Vetted Further

by K'Anne Meinel

  “You mean Monday, don’t you?” Fey asked.

  “We’re going on a trail ride tomorrow,” Allyssa jumped in to remind her busy wife. “It’s for the rescue. We thought we’d see how far back we could go, maybe to the lake.”

  “Oh, that sounds wonderful,” Fey put in, wondering if she had any calls that couldn’t be put off tomorrow.

  Allyssa, anticipating her wife’s thoughts, told her, “You are off tomorrow.”

  “Oh, goody,” she said smiling at her wife and leaning in for a peck on the mouth.

  “Okay, you two. I’m off. See you tomorrow,” Renee said as she left, smiling. Seeing the love between her two bosses made her happy. Some people might object to working for lesbians, but she didn’t. She was confident in her own sexuality and felt no threat from these two, who were obviously madly in love. As she drove over the hill, she was forced to pull slightly to the left to let a big pick-up truck pass her. “Uh oh, more work for Fey,” she thought as she drove off happily for her half day off. She was looking forward to the trail ride the following day. Her boyfriend was coming along to use one of the rescue horses since they didn’t have horses of their own.

  Fey and Allyssa closed the cabin door, then looked up when Rex woofed a warning. “Who is this?” Fey murmured, her arm around her wife as they headed to the house for lunch.

  “Hi. Are you Fey Herriot?” the man in the truck asked as he rolled down the window.

  Fey saw out from the corner of her eye that Allyssa had put her hand unobtrusively on her gun. “Yes, I’m Doctor Herriot,” she answered cheerfully with just a note of caution.

  “I’m Brock Woodson. My cousin is Woody Franklin?” he asked, to be sure she knew he was an acquaintance.

  “Yes, Woody should be–” she began, pointing to where Rhonda and Woody worked with patients. They could see two cars parked down at the far end of the barn.

  “No, I’m here to see you, if you and your wife have a moment?” He could see they had been about to go somewhere and was glad to find the doctor at home. He shut off the truck and got out. Wearing Wrangler jeans, boots, and a checked shirt, he looked the part of the stereotypical cowboy. “I’d like to talk to you both about renting your fields for farming,” he began and saw the cautious look that entered both women’s eyes. He held up his hands in surrender. “Woody told me about the rustlers two years ago. I assure you I merely want to plant crops, and I need more land than I’ve got on my place.”

  “Where are you located, Mr. Woodson?” Allyssa spoke up, thinking realistically. She knew she’d probably talked Fey into working with Toby Colbert, who supposedly ran cattle and horses on ranches and turned out to be a thief and a liar. They needed income and she didn’t want Fey to shoulder all the responsibility of providing that income.

  “I have a place outside Sweetwater, but as you know, it doesn’t have the flat plains you have here,” he indicated the pastures they had fenced for the horses, which also kept out the cattle that ran on their range. “I read somewhere that your grandfather was a farmer as well as a rancher. I’d like to rent your fields to plow.”

  “I don’t know…” Fey began, distinctly remembering the drama of the previous year caused by renting her land to rustlers. “I don’t even remember what fields my grandfather plowed. It’s been decades since anyone grew anything….”

  “I’m sure you can remember, and I’ll fence in the fields to keep the cattle and horses out,” he promised, pleading. “Woody said there are some excellent sections that would be good for my crops.”

  “Fey, maybe we should go out on the ATVs and look at the fields that Woody mentioned. Maybe we could work out something?” Allyssa pointed out, looking meaningfully in her wife’s brown eyes.

  Fey sighed, but not loudly enough for their guest to hear her. “You want to take a look at those fields?” she asked Brock Woodson.

  “I surely would,” he said enthusiastically, giving Allyssa a grateful look for her input.

