Page 8

CHAPTER 8

Lorissa looked directly into Tom’s eyes after they both opened them, and with his forehead on hers, he sighed heavily. “I’m sorry, I can, and will explain. I just need you to be patient for a few minutes.”

“Okay,” Lorissa said on a sigh and stared in horror when a woman grabbed Tom by the upper arm, swung him around, and slapped him across the face so hard that it caused her to wince. She started forward, but saw a man who had been at the counter turn and approach Tom and the unknown woman.

“There a problem here, Stolls?” the man asked.

“Yes, please call Faulkner, this woman just assaulted me.”

“I saw that,” the man said as he slowly pulled his phone from his pocket and made the call. He spoke so low Lorissa didn’t hear what he said, even though he was less than three feet from her. This was like watching a train wreck and she couldn’t look away. She looked up when there were screeching tires outside and expecting to see a cop car with the flashing lights, she was shocked to see a fire truck, with their flashing lights, there instead. Five of the handsomest men she had ever seen disembarked from the vehicle, and despite the fact they were smudged with soot from a recent fire, they rushed into the bakery.

“Stolls,” one of them called out and when Tom tried to go to them, the woman shook her head, dug her nails into his arm and screamed at him.

“You aren’t going anywhere, you fucking bastard! You fucking owe me!”

Lorissa felt her eyebrows disappear into her hairline and so wanted to rip the extensions out of that woman’s head, but knew she would learn more if she kept quiet and observed.

“What’s up, Seth?” Tom asked the man who had called to him, ignoring the screaming woman who wouldn’t let him go. “You just come from a fire?”

“Yes, we were on the way to your clinic when we saw your truck.”

“What’s up?”

“We found some kittens and puppies in the fire. We were coming to you to check them out. We got them before they were too severely burnt, but there’s some hair singed on a couple of them.”

Lorissa immediately put her cup and muffin on a nearby table and demanded, “Where are they?” She ignored Tom and barely heard him tell the man that she could be trusted. She looked at Tom with a nod. “Later?”

“Yes. Go, take care of them. The guys know where my clinic is, but I’m telling you right now, I’m full in the hospital area.”

“Okay, I have room at the house. Can I get some medication from you if I need it? I have some, but I was going to call or stop into your clinic to see if I couldn’t order more.”

“Yes, we’re closed now, but call me with what you need, and I’ll bring it out.” He was able to get his arm free enough from the woman to extract his wallet and retrieve his business card to hand to her.

“Give me a few, then I’ll be out.”

“Okay,” Lorissa said as she rushed after the man and the last thing she heard as she ran through the door was the woman screaming something about him being a two-timing cheater and she would make him pay for humiliating her like he had.

Lorissa didn’t have time to stay and listen. She knew there was a story but also knew she was needed elsewhere that was more important.

“What do we have here?” she demanded as she approached the fire truck with the men standing around the open door. When they only looked at her with raised brows, she sighed heavily. “My name is Lorissa Gibson. I am a DVM as well as a farrier. ”

“What’s that?” one of the men asked.

“The DVM stands for Doctor of Veterinarian Medicine, I’m a vet, I work on animals. The farrier part is that I take care of the hooves of horses and or cows if needed. Mostly horses.” At their skeptical look, she sighed heavily. “I work for Erin Riceman.”

“Ah, okay. I’m Seth Falco, and these are my brothers. We responded to a fire and as we were clearing the building, we heard crying and yipping. This is what we found.” He had the men step aside and sitting on the seat was a box that he brought down to hold before Lorissa, while one of the other men grabbed a box off the floor. Inside the one Seth held was a small Yorkie that seemed to be in labored breathing and there were several pups around her. She looked up in shock. “How many pups?”

“We counted six. Mama was lying on top of them. We just scooped them up and ran. Ms. Gibson, the puppies’ eyes aren’t even open yet.”

“Got it,” Lorissa turned to the other men and nodded. “What do you have?”

“A mother cat with four kittens. Same as the puppies, their eyes aren’t open yet.”

“Okay, I don’t know if you know the place or not, but I live out at what Erin and Clark refer to as The Old Atherton place. I’ll take them home with me, and I have plenty of room to set them up. My truck is over there, I don’t want to disturb them if I don’t have to.” She pointed to her truck and in five minutes they were settled, and she was pulling away from the bakery as the police car arrived. She saw Tom through the window, but only gave him a chin lift as she drove past.

