Courageous Love: A Christian Romance Novel (The Hawaii Love Series, #1) (16 page)

“Wait, Mother, I’m coming!” He heard her footsteps land softly on the stairs as she made her way down to the front door behind her parents. Daniel decided he could sleep on the plane. He grabbed his clothes and shoes and ran after Michelle.

The cool night air welcomed him as he stepped onto the front porch. He saw lights at the main stable and looked over just as Michelle disappeared into the barn. Daniel looked up at the starry sky and then out onto the lush pastures. He sure would miss this place, he thought.

“Hurry Daniel,” Elizabeth’s voice beckoned from the stable.

Daniel jogged through the soft grass and over to the barn where a handful of people stood in a crowd. “Daniel,” Larry’s voice boomed. “Have you ever helped a mare foal before?” Daniel couldn’t see Larry, but could hear him loud and clear.

“Um, no, um no I haven’t,” he said, unsure if that was the right answer and not quite sure if he wanted to know why Larry asked.

Elizabeth, Mave, and Kahili stood arm and arm, looking down in front of them as Daniel approached. Ano and two other ranch hands were standing at one end of the circle and a tall white haired man was at the other end next to Michelle. Michelle turned toward Daniel and smiled. Her sleepy eyes called out to him and stirred up feelings of deep attraction and affection. Daniel would have gotten caught up in those emotions if he had the chance. But he didn’t.

“You,” called the voice. Daniel didn’t recognize it but saw that it came from the white haired man standing beside Michelle. “Come here young man.”

Michelle smiled softly and turned to look at the older gentleman. “His name is Daniel, Grandpa,” she said.

Grandpa thought Daniel. So this must be Lilo’s husband. How come he hadn’t met him yet? he wondered.

“So, you’ve never helped foal before?” the man asked.

“No, no sir, I haven’t,” Daniel said, walking around to the other side of the man.

“Well, son, now’s your chance.” The man smiled and held out a strong arm to Daniel. “George, George Clemens, good to meet you son.”

Clemens thought Daniel. This must be Larry’s father. “Nice to meet you to sir,” said Daniel, trying to put his thoughts together. It was too early to figure out the entire family tree, so instead, he just shook George’s hand and returned the smile.

Daniel looked away from George and saw the horse for the first time. Bella was a magnificent mare. She stood a good foot above Ano and her hide was like brown silk. “Wow,” was all Daniel could say.

“Yep,” said George. “She’s our prize. She’s just over 15 hands high and was almost 1,000 pounds before she was bred.”

Bella walked in circles in the stall, kicking the hay beneath her feet. Her long tail swung slowly back and forth as she breathed in and out. She turned this way and that as she circled the stall. The light in the barn was dim, but Daniel could see the foal inside her moving and kicking. Bella’s hide was pulled taught over her ribs and her swollen abdomen moved with the new life inside her.

“Wow,” Daniel said again. The rest of the crowd just giggled, having witnessed this miracle many times before.

“I know,” said Michelle as she looked on at Bella with amazement. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

Larry walked behind Bella with Ano, each kicking away the hay for her to lay in. “Come here,” Larry signaled to Daniel.

Daniel pointed at his chest, “Me?” he asked.

“Yes, you,” said Larry smiling. His hard demeanor seemed to disappear in the barn. It was as if he was truly in his element, doing what God had created him to do. And in this environment, no malice existed in his character.

Daniel walked in front of the ladies and smiled nervously at Elizabeth. “Yes, go, you’ll do fine,” she said, touching him lightly on the shoulder.

Bella continued to huff and puff, making her way back and forth across the stall. “Stand back,” Larry said as he held an arm out in front of Daniel, pushing him gently back toward the stable wall. Just then, Bella stopped and grunted. She lifted her head up in a soft whinny and slowly collapsed to the floor.

Daniel’s eyes grew big and his mouth flew open. “Don’t worry,” said Larry, “she’s fine.” He released his hand and then instructed Daniel to follow him and Ano. “Now, kick the hay away from her tail, like this.” The three of them took their feet and brushed the thick hay away from the hind quarter of Bella, allowing room for the new foal to settle gently on the soft stable floor.