  Allyssa and Fey shared one ATV, and Brock was on the other as they rode out. Allyssa closed the gates behind them as they passed through. Brock explained that he had been raised on a farm in eastern Oregon but wanted a place of his own. He’d put the maximum amount of acreage into crops but wanted to expand, and Woody had mentioned their place. He understood they wanted to be cautious, but he could provide references. They drove over the creek to one of the first fields and Fey remembered when it had been plowed under. It was now covered in grass, yucca bushes, wildflowers, and weeds. The cattle and some of the horses had been here, but there were not a lot of inroads into the nearly flat field. They drove on to other likely spots. Finally, they came to an agreement where he would rent by the acre from them. He would provide the fencing to keep the animals out of his crops and any improvements would belong to the women should they decide to terminate the agreement. The rental would be on a year by year basis.

  “I’d like to cut all that and stack it for you,” he indicated the fields that had more grass than weeds and other debris. “You could use the hay,” he pointed out.

  “We’ll work out something for that,” Allyssa promised, feeling good about this idea.

  “If you’ll have your lawyer draw up the rental papers, I’m anxious to get started,” he said enthusiastically as they parked the ATVs in the barnyard.

  “I’ll call him this afternoon,” Fey promised, shaking his hand as he got into his truck. Allyssa had copied down his social security number, phone number, address, and any other information she thought she might need.

  “Well, that’s fortuitous,” Allyssa said as they watched him drive away.

  “Yeah, but do we really want to chance it?” Fey worried.

  “Not everyone is as unscrupulous as Toby Colbert,” she pointed out as they hurried to eat a late lunch together.

  “No, and I guess I really shouldn’t distrust people like that,” she admitted.

  “Hey, look at that,” Fey said, pointing to where one of the cats was asleep on the back of a drowsy horse. It was standing still in the paddock, and the cat was sound asleep. They shared a laugh about the weirdness of animals. “I think that’s the same cat that took a swipe at the horses when we were checking them out.”

  “Hey, do you realize it’s been a few months since we implanted? Should we try the pregnancy tests I got?” Allyssa sounded eager.

  Surprised, Fey could only blink. She’d forgotten about that crazy night in the rush of all the spring work. “How about after lunch?” she asked.

  “Oh, kinda like dessert?” she teased as they went into the house together.

  Chuckling, Fey agreed as they made a hasty lunch, both starved for their long-delayed meal, but Brock had been a good interruption, and they were pleased with the possible deal.

  “I saw the cell company van on the road at the back of the ranch,” Allyssa mentioned as they ate a sandwich.

  “Are they going to be running wires?”

  “It’s cellular, babe. The tower doesn’t need wires like telephone poles do.”

  Nodding, she thought about the money they’d received. It had been nice getting that low five-figure check. Even Henry said they’d gotten a good deal, and it seemed on the up and up. “Don’t let me forget to call Henry,” she reminded her.

  “I’ll clean this up, and you go make the call,” Allyssa offered.

  “I thought we were going to take the tests?”

  “We can do both. Go. Call Henry and get him started on the rental agreement while our discussion with Brock is still fresh in your mind.”

  Allyssa listened unashamedly as Fey talked to Henry on the phone. She outlined what she wanted in the rental contract for her fields, pausing to listen to the lawyer several times. She held the phone to repeat everything to Allyssa before finally realizing she should put him on speaker phone, so they both could speak to him. After half an hour, the kitchen was cleaned up and Henry had all the information he needed to get started on the contract.

  “Let’s go
pee,” Allyssa said in a funny, gleeful fashion, and Fey couldn’t help but laugh at her exuberance.

  Carefully, they unwrapped the pregnancy tests and each took turns peeing on a stick. They placed their sticks on opposite sides of the sink upstairs, then discarded the wrappings and waited.

  “What if one is a plus and one is a minus?” Fey asked her.

  “What if they are both pluses?” Allyssa countered, looking excited at the prospect.

  Fey was a little worried about that. Both being pregnant at the same time could mean a lot of extra work.

  Allyssa plunged from an intense high of positivity. “What if they are both negative?” she asked, sounding depressed.

  Fey put her arm around her wife where they sat on the end of their bed. “Well, then we either save up and buy some more sperm or we adopt.”

  “I don’t want to adopt. I want a child of my own body,” she said sadly.

  Fey’s heart went out to her. She knew how devastated her wife had been to lose the baby, but it wasn’t her fault.

