Page 53 of All I Need

Ellie gags behind me but quickly covers it up by saying, “Mmm.”

I smirk before motioning her closer. “Reach inside.”

She scrunches her nose and shakes her head back and forth a few times. “It’s a sweet offer but I’m good.”

“Chicken?”

“You ass. I’m not a chicken. I’m just not well acquainted with Stormy here and I believe in getting to know someone first.”

“Stormy, this is Ellie.” To Stormy’s credit, one of her big eyes stares up at Ellie. “Ellie, this here is Stormy. Stormy, Ellie’s about to get all up in your business, okay, girl? Don’t worry, she’s not coming on to you. She’s ready to learn.”

“Hi Stormy,” Ellie says with a little wave, the plastic glove crinkling as she moves.

Stormy moos in response.

“See? She likes you.”

“I can’t believe you’re making me do this.”

“I’d never make you do anything you didn’t want to, Ellie. But trust me,” I tell her, knowing the words are hard for Ellie to hear.

She blows out a breath then crouches down next to me. “Okay, what do I do?”

“I’ll put some of this on your gloved hand and help you slide it in. Then you can feel it. I’ll do the rest.”

She slides in front of me and I steady her, guiding her hand where she needs to go. She squeals before pushing her hand inside then shudders, squeezing her eyes shut tightly.

“Gross, gross, gross, gross.”

“It’s not gross. It’s life. Feel,” I murmur to her, my lips grazing her cheek. “Open your eyes.”

She relaxes back into me a little bit before moving her arm in farther. “It’s…” she pauses then relaxes even more, “a foot. Walker, I feel a foot! And a bunch of other really nasty things that I really don’t want to think about but I feel a real live foot!”

I laugh. “You sure do. Amazing, isn’t it?”

She slides her hand out and it makes a loud squish sound—this time Ellie doesn’t even react. “Let’s get this baby out of there.”

“Now who’s the boss?”

She turns her head and winks at me then moves out of my way so I can get back behind Stormy.

Brett clears his throat and damn if I hadn’t forgotten he was even with us. “You two need some privacy?”

Yes.

Ellie blushes.

“Nah, man. Let’s get this baby out of Stormy before she goes into distress.”

“Good plan.”

Brett readies Stormy so she’s stable in the stall, which will help so none of us are injured in the birthing process. We get to work with pulling the calf’s legs out as much as we can before I wrap a chain around the legs. For the next several minutes we work together to pull the calf out safely.

When I feel she’s getting closer, I motion Ellie closer.

I have her sit between my legs, which unfortunately I can’t even register how amazing it feels to have her there because we’re trying to keep a calf alive.

I reach around her and grip the chain tightly then motion for her to hold the other side. A lot of the time Brett would be doing this on his own but since I was here checking her anyway, it’s safer for me to handle it. In other times, Brett would be helping me but he’s busy keeping Stormy relaxed as well as the others in their stalls as they can sense there’s something wrong here.

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