Escape to the Country (15 page)

"Those two there, which will calve first?" He pointed out
two cows side be side with their backs to them.

"That one. It looks like it's producing milk."

"Quite right. With Rosepetal, because it's her first calf, the
difference will be even more obvious."

"I'll keep a close eye on her. Jayne says that when a cow is
about to start calving you can tell. Is that right?"

"Yes. It's difficult to explain, but once you know the cow, you
know when something's happening."

"That's why you knew there'd be calves today."

He nodded.

"Is it some of these?"

"No, we've already separated out the ones we expected to calve
today."

"To give them some privacy?"

He grinned again. "You can think of it that way if you like, but
really it's for safety. As you've seen, there's not a lot of room in
here. We bring them all together like this when they're due so we can
monitor them regularly. They've just been here a couple of days and
we'll be taking more out each day over the next few weeks."

"A busy time?"

"Very. We try to get them calving in two batches. One now and
one lot had theirs about three months ago and are just getting in
calf again now."

"Like Rosemary. I see."

"Remember I said that when one cow starts to give birth it sets
the others off?"

"Yes."

"That's happened here. A cow who wasn't due for a couple of days
seems to be starting early."

"Will she be OK?"

"Fine, but I want to get her into a separate pen. Give me a
hand?"

"OK. Which one is she?"

"You tell me."

Leah looked round the pen. Every cow had a different pattern of black
and white markings, but to her they all looked very similar. She
couldn't even recognise the two she thought were going to crush her.
No, actually she could. The fidgety one in the corner looked as
though it was the one which pushed past her. It might have felt it
had an urgent need to be somewhere, but it didn't seem to know what
to do with itself now it was there.

She looked at each of the other cows in turn. They weren't doing a
lot. A couple had their heads in the trough which ran along one end
of the pen and were eating what looked like particularly horrendous
muesli. One was drinking from the water tank. The rest were all lying
or standing while they chewed. Her attention kept being drawn back to
the fidgeter. That cow was the only one not chewing and it kept
turning round as though checking no one were sneaking up on her. It
seemed odd for a cow to be paranoid.

"Oh! It's her, isn't it? The fidgety one?" Leah pointed.

Duncan grinned. "Yep and luckily she's got herself right by the
gate, so getting her out will be easy."

It was. Duncan opened the gate to let her out and the cow, prompted
by a few nudges from Leah, followed him into a separate stall. They
shut her in and went to check on the rest of the cows. None had
actually started to give birth, but Leah believed him when Duncan
said it wouldn't be long. Unless it was her imagination, they did
seem as though they were expecting something to happen.

"Let's have a cup of tea and come back later," Duncan
suggested.

"Good plan."

He set off for the farmhouse.

"You won't get into trouble will you?" Leah said.

"Trouble, why?"

"For taking me inside and..."

"No, silly."

Duncan had a key to the house and clearly felt at home there. She'd
forgotten he was related to that awful Gilmore-Bunce, who luckily
wasn't at home. Of course he wasn't; there was work to do.

The house was large with lots of furniture, but that didn't stop
Duncan from sitting close to her on a leather sofa. It felt good to
be with him like that; a mixture of excitement and relaxation. She
was pleased she was learning from him and had been able to help him
move the cow. Hopefully he too had noticed they made a good team.

By the time they'd drunk the tea and returned to the maternity
stalls, a cow had gone into labour. Leah watched fascinated as the
cow huffed and puffed, looking just like a woman having contractions,
except it was standing and fairly quiet. She almost didn't notice
Duncan put his arm around her shoulders as he watched with her.

After a while the cow lay down. That didn't seem to suit her though
as she thrashed about a bit as though trying to find a comfortable
position. She soon stood up again. Behind her was a calf covered in
slime.

"She's had it!"

He gave her shoulders a quick squeeze. "Yes. Don't be worried if
Rosepetal takes much longer though. This is the fifth calf for this
one. First calves often take hours."