  That timer seemed to take forever, and when it finally went off, they both jumped and looked at each other. Allyssa rushed into the bathroom, and Fey followed at a more sedate pace.

  “Damn,” Allyssa said, disappointed when she saw hers was negative, she even waited hopefully, to see if the positive sign was going to come. She looked at it philosophically before throwing it in the trash bin. “I guess we’ll wait,” she said.

  “Um, I don’t know if I’m reading this right,” Fey admitted, showing her wife the stick with the barely discernable plus sign.

  “You’re pregnant!” Allyssa gasped, suddenly excited for her wife.

  “Shouldn’t we try the test again? You know, to make sure,” she asked, worrying how Allyssa would take it. This had been her idea, after all. Still, she’d handled her own negative sign well.

  “You want to try another stick?”

  Fey nodded, suddenly feeling unsure about this whole thing. What if she were the one pregnant and not Allyssa. She peed on a second stick and they waited the necessary time. This one also had a vague plus sign.

  “I guess we have to make an appointment at the clinic,” Allyssa said cheerfully, excited for Fey. She was disappointed that her own stick read negative, but she wasn’t going to ruin the excitement for her wife. She kept running the phrase through her head that she had learned, If you act happy, eventually you’ll be happy.

  “Gee, I guess I didn’t think this through,” she mumbled as they got up and threw out the sticks.

  “You don’t want to be pregnant?” Allyssa asked, suddenly defensive. She wasn’t pregnant, and now, Fey was grumbling about it? She should be happy.

  “Of course, I want to be pregnant, but I guess I thought you’d be first,” she answered.

  “I was first,” she reminded her.

  “Oh, baby. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that,” she answered immediately, pulling her wife into a hug.

  “What if we are pregnant? Are you going to be angry?” she murmured against her hair, enjoying the feel of Fey’s body against hers.

  “Absolutely not! I want a baby with you. It doesn’t matter whether you carry it or I carry it. Should we order some more sperm and implant you during your next cycle?” she offered. It still sounded both funny and gross to her at the same time.

  “Let’s wait for now. We have to take care of you,” Allyssa said, putting her arms around her wife and suddenly, feeling all mushy thinking about how they’d gotten her pregnant. All her own insecurities and problems faded as she concentrated on taking care of Fey.

  On Monday, they had it confirmed. Fey was two months pregnant, and she was rather stunned that it had worked. Allyssa was excited and already making plans.

  “Nuh uh. I don’t want to buy anything or tell anyone until the three-month mark,” she warned her wife when it seemed her enthusiasm was getting the better of her. “And I still have to work,” she reminded her.

  “I was thinking about that. You should take on some interns and let them get hands-on experience, so you don’t have to deal with some of the yucky stuff as you get further along in your pregnancy.”

  “Interns are a good idea. We should contact the veterinary colleges and make an offer. I worked with some excellent vets when I was on my intern rotations.”

  “I think we should celebrate somehow,” she insisted as she drove them away from the clinic.

  “I think the trail ride was enough of a celebration for me even if you wouldn’t really let me ride. You can’t wrap me in cotton, you know?” she warned, amused at how maternal Allyssa had suddenly become.

  “Well, I thought if you were pregnant, we should be careful,” she defended herself, worrying that she was becoming overly protective.

  Trying to diffuse the situation, Fiona remarked, “Remember the horse in front of Renee that farted? I thought her horse was going to faint from the odor.” They both laughed as they remembered. Renee’s horse had been directly behind the horse with the bad gas, and it turned its head to get out of the line of fire, as it were, but the odor traveled and enveloped everyone behind her as well. She had to quickly pull her horse back on the trail or go off the side.

  “Oh, thank goodness you’re back,” Renee remarked as she hurried out when they pulled up at the ranch. “That queen is in the office this afternoon. He wants his Chihuahua’s nails clipped and its anal glands expressed.”

  “We don’t have office hours today,” Fiona said as Allyssa frowned at the term ‘queen.’ Despite being a pain in the ass, he and his dog were clients. Still, Fey thought it was kind of funny.

