Texas Homecoming

by Carolyn Brown

  She had made a call over to the Sunflower Ranch and talked to Sonny before she ever set out on the twenty-mile drive to rescue a tiny little newborn alpaca—a cria. Sonny had alpacas and was more than willing to see if one of his female alpacas—a hembra—would adopt the new baby. She determined that even on slick roads, she should be able to drive to her destination and back in two or three hours, but she hadn’t figured on the blizzard-like wind and snow that hit when she was returning home.

  The weatherman on the television that morning had said there was a possibility of an accumulation of two to three inches of snow in the area. But after she had picked up the cria and was on the way home, she caught a report on the radio that said the storm had taken a sudden turn. Residents of the area should be prepared for at least a foot of snow on top of the ice that was already on the ground.

  Stevie still thought she could make it to Sunflower Ranch, pass the cria off to Sonny, and head back home by suppertime. She sure didn’t want to get stuck at the ranch, not with Cody Ryan there. They had dated in high school, and she’d fallen head over heels in love with him, but then he went off to college when she still had her senior year to do. He had his heart set on being a doctor, and according to what he told her that last night they were together, he had to devote all his time to study. He had made the decision to help other people, especially those in foreign countries, and to be involved with a girl would get in the way of his dreams.

  “We both knew this day would come,” Cody had said. “I like you, Stevie, but…”

  He had left the sentence hanging, and she had managed to keep the tears at bay until she got home that evening. When she finally stopped crying, she vowed that she would prove to him that she would have been worth the wait. She would study hard, become a veterinarian, and show him that he made a wrong choice.

  She let go of the steering wheel for a brief moment to touch the locket around her neck. Inside was a tiny picture of wildflowers as a reminder to never give every bit of her heart to a man again. She’d taken the picture the last night she and Cody were together, and she didn’t have to open the locket to see the photo of the sun setting over a field of yellow, purple, and red flowers. She had taken the picture out the window of the bunkhouse out on Sunflower Ranch. In the foreground was a blue vase filled with wild daisies and small purple flowers. That had been more than twenty years ago, and she had moved on since then, but the picture was still with her urging her to go on with life like the wildflowers that popped up every spring.

  Stevie really thought she had moved past that teenage love until Cody Ryan came back to Honey Grove. Just seeing him again made her angry—proving that she still carried a little torch for him.

  The cria began to hum, which meant the poor little girl was missing her mama.

  “It’s okay, sweetheart. In another hour or two, we’ll have you in a herd of your own kind, probably in a nice warm barn. You’re going to be fine,” she told the baby. “Just hang on. I’m going as fast as I can.”

  Stevie still thought she could get home before the storm hit—right up until the gray skies opened up and began to dump flakes on her so thick that she couldn’t see two feet in front of her van. The wipers could hardly keep up, so in between swipes, she felt as if she were driving blind down the country road. She was still a long way from Sunflower Ranch when she felt a pull to the right and realized she was getting a flat tire. At the same time, she remembered that she was already using her spare tire and had left the other one at the garage to be fixed two days before.

  “Sweet Jesus in heaven!” She turned in to the next lane she saw. “I hope I’m where I think I am,” she muttered as she slowed to a crawl and fought with the steering wheel. “Max Hilton’s barn should be right up ahead of us. If I am right, we can stay there until this damn thing passes over us, and we can get some help. Don’t you worry, little darlin’. I’ve got alpaca colostrum in the van to get you started and milk to mix up for you after the first twenty-four hours.”

  She glanced down at her phone lying on the console. The last time she had come out to this area, she hadn’t been able to get a bit of service, but today she could see one bar up there at the top of her screen.

  “This is damn sure not what I expected when I made up my mind to move back to Texas,” she grumbled.

  Up ahead, she saw the shape of the barn and tapped her brakes, but that put her van into a long, greasy slide that ended when she slammed into the big, sheet metal barn doors.

