Page 10
CHAPTER 10
Tom stared at her in shock and had to shake his head several times to understand what she had said.
“What did you say?”
“I said, I’m not mad at what you did or why you did it. I was happy to help out. I also said that if you wanted to do it again, I wouldn’t be offended.”
He smiled and to see what she would say or do, he immediately stuck his hand out to her and when she placed hers in his, he pulled her to her feet and into his arms. Without any fuss or muss, he slowly lowered his head, giving her plenty of time to push him away or not. When she only stared at him, he made contact, and it didn’t take long before the kiss went nuclear. When they broke apart, they were both breathing heavily, and had their arms wrapped around one another. Tom didn’t stop her when she stepped back .
“Wow,” he said. “Thank you.”
“Yeah, wow.” She shook her head, then grinned at him. “No, thank you, but you’re welcome.”
They shared a laugh, then Tom sighed heavily. “Unfortunately, I need to get to the office to do the weekly paperwork. You’ll let me know if you need any help with Rose and the babies, along with Baby and her kittens.”
“Yes, I’ll let you know. Can I get you to do me a favor?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Could you look into the owners and see what they want to do with them? I’m not kicking them out of my small clinic by a long shot, but if I had some idea of what they want to do, I won’t get too attached to them.”
Tom laughed and nodded his head before he turned serious. “I will. It might take a few days.”
“That’s fine.”
“Okay, then I have to get out of here. Could I ask one favor of you before I leave?”
“What’s that?”
“Could I have your phone number?”
“For?”
“To let you know what I find out about Rose and Baby’s owner.”
“Ah, yeah, okay, sorry.” She was flustered and held out her hand and he placed his phone in it. She programmed his number, and walked him out. After he left, she leaned against the door, leaned down with her hands on her knees and took several deep breaths. “Holy heck,” she whispered. “That man can kiss.” She stood, gave herself a good shake, then went upstairs to her spare room. After rooting around for several minutes, she found what she was looking for and gathered it all to take downstairs. She had just reached the bottom of the stairs when her mother walked through the back door.
“Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Tom seemed to be here an awfully long time. Not that I’m judging, but I was wondering if you ran into any problems with the animals?”
“Oh, no, they’re fine. We were talking. Something happened earlier in town, and he explained it to me.” Though she loved her mother, she didn’t want to get into the details of what exactly happened, and left it at that. She was happy her mother didn’t question her.
“What do you have with you?”
Lorissa looked at her haul and then back at her mother with a gigantic grin. “It’s one of those padded lounge chairs and a sleeping bag.”
“What do you need those for?”
“I’m going to be camping out at night with Rose and Baby. I know I don’t have to, but I thought I’d be closer when the puppies need to be fed, and I can keep an eye on Rose.” She allowed her mother to help her carry the items into the clinic, and after they set up the place where Lorissa would sleep for the next few days, Laurie walked over to the animals and looked at them.
With sadness in her eyes, she turned to her daughter. “Do you think the dog will make it?”
“Rose, her name is Rose. I don’t know. I hope she will, that’s why she had the IV in and sedated. Both Tom and I thought it would be best for the puppies to stay close to her so if she survives, the chances of her rejecting them after we handle them might be less.”
“Wow, I never thought that she might reject them. What’s going to happen next?”
“Tom is going to check in with the owner and let her know they are safe and in my care. He’s going to ask whether she’s going to want them back or not. You heard him say what she would do if Baby, the cat, was knocked up by someone without pedigree. I don’t know whether that’s true or not. If it is, then I’ll have to look for homes for them.”
“Would you turn them into barn cats?”
“Probably not. I know Pru and Ryan have three kittens he rescued months ago. I’ve seen them around the cabins. Cats make good mousers and would be perfect in the barn, but I don’t know if I want to do that to them. If I kept any of them, I would make sure they were spayed or neutered.”
“That’s a good idea.” Laurie went over and looked at the puppies, then turned back when an alarm sounded. She took instructions from her daughter and helped her feed them. As she did, she asked, “Can you tell if the father of the puppies was a Yorkie?”
“Not at this point. Maybe once they get their eyes open I’ll be able to tell better, but not now.” Lorissa looked up and asked quietly. “Why?”
Laurie shrugged, then sighed heavily. “I was thinking of maybe taking one for myself. I’d definitely have to talk to Duane about it, but I always wanted a cat or a small dog when you were growing up. I had them when I was little, just don’t be surprised if your grandmother comes sniffing around wanting a puppy.”
“Really? About wanting an animal when I was little? I didn’t know that.”
