Kyron, page 3
“Well, I need to contact him to thank him,” she said immediately.
“I told him that you would say that, and he mentioned that he wants to come by. So you can tell him then. I don’t know what else to tell you about that, except that he’s likely to just pop up out of the blue at some point.”
“Good enough,” she replied because how could she say anything different? She did want to thank this benefactor, who had made what was a massive donation in her world. And, if he allowed her to get more supplies and medications and to fix the back fence, not to mention a few other things that needed to be done around here, then his participation was even more of a big deal.
She sat here, with a cup of coffee in her hand, long after her grandmother had hung up. And, for the first time in a long time, Miranda knew she could sleep tonight. Something she desperately needed. As she stared out into the flurry of the cold bitter winds outside, she thought she saw a dark shepherd-looking animal shift in the wind.
It was the neighbor’s dog.
Miranda bolted to her feet, stepped into her boots, walked outside, and called it softly. She sensed more than saw it, which was the way with injured and weary animals. She didn’t know if this dog knew who was friend or foe. She didn’t know anything about it, other than the neighbor hadn’t treated it right, and this dog was desperately in need of care and comfort.
She walked out without her coat, wincing at that folly, but, rather than rushing back inside, she grabbed a big scoop of dog food and headed out to where she thought she saw the shepherd. She cleared a spot of snow off the ground and piled up the dog food as best she could. If nothing else, one of the other animals would find it. Then calling out softly to the dog, Miranda headed back inside.
There, she poured herself the last of the coffee and moved into the living room to curl up. For the first time in a long time, she intentionally relaxed, as she worked on a list of where that money most needed to go.
Such a list would always be longer than the money, but now she could see her way through the winter.
And she smiled.
Chapter 2
The next morning was Saturday. Miranda woke up with a cozy sense of well-being, and almost immediately the memory of the money being deposited to her account rushed into her head. Checking the time, she gasped and immediately jumped into the shower and only a few minutes later raced from the house. No time for coffee. She’d have to get it at the office. Dressed warmly, she would have normally walked, but she didn’t have time today. She quickly jumped into her truck, backed out, and headed into work.
As soon as she got in the building, the vet showed up. He frowned at her, but she shook her head before he could speak. “I’m not late,” she stated.
He smiled. “Actually I wasn’t going to remark about you being late,” he explained. “You somehow look like you’re feeling better.”
“I am a little bit,” she agreed but didn’t bother to explain. She quickly put on a pot of coffee, happy that at least she was right on time, instead of being ever-so-slightly late, because one was acceptable, and the other was definitely not.
He walked off to handle his patients, while Miranda did whatever was needed. She changed the bedding, cleaned the kitty litter boxes, fed and watered all the animals, as well as answering the phones and filing paperwork. Some days it was boring, but she relished the barter system she had set up here.
As she finished up her half-day’s work, the vet walked up behind her.
“Miranda, I have another cat here.” He held the little thing gently.
Her heart sank, but she nodded immediately. “How bad is it?”
“It’s diabetic and will need insulin.”
“Great.” She blew at the tendrils of her hair, as she accepted the frail-looking feline. “Oh, she’s a sweetheart,” she murmured.
“I know, and a lot of people would say to just put her down because she’s a diabetic.”
“I know. I’ve heard it all before,” she murmured.
“We both have, haven’t we? Maybe we can work together on this cat. I am willing to supply the insulin, if you can handle the care.”
“Done,” she replied immediately, so very relieved that she wouldn’t have to bear the expense of the medicine.
As it was noon and time for Miranda to leave, she packed up the medicine, took one of the pet carrier cages that she always left here, put the cat in it, and took her carefully out to her truck. The interior of the vehicle was cold, and she kicked herself for not warming it up first, though she wasn’t going far. As soon as she pulled out of the parking lot and headed home, the cat started yowling.
“I know,” she murmured to her. “Let’s call you Sophie.” The cat had just been fixed and was looking decent, except for the need for insulin. Miranda had dealt with several cats like this though. As soon as she got her home, she put her in a room all on her own to start the transition, before getting her accustomed to the other cats. Miranda also wanted to monitor this cat’s food, water, and medication for a bit, since she was diabetic.
With that done, and the pretty little thing now tucked up on a cat bed all on her own, Miranda headed outside to deal with the rest of the animals. She had tried to work on sorting her priorities for the money she’d just been gifted, but she had so many legitimate needs that she hadn’t yet put them into any true order of importance because they were all important needs. She’d get there; she knew it. There was just no way not to, and it was a gift, a huge gift.
At the same time, she’d been worried about telling the vet about it, just in case he decided that he’d need to now be paid for the vet work he did on her animals. But, as long as they had a workable back-and-forth relationship, where she kept taking animals from him that needed homes, where he kept healing her sick and injured animals, then she hoped that their situation continued.
