Montana Morning (14 page)

“Now what,
happens?”  Addy suddenly realized she was shivering and had no feeling in
either leg.

“We wait,” Will
said simply.  “You might put in a good word with the man upstairs for
Melody and her foal.”  He lifted the mare’s head out of her lap, and
grinned as she tried to stand. “Bet your legs are dead asleep.”

“Walking will
help,” she moaned at the ache coming into her feet. “I’ll go back to the house
and make some coffee.”  She looked at the bloody mess Jack had become and
decided soap, water, and some towels were also needed. 

***

Three hours had
passed, and Melody looked weaker with each contraction. 

“Is she going to
make it?” She looked first to Will and then to Jack.

“Not if she
doesn’t give birth soon,” Jack said matter-of-factly. 

Addy sat down on
her knees by Melody’s head and began cooing and stroking her mane.

“You listen up
girl; they’ve done all they can for you.  Now it’s up to you.  Don’t
you let us down.” Another contraction started.  “Push, Melody, push,” she
coached. The mare just sighed . . . another contraction.  “Push!” 
Addy shouted at the mare.  Melody paused, shook, and then straining and
whinnying in pain, pushed . . . the foal slipped out. 

Melody collapsed
but she was still alive.  Jack and Will tended the newborn filly and Addy
toweled down the mare the best she could.  Will gave the mare a shot and
they tubed her with warm sugar water.  The filly had to nurse soon, if she
was going to survive.  Jack stripped Melody’s teats of their life-giving
colostrum and fed it to the new filly using a small calf bottle.  Will
covered the mare with blankets and they took turns massaging her.  The
small filly finally found her legs and wobbled over to her mother, nosing
her.  Melody lifted her head, and then slowly struggled to her feet. 
   

“Hallelujah!”
shouted Will, dancing up and down. 

Jack grabbed Addy
and picking her up off her feet, swung her around like a rag doll. 
Suddenly he realized what he was doing, and sat her down. 

She laughed up at
Jack, who was so shocked by what he had just done, he was speechless. 
Addy laid her tired head on his chest and relaxed for the first time in
hours.  The sun was just peeking over the hills. 

“Thank you, God,
for the miracles of this night and the blessings of the coming day,” she
whispered.

“Amen.” Jack
stroked her hair as he watched Melody and her filly checking each other
out. 

***

Within weeks
calving season was in full swing, and as Jack had warned, all schedules were
null and void.  Addy gave up planning meals, and settled for having
something hot and nourishing available whenever the men were in the
house.  Scotty had taken over the chores closest to the house.  He
especially enjoyed the time spent in the barn with Melody and the filly. 
The weather was warmer now, but windy most of the time.  Calving was going
as smoothly as could be expected, but everyone was getting tired and
edgy.  One day several weeks before Easter as Addy helped Scotty bring in
the last of the kitchen wood, she noticed he was even quieter than usual.

“What’s up with
you, Scotty?  You’ve been kind of quiet the last few days,” she said, as
she piled the last sticks of wood into the box next to the back door.

“I haven’t seen
Grandpa, Pops or Andy for what seems like weeks, and I guess I’m tired out is
all.”

She knew Scotty
was lonely and hoped her news might cheer him up at least a little.  “Do
you remember Maggie?”

“Sure, she’s a
nice lady.”  Scotty took off his coveralls and headed for the
fridge.  “Mind if I have a glass of milk and one of those cinnamon rolls
before I go to the barn?”

“That’s why I made
them.” She smiled and got him a napkin.  “Think I’ll join you. 
Anyway, as I started to tell you, Maggie is coming for Easter dinner along with
Mark Denning.”

“Boy, it sure will
be great to see some different faces.”

Addy pouted and
blinked as if she were about to cloud up and cry.

“Not that I don’t like
your face!” he exclaimed, horrified to think he had hurt her feelings.

She laughed and
messed up his red hair.  “Ha! You just like my cinnamon rolls.  You
can’t fool me.”  They savored the treats in silence, but soon Scotty spoke
up.

“Addy, do you miss
your mom?”

“I miss her every
day, Scotty.  She’s been gone for fifteen years and not a day goes by I
don’t think about her.  Why do you ask?”  She was watching him
carefully over the rim of her coffee cup, sensing that whatever was eating at
him was close to the surface now.

