Page 67 of Winning Her Duke

“I’m willing to take that chance. Go on.” He waved and the men shared their disagreement with a few more disgruntled curses before leaving for good.

Gia had her hand on Hera’s neck and felt the horse relax at their exit and her ability to protect her flanks.

“Let’s move her up a bit more. Yes, that’s perfect. Right there.” They now had room behind her to work. “Move some of those lamps around to this side,” she instructed.

Hale had heard and helped Robbie with the lighting. Positioning it carefully so it would illuminate the area without risk of catching something on fire.

“Robbie, I want you to hold her, not too tight. Talk to her and brush her neck.” He nodded and started to soothe the horse. A natural with Hera.

Gia felt the horse relax even more allowing Gia to perform a more thorough examination.

“Let’s see what we have here, lass.” Gia spoke just loud enough not to startle her patient as she began feeling Hera’s belly, pressing here and there to determine where the head might be. “Oh, I see,” she said after counting her fifth hoof and then the sixth.

“What is it?”

“It appears you have two racehorses in there and they are both of a mind to win who comes out first.”

“Two? Are you certain?”

She didn’t take offense to his question. Twins among horses were uncommon. And even when it happened it was rare for both foals to be born healthy. She took a moment to show Hale how she had come to that conclusion.

“Can we save them?”

“I believe they are both alive. We will certainly try to keep them that way. But we must hurry.”

Sam had returned with two footmen who carried two buckets of water each. She thanked the men and instructed Sam to help his brother. “You’ll both need to keep her still as His Grace and I try to move the foals around. Don’t scare her, but don’t let her back up or lie down. She may want to move around but we must keep her in this position.”

Both boys gave a determined nod.

Gia checked Hera again, positioning Hale’s hands where she needed him to help support the mare’s abdomen. She told him which direction he should push when she gave him the word then she pulled a stool behind the horse, rolled up her sleeves, and washed her hands before she stood on the stool and reached in.

Hale shook his head and offered a nervous smile.

“If the ton could see you now.”

“You know well enough what I think of them.” She turned her focus back to the horse. “Ah, I see you are winning this race by a nose, so we will bring you out first, little one.”

She took a breath and looked to the terrified duke on her right.

“Hale, on my mark, push the way I instructed you to with your right hand first. Then when you feel it give way, push with your left. Just as I showed you. Boys, get ready. She isn’t going to appreciate this very much. But she’ll live to thank us all later.” Gia took another deep breath to prepare and then said, “Now.”

Things moved rather quickly then. The other horse slipped back as if conceding to his sibling and the first horse slid from its mother in a wet splat upon the thick straw.

The second foal was not far behind now that its way had become clear. The twin was much smaller than the first and Gia helped to clear away the birthing sac.

She gestured to Hale to give her a wet cloth and used it to clear away the horse’s nose so it could breathe.

The larger twin was already struggling to remove the sac from its head and Gia and Hale worked together to hold her and clean her up enough to assure she was breathing.

“She’s impatient. But her younger brother is going to give her a run for her money,” Gia said as the smaller horse had positioned his foot to stand.

“What should we name them?” he asked, bestowing the same honor to her that she had when he’d picked the name for Xandra.

“They weren’t born to Leto, but they are twins so it seems right they should be Artemis and Apollo.”

He smiled. “It does seem fitting. They both gave a valiant god-like effort to get to us safely.”

Gia wished his smile didn’t force one of her own to her lips. Taking care of Hera was not even a question. She would never allow her feelings for the owner to keep her from helping a horse.