  “You shouldn’t call him that,” Allyssa admonished Renee.

  “I know, I know,” she answered, looking shame-faced. “What’s even worse though, when he came through the door, I looked up and said, ‘Oh, you’re the anal guy.’ I think we are both embarrassed to look at each other now.”

  The three of them chuckled at the unintended double-entendre. “Instead, we should say he needs a butt squeeze,” Fiona quipped, making the joke worse.

  “Okay, you guys have to stop,” Allyssa said through the tears that threatened as she laughed.

  “Well, what’s the prognosis, Doc? Are you knocked up?” Renee laughed. She didn’t use those terms normally, but they were having a good time as they walked back to the cabin.

  “Jeez, Renee,” Fey laughed and then nodded, delighted. “But it’s a secret until I pass the three-month mark, okay?”

  “Not a word,” she promised, holding up three of fingers. “I promise.” She smiled, delighted for them. Turning to Allyssa, she reminded her about the 4-Hers who were planning on coming out that evening.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  “It’s kind of unfair that you don’t have morning sickness,” Allyssa pointed out to Fiona a month later.

  “How is that unfair?” she asked, pointing at her with the ice cream spoon in her hand, relishing the indulgence. It was hot as hell, and she was cooling off with some black cherry ice cream. She’d been busy for weeks, helping ranchers with their sheep and cattle birthing and now that it had really turned hot, she deserved the break.

  “I seem to recall puking my guts out last year,” she mentioned, indulging in her own butterscotch ripple.

  “See, I am blessed. I have you, I’m not puking, and I have cherry ice cream,” she teased. She had been about to say something about a heartier constitution but thought Allyssa might unintentionally be hurt.

  “Butterscotch is better,” she debated.

  “Is not.”

  “Is too.”

  They giggled like school girls.

  Allyssa made sure Fiona rested as often as possible after her work day ended. None of the colleges they had approached had matched them with anyone yet. Part of the problem was their clinic was less than two years old and they’d also put their application in very late in the year. The Veterinary Internship and Residency Matching Program (VIRMP) had to check them out, and then, t
hey would post their application on their board. The prospective interns and residents would rank their choices and then, the institutions they attended would rank the applicants. They might still get someone, but it wouldn’t be until July. Fortunately, Allyssa had also registered with the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP), who were thrilled to hear from them, especially with their non-profit horse rescue attached to the practice.

  “Your father called again,” Allyssa mentioned as she spooned some more creamy goodness into her mouth. She was ignoring the dogs that were blatantly begging for ice cream. Rex had company. Rocky, their therapists’ dog, was staying with them for a while as they took a well-deserved vacation. Allyssa thought their donkey missed them more than their dog. He occasionally set up quite a racket, braying for attention that only Rocky could appease since his humans weren’t in evidence.

  “Unless he’s letting the kids come, I’m not interested in talking to him right now,” she said succinctly.

  “It’s not his fault Rosemary is a bitch,” she pointed out. “Punishing him now for her years of bad behavior isn’t fair.”

  “She wouldn’t let the kids come for Easter. This is part of their heritage, part of their lifeblood,” she gestured towards the ranch, “and they want to come too.”

  “Have you told your father you are pregnant?”

  A telltale blush came over Fiona’s face. “I don’t think I should until–”

  “It’s three months, babe. You can start telling people.”

  Sometimes, Fiona had a hard time remembering she was even pregnant. She’d didn’t really feel any different. Except for taking vitamins every morning, there was no sign she was pregnant. She had no nausea, no vomiting, nothing. She’d asked herself a couple of times in the mirror, “Are you sure you’re pregnant?” The only thing she noticed was she had no more periods, no cramping, no blood, and she was happy about that. Allyssa had stopped having her periods out of sympathy too, and they had laughed over that. Allyssa was genuinely happy about the pregnancy, making dinners for her wife and just generally wanting to take care of her. She put full meals into the refrigerator in the RV to make sure Fey ate right, and she made sure everything was washed and cleaned, all lovely and caring acts.