“Yes, but we would have had to spend it anyway. I couldn’t understand why you didn’t find something right away when the checks came in. I was getting more annoyed every time I slept in the Jeep,” she said, voicing that annoyance. She wouldn’t have said anything since Allyssa had been such a good sport about the situation. She grinned. “This,” she lovingly caressed the bonnet of the truck, “was worth it.”
“You will never have to sleep in the Jeep again. Can I have my SUV back?”
Fiona laughed with her wife as they gazed at the beautiful work the shop had done with the truck. “Let’s go shopping, so we can get home and I can play with my new toy,” she said, sounding like a big kid.
“Oooh, can I play too?” Allyssa asked naughtily.
“Oh, yes. You can play too,” Fiona promised her, thinking they would have to baptize the RV bed. She tightened her grip and gave her wife another sideways hug.
CHAPTER NINE
It turned out the truck was an even better idea than either of them had first realized. It was distinctive with its cartoonish characters and advertised Herriot Veterinary Services better than any ad could. Word of mouth spread as people saw it on the road, and that was enhanced by Allyssa’s blog showing pictures of the truck from every angle. Pleased followers expressed their delight that the doctor had replaced her totaled truck. Calls came in congratulating both Allyssa and Fiona and requesting regular checkups and inoculations for their animals. Fiona was as busy as ever. She did, however, try to take off at least one day a week, and on a rare occasion, two days. When they knew they had time off, they hitched up the nice horse trailer they had kept and headed to the hills where they watched for the wild herds of horses they occasionally saw. They took their own horses and occasionally their llamas along with Rex in his backseat. The camper was perfect for these trips. That truck could go practically anywhere.
“What about you?” Fiona finally asked. She felt she had the perfect life. The builder and his workers had put in the basement as soon as the snow completely melted, and the downstairs portion of their house was already constructed. The two women were lying in bed in their camper on one of their rare weekends off. Animals didn’t know what day it was, so if Fiona managed to eke out some time off, they took it.
“What about me?” Allyssa asked sleepily. They had hiked into the mountains with the llamas that day and seen some incredible sights, and she was tired.
“Are you going to take those classes and become a vet or an animal tech?” she asked, wanting to give Allyssa everything she wanted.
“You know,” she answered, turning over so she could face Fiona squarely. “I don’t know if I want to do that. Maybe I’ll take some of the courses offered online, but I really like running things at the ranch. I’m ready for your chickens now that I’ve gotten the garden in and fenced,” she teased. She’d never liked the idea of having chickens but was willing to do it for Fiona’s sake. Last year their beautiful garden had been run over and destroyed by the rustlers.
“I thought you wanted to finish school?” she asked, concerned that her wife was settling for less than she deserved. She felt education was important.
“I think I might like to get pregnant next year after the house is built,” she quickly added as Fey looked concerned.
“Pregnant? Are you sure?” she asked, trying not to sound too excited. It sounded odd to be talking about getting pregnant as they lay there in the camper.
Allyssa nodded. “If we have the baby…babies,” she corrected herself, “while I’m still quite young, think of how much we can enjoy them and each other before we get too old. I mean, if I have a baby in the next year or two, we’ll be in our forties when they’re grown and we are able to enjoy them.”
“Fifty for me,” Fiona corrected her.
“That’s just it, babe,” she said, reaching out to caress her wife, “fifty isn’t old nowadays. We can still enjoy ourselves as our baby or babies become adults.”
“In vitro is going to be so expensive,” she murmured as she compared it to animals.
“What if we just get a vial of sperm and use it ourselves? You know how to use that since you’re a doctor.”
“Just any old sperm?”
“Babe, who we gonna ask? Your dad? That would be an awkward conversation, and any child I had from that sperm would be your brother or sister. That would be icky. If we asked your brother, who is, by the way, far too young to ask, then our child would be your niece or nephew. While I like that idea better, maybe an anonymous sperm donor we can both agree on would be best. Maybe we could get two vials? You could keep one in the cryo-tank, and later, you can get pregnant too.”
“Um, how am I going to work while I’m pregnant?” she asked, thinking over everything her wife had just said.
“You don’t want a baby of your own body?”
“Any baby you have, babe,” she grinned at the play of words, “is going to be ours.”
Allyssa nodded, conceding her wife was right. “Still, I like the idea of both of us being impregnated by the same donor’s sperm, so our children would be biological brothers or sisters.”
“Wow, you have thought this through.”
“Yeah, you should see what I found on the internet. There is even an overnight company that will express mail the sperm.”
“What? Yuck!”
“Yuck? From a doctor?” she teased.
“Just the idea, babe,” she said, giving a little, fake shudder.
“Don’t you have samples sent via Federal Express for some of your clients?” she pointed out. She knew she did; she’d signed for them.
Sobering, Fiona thought about that and nodded. “You, however, are not my client,” she said, taking her wife in her arms and giving her a hug. “You are mine, my very own special wife. I just found the idea a little gross; however, we can look into it and maybe go through the donors to pick one.”