“I kept it from you because Peter was adamant that it didn’t happen. He wasn’t allergic, but I knew he would be jealous of you or I showing an animal attention and not him.”
“That’s his own damn fault, Mom. He was a cold bastard to both of us and only graced us with his presence when he was between skanks. I’m sorry if I’m speaking harshly of the asshole, but he brought everything happening to him on himself. He can’t control either of us any longer.”
“I know, it’s just that at times like this, I think about what he had said all those years ago. I’m glad you followed your dreams to become a vet, and that now you’re doing what you love. ”
They both looked up at the small commotion at the doorway and Lorissa grinned when she saw her grandmother standing there. Before she could say anything, Lois spoke, and Lorissa threw her head back and laughed.
“When can I have one of those puppies?” Lois demanded. She turned to Laurie with a sappy smile. “Do you remember Ralph?”
“Oh my, I haven’t thought of Ralph in ages.” She turned to her daughter with a laugh and a sappy smile that matched Lois’. “Ralph was a Yorkie that my father brought home from work one day. He said he found him on the side of the road, and he rescued him. He was cold, and scared. I swear it took a week for him to stop shivering. We put up flyers, cleaned him up, took him to the vet for a checkup, and when no one came forward we kept him. The vet said he was only a few months old when Dad found him. We believe he was dumped.”
“How long did you have him for?”
“Twenty-years,” Lois said proudly as she picked up the last puppy to be fed and helped. “He died about six months before you were born.”
“Wow, that’s a long time for a Yorkie. Their life expectancy is usually between twelve and fifteen years.”
As the three of them finished feeding the puppies, Lorissa checked on Rose, Baby and the kittens and they went into the kitchen. When Lorissa started opening the cupboard, Laurie stopped her.
“I made something for us. I was going to invite you over to the house when Duane got home, but now that you have the animals, if you agree, we’ll eat here. But not until Duane gets home.”
“What did you make?” Lorissa asked as her stomach growled and she grabbed a package of cheese crackers to hold her over until it was supper time.
“I made an extra-large pan of that spaghetti squash dish you like. The one with the meat.”
“Perfect.”
“I thought so. Oh, and I wanted to tell you that my father told me that Ralph was my dog, but in reality, he was Mom’s. I had school, and then after school activities, I wasn’t home all the time. Mom started taking him to work with her, and it was a given that whenever Mom left the house, Ralph was with her. He only hung out with me when I was doing homework or listening to music in my room. He would sleep at the end of my bed. I hadn’t realized how much I missed him until I saw Rose. She’s the exact coloring as our Ralph was.”
“Well, I’ll tell you both right now, that I can’t promise you anything yet. We have to wait for Tom to get ahold of the owner, and see what she wants to do. I don’t even know how bad the fire was and what damage it caused.” She shook her head and held up her hand to ward off anything they might say. “I also don’t know if Rose will even pull through. We won’t know for another forty-eight hours. Both Tom and I are hoping that with her being knocked out, the oxygen will help her with the smoke in her lungs. When Tom put the tube down her throat, there was more damage than we thought. It will be touch and go for the next couple of days.”
“We understand,” Lois said, then looked at her granddaughter with a grin. “I’m calling first dibs on a puppy.”
They all shared a laugh and talked for the next hour before Duane came home. In a flurry of activity, Laurie rushed about and before long, they all sat down to the meal she’d cooked for them, and they talked about their day. Since Duane had been at work, he didn’t know about the cat and her kittens, nor the dog and the puppies. After they cleaned up, Lorissa took him into the clinic just as the alarm on her watch sounded and she fed the puppies with Duane watching like a hawk. He didn’t offer to help, but that was okay.
When she was done, her guests left, and because she had just fed the animals, she knew she had time, so she went up to her room and took a shower, changed into her pajamas, and grabbed her favorite pillow and blanket. She placed them on the cot in the clinic, then grabbed some paper and started a file on all the animals with what she had done to them, and the feeding schedule. By the time the next feeding came, she was ready, and once they were fed, she climbed onto the cot and was asleep before her head hit the pillow. It was a rough two days, but she stayed home, after calling Erin the next day to explain the situation, and was promised she would only be called in an emergency situation. The time home also afforded her the opportunity to draw up a contract for Jared Coleman to be his farrier. While she waited to bring Rose out of sedation, she was able to unpack some more items she’d just stuck in a room, and ended up cleaning the entire house. She knew it was much bigger than what she needed, but her mother and grandmother refused to give up one of the doublewides for her. Their biggest complaint was that they couldn’t go up and down the stairs as she could. She finally relented and started making the house into her home.