She headed out to the far corner of her property, a little too close to town for her, but she was glad for the moment that she had two acres, though she really could have used about fourteen. The house was a ramshackle old mess and probably needed way more money than she could handle putting into upgrading her home. But she didn’t care about the house. Her focus was always on the animals and getting them the care they needed.
As soon as she’d fed the outdoor animals and taken a look to make sure everybody was doing okay and had fresh water, she headed over to where she’d seen the three-legged dog last night. At least she thought it was a dog, though she’d certainly had more than her share of coyotes come through. They were well-known for eating any and all food available to them because some winters were hard to get through.
As much as she sympathized with their survival plight, she also didn’t want them looking at her animals as their next meal. That had happened a time or two, but sometimes there was just no way to stop the predators. It was one of the reasons she would be grateful to find a rescue that would take the rabbits. Although all of them were fixed, and they didn’t have a very long lifespan to begin with, rabbits were special in her world. Miranda adored that certain splendor in their cuddliness. But Colorado was not necessarily the easiest place to raise them.
Back in the house, she took inventory of the dog food that she had left. There was certainly some, but she was easily going through twenty pounds a week and had only about twice that. She, as usual, was running low and needed to resolve that. She also needed hay for the horses, which was a little more challenging. She immediately placed a call to her supplier and put enough on order for the entire winter.
On the other end of the phone, Rhine laughed at her. “Hey, you must be doing well if you’re ordering the whole amount.”
“Well, I’ve got enough to get it at the moment, so I have to ensure the animals are fed.”
“I got you.” Rhine hesitated. “You know what? I can give you a better deal, since you’re making a bulk purchase and all.”
“I’ll take any deals coming,” she replied. “You know how many I’ve got here to feed.”
“I know,” he agreed. “With the amount of your order, I can pass on a discount to you.” And the figure he gave her for the whole amount—that should get her through the winter—brought a smile to her face.
“Thank you,” she said. It would be a major dent to her bank account, but, as dents went, it would be well spent. To know that the animals would have care and food, regardless of how rotten it got outside, would bring her a lot of peace of mind. Hay was not cheap, and neither was grain. Yet no way could she avoid this purchase.
Plus, she also needed to have the farrier come out. Sometimes she did barter deals with him as well. She called and left him a message, then went to work on the rest of her inventory. As long as bulk sales were happening, and she could take advantage of occasional deals offered through the suppliers at the veterinary office, she might get enough food for the dogs and maybe the cats too.
As she sat here wondering, she heard a bark. She ignored it at first because barks were common in her world. She currently had three dogs tucked up at her feet, and two were old seniors that she couldn’t house anywhere else. They just needed a place to spend the rest of their lives, which probably wouldn’t be all that long, but they still needed care.
When she heard a bark again, she raised her head and looked outside. She didn’t see anything, but frowning and hearing more barking, she got up and headed out. Maybe a couple dogs had gone into their pens, which they accessed through a huge doggie door, but now couldn’t get back through that same doggie door, as sometimes it stuck. That was a problem on its own but also led to another problem in terms of heating the house.
As she headed toward the barking, she saw two of her dogs, tails wagging madly, barking toward something off in the distance.
She checked to see if it was the shepherd that she had seen the night before. No sign of it, but she definitely saw some movement out there. Moving cautiously, not knowing if she was heading toward a predator—which definitely happened in her world—she headed in the direction of the movement. One of her dogs came right to her side, much more of a watchdog than the others.
She put her hand on the back of the big Great Dane. Although Dobbie was responsible for more than his fair share of the food bill, and he had a bad back, he was also the most protective of the lot. He had been with her for a very long time, and she had zero interest in moving him to another home. As she looked down on him, she smiled.
“You’re one of the reasons why I can’t feed everybody some days,” she scolded lightheartedly. Of course she always fed everybody regardless. Other things, like the roof on her house, suffered, while she was busy feeding the animals. Her family always managed to get quite angry about that superficial stuff, worried about what the neighbors would think, totally ignoring the things that truly mattered. But, hey, Miranda had lived with their anger for a very long time, so what else was new?
As she and Dobbie got closer, she noted that the dog food she had checked on earlier was gone, and she saw no sign of anybody out here. She frowned at that, then looked around at the Great Dane, sniffing the air off to the west. She followed slowly, moving through the brush, calling out, “Hey, pup. You’re hungry. You’re cold, and you need somebody. Come indoors. I know it’s pretty rough out here, isn’t it?”
She kept calling to the animal, yet feeling a bit on the foolish side because she couldn’t see anything. Still, she figured that the more the dog got used to her voice, the less frightened it would be. Maybe eventually the poor thing would see her not as a threat but as somebody who would help when things got tough. And no doubt that things would get tough. The worst of the Aspen winter hadn’t hit yet, and that was another thing that she had to think about, regarding that gift of money. She didn’t have enough firewood for the winter, and, with that thought, she headed back inside to add it to her list.