He didn’t answer
for a long time and when he did,tears ran down his cheeks.  “Darn it!” He
wiped them away with his sleeves. He looked up to find Addy smiling at him and
knew she wasn’t going to make fun of him, like he had feared.  “When she
and Dad  . . . well when they first were gone, I was hurt and then I had
to move here, and then I got surgery.”  He sat quietly, staring out into
the corrals.

“You were in pain
and shock. There were so many new things and people to adjust to, and  a
whole new way of life.’

“Yeah, I didn’t
really have time to think.  Know what I mean?”

She nodded. 
“And now?”

“Now I miss my
folks, I miss my friends. I miss my old room . . .”

“And you’re
lonely.” She walked over and put her arms around his small shoulders.

“It’s not that I
don’t like you and Grandpa and everybody,” he stuttered.

“It takes a lot of
time to adjust, Scotty.  Don’t worry about it.  You’re doing just
fine.” They hugged each other and she kissed him on the top of the head. 
“We love you very much.  Calving season will be over soon and then things
will get back to normal.  Meanwhile Farmer Jones, you’d better get the
rest of your chores done.  Didn’t I hear Jack ask you to check the spring
in the pasture where they’re keeping the heifers?”

“Yeah, I might
have to clear the ice again so they can get a drink.”  He had only done it
twice and already it was a job he hated.  “I’m going to check on the
horses in the barn first.” He pulled on his coveralls, and thanking her for the
snack, headed back to work.

If things went
right, Will had told her this morning, they could all have dinner together
tonight for the first time in days.  Addy checked the pot roast simmering
on the wood stove, put the loaves of bread in the oven and prayed for Scotty.
So many changes in such a short time, it was a wonder he was doing as well as
he was.

 She was
standing at the sink, washing dishes when the door slammed shut behind
her.  Jack looked twice his six foot two, and three times as angry.

“Where is he?” he
growled and started for the stairs.

Scotty walked in
the door behind Jack.  “Hi, Grandpa.  What’s up?”  He smiled,
glad to see his grandpa.

Jack whirled
around and glared at him. “I thought I told you to check those springs this
afternoon.”              

Scotty’s eyes grew
wide with fear.  He had never seen Jack mad before.  “I was just
heading down there, Grandpa,” he stammered and looked at Addy.

“Don’t bother.”
Jack snapped at him.  “I already did it for you.  Head for the barn
and clean out the stalls, then put fresh straw in them.  By the time you
get done maybe you’ll remember to do what you’re told the next time.  Now
get moving,” Jack was shouting and Scotty was out the door, running for the
barn.

 Jack slammed
the door behind Scotty and turned on Addy who was standing at the kitchen sink
staring at him.  She couldn’t believe the tantrum he had just thrown.

“I think somebody
needs a nap,” she growled to herself and turned to pile the rest of the dishes
in the sink.

“Addy?” Jack had
heard what she said, but couldn’t believe he’d heard her right.  She flew
around to meet his glare. 

“Why don’t you use
that foul temper of yours on someone tough enough to handle it?”

 Jacks eyes
were as cold as ice.  “And I suppose you think you’re tougher?” he
sneered. 

Adrianna was
furious with him.  “Well, I’m stronger than Scotty is right now, so give
it your best shot, Cowboy.” She stood facing him down with her hands on her
hips.  The crooked smile on Jack’s face told Addy she had made a very big
mistake. 

Lazily, he took
off his hat, sat it on the table and strolled across the kitchen, stopping so
close to her she felt like he was breathing her air.  Without a word he
slowly wrapped his arms around her waist, lifted her off her feet, grinned and
said, “You asked for it.” Her second mistake was opening her mouth to protest.
Jack gave her a long, hard, heart-stopping, deeply passionate kiss. When he
finally released her, it was with a smirk on his face.

“Now then, still
feeling strong enough to handle me, Addy?”

 She was so
shocked by what he had done, what he had caused her to feel, she couldn’t think
of a thing to say.  She simply stared at him.

“I didn’t think
so.”   Jack picked up his hat and went out the door.  He shook
his head as he headed for the barn and Scotty.  Why on earth had he done
that? Anger?  Frustration?  Truth be known, he’d wondered for a long
time what it would be like to kiss her, and now he knew, or did he?  Had
her rage turned to passion or was the trembling he had felt within her only
fear?  Damnation, either way, and now he had to deal with his
grandson.  He found Scotty cowering in the corner of an empty stall,
crying.