Mid-morning on the third day of having the animals, Lorissa jerked, then swore as she spilt her coffee when her phone rang. She hurried over and didn’t recognize the number, but answered it anyway.
“Hello?”
“Lorissa? Hi, it’s Tom. I’m not catching you at a bad time, am I? ”
“No, not at all, what’s up?”
“I was wondering if you have taken Rose off sedation yet?”
“No, not yet, I was going to finish my coffee and go do that. I was sort of waiting until I fed the puppies so I wouldn’t be interrupted.”
“Got it. Would you mind if I come out and watch you?”
“Not at all. I have about forty-five minutes before the alarm goes off.”
“Good. I’m about thirty minutes away. I’ll see you then.” He hung up and Lorissa stood there with a sappy smile on her face and then laughed as she did a happy dance where she stood. She looked down and gave a little scream because the coffee she’d spilt when the phone rang was in blotches all over her white tee-shirt. She set the mug down and ran up the stairs to change. Not wanting to get fancy or girly, she tossed the shirt in the sink, started filling it with cold water, and grabbed another white shirt. She had no idea why she favored white, but it seemed like most of her shirts were that color. The new one happened to be a tank top, but since it was already in the mid-seventies, it didn’t bother her. She was sitting calmly at her kitchen table when a knock came on the back door, and she called out for them to enter.
She stared as Tom entered, then grinned when she saw the bakery bag in his hand .
“I know the last time you were at the bakery, you missed out on your treat because of me, so I thought I’d stop and pick us up a couple of muffins. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” she said as she rose to get him a cup of coffee and they dug right into the muffins he’d brought. She noticed he’d brought two different kinds, and only two of them.
“I didn’t know what you liked, and I know this is bad of me, but these are my two favorite ones, so I brought two of each.” He pointed to the blueberry, and mixed berry muffins.
“My favorite too, and I’m not just saying that to be coy. The muffin I left behind when I went to help Rose and Baby was a mixed berry one.”
“Great.” He laughed as he took one and left her the other one. They ate in silence and as soon as they finished, the alarm on her watch went off. With no fuss or muss, they cleaned up their area and went to feed the puppies. As she started mixing the ingredients she would need, Tom inspected Baby and was happy with how she was progressing. He washed his hands, donned a pair of gloves and helped her feed the other babies.
“Wow, these guys are little pigs.” He laughed when the puppy he held seemed to devour the eye dropper of food he held for it. “How many are you giving them? ”
“Four, only because I don’t have the large size. I thought I did, but these are the only ones I have.”
“Depending on how Rose is after we wake her, remind me to get some out of my truck for you.”
“Okay, but I’m hoping once Rose wakes up fully, she won’t reject her babies and continue being a good mother to them.”
“Yeah, let’s hope.”
“This morning when the alarm went off, I used the bathroom before I got to them,” she said as she pointed to an area behind him. He turned to look then glanced back at her with a frown. “I’ve been sleeping here in case there’s a problem.”
“Ah, got it, you were saying?”
“Oh, I ran to the bathroom and started the coffee before I fed these little piggies and when I got back, they had latched onto her. I let them and only took them off her when it was their turn to feed.”
“That’s good,” Tom said, and they finished feeding them and after making a nest for them in the warming blanket, they changed their gloves and removed Rose from the cage. Lorissa smiled when Baby stood and watched their every move.
Tom removed Rose, and laid her on the table. The first thing they did was listen to her lungs, and when they agreed they sounded clear, she removed the tube from her throat, then stopped the medication. As Rose rested, Tom removed the IV and took the bandages from Lorissa. It was like they had worked together for years instead of this being their second time together.
They both stood and watched as Rose slowly woke. Tom picked her up, looked at her, and carried her over to the corner where Lorissa had laid some pads down. They didn’t want her to have an accident all over them, the table, or the cage. Thirty minutes later, she relieved her bladder, and Tom picked her up again and placed her in the cage. Though she was extremely groggy she flopped around, and when she spotted her puppies, she immediately messed up their nest, made a different one and after licking each one, she settled down and fell asleep.
“Good,” Lorissa sighed. “She didn’t reject them. I know she’ll be tired for hours, if not a couple of days, but I think I’ll wait to stop feeding them to see if she can take back over.”
“I don’t think it will affect them, but you might want to continue to feed them until the sedation is completely out of Rose’s system.”
“Crap, I didn’t think of that.” She looked at him with wide eyes. “Do you think when they latched on this morning it would affect them?”
“Not if it was only a little bit, but we’ll have to keep an eye on them to make sure.”
They stood there for almost thirty minutes watching them sleep, and then returned to the kitchen.
“I need to talk to you.”