Smiling, happy they were discussing the idea of having a baby, Allyssa asked, “What do you want…a boy or a girl?”
“We get to choose the sex?” she asked, surprised although she knew that was possible. And while she had implanted sperm into cows and inseminated horses and sheep, the idea of inseminating her wife was weird.
“There are clinics in California that allow you to do just that,” she informed her.
“Of course, there are.”
“No, I’m serious. If we want a specific sex, that company can do that for us. With the express companies, we can choose a donor who is known to throw boys or girls.”
“Wow, how much research have you done on this?” she asked, rising on her elbow to ask her wife. Rex looked up from his spot on the floor, wondering if his humans were getting up again tonight.
“Well, you know I spend a lot of time on the computer,” she began, wondering if Fiona was irritated with her. “I just researched it thoroughly.”
“You make an excellent researcher,” Fiona assured her.
Pleased, Allyssa continued, “I just wanted to have all the data when or if we eventually had this conversation.”
“You’ve been wanting to have this conversation for a while?”
She shrugged. “I hoped eventually it might come up. I can still take some of those courses online and then go to Portland for a couple if you want me to get certified….”
“I do.”
“So, I could be pregnant and take the courses at the same time.”
“Would you be taking on too much with the ranch, the courses, and trying to get pregnant?” she asked, suddenly worried.
“Would you think the ranch, your work, and trying to get pregnant too much?” she countered.
“I’m older.”
“Not that much older. And definitely not wiser,” she teased with a grin.
“Don’t make me spank you, my young apprentice,” she teased in return.
“Oh, please? Maybe with a paddle?”
“Seriously?”
“No!” she laughed and then laughe
d harder as Fiona began to tickle her.
They really enjoyed their two days off, making love in the wonderfully appointed camper, and taking hikes into the mountains with the llamas, the cria at the mama’s side and learning to wear its own bridle. Rex was even healed enough to hike, although he was tired on their way back and would occasionally limp. If they took Rex, they slowed down when they rode the horses, who seemed to like to find new places to go. Rex didn’t like to be left behind. He was determined to join them at every turn and was enjoying the time off as much as they did, when they took it.
CHAPTER TEN
As a late spring came on in full force, Fiona’s work increased. Having the truck was a big help since she frequently ended up sleeping in it, returning to work early the next day. Still, having her own space where she could unwind, relax, and shower was wonderful, and she didn’t need to stray too far from her patients.
Allyssa watched with much joy as the men began to build their farmhouse. They were mostly the same men their builder had hired before, and there were plenty of jokes about doing the same work, coming back here, and burning it down. She got sick of their jokes but smiled nonetheless as they were doing a terrific job. She couldn’t wait for them to finish. She eagerly anticipated having their own complete and real home. The feeling was amazingly similar to her feeling late last year when they’d done all this the first time.
Fiona’s dad, Keith called and he, Sean, and Traci came up for a visit at Easter. He admired his daughter’s new truck, marveling at the conveniences it contained and loving Allyssa’s story of how she had bought it from a disgruntled wife. “I think Rosemary would do that to me if she could,” he teased, but it was telling that she wasn’t along for this trip. “I can’t wait to see the pictures when your home is done,” he nodded to the house that looked amazingly like his parents’ house, only newer and a little bigger. Modern touches had been added to the girls’ tastes and their insistence on big, wide porches would make the difference in its aesthetics. Even with the framing up on the first floor, he could tell how much his parents had influenced his first daughter. He told stories in the evening of his own memories of his parents, his two younger children listening avidly. He never told such stories when their mom, Rosemary was around. They saw a different man out here at the ranch, and they enjoyed getting to know their father this way. He had grown up out here and even Fey, who had grown up here, learned things she hadn’t known as he reminisced.
“Someday, I’ll have to let you read the journals my great-grandparents wrote.”
“I remember grandpa talking about those. He never read them, did he?”
Keith shook his head. “No, he wasn’t much of a reader. He gave them to me since I enjoyed being a bookworm.” He smiled a self-deprecating smile as he remembered finding the trunk with the journals and family pictures in the attic so long ago. Now, he was glad he had taken them. They would have burned up in the fire.
There was talk about the siblings coming out for the summer since the house should be done by then, but Keith wasn’t committing because he knew he would pay for this trip in many ways, and having the children gone for the summer would require some sweet-talking of Rosemary. He knew Rosemary would have a fit when she heard about the truck, and there would be no keeping that from her as the younger children enjoyed it so much. Still, it was nice family time when Fiona could make it home, and she made an extra effort to get there to see her father and siblings, who shyly got to know their much older sister better.
“What are you now, twelve?” Fiona asked Sean.
“Eleven,” he corrected her, blushing that she thought he was older. He stood up straighter as a result.