  Stevie picked up her phone and tried to call Sonny but got a busy signal. So she sent a text: Had a flat tire. Am at Max Hilton’s old barn. I’m fine. Cria is fine. Send help when this blows over please.

  Sure enough, when she opened the van door and glanced down at the phone to see if she’d gotten a response, she had a NO SERVICE message.

  “Hope it went through,” she said as she grabbed the handle of the big sliding door and gave it a shove with all the strength she had, but nothing happened. Then a force from the other side slid the door wide open, and there was Cody Ryan standing right in front of her.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” she gasped.

  Cody folded his arms over his chest. “I might ask you the same question, except that I figure with those two flat tires, you got as far as you could and then tried to plow through the doors and into the barn.”

  “I just need to get my van inside so my supplies don’t freeze, and I’ve got a baby cria to take care of.” Stevie pushed past him. “Don’t just stand there letting the snow blow all over you. Help me get the van inside.”

  “Give me your keys. The tack room is heated up. Take the baby in there, and I’ll take care of the vehicle. Tires are ruined anyway so it won’t matter if I drive it on the rims,” Cody said.

  Stevie shook snow from her red hair and slid the van’s side panel door open.

  “Come on, pretty little girl. Let’s get you to a warm place and fix you a bottle. You don’t get to join a new herd tonight. You’ll just have to make do with me.” She crooned as she picked up the cria still snuggled down in an old plush blanket and carried it inside. “I’m sorry your mama didn’t make it, but when we get you to Sonny’s place, there will be lots of alpacas ready to adopt you.”

  She took the baby into the tack room and laid her on the floor beside the stove. “You stay right here, and I’ll be back in a minute,” Stevie whispered as she hurried back out into the barn.

  Cody glared at her and pointed to the tires. “Why in the hell were you driving in this kind of weather on tires like these? The two that aren’t flat have hardly any tread left on them.”

  “Don’t.” She glared at him. “Just don’t. It’s not easy trying to start a business in a small town. I was trying to get one more month out of the tires before I replaced them.”

  “You could have been killed, or worse yet, you could have frozen to death if…” He returned the dirty look.

  Stevie blinked and then looked around the barn. “Where is your fancy-schmancy truck with all the bells and whistles? Don’t tell me…” She got inside the van and began digging around in her supplies. “Let me guess. It’s sitting somewhere out there with a flat tire, too, right?”

  “Nope, it’s at the end of the lane in a ditch,” he answered. “A deer jumped out in front of me. I swerved and wound up facedown in a ditch. I managed to send a text to my folks, and then I lost power.”

  Stevie brought out a bag of powdered colostrum for alpacas and a baby bottle. “Is there water in there?”

  “In the bathroom,” Cody said, nodding. “Max told me that he built this barn on top of an old well. Since he had water, and since this is so far from his other property, he put a bathroom just off the tack room. Only cold water, though.”

  “I can warm up some on the stove,” she said as she edged past him.

  In a few long strides, he was across the barn floor and had opened the door for her. “Guess we’re stuck here together until this storm passes and the folks come to h
elp me.”

  “Maybe they’ll be coming to help me. I sent them a message too,” she said.

  “Oh, really,” Cody groaned.

  “What are you moaning about?” she asked. “At least I got a message out to tell them where they can find me. That’s a good thing, right?”

  Cody followed her into the tack room and closed the door. “Can you even begin to imagine the teasing we’re going to face tomorrow?”

  “Tomorrow, nothing!” Stevie said. “The weather report has been updated. This isn’t going to let up for at least two days, and then we’ll have to dig out from under anywhere from ten to eighteen inches of snow. They’re expecting power to be down for a week. And who gives a damn about teasing? I’ve got a cria to save who needs others of her breed around her. You want to learn to hum like that baby’s mama?”

  Cody had been around alpacas since he had gotten home a few months ago, so he knew exactly what she was talking about. They made a humming noise when they were happy, and although it was a little different, they also hummed when they were sad. If they were upset or angry, they made a high-pitched screeching sound that came close to breaking glass.