With the dog’s box on the seat in the middle of the front seat, she reached in and put her hand gently on the mother’s side and cooed that everything would be okay. As she drove she made a mental list of what she would need and used the Bluetooth device on her steering wheel to call The Broken Wheel.

“Naomi, it’s Lorissa.”

“Oh, hey, is everything okay, you sound rushed.”

“Yes, and no. I was on my way home and stopped at the bakery in town. While there, a fire truck stopped and rushed in to talk to Tom, who was there.” She didn’t get into any more details than that.

“Okay, was it the Falco brothers?”

“Yes, but they just came from a fire, and they had a box with puppies and kittens. Six puppies, four kittens, their eyes aren’t even open yet. I have them with me because Tom said his hospital is full. I’m still thirty to forty minutes out, I was wondering if you could gather some supplies and meet me at my house?”

“What do you need?” Naomi asked, and Lorissa liked that she didn’t hesitate to help.

She gave the list of items, agreed when it was read back to her, then asked hesitantly, “Do you know where my mother is? ”

“I think she’s over at New Double. Do you want me to call over and have her meet you at your place?”

“If you could. I thought if she didn’t have anything to do, she could help with taking care of these babies. Right now, from what little I was able to assess, the mama dog is having labored breathing.”

“Damn, do you know what breed?”

“Yorkie as far as I can tell.”

“Okay, I’ll get ahold of your mother, and someone will meet you with these supplies.”

“Thanks, Naomi.” Lorissa hung up and realized her foot had gotten a little heavier on the gas pedal, but she only backed off about five miles. She figured ten miles over the speed limit would be more forgiving than fifteen. She had heard somewhere years ago that the police didn’t pull you over until you were eleven miles over, so she stayed right at the ten-mile mark.

As soon as she pulled into the driveway, she didn’t know whether it shocked her or not when she saw not only her mother and grandmother, but also two older men, she didn’t recognize at first, but realized one was Cole Mercury, and the other one was Ducky.

“What do you have?” Ducky asked as Lorissa jumped out of her truck and went around to the passenger side. She opened the door, grabbed the box with the cats, and handed it back. She didn’t know who took it.

“I don’t know yet, I have to assess them, that’s the mother cat with four kittens. These are the dogs, the mother has labored breathing, and she has six puppies.” She had the box in her arms as she turned, and the others followed her into her home. Because she had been extremely upset a couple of weeks before, she’d set up an area in her house as her ‘clinic’ not knowing if she would ever work on animals, but she wanted to be prepared if she had to. She led the way there and put the boxes on a table. The first thing she did was wash her hands, then look up when Ducky asked her a question.

“Can you use this?” He held up a portable oxygen machine and she could have cried.

“Yes, where did you get something like that?”

He shrugged, but refused to look her in the eye. “My wife used them before she passed. I just make sure they’re up to regulations. I’ve been known to use it if I’ve overdone things around the ranch.”

“Does your doctor know? And are you sure these aren’t for you?”

“Yes, he’s the one to tell me to do it. I have several more bottles at home if you need them. This one is full. They really were my wife’s, not mine.”

“Thank you, and I’ll replace it, but this one should do.” She donned a pair of gloves and quickly assessed the cat and as she listened to the mother’s lungs, she inspected her as much as she could.

“Until I look into her further, the mama cat is either Himalayan or Persian. I can’t be sure but just glancing at them. As you can see, she has some singed hair. I don’t feel any burns, there’s a rattle in her lungs, so I’ll set her up with a little oxygen.” She paused to look up and saw the worried look on their faces. “Don’t worry, I won’t use it all on her. I can split it so both mamas can use it.” She continued inspecting the baby kittens and deemed them healthy. She settled the five of them in one of the cages and sighed in relief when the mother immediately started cleaning her babies.

