Creed hopped off the tractor and said, “Now to the milking.”
“And to the eggs. Meet you in the house… Did you hear that?”
“What?”
She cocked her head to one side. “It sounded like a baby crying.”
The cattle were eating and the ones who couldn’t get to the hay were fussing about having to wait. The milk cow was putting up a bawling fit about her full udder, and Noel had joined them in the barn. She cocked her head to one side and sniffed the air.
“Shhh, there it is again,” Sage said.
Creed turned his ear toward the empty stall behind Sage.
“I don’t hear a thing. You sure it’s not the wind?”
She listened intently. “No, it’s coming from the stall next to the cow.”
Creed took a step in that direction. “I’d say it is kittens, but it’s the wrong season. Cats don’t usually have babies in the winter because they don’t survive.”
“We don’t have cats.”
Creed opened the door and pointed. “You do now. Those are newborn kittens right there. Recognize the big old yellow mother?”
Sage dropped down on her knees and moved the mother cat to one side. “There are three of them and I’ve never seen any of these animals before.”
Noel plowed right into the stall and touched noses with the momma cat. She purred when Noel nosed each of the newborn kittens.
Creed smiled. “Would you look at that? She’s not afraid of the dog and Noel isn’t killing kittens. Those two are friends. There ain’t no doubt about it. A normal momma cat would have scratched a dog’s eyes out if she’d gotten close to her babies, but they know each other. They were probably hauled off at the same time. Looks like it’s a two-for-one day for you, Sage. You get a cat and a dog and you’re going to get Christmas presents early in the way of kittens and puppies. I can put some warm milk in a pan for her when I do the milking.”
“They’ll freeze out here, Creed. We’ll have to take them inside or they’ll be dead by morning,” Sage said.
“They are out of season for sure. Cats usually don’t have litters until the spring and then maybe another in the fall, but not in December. Looks of them, they were just born today, and you are right, they won’t live in this kind of cold.”
“The only thing to do is take them in the house. We can make a litter pan out of an old dishpan if you’ll bring in a bucket of dirt from the barn floor. I wonder how long she’s been in the barn.”
Creed grinned. “Evidently she’s been here long enough to have babies. Do you want to carry her and the kittens in the house or get the eggs?”
“I’ll get the eggs. I’d be afraid I’d drop one of those little things in the snow and it would freeze to death before I could find it.”
“Then I’ll take her and the kittens inside and come back to finish my end of the chores,” he said.
She’d gathered four eggs and was already in the house when she realized that she’d obeyed his orders without even thinking.
“Well, shit!” she said as she washed the eggs and put them into containers to go into the refrigerator.
What a day!
First no Grand.
Then a cowboy and a dog and mistletoe everywhere.
That was more than enough for one day, but then the angel appeared along with the cardinal. And now cats!
And this was just day one. There were twenty more to go.
Creed came in right behind her, a momma cat’s head poking out of his coveralls at chest level. “She’s a good cat. She didn’t even scratch me when I zipped up to just under her chin. She knows I’m bringing her into a warm place.”
“Noel told her when she bumped noses with her that we were good folks,” Sage said.
“Got a basket and a towel or another old blanket?” Creed asked before he removed the cat from inside his coveralls.
Sage grabbed an extra plastic laundry basket from the pantry and hurried back to the hallway to find a blanket in the linen closet. When she returned he unzipped to his waist and handed her the yellow momma cat. She was nothing but an armful of bones and long fur.
“Good grief, Creed, she’s skinny. Her hair made her look like she was chubby, but I can feel her ribs.”
“She and Noel have been on the run for a while. I told you I bet they were dropped at least a week ago and they’ve been living on whatever they could scrounge up.”
“Where are the kittens?” Sage asked.
Creed pulled two black ones from one pocket and a yellow one from the other. He laid them gently in the basket and Sage put the momma in with them.
“Think she’s hungry?” Sage asked.
“Probably half starved, but we’ve got lots of milk. Give me a few minutes and she can even have it warm right from the cow. Whip up a couple of those fresh eggs to go in it for extra protein and she’ll love it.”
Noel checked out the cat and kittens, then went straight for her own blanket.
“Whoever dumped them should be shot,” Sage grouched.
“It happens, but they’ve got a good home now, don’t they? I’m going back out and milk before I get too warm in all these layers. See you in a few minutes,” Creed said.
The door opened, a blast of cold air swept across the floor, and then it closed again.
“Yes, you do have a good home now. Don’t you worry, momma cat. We won’t let your babies die.” Sage removed her coveralls and hung them up, cleaned the water from the floor again, and went straight to the living room. She shoved two more logs into the fireplace and sat down on the floor between the animals.
“I didn’t even want pets. So what makes the difference?” she said aloud.
I wanted you to have a pet because you needed something to love that wouldn’t leave you. Looks like you got them because they needed you. It was Grand’s voice again but Sage just nodded in agreement. Could be that the cowboy needs you too.
Sage set her mouth firmly and said, “Now that is enough.”
Noel looked up and whimpered.
“I wasn’t talking to you. You can stay as long as you like. There’s lots of room on the ranch for your puppies. And your friend and her babies can live in the barn when the cold weather passes and it’s warm enough to put them out there.”
“What did you name her?” Creed asked when he returned half an hour later, a bucket of milk in one hand and a bucket of dirt in the other.