  “I took an oath that I would try to save lives.” Cody warmed his hands over the top of the stove. “I guess it doesn’t matter if it’s an alpaca or a human, so I would be willing to give humming a try if I needed to, but I do believe we’ve got something better.” He stopped and pointed.

  The cria had changed position and now had her head up as she sniffed the calico cat, who was rubbing herself all around the cria’s neck. The humming had gone from mournful to happy, and all three kittens were playing hide-and-seek under the blanket and romping all over the new baby.

  “She’s bonding with the cats,” Stevie said as she went to the small bathroom and filled the bottle with water. “I’ve never seen anything like that before, but thank God for it. If she eats…where’s something to heat this bottle?”

  “We’ve got a cast-iron skillet, but I haven’t found any pans, and is that plastic?” Cody asked as he started looking around for something that might work. “I’ve got an idea. Let’s open up a can of beans, put them in the skillet, and hey, would you look at this?”

  He found a camping set in a box under the workbench. “One bowl and three metal plates. And here’s a couple of forks and a spoon.”

  Stevie stooped down beside him and took the bowl from the box. “I can heat water in this, then transfer it to the bottle. I’d rather have a microwave or maybe a stove to sterilize things, but…”

  “But we’ll take our miracles where we find them, right?” Cody set the box on the workbench. “Like you finding me here.”

  She gave him another dirty look. Finding Cody Ryan was anything but a miracle, she thought. She hated rattlesnakes, but she would rather face off with one four feet long than spend days cooped up in a small room with Cody Ryan.

  Chapter Two

  Four days was an eternity to be stranded anywhere, but especially with Stevie O’Dell. Cody had known he’d broken her heart when he ended things between them. He hadn’t expected her to understand his commitment to following his dream of joining Doctors Without Borders. He wanted to give back to people who hadn’t had the good fortune that he’d had after the Ryans had taken him in as their foster son, and he couldn’t let a girl or his heart stand in the way.

  Cody had thought he might have to spend the night in the tack room, and maybe part of Thursday, but if Stevie was right, they might be stuck here until the weekend. He sunk down on the end of the sofa.

  “Haven’t seen you around since summer.” Cody broke the silence.

  “Not since the parade and rodeo,” she answered. “No need to come out to the ranch unless I’m called to look after animals. Guess everything out there is healthy?”

  “Might not be after this storm,” Cody said with a shrug.

  “Never know,” she said as she used her shirttail for a potholder and gently poured the water back into the bottle. She added powder, shook it up, and offered it to the cria. At first, the little thing turned its head away, but then the cat raised up on its hind feet and licked the nipple a couple of times. When Stevie offered it again, the cria stood, popped its little tail straight up, and took to the bottle.

  “God bless that cat,” Stevie said. “I’ll have to go out to the van and get diapers.”

  “What’s that got to do with a cat?” Cody asked.

  “Nothing. I need them for the cria. Unless you want to step in poop?” Stevie raised an eyebrow.

  Cody got to his feet and pulled on his coat. “Dad never put diapers on his alpaca babies.”

  “His crias have mamas to take care of wiping their babies’ butts. This little girl doesn’t have a mother, and I don’t see this cat taking care of her in that area, do you?” Stevie said.

  “Where are they in the van?” Cody asked. “I’ll go get them for you.”

  “They were on the right side, behind the passenger seat, but things got shifted when the tire went flat. Green box with a baby on the side,” she told him. “And thank you. I’ll take care of the feeding if you’ll change the diapers.”

  “Oh, no!” Cody said. “I’ll get the diapers for you, but I’m not changing them. This is your baby, not mine.”

  “Then you don’t get a vote on her name,” Stevie told him. “No responsibilities. No privileges.”