“Mom, can you get her some water?” Lorissa asked, not even looking to see if her mother did as requested. She moved on to the dogs, and again, she removed her gloves, washed her hands, and donned a fresh pair. She first inspected all of the puppies, and put them in a cage with a warming blanket, then she turned to the mother. After inspecting her closely, she took some of the ointment she’d requested from Naomi and wiped it on the patches of missing hair. By the looks of it, she was burned in several places. She then hooked up the oxygen and was able to give it to her. After about ten minutes, her labored breathing seemed to even out. Lorissa nodded in approval when the little dog let out a deep sigh and seemed to fall asleep. She used her stethoscope to listen to her lungs and nodded again.

“She has smoke inhalation, but I don’t think it’s as bad as I thought. ”

“How can you tell?” Cole asked as he stood behind her grandmother with her hands on her shoulders.

“Her breathing would still have been just as labored with the oxygen. She’s not out of the woods yet, but this oxygen is helping.”

“What about the babies?” Laurie asked. “Can she still nurse them?”

“I don’t think so. As much as I want her to, I don’t want to put too much stress on her. We can leave them with her, however, I’m going to be feeding them with an eye dropper, then a bottle every two hours until Mama’s better.” The entire time she talked she ran her hand over the top of the dog’s head, and down to her shoulders. She stopped just before the areas that had been singed.

She didn’t know how long she stood there until there was a commotion and she looked up to stare at Tom Stolls as he strode forward with his medical bag in his hand. The sight of it made her kick herself mentally for not having hers on hand and at the ready.

“What do you have?”

“The cats seem fine, you might want to check the mama’s lungs. I think she could benefit from a little oxygen. I’m sharing it with her and the Yorkie. I can’t tell whether she’s a Himalayan or a Persian.”

Lorissa didn’t know whether to be upset by his chuckle. He shook his head and smiled with a chuckle. “I’m not laughing at you. This cat is named Baby, and she is a combination of both. Her father was Himalayan, and her mother was Persian. Her owner wanted to get her professionally bred to a Himalayan but when she brought her in for a checkup before the deed, Baby was already pregnant. Don’t quote me on this, but she got out one day when her owner wasn’t paying attention, and Baby hooked up with a local alley cat. The local bad boy.”

“Oh dear,” Lorissa said and tried to withhold her grin, but couldn’t. On a laugh, she asked, “How did Baby’s owner react?”

“Terribly. She blamed me for, well, her Baby, getting pregnant. When I pointed out that I wasn’t her owner, that just made it worse. She said that if Baby birthed rejects, her words, not mine, then she was going to dump Baby on my doorstep and wash her hands of her. She also said that no child of hers would ever be so disrespectful as to do the deed with an alley cat.” He walked over and opened the cage and reached in for one of the kittens to inspect. With the kitten still in his gloved hand, he looked at Lorissa with a serious expression. “You have room for five cats?”

“I’m sure I can find room for them. Do you think Baby’s owner will disown her?”

“Yes.” He didn’t hesitate in his answer and jumped ahead with his explanation. “Why? Because Baby’s owner is an entitled witch that only has to have the best of everything, even in her pets. If she learns that Baby got knocked up by the local riffraff, she will disown her in a heartbeat. The same with Rose here.”

“Who?”

“Rose, the Yorkie.”

“Ah.” Lorissa said as she petted the dog she was giving oxygen to and watched Tom inspected the puppies, then came over to her.

“Do you mind?”

“Not at all,” she said as she stepped back. For some reason, she didn’t have a problem with him inspecting her work. It felt like he wasn’t second guessing her, but giving a second opinion. He got down so his nose almost touched the wounds on her side and nodded as he saw the ointment she’d applied. When he listened to Rose’s lungs, he looked at Lorissa with a sad expression.

“What do you think?” he asked her as he stood to take in the situation.

“I think Baby and her babies will make it. I’m going to leave them in the cage and make sure there’s a warming blanket, as well as plenty of food and water for Baby. I believe she will be able to nurse them.”

“I agree. Do you need or have another warming blanket?”

“Yes, it’s brand new and over in the bottom cupboard.” She pointed and watched as he went to retrieve it and set the cat up to be comfortable. He even put some food in a bowl, and that was when Lorissa realized he’d brought the food. Again, causing her to give herself a mental slap to make sure her home clinic was fully furnished.

“What do you think about Rose?”

“She’s going to have a rough time. I’d like to put her on oxygen, maybe even put a tube down her throat for a few days. I would also like to leave the puppies with her, so they have the bonding, but I’m going to bottle feed them until she’s better. I don’t know if she’ll dry up, or even accept them after she recovers, but I think if her babies are close, she should be okay.”