Leah nodded. She was feeling a lot happier about her role as
temporary midwife.

"She did it all on her own. Jayne said they do, but I couldn't
imagine it."

The new mother began energetically licking her calf. Within just a
few minutes, it had got shakily to its feet and started to drink.

"I feel all emotional."

Duncan ruffled her hair. "Want to see it again?"

"She's having twins?" It didn't seem possible. The cow was
huge, but so was the calf.

"Nope. Come on." He grabbed her hand.

They went to look at fidgety. She hadn't started to calve, but the
cow in the stall next to her had. The second cow lay down for the
whole process and took a bit longer, but everything went just as
smoothly. By the time the second calf was on its feet and drinking,
the fidgety cow was laid down making the heaving movements with her
belly which meant another calf was on its way. After half an hour,
Duncan suggested another cup of tea.

"Should we leave her?"

"She'll be fine for a while."

They didn't take so long drinking the second cup of tea, but Duncan
sat just as close. He only talked about cows and gave advice on what
to do when Rosepetal calved, but with him sitting so close she could
feel his breath on her cheek, the conversation seemed very intimate.

Two hours after Leah had first realised the cow was about to calve,
two feet appeared from the Friesian's back end.

"There it is!" Leah cried.

"Yes, she's doing fine."

After a few more heaves, they could see the calf's nose.

"That's a really good sign. Means the calf is the right way
round. If you can see back legs, or there's no head it's likely to be
a difficult birth."

Although Duncan kept assuring Leah everything was fine, with words
and hugs, the cow continued to heave without making any more
progress.

"Shouldn't you call a vet?"

"There's no need, but she's been at it a while; we'd better give
her a hand."

"We?"

"You wanted some training."

Leah could only nod. If she chickened out now how could she hope to
help Rosepetal or earn Duncan's respect?

Duncan opened the door to the stall and stepped inside. He waited a
moment then indicated Leah should join him.

"Do everything slowly and gradually, we don't want to alarm
her."

No need; Leah was alarmed enough for the both of them.

Slowly they approached the cow and knelt behind her.

"Easy there, Wanda," Duncan said as he put his hand on the
cow's back.

"Wanda?" Leah asked.

"You didn't think Rosemary and Rosepetal were the only cows with
names?"

As that's exactly what she had thought, Leah kept quiet.

"What we're going to do is help the calf out, by gently pulling
each time she pushes. Don't jerk and don't use too much force."

"Right."

She must have sounded as scared as she felt, because Duncan squeezed
her hand.

"I'll tell you exactly when."

He helped her get hold of the calf's ankles, then knelt behind her.
He reached round and put his hands just above hers. Once she was in
his arms, she didn't feel so worried.

The cow heaved.

"Now, gently."

Leah hardly dared pull at all, but she guessed Duncan was using more
strength.

"OK, stop."

She released her grip.

"Keep hold, just don't pull again until I say."

"Sorry."

"You're doing fine."

She felt fine, maybe because she could feel the heat of his body,
pressed against her.

"OK, pull now."

They pulled and for a second it seemed the calf's head would come
free, then it disappeared back inside its mother.

"I think the head will come next time."

It did and a few pulls later, the rest followed. Duncan quickly
lifted its leg, dropped it back down and said, "Let's go."

By the time they'd got themselves out and shut the door, Wanda was on
her feet, licking the calf.

Tears coursed down Leah's cheeks.

"You were right about the emotional bit," Duncan said. He
held her close and kissed her forehead.

"Don't you feel at all emotional at a birth?"

"I'm pleased they're both fine and that it's a heifer calf.
Wanda's a good milker, so her new calf will eventually join the
herd." He led her to a tap in the yard where they washed their
hands.

"You'll have to think of a name for her then."

"It'll be Wanda."

"Wanda the second?"

