Allyssa laughed at that, but it also angered her. “Let me ask you... Do you need anything?” She smiled at the young girl, pleased to see how much she looked like Fey and Keith instead of Rosemary. She knew the child was still very upset over her mother’s death and was worried about her father.
“I’m good,” she said, sounding hip. “I’m really excited about school.”
“You don’t miss your old school or friends?”
She shook her head. “Some of the girls from 4-H said they’d show me around when I get there.” It was obvious she was looking forward to the new school. “Do you know if Dad will move here when he gets out of rehab?”
“I don’t know what his plans are, and rehab is going to take quite a while. He is still very sick.” She wouldn’t share that Fey was concerned about how long his recovery was taking.
“Will we rebuild our house in Portland, like you and Fey did with Grandma and Grandpa’s house?” she nodded towards the red farmhouse they had rebuilt. It was modern and yet traditional. It had solar panels, but it still looked like a good, solid, old farmhouse with its red siding and red trim.
“I have no idea, but you are welcome here for as long as it takes.” She reached sideways to hug her sister-in-law.
“Do you think my mom knows where I am? She didn’t like it out here.”
“I’m sure wherever your mom is,” she doubted she was in heaven the way she had behaved, “she knows where you are and how you feel and what you are doing.”
“There’s your mom,” Traci said, pointing to the farmhouse steps.
Allyssa sighed. Her walk had not been nearly long enough. They left the braying donkey in the pasture, so he could go back to his horse friends. He hadn’t liked that he was on the wrong side of the fence. The dogs cavorted ahead of them, but the cats drifted off towards the barn to resume their hunting.
“Allyssa, it’s too hot for you to be out in this sun so long,” her mother admonished as she reached her.
“Yeah, that’s why we didn’t go far. I need my exercise though.”
“What about Fey?”
“She gets plenty of exercise on her rounds, and when she’s here, she usually goes with us too.”
Helen looked down at her daughter-in-law’s sister. She was thinking there were too many people on this ranch and it was too much for her young daughter to handle. She worried she would crumble with so much responsibility. Wait until she had two babies to look after. With Fey planning on returning to work as quickly as possible after the birth of her baby, Allyssa would be put in the position of caring for both babies. She wanted to say so much to her daughter but refrained with the young child there.
“Sean, get off the railing. I’d like my planters to remain in one piece, if you don’t mind,” Allyssa said when she came up and found him trying to balance on the rail.
“Sorry, Allyssa,” he said insincerely as he jumped down, making a terrible racket and scattering a cat that had been lazily sleeping in the sun, too tired to join Allyssa and Traci’s walk today.
“You’re such an ox,” Traci told him.
“And you’re such a pain,” he retorted.
“All right. That’s enough, you two. We have guests,” Allyssa pointed out warningly. She was tired. But then, she was always tired these days.
Allyssa was pleased to say goodbye to her mother and sister the next day. Luckily, Fey was there to say her own goodbyes.
“Take care and let us know when you two go into labor,” Helen told her, although she cared more about her daughter giving birth than she did about Fey.
Fey knew her mother-in-law didn’t like her much. She thought Fey had somehow seduced or deluded Allyssa into this whole situation. She probably thought it had also been Fey’s idea for them to be pregnant at the same time. If she only knew, but Fey wasn’t about to enlighten her. “Drive safely,” she said with sincerity. She didn’t harbor any ill will toward this woman and her doppelganger, Carmen. She sensed her sister-in-law didn’t like her much either.
They waved until the women drove over the hill and were out of sight. “Whew, I’m glad they’re gone,” Allyssa admitted, turning to Fey and putting her arm around her waist. They couldn’t hug straight on these days as their bellies had grown too big for that to be comfortable. The babies moved so much they could probably feel each other through the skin and tissue separating them as their mommies attempted to cuddle.
“Amen,” Fey said with a chuckle, knowing their respective in-laws didn’t make things easy for either of them.