“Oh, for Pete’s
sake, Son.” Jack sat down beside him and stuck a piece of straw into the corner
of his mouth.  “Hasn’t anyone ever yelled at you before?”

“No, Sir.” 
Scotty was hiccupping and looking everywhere but at Jack.

“Never?”  He
couldn’t believe his ears.  “Never?  Not even once?”

“No, Sir.” 
Jack handed him a piece of straw and Scotty chewed on it like he saw Jack doing.

“Oh, for Pete’s
sake.”  Jack stared off into space and was quiet for a few minutes. “Can
we at least agree you should have checked the springs earlier?”

“Yes, Sir.” 
Scott was glad his grandpa wasn’t yelling anymore.

“Good, and quit
calling me sir!”  Jack was back to growling.
‘Good grief, will this day
never end?’ 
“And can we agree we’ve all been working too hard and
getting too tired?”

“Yes, Sir . . . I
mean Grandpa.”

“Fine then.” Jack
had never been much good at apologizing.  “Sorry I lost my cool.”

“I didn’t mean to
disappoint you.  I really wanted you to like me.”

“Like you? 
Son, I love you, even when I’m hollering like a stuck pig!  As for being
disappointed in you, that’s just hogwash.   What do you say I help
you finish up here and we head back to the house for supper?”

He had to wonder
if Addy would even let him back in the house, but when he and Scotty came back
from the barn, she acted as if nothing had happened.  Later that evening,
after the others had gone to bed, she took him a cup of coffee as he worked at
his desk.

“Jack, about this
afternoon,  why did you . . . she hadn’t planned to ask and found herself
blushing as he looked up from his papers.

“Kiss you?”

 She nodded,
biting her lip.

“Trying to
exorcize some demons, I guess,” he admitted, noticing the soft pink tinge of
her cheeks.

“Did it work?”

“No.”
            

 Adrianna
watched as he returned to the books in front of him.  She was about to
close the door behind her when he straightened up, put his pen down and
asked.   “Are you waiting for me to tell you I’m sorry?”

“No,” she
whispered so softly he almost missed it.

“Good, because I’m
not sorry,” he growled.  But he was; Jack had finally admitted to himself
that he had kissed Addy to prove he would feel nothing.  He’d been wrong.

“Standing here
mooning over the fence isn’t going to bring him get back any quicker.”

Addy jumped. 
She hadn’t heard Will saunter up beside her, and turned to see him grinning as
he leaned on the top rail.  “I’m not mooning,” she began to protest.

“Sure you are,”
Will said, looking out over the meadow.  It was beginning to show signs of
early spring.  “Sorry you didn’t go into town?”

“Not at all. 
I didn’t want to leave Scotty right now, him having such a bad cold and . . .”

“And you didn’t want
to be cooped up in the truck with Jack for hours with no place to
run.”        

   
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Will.” She stared up into the sky,
feeling the warm spring sun on her face.

“No one around
here is as dumb as you think we are, Gal.”  Will cleared his throat and
continued.  “You haven’t sung or even hummed a note that I’ve heard, in
over a week.  You and Jack are stepping around each other like you’re
walking on broken glass.  You’re as jumpy as a jack rabbit and he’s as grouchy
as an old bear,” he paused and looked her way.  “Need I go on?”

Addy didn’t know
what to say and turned her back to hide the tears welling up in her eyes. 
“No.  I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t come
here for an apology.  I came to talk to a friend.” Will stood quietly
waiting for a reply.

“I could use a
friend just now, Will,” she confided.  “I don’t quite know where to
start.”

“The beginning is
usually best.”

“A man of few
words.” She smiled up at him and began walking down the lane away from the
house.  Will walked in step beside her.  Emily had always preferred
to walk as she talked too, especially when she was troubled.  They had
almost reached the end of the lane when Addy began.

“Will, I love it
here, you know that.”

 He
nodded. 

“I’m more at home
and content in this valley than anywhere I have ever been in my life.  I
love Scotty.  Andy is an absolute dear and you and I have more
understanding between us than most people who have been friends for
years.”  She turned as they headed slowly back towards the house. “Will,
I’m scared.  I’m afraid something is going to happen and I . . .”