"About the hundred and second. Each cow is named after its
mother, so she's got sisters and aunts also called Wanda."

"What's the point of that?"

"It helps with identification. They all have official ear tag
numbers by law, but you can't remember who's related to who so they
have a name and number too. This Wanda is Wanda six-one meaning she's
Wanda the sixth's first calf, or at least the first female we've
kept."

"That's boring. I'm going to give Rosepetal's calf a nice name."

"You do that."

She thought for a minute she'd offended him, but he grinned at her.

"So, now you're all trained up, perhaps you'll let me take you
somewhere to celebrate?"

"Don't you have to stay with the cows until they've all calved?"

"Not every night. Phil and Jake take regular turns too, plus
there are a couple of others who do a shift when they're needed."

Of course, Home Farm was a much bigger place than Jayne's
smallholding, one person couldn't be expected to do everything. "I've
never seen anyone else about on the farm."

"No." He looked slightly embarrassed. "I've kept them
out the way."

"What's wrong with them?"

"Nothing. Well, nothing except them both being single and
younger than me and..." He shrugged. "So, will you agree to
come out with me again? Say yes quick before you get a look at the
competition."

He said it as though he were joking, but Leah had the impression he
really didn't want her to prefer the elusive Phil or Jake over
himself. She wanted to show him he had nothing to worry about.

"Yes, but it should be my treat, to thank you."

"There's no need for that."

"Yes there is. Thank you so much for today, it's been amazing."
She kissed his cheek.

"You want to thank me, you can give me a proper kiss."

"Oh, could I?" She tried to look as though she were
thinking about it rather than fighting the urge to give him the most
passionate kiss he'd ever experienced.

"Either that, or you can come with me and I'll show you what us
country types get up to in hay barns."

Regretfully she decided a kiss was all he was going to get. She took
a step toward him and slid her arms around his neck. As he pulled her
close and lowered his lips to hers, she felt a jolt of pleasure surge
through her. If that's what it was like to have him kiss her, what
would it be like if they...

Her legs felt a little shaky as he held her hand and walked her back
to the car, but that was probably just from the excitement of seeing
three cows give birth. Or maybe not.

Chapter 10

Leah and Jayne spent a busy day giving the animals extra bedding and
moving foodstuffs nearer those which weren't fed in the yard, so Leah
wouldn't have too much to do as while Jayne was in hospital. She was
glad of the work as it helped stop her think about two disturbing
pieces of post she'd received.

The first one she opened was from the professional organisation she
belonged to. It was long and boring, explaining her rights and the
action that could be taken on her behalf if she so wished. Leah
couldn't get interested. She wanted her name cleared, of course, but
only because no one would want to live under allegations of
embezzlement, not because she really wanted to return to her old
life. Maybe she'd feel differently once everything was cleared up.

The second item was a small package addressed in Adam's handwriting.
She supposed it would be legal papers concerning the flat, maybe
bills he expected her to contribute towards. Instead the brown paper
covered a copy of John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men.' She'd told him
she'd read and enjoyed it at school and he must have seen it in a
bookshop and remembered.

There was a short note, saying just, 'As the saying goes, I saw this
and thought of you. Adam.' There was a short diagonal stroke after
his name as though he'd started to draw a kiss and stopped halfway
through - or perhaps had just made an accidental mark on the paper.

Leah opened the book and gasped. Inside was a stamp from her old
school. Flipping through she saw pencilled notes in the margin. They
weren't hers, but she had done exactly the same thing in her own
copy. Sending it to her was nice, if surprising, thing for him to do.
She couldn't help wondering if there was any motive behind it.

She'd shown both the letter and the book to Jayne. "Looks like
you'll be OK financially," she said after scanning the letter.
"At least, I think that's what it means."

Leah confirmed it did and they both looked at the book. Leah
explained its significance.

"Would it have been expensive?" Jayne asked.

"Probably cost less than the postage. Do you think he was just
being nice?"