They stood back, Daniel unsure what to do next. He took a cue from the rest of the ranch hands and decided to do nothing. All of the bystanders watched as Bella began her arduous work of birthing her baby. She laid still on the ground, breathing heavily with each contraction. Her ribs and abdomen tightened and then loosened with each movement of the foal inside her. Kahili squealed softly, unable to contain her excitement.

“Any time now, any time now,” said Larry slowly, his eyes fixed on Bella’s stomach. George and Michelle stood at the front end of Bella, talking softly to her as if to make her more comfortable. As they cooed her on, she continued to huff and puff, resting her head in the hay between contractions. At the last huff, her tail started swinging wildly.

“Here it comes now,” said Larry, bending to a crouch by Bella’s tail. He pulled Daniel to the floor with him and started moving the hay away from Bella’s back end. Daniel sat on his knees, unsure what to expect. Seconds later, Bella’s tail slowed, she gave a giant moan and the tips of two hooves appeared.

“Holy ...” Daniel sat frozen at the miracle unfolding before him. The hooves were wrapped in a casing, almost like a white plastic bag. They made their way further out of Bella, and after ten inches of foal appeared, the head came out. Daniel almost jumped back, never imagining the feet and head would appear at the same time.

“Now, here,” Larry instructed, using body language rather than words. “Put these on.” Larry handed Daniel a pair of plastic gloves that went all the way up to his armpits. “Help me remove the placenta.”

Larry had cut a tear in the white casing and began ripping it away from the head and legs. Daniel saw the face of the foal emerge and was awestruck at its beauty. The head was all brown and had a long white stripe between the closed eyes. Bella continued breathing heavily and pushing. Each contraction revealed a little more of the foal. After several hard pushes and lots of ooohhs and aaaahs from the girls, half of the foal was on the stable floor.

“Okay, now give me a hand here,” Larry said, placing Daniel’s hands over the front hooves. “Hold ’er gently as I pull the rest of ’er out.”

Daniel wrapped his hands around the slick, narrow legs of the foal and held them. The horse’s head laid lifeless on the floor and Daniel wondered if it was okay. Larry got in front of Daniel, put his gloved hands right up against Bella and began pulling the rest of the foal out. In two more giant pushes, the entire foal lay on the stable floor, half in the placenta and half out. Larry and Daniel rushed to remove the white casing from around the foal. As Daniel pulled the rest of the placenta off, Larry pulled back a hind leg and examined the foal.

“Colt,” he said, smiling proudly. Everyone cheered as Michelle and George continued to talk softly to Bella. The rest of the spectators smiled joyously as the little colt lay on the ground, butt to butt with its mother.

“Move back now, give them some space,” Larry said, directing Daniel to stand up and move against the wall.

Without a word, Daniel got to his feet and stepped back out of the way. He stood motionless, unsure what to do or say. The foal wasn’t moving, and Bella looked pretty bad too. She was breathing heavily and not moving her legs or head. Daniel looked down past his gooey gloved arms and stared at the foal. “Please God,” he prayed silently, “Please let this little guy be okay.”

After what seemed like an eternity, the colt began moving. He bobbed his long head up and down slightly as he moved his wobbly front legs. Bella laid perfectly still as the colt tried to come to. His long front legs kicked gently, feeling their first tastes of freedom. His back legs laid still and every few seconds he would stop and try to catch his breath. Within a few minutes, all of his legs were moving, and he was slowly trying to right himself.

No one said a word. The stable was completely silent. The only sound that could be heard was Bella’s breathing, which had slowed and softened. The colt moved clumsily in the hay, turning this way and that, unable to use his legs properly. After several more minutes, Bella lifted her head and looked to her baby. The colt had turned himself around and was a few feet away from Bella in a soft pile of hay. Bella leaned her large head around and began cleaning her baby boy.

“Yay,” said Kahili. “She likes him!” All the women hugged each other and congratulated Bella. George came around to look at the foal while maintaining a safe distance.

“Well,” George said as he stood between Larry and Daniel, placing one hand on each of their shoulders. “You did it, boys! Good job!”

Larry nodded his head once and shook his father’s hand. “Bella did it,” he said, motioning toward his prize mare. “With a little help from us,” he said pointing to Ano and Daniel. “Come on Ano, let’s clean this up.”

Larry and Ano walked to where Bella was laying and began soaking up birth water with hay. They did not want to remove her or the foal yet to clean the stall out but didn’t want either of them laying in the mess.