She had a lot of animals inside that needed to be kept warm too, and that was something she wouldn’t cut back on. In addition to the added cost of heat in the winter, she also had to factor in things like broken water lines, which meant big bills. The minute any kind of plumbing issue happened, it became an immediate problem. Even though her brother was a plumber, and he helped her out as much as he could, he also usually tattled to her family, and that was something she didn’t want to listen to, if she didn’t have to. But, hey, when push came to shove, she’d listen to it, if that’s what it took to keep everything going here and the animals safe inside.
As soon as she put firewood on her list and made a couple phone calls to see what she could get for deals, she heard the dogs barking again. Frowning, she got up and headed back outside. There was Dobbie, her Great Dane, still loping around in the backyard. But he wasn’t barking. He acted as though he were greeting a friend. She frowned as she watched his behavior. “What is it, Dobbie?”
He looked at her and barked. She walked over to him. “Well, whoever it is isn’t showing themselves, sweetheart,” she murmured, “so that’s making it a little hard for me to do anything.”
Just then, she caught sight of something dark in the shrubbery. She immediately froze and called out to it. She stayed there for a good twenty minutes, until she got so cold that she would have to go inside herself. And, with that, she headed back to the house, got more dog food, and brought it back out, placing it on the other side of her rear fence, where the dog wouldn’t have to get into her backyard, with all her critters, in order to get the food. She didn’t know who or what this animal was. However, even if it were a coyote, she wouldn’t see any animal starve, though that would make a lot of people angry with her.
With a final glance in that direction, she shrugged, then headed back inside to get warmed up again.
Every time Kyron got up, his sister in-law ran to get another hug. Finally he stopped, then held her close for a moment. “I won’t leave.”
She looked up at him, tears in her eyes. “Promise?”
He sighed. “Not for a while, okay?”
She nodded and brushed away the tears.
“You didn’t used to be quite so teary,” he teased.
“I didn’t used to be pregnant either,” she replied, with a bubble of laughter.
He grinned at her. “I don’t know if I told you, but congratulations.”
“You did tell me.” She smiled, hugging herself now. “Over and over again. And thank you. You know how much it means to us.”
“I do.” He returned her smile. “I’m not sure I would want to go down the same pathway, but, hey, I know it’s important to you.”
She smiled. “You know what? I think, deep down, every man wants a son.”
“Maybe,” Kyron agreed, “but that doesn’t mean that every man should have one.”
She winced at that. “I thoroughly understand where that sentiment is coming from,” she stated, with a nod. “And I hate to have to tell you this, but they know that you’re here.”
“Of course they do.” He stared at her. “Did you tell them?”
She nodded, with a cringe. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it would be something you didn’t want them to know about.”
He sighed, as he stared over her head, and caught his brother looking at him, with a narrowed gaze. Clearly a reminder not to say or to do anything to upset his wife. Kyron swallowed back his irritation and nodded. “I suppose they were bound to find out sometime.”
Her shoulders sagged with relief.
He added, “Don’t expect me to sit here and welcome them though. You want to have them over, fine. It’s your house. I’ll leave, so you all can visit.”
Immediately her face scrunched up.
He shook his head. “I get it. You want to heal the world,” he stated. “You’ve always been that way. But some things in life just don’t heal.”
“And some things in life can’t heal,” she argued immediately, “because people won’t let them.”
He smiled and nodded. “You know, Sand, you could be right. But don’t start using your wiles on me,” he warned. “My brother is very susceptible, but I don’t know that I am.”
She just smiled. “What if I pulled out the pregnant woman clause?”
He rolled his eyes at that. “I’ll call you on it. I’ve already told my brother that I would leave before I let my presence cause any trouble. So, if I need to, I will.”
“Don’t,” she said immediately. “I’m sorry.”
He shrugged. “I get your mothering instincts have kicked in, but I’m not willing to get into that kind of an issue here. I’m here to do a specific job, and I was hoping to spend time with my brother and with you, but we’ll see how things go.”
She nodded slowly. “It breaks my heart to know that you are on the outs with your parents.”
“We’re not on the outs, like this is some small thing that is temporary,” he said. “I’ll never be what they want me to be, and that’s just a fact of life that won’t change. Ever.”
“I’ve never seen them act like that before,” she noted.
“Listen. I won’t discuss this with anyone,” he replied quietly. “You can talk about it with my brother, when I’m out of earshot, if you want, but I don’t need any more stress in my world either.”
Her gaze immediately went to his missing leg, and she nodded quietly. “We all have things to deal with, don’t we?”
“We sure do,” he said cheerfully. “And, right now, we have to deal with the fact that we haven’t eaten yet, and I’m starving.”
She burst out laughing. “I’d forgotten you were such an enthusiastic eater.”
“How could you forget?” he asked, with a bright smile. “You know perfectly well that my brother is the same in that regard.”
She winced. “Well, that’s true enough. And I have breakfast warming in the oven, just waiting for all of us to sit down together. One more question, then I’ll leave you be. I still don’t understand why you’re here. Allen said it was something about a dog. Can you fill me in on that?”