  Cody slid a sideways glance at her. “I’ll name the cat and all the kittens,” he grumbled as he opened the side door of the van and found the box of diapers right where she said they would be. A broad smile broke out across his face when he thought of the Blake Shelton song that said she could name the babies and he’d name the dogs. He hummed the song on the way back to the tack room.

  “Leave the door cracked a little bit,” Stevie said. “It’s getting too hot in here. You don’t need to hum. She’s happy now that she has cats.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” The cat almost tripped him as it ran out of the room. “After that walk from the road up to the barn, I didn’t think I’d ever be too hot again, but I suppose Dolly thinks it’s too much heat, too.”

  “The cria’s name is not Dolly,” Stevie told him as she offered the bottle to the baby.

  “Of course it’s not. Dolly is my cat’s name, and the kittens are Tammy, Loretta, and the black-and-white one is a boy, so he’s Boots.” He said the first names that came to mind.

  “Evidently you still like country music.” She looked up from the cria, who was taking to the bottle. “But I figured the boy would be Willie or Waylon or even maybe Blake. Look! Dixie’s tail is standing up. That means she’s going to be all right.”

  “I know a little about alpacas,” Cody said, “and yes, I still like country music. No matter where I was in the world, it always reminded me of home.”

  Stevie removed her coat and tossed it over on the sofa. “Dixie needs warmth but not blistering heat. I hope there’s more wood because this isn’t going to last forever.”

  “One of the stalls has enough in it to last a few days,” Cody answered. “Dixie? Where did you get that name?”

  “The Chicks. I’ve always loved ‘Goodbye Earl.’” Stevie gave him a look that said she just might take care of him like the woman took care of a man in the song. “She’s downed all her formula, which is great. Now, in four hours, we’ll offer her some more.”

  “Where are you getting that we business. That critter is cute, but…”

  Stevie lowered her chin. “We are stuck here together, Dr. Cowboy. We don’t have electricity, a shower, coffee, or chocolate, except for half a candy bar out in my van. Those are the essential things for survival in my world, and I don’t see any of them in this room. Don’t test me. I’m not a high school girl with a crush on you anymore.”

  “Ouch!” Cody laid a hand over his heart.

  “Truth is truth,” Stevie said.

  “If you say so, but we do have electricity—at least, unless and until the power goes out,” Cody told h
er. “I just haven’t turned on the light, but the refrigerator works. Evidently the propane tank is empty because the burners on the stove won’t light, so we’ll be making our food on the woodstove. Max told me that he lived out here for a few weeks last spring when that tornado took the roof off his house, so I found some leftover food and supplies.”

  “Too bad you can’t snap your fingers and make a nice warm shower, or better yet, a deep Jacuzzi tub appear,” she said.

  “You haven’t lost any of your spunk, have you?” he asked.

  “Nope.” She pulled a pocketknife from the pocket of her jeans, took a diaper from the box he had set on the floor, and made a hole in the middle of it. Then in a few fluid motions, she put it on Dixie. Still on wobbly legs, the tiny animal began to explore the room right along with the kittens.

  “She thinks she’s a cat,” Cody said.

  “Maybe so, but she’s alive and responding,” Stevie said. “If we’ve got to stay here for a while, I’m going to put things in order and take stock of what we’ve got to work with. I had just been to the grocery store when I got the call from Dale about Dixie. There are a couple of bags of food in the van. A loaf of bread and a few other things, but I didn’t buy any coffee or chocolate. I didn’t know that I was going to be stranded with you, or I would have spent all my money on candy bars. Chocolate calms me when I want to chew up fence posts and spit out toothpicks.”

  “Looks like it’s going to be a tough few days,” Cody said. “I’m not easy to live with when I don’t have coffee. I drink gallons of it every day. We had a rule in the hospitals. The person who takes the last cup starts a new pot.”

  “Think we’ll survive?” Stevie asked.

  “If we don’t, maybe Jesse will take care of Dixie and the cats.” Cody was glad to hear there were a few more supplies but thought she could have mentioned food before he went out in the cold to get the diapers.