* * * * *
“You have to stop working,” Leslie, their OBGYN told them both at their next exam. She stressed this especially to Fey. “You are both too near your due dates to do anything strenuous. Walking, fine. Wrestling cattle, nuh uh,” she advised.
“But it was only a calf,” Fey teased, defending herself with a grin. She had been more careful than that.
“Well, the babies are both doing fine,” she told them, still amazed to be treating two wives who were pregnant at the same time and due on the same date.
“My father might come home, and we’d like to pick him up...I know, I know,” she said on seeing Leslie’s look of consternation. “We’ll stay home and put our feet up.”
“That might be difficult too,” Allyssa admitted, adjusting herself in her chair. “I can’t see my feet.” She had taken to wearing slip-on shoes since she was not willing to wear flip-flops on the ranch. She hated those things with a passion!
“There, there. It’s almost over,” Leslie consoled her with a grin. Their attitudes were amazing, and both women were right on schedule. She had worried about their mental state when she heard about Fey’s father, but they had weathered it well and seemed to be holding up fine. “Remember, when the labor pains are five minutes apart, you get yourselves over here in a jiffy. I do not make house calls,” she teased, knowing Fey did.
“Didn’t you want a home delivery?” Fiona asked Allyssa with a glint in her eye.
“No, I want drugs, plenty of drugs!” she insisted, laughing at her wife.
“I thought we were going to do this all natural?” Fey pretended to be shocked, although they had discussed it when they did the Lamaze classes together.
“Uh uh. That’s highly over-rated. They have perfectly good drugs nowadays.”
Leslie chuckled at the byplay between the couple. It was obvious they loved each other and watching them together really gladdened her heart. So often, partners forgot what the wife was going through, but with both women pregnant at the same time they were able to share experiences and console each other. Allyssa had told Leslie they rubbed each other’s feet when they sat on the couch and relaxed together.
“Anything we can do to hurry this along?” Allyssa asked the doctor, already thoroughly sick of being enormously pregnant.
“Exercise, which is what you told me you were already doing, and sex, so long as you don’t do anything too strenuous. Sex sometimes induces labor, and orgasms are healthy.” She waited to see if either woman would object to her advice and witnessed their exchanged looks, not of surprise but of love. She was really pleased for these two women.
Renee slowly drove them home from the clinic to the ranch. She worried a lot these days. She was concerned they would go into labor and she’d be expected to deliver two babies at the same time. Each dip and each bump in the road set her teeth on edge.
“We need a tune-up on this thing,” Fey mentioned to Allyssa. She was stretched out across the back seat while Allyssa sat in the front, the seat slightly reclined to hold her comfortably.
“Actually, Sean and Traci helped me change the oil and spark plugs last week,” Allyssa informed her. “I don’t have the tools to do the brakes, but I’ll get those done when I have the tires rotated.”
“You’re a wonder. I bet Sean loved that,” she answered, chuckling.
“I think Traci is going to be the mechanic. She seemed to take more interest in it than Sean did.”
“She’s a tomboy, just like I was,” Fey said proudly, smiling in remembrance.
“I think she’s also girly enough to outclass us both,” Allyssa teased her wife, remembering how Traci had looked in her dress at the funeral.
They were both happy at how well-adjusted the two youngsters were becoming. There had been quite a few evenings when Allyssa or Fey had had to run in to alleviate nightmares, tears, and depression over the rather violent death of their mother. The police had determined that the gas leak was deliberate, and with Trever and Peter so insistent on getting hold of the life insurance policy and the trust, they were the prime suspects. The police’s theory was they had planned that their mother wouldn’t be home and Keith would walk in and the house would blow up with him inside. But the authorities had no proof, so they could not accuse the brothers. The young men had been clever enough to lawyer up. Their lawyer had originally demanded to speak with Henry about the younger children’s custody arrangements, but he seemed to go away after that one conversation. They hadn’t a leg to stand on since Keith was alive and had made it clear the children should be with their older sister and not their brothers. From what Henry had relayed to them, the brothers and their attorney were extremely unhappy.