“I agree.” Tom looked around then stared at her. “Do you mind if I look at what supplies you have?”

“Not at all,” Lorissa waved her hand toward the cabinets, and it wasn’t long before Tom started taking things from them and lying them on the other table in the room. When he was done, he stood across the table from where she stood.

“You have everything here to put her under and put the tube down her throat. Would you like to do that, or would you like me to?”

“I can, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all, but why don’t you continue to give her the oxygen while I get these people set up and show them how to feed the puppies? I figure they could go out into your small waiting area to feed them while we get Rose situated.”

Lorissa looked at her mother, grandmother, Cole, and Ducky. By their expressions they looked scared, so she looked at Tom and whispered just as he’d whispered his question to her. “I think you’re right. They don’t need to be here when we work on Rose.”

Together the two of them were able to keep Rose calm and rigged up the oxygen so it didn’t have to be held. While Tom went out to his truck for some supplies, Lorissa started gathering what she needed. Ten minutes later they handed the first puppy to Lois and everyone watched as she began feeding the puppy. It was Ducky who gathered them all and left the room with the promise that he wouldn’t return until they called them back.

As soon as the others left, Lorissa and Tom scrubbed up, covered their street clothes in the proper attire, donned gloves, and went to work. It took almost an hour to complete because Rose’s esophagus was damaged more than they had thought, but they were able to get the tube down her throat, an IV in, and enough drugs to keep her under for the next few hours.

They cleaned up and when the others returned, Lorissa set the puppies up in the cage with their mother, and made sure they couldn’t pull the IV or breathing tube out. She closed the cage and looked directly at Tom. “If the puppies were any older, I wouldn’t keep them with Rose. I estimate that they’re less than three days old.”

“I concur on both points. They’re little enough yet that they’re just going to burrow into her for warmth. If they happen to latch onto a teat, then it shouldn’t do any harm.”

“I agree.” Lorissa stood there and watched the puppies, then went over to the cats and opened the cage to look at them. After giving Baby some love, she shut the cage and stepped back to turn to the others.

“I don’t expect anyone to help, but if you want to volunteer to help feed the puppies, let me know.”

“You don’t need to feed the kittens?” Cole asked.

“No, they seem fine. I think that the little bit of oxygen I gave Baby helped. As long as she rests, I don’t see any problems. I’ll keep Rose sedated for at least the next forty-eight hours, and we can assess the situation then. Fingers crossed she recovers enough that we can take her off the oxygen, she accepts her babies, and I can move her into the house.” She looked at Tom with a frown. “I hate keeping pets in a cage, and I’m assuming they had free rein of the house at their home?”

“Yes, the only time Emily and Chad caged Rose and Baby was when they brought them to the clinic.” He shook his head then and chuckled lightly. “They didn’t even have Rose on a leash, she had her own pet carrier. Both of them were spoiled rotten. I’ll reach out to Jim later to let him know where Rose and Baby are, and see if Emily or Chad want to come get them after they get a clean bill of health. ”

“You don’t think they’ll reject them, especially Baby?”

“I don’t know, I hope Emily’s threats were jokes, but I don’t know how bad the fire was and what their situation is. I hope after learning their animals are in capable and loving hands, they can concentrate on the aftermath of the fire, knowing their animals are safe.”

“Let’s hope.” Lorissa gave the animals one last check, then shooed everyone out. While Cole and Ducky headed toward Lois’s house, she heard them say something about growing plants, Laurie went toward her house saying she was going to get something started for supper, but for Lorissa to give her a call if she needed help with the puppies. With them all scattering, that left Tom and Lorissa standing there and an awkward silence came between them.

“Do you want to tell me what the hell happened at the bakery earlier?” Lorissa asked, and tried not to sound upset, but when Tom winced, she didn’t know if she succeeded as well as she thought.

“Do you have any coffee? I’m not putting it off, but it’s a long explanation.”

“Sure, come on in,” she said as she turned on her heel, and went to the back door to the house, not the clinic. Once they were inside she immediately went to the coffee pot, got it going, then pointed to the table to the side. “Sit, I’ll bring it over. Start talking.”