Page 26 of Hearing Little Hadley

Hadley flipped through her cards.Nice to meet you.

“This is my Daddy, Travis,” Wren said, directing her statement to both Hadley and Finn.

Finn extended his hand. “Hello, I’m Finn, Hadley’s Daddy.”

At the announcement, Sadie grabbed Hadley’s arms and started hopping around. “He’s your Daddy now?”

Hadley grinned and nodded, before jumping up and down too. Wren, not sure what they were celebrating, started jumping as well.

“Littles, the ice,” Finn reminded, firmly. He didn’t want them to fall.

They obediently stopped jumping but continued their squealing.

Travis chuckled and shook his head. “Alright, I promised Master Derek we wouldn’t be out here too long. It’s very cold.”

They followed Travis inside the stables and toward the back. The Littles chatted in excitement while Finn took in the area. He was in awe of the beauty of the stable. He knew it was big just from the outside, but it had well over two dozen stalls and these weren’t the only animals on the property. The floors were hard-packed and covered in hay. The smell of the hay made Hadley sneeze and Finn made a mental note to pick up some Benadryl on the way back to their room.

Travis opened the door to a stall labeledAlfie.An adorable alpaca wandered out into the open. His fur was thick and curly and even Finn would admit he wanted to cuddle him.

“You can pet him. He likes it. You can also feed him a carrot, but you need to hold your hand flat,” Master Travis said, demonstrating how to hold their hands.

Everyone took a carrot and Finn watched in amusement as the Little girls played with the alpaca that thought he was a horse. Shaking his head, Finn laughed. “Only at Rawhide Ranch.”

“Let’s just hope he doesn’t decide he’d rather be a reindeer after he sees the team we’re bringing in.”

The stable-master’s words caught Finn’s attention. “Where on earth are you going to find reindeer?”

Travis chuckled. “Believe me, when Derek sets his mind to something, I honestly don’t believe anything is impossible.” As the Little girls continued to fuss over Alfie, Travis told Finn how the horses in the stables had become unicorns for a prank. “Guess he was a bit leery of what those Littles might decide to do to the horses this time so you can bet Santa’s team will be authentic.”

Finn grinned as he looked over at his Little girl. She was eye to eye with an alpaca, one hand held out palm flat offering Alfie a carrot while her other was buried in the soft fur of the alpaca’s coat. Imagining her surprise at seeing an actual reindeer made his smile grow even wider. “If the reindeer are anything like Alfie, Derek might discover he’s going to need to build another stable.”

“Not to worry, he’ll make sure the Littles understand those reindeer belong to Santa and if they want to stay on the nice list, they won’t fuss when Santa takes them away. Besides, he’ll need his team to deliver gifts to all the boys and girls all over the world.”

Finn could easily understand the reasoning. “Well, I’ve got to say. It seems that every single day we’ve been here we’ve discovered something unexpected and, well… I guess you could say magical.”

“Just wait until you meet the turkeys and Stella.” Travis laughed.

“Stella?”

“A dairy cow with no milk.”

“No milk?”

“None. Not a drop. She’s really just a pet.”

Finn laughed. “A damn cow that doesn’t make milk.”

“One of the Little girls on the Ranch had a farm full of animals that didn’t do what they should. She loved them all, and now they live here where they’re very loved despite their differences,” Travis explained.

Hadley looked up at Finn and he winked at her, silently communicating that she was loved despite her differences as well.

Finn fed Hadley a bite of applesauce. “You did so good eating all your dinner tonight, baby.”

Hadley rubbed her watery eyes and sniffled.

“Meeting all the fuzzy friends messed your allergies up. I’ve got some medicine to give you after you finish eating.”

She nodded and took a bite of the soup he’d ordered her. It was a new food, but she’d eaten almost all of it. “It was worth it to meet Alfie, Stella, and all the turkeys, Daddy.”

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