The two women sat on the porch enjoying the evening together, and for once, Fey didn’t get called away. Lexy came up to each of the women, making sure to bump her nose against both their stomachs. It was like she knew what was inside and given that she had been used for breeding purposes, perhaps she did. She was very protective of ‘her’ family and Rex, who followed her, knew not to come too close except to get a pat before laying down on the porch in the shade.
“She’s really weird,” Allyssa commented as she petted the dog that lay between the two pregnant women.
“She’s a good girl,” Fey returned, and the dog smiled happily as she was patted. She understood the words as well as the tone of voice, and she was much happier with these people.
“I wonder what she’ll be like when the baby...” she corrected herself, “ when the babies are here?”
“We’ll just have to watch and see,” she said, looking at Rex where he lay. “I don’t think Rex will care though.”
“He’s just protective of his yard and people. Maybe he’ll make the babies his people?”
These discussions were endless and both women enjoyed them immensely.
“Well, if it’s a boy, how about Aaron? Do you want to spell it E-R-I-N like your great-great-grandfather?”
“What about naming one after your father or mine?”
Round and round they went without ever reaching a conclusion.
“My mother said you can’t name a baby until you meet it. She said the name will come to you then,” Renee contributed when she overheard them debating names.
“Good point,” Allyssa replied.
“I’m going to go stir crazy waiting around here,” Fey answered as she checked on her practice for the umpteenth time since the doctor had put them on limited activity.
“We could go for a walk,” her wife suggested, “or we could follow doctor’s orders...?” She grinned as Fey caught the innuendo and blushed.
Renee looked from one to the other and wondered what the doctor had ordered.
They took walks, they made love, sometimes combining those activities with their ‘group’ of animals standing guard. They finally stopped having sex outdoors when they were nearly discovered by some of the 4-Hers horseback riding in the hills. Also, they weren’t certain they could get back up in their condition and didn’t want to be caught.
“I can’t get up fast enough to put my clothes back on,” Fey bitched as she adjusted the sweat pants she was wearing. She detested maternity clothes and wore loose shirts and even overalls to avoid them. Allyssa teased her saying she looked like Farmer John. “You don’t look much better with hay sticking out of your hair and down the back of your maternity pants,” Fey pointed out, laughing as Allyssa attempted to look at her own backside. It was an impossible feat with her girth, but it was funny to watch her try.
“I’ll get you for that,” Allyssa promised, thinking of all the mayhem she could cause with her wife and grinning at her own silliness.
Still, they were nearing their due dates, and each was eager for their pregnancy to end, even though they realized that would only be the beginning.
CHAPTER TEN
Fey was the first to go into labor. Maybe it was because she was older, or maybe it was just time, or maybe it was because she had snuck out with her interns against doctor’s orders? The interns were supposed to be working with the veterinarians Fey had contracted to help her clients while she was on maternity leave, but when her water broke, Fey had been supervising the interns, who were inoculating some lambs about to be shipped. She didn’t tell the interns what had happened, not right away. As they finished the job, she abruptly started waddling towards the RV, feeling the first painful pangs beginning as she climbed inside on the short steps.
“Fey, is everything okay?” Althea asked as she entered the RV carrying the medicine box filled with empty syringes, which they would need to properly dispose of.
“Yeah, you left so abruptly,” Buddy put in, a step behind her. He sounded disapproving.
“I needed to change my clothes,” Fey called from the bathroom. “Could you just finish up and head home. I don’t think I should have come out today.”
“These inoculations needed to be done, and we told Mr. Braunschweig we would–” Buddy began defensively.
“Finish up and drive!” she ordered, her voice echoing slightly in the bathroom. She had no patience these days and it showed.
The interns exchanged glances, shrugged, and quickly put away the supplies they hadn’t used, taking care to keep a careful count. Both Fey and Allyssa were terrors about inventory.
“I’ll drive if you’ll write those numbers down,” Buddy said as she pulled a sheet out. Althea nodded in agreement as he made his way to the driver’s seat of the RV, waving to Mr. Braunschweig, who was separating out the wethers from the lambs he would be keeping.