Allyssa turned away, so she wouldn’t laugh. She knew Fey had done that deliberately to make the young preteen feel better about himself. She enjoyed Traci and her tomboyish ways a lot more, and her interest in everything was a lot of fun as they took turns riding horses around the ranch. The cria captured everyone’s attention; it was just so darn cute.
Fiona managed to get away, so they could take her family to the back side of the ranch in the RV.
“God, I haven’t seen this area in decades,” her dad exclaimed as they managed to see one of the herds of wild horses that roamed on the range. “It’s a shame you don’t use the land more.”
“Well, after last year’s fiasco, we are a bit shy about renting it out,” Fey said understandably.
He laughed. It certainly had been a bit of drama, and he admired his firstborn for fighting the rustlers. He looked at his daughter-in-law and saw she was a perfect companion for his daughter. Taking up a gun and firing it at someone trying to kill you couldn’t have been easy, and she had done that and more. She wore a pistol so naturally, and his other son and daughter were in awe of the young woman.
“Well, we have cattle, and while they technically aren’t really ours, there are horses roaming out here,” Allyssa waved towards where they had seen the herd earlier.
“That is true. Are you going to gather any of the cattle for sale?” he asked, interested in what they had planned.
“We haven’t even thought about it. For now, they are just there. They got through a pretty difficult winter and were pretty skinny when we saw them this spring,” Fey added. “We’ve had amazingly little response from those who had their cattle stolen. Only a few have rounded them up, and I think having their cowboys out to do a gather has something to do with it.”
“Yeah, the cycle of life, but some of those mavericks can get through anything,” he admired.
“Mavericks?” his son asked.
“How do you not know what a maverick is?” his father asked him, astonished.
Allyssa saw the boy’s ever-present blush and took pity on him. “I was a city girl too when we came out here over a year ago. I didn’t know what a maverick was either.” She saw him look at her appreciatively, so she continued to explain, “A maverick is a cow that usually doesn’t have a brand on it. A man from Texas named Maverick tried to claim all the cows that didn’t have brands on them once, so the ranchers began to refer to any unbranded cow as a maverick.”
He smiled his thanks and then turned away as she returned it.
“That was greedy of him,” Traci put in as she thought about the story.
“Sure was, but what a lot of cattle that must have been,” Allyssa agreed. She recognized the young girl was developing a serious case of hero worship and wasn’t sure how to take it. No one had ever looked up to her like that before.
On the last night of their mini vacation, Fey told her father they were talking about having children.
“So soon? You’ve only been married a little over a year.”
“Well, Allyssa wants to have them while she is still young, so we can enjoy ourselves in our forties and fifties when they will be grown. As you know, I’m a bit older, and I don’t want to wait much longer.”
“Are you going to have one too?” he asked, surprised at this news and delighted that there would be more of his bloodline.
“I’m thinking about it. We are still talking. Right now, we just need to get into the farmhouse and get settled. It’s been a very expensive year.”
He agreed with her, feeling closer to her than he had in years. He regretted the years Rosemary had cost them with her petty jealousies. He looked at his three children. He could see a future where he was a grandfather, and it looked good. It would anger Rosemary when she found out about the grandchildren! He grinned to himself. Well, he wouldn’t say anything until it was a done deal as he knew she would have nothing but nasty things to say. Now and then, he still thought about divorcing her but looking at Traci and Sean, he knew why he stayed. He was a buffer between them and her nastier side, and they did love their difficult mother.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Moving day was finally here. They didn’t have many possessions yet, but the house was finished, and they could finally move in. They had been able to order the appliances they decided on months ag
o for the other house. They’d made a few substitutions as their needs had changed, but the appliances were now installed and the house complete. Several times before they began to buy furniture and other necessities, they walked around the bare farmhouse, enjoying the echo of their footsteps and the softness of their voices in the rooms where there were only walls to absorb the sound. Allyssa took a lot of pictures, so they could remember the before and after, she’d taken them while it was being built too and had them all safely stored.
The two women enjoyed going through the many catalogs they had and ordering things they felt would make the house their own. They ordered everything from sheets and pillow cases to towels and beds. Even the living room furniture they found online had been delivered. The deliverymen were all rather wide-eyed as they drove out to the ranch and put their goods in the brand-new house. Shopping in Pendleton, they found even more things they needed to set up housekeeping. They even talked of making a trip to Portland one day but that long drive would have to wait because of the four to five hours each way it would take out of their day.
Finally, the time was here. They were going to move into their new house. Allyssa had made the beds as soon as they were in the rooms. She hung curtains in some rooms and blinds in a couple other rooms. They’d stocked the pantry from their stores in the mobile home and the cabin, and they made a special stocking-up trip into Pendleton. Tonight, they would leave the cabin for the last time and strip the bed of their favorite comforter and sheets. They would remake that bed with older sheets they would probably never use again, saving the bed for guests. Their personal items—from books to DVDs and pictures—had been taken over to the new house, unpacked, and put away lovingly. Fey noticed there were a lot more pictures now. Allyssa had printed out pictures she’d taken and framed them, so they had lots of memories around them.
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