his waist, she laid her head against his shoulder. “That is seriously twisted. Maybe you’re the one who wants to have a baby.”

Jackson stiffened. “I hadn’t really thought about it.”

“Honey, no offense but with your previous lifestyle you could have created a bunch of little Jacksons. It never once crossed your mind?”

“I used condoms. I wasn’t getting any chick pregnant.”

“Condoms break.”

“Yeah, but mine didn’t.” He rubbed her arm. “Can we stop talking about it?”

She shook her head. “No. I’m curious now. You used condoms with every chick you slept with. Every time?”

“That’s what I said.” He dropped his arm and grabbed her hand. “Why is it so hard for you to believe?”

“Because you didn’t use anything with me.”

Jackson stopped, his face pale with a look of horror. “Should I have?”

“A little late for that now, isn’t it?”

Jackson’s eyes widened and dropped to her stomach.

“I’m not pregnant, though,” she said.

His shoulders drooped with relief. “Thank God.”