Althea had learned to write in the back of the moving RV when they went on calls. She used to get motion sickness, but this RV ran so smooth, she rarely felt ill. “Easy there,” she warned Buddy. She felt he could drive a bit more carefully over the rutted roads they frequently used. He seemed to want to try out all the gadgets on this powerful vehicle. Althea knew Fey didn’t like his driving and felt hers probably wasn’t much better. It got smoother when he reached a paved road and headed for the highway that would take them back towards the ranch and through the town of Sweetwater with the clinic on the outskirts.
“Fey, are you okay in there?” Althea knocked on the door after she had been in there awhile.
“Could you come in here a moment?” she asked, but when the intern tried the door she found it locked.
“Um, it’s locked?”
She heard Fey swear. “Damnit.” There was a sound of movement behind the door, and then, Buddy must have hit a pothole because she was forced to grab onto a railing, and she heard more swearing before the lock on the door clicked. Althea opened the door and found Fey bent over from the waist, clutching at the towel around her waist, her soaking wet overalls on the floor.
“What’s happened?” Althea asked, grabbing at the doorway as Buddy hit another bump. “Easy there!” she called out towards the driving area.
“I’m in labor, and we need to get me to the clinic. Call Allyssa to meet me there.” She hesitated a moment. “No, call Renee and ask her to drive Allyssa there to meet me,” she corrected herself.
Althea looked terror-stricken for a moment, then she stepped back and reached for her cell phone. The call didn’t go through. They must be in a bad area for transmission. “The call won’t go through,” she confessed to Fey, who was reaching for some replacement clothes. It was very apparent she was not happy.
“Keep trying,” she said through gritted teeth. Sh
e was used to pain from throwing around huge animals that outweighed her and she was used to bumps and bruises, but this was internal, and it hurt! She slowly changed into clean overalls, cursing herself for not having sweat pants or maternity pants available, but she hadn’t expected she’d go out in the RV again. She knew Allyssa was going to be angry when she found out, but she had been so bored, and they had promised the sheep rancher about a month ago that his lambs would be inoculated. She hadn’t been able to do anything but fill out the certificates and supervise while her interns did the work, but still... She gasped as another wave of pain hit her. Damn! That hurt!
* * * * *
Allyssa didn’t realize Fey was gone right away. Used to seeing the RV gone, she was finishing up the last touches on the series of books she was publishing. She hit ‘publish’ on the site and stood up painfully and awkwardly, then she glanced out as Renee came in from her lunch break.
“Finished?” she asked with a smile, knowing how important it was to Allyssa and Fey to get the journals published. It had taken them a while to figure out how to format a book and choose a cover. Finally, they had used a picture Allyssa had taken of the valley while facing the hills with the mountains in the distant background. Next, they had to figure out the difference between publishing an e-book and a paperback. The sample paperback was displayed prominently on her desk. Even now, Allyssa caressed it lovingly as she walked by.
“Just now,” she answered with a smile. “I’m so excited.”
“Think you’ll sell millions?”
She shook her head. “No, but I’ll put up a link on the blog now that the books are live.” She’d approved the paperbacks soon after seeing the sample. With so many journals combined, they’d had to break it up into books of about two hundred pages each. Then, they had to keep Erin’s version separate from Molly’s. “This is mainly for Fey and our children.” Allyssa caressed her own protruding belly. She looked up as Traci ran by chasing Lexy, who was enjoying herself enormously. Rex sauntered along, not nearly as exuberant as the terrier, who raced circles around them both while doing laps around the fountain when they tried to catch her. Lexy was loving every moment of the young girl’s and older dog’s attention. “Well, it’s also for Fey’s brother and sister,” she added with a smile. She really loved having Sean and Traci on the ranch. She’d had to ask Renee to drive her to the local middle school to enroll them and find out what they needed. The children would be starting school soon, and a bus would pick them up at the end of their long driveway.
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