“It’s important to stand back and let the mother bond with her baby,” said Michelle as she came up next to Daniel.

He looked down at her and smiled, in shock over the whole experience. He raised his hands to wipe his eyes and then realized he still had the gloves on. “Oh,” he said, startled, “I better take these off.” Pulling the long gloves off, he set them in a heap on the floor next to the towels the ranch hands had brought out.

“You see,” Michelle went on, “if humans touch the foal too much, or get in the way, the mare may reject the baby. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen.” She looked at Daniel who was still staring at the foal. “That’s why we always try to give the mother and baby room to bond before we get involved.”

“I see,” said Daniel. “Well, I guess that’s why you guys cheered when Bella licked the colt?”

“That’s right,” Michelle said. “We learned our lesson the hard way. Even though Grandpa had taught us all how to help when a mare foaled, we still didn’t always listen.”

Daniel looked at Michelle, wanting to know more. She went on. “When I was just fourteen, we had a beautiful mare named Athena. She was foaling and her foal was turned around. The tail was coming out first and the legs got stuck. Athena was in so much pain, I couldn’t stand it. Even though I wasn’t supposed to get too close, I did. I grabbed the foal and with my father’s help, pulled her all the way out and away from Athena.”

“Was she okay?” Daniel asked, not sure why this was a bad thing to do.

“Yes,” Michelle said as sadness clouded her eyes. “The foal was fine. And so was Athena. But because we had taken the foal to the other side of the barn to check her and make sure she was fine, Athena never bonded with her. It was so sad. We tried to get them to bond. We put them in the same stall at night and everything. But Athena wouldn’t even let the foal nurse.”

“What did you do?” asked Daniel, curious how a mother could refuse her own baby.

“We ended up bottle feeding Lightning, the colt until he was old enough to eat. We eventually sold him to another ranch.”

“Is that what you do with all the foals? Sell them?” Daniel was very interested in how the ranch worked. Not only did they raise cattle, but they raised horses and other animals. Even though it was barely 3:00 in the morning, Daniel was energized after experiencing the birth.

“No, we don’t sell all of them. It depends on what Father will be using them for. Some are for work, some are for recreation and some are for show,” Michelle said as she looked lovingly down at Bella. “Bella has been with us since birth. She’s for show. And she’s also my favorite.”

The ranch hands finished padding the hay and gathered up their belongings. “Come on now,” Larry said as he led them back into the barn away from the stall. “Let’s leave them.”

Kahili had already gone back to the house with Mave. George and Elizabeth smiled at Daniel, and Michelle and began walking back to the main house too.

“We better go,” Michelle said, again grabbing Daniel’s hand, sending renewed energy shooting through him.” “Mommy and baby need time alone,” she said smiling.

D
aniel let her take his hand and lead him out into the cool night air. Once outside, she dropped his hand. “Well, you must be very tired. I’m sorry you had to get up for this,” she said as they walked slowly back toward the house.

“I’m not,” Daniel said. “I mean, I’m not tired, and I’m not sorry. That was the most amazing thing I think I’ve ever experienced!” And he meant it.

Michelle stopped and looked up at his face, noticing the brilliance of his eyes in the bright moonlight. Wow, she thought, he’s just as handsome in the middle of the night. “Well,” she said, trying not to get caught up in her attraction to this man. “You are a natural. Are you sure you’ve never helped a mare foal before?” Michelle jokingly jabbed his ribs, again astonished at his strength and physique. “Not even for a movie?”

“Nope, never did any stunts that involved gloves like that!” He laughed, still shocked that he got to be part of that. “I swear, this was my first time.”

“Well, you definitely know what you’re doing. I think the ranch life suits you,” she said as she kept walking across the damp grass. The house lights burned brightly ahead of them as the barn lights got dimmer in the distance. “Looks like Kahili is making her favorite foal funnel cakes.” Michelle could see Kahili and Mave bustling around in the kitchen as the smell of hot oil and fresh dough teased their senses.

“Famous what?” Daniel asked.

“Famous foal funnel cakes,” Michelle said. “Well, they’re not really funnel cakes. They are more like fried dough and funnel cakes combined.” Michelle went on to explain the tasty delicacies that Kahili made every time a mare gave birth.