Page 54 of Roping Her In

The longhorns required him to brush up on some of his textbooks, and the Gypsy Vanner horses would require a whole new type of learning. They were horses at their core, but every breed was a little bit different, with specific needs and care required.

Bev Russell was a great resource for Three Rivers, as she not only had her large animal veterinary certification, but she’d done several extra courses in equine care and wanted to open an equine surgical center in town. Jake really liked the woman, even if she was a touch clinical.

He figured he’d been pretty standoffish when he’d returned to town too. As he bumped over a small pile of ice that had clearly fallen from the power lines and onto JJ’s drive, he reminded himself that everyone had a past. Everyone needed the loving care of the Savior, His atoning sacrifice for them, and was probably doing their best at any given time, on any given day.

JJ had told him to go past the farmhouse and toward the specialty stables and sheds that he’d built for his longhorns. Jake recognized the craftsmanship of Trap Walker in the buildings as they came into view, and a smile touched his soul.

He’d barely put his truck in park before JJ came out barn doors that stood twice as wide as a double barn door normally would. Jake grinned because while JJ definitely possessed midnight black genes—and he sometimes had a mood to match—right now he grinned from ear to ear.

“Jake, howdy, brother,” he said.

Jake’s cowboy boots landed on a tuft of wet, brown grass among JJ’s otherwise immaculate gravel. “You guys didn’t get hardly any ice over here.”

“Yeah, those pictures at Shiloh Ridge were intense.” JJ reached out and grabbed onto Jake’s hand and gave it a firm pump. “Ruby says I’m being a mother hen.” He shrugged one shoulder as he chuckled. “They’re my longhorns, and I told her I deserve to be a mother hen over them if I want.”

“You absolutely do,” Jake said.

“I thought Hailey would be with you.” JJ turned, cutting Jake a look out of the corner of his eye.

“I just dropped her off at Mitch’s,” Jake said. “She can communicate with him, and he’s got seven dogs he wants us to look at.”

“Oh, is he having a problem with his dogs?”

“I don’t think so.” Jake entered the stable ahead of JJ, who held the door for him. “I think he’s mother-henning, a lot like you.”

JJ’s laughter filled the stable, lifting Jake’s spirits along with it. “I know I’ve got one who’s got something going on with his back leg,” JJ said. “But I can’t figure out why. Their stalls have stayed dry, and they haven’t even been outside in the ice.”

“Maybe because they haven’t been outside,” Jake said, waiting for JJ to come to his side. “When’s the last time they were turned out to pasture?”

A dark look crossed JJ’s face. “At least a week.”

They paused in the center of the stable, and Jake looked left and then right. Longhorns needed a huge space for their obviously wide headgear, and as Jake gazed down one of the rows and saw several of them with their heads out, chewing happily, he realized why JJ loved them so much.

“I think I’ll be able to get them out tomorrow,” JJ said. “I’m just waiting for my load of wood shavings, and it should be here this afternoon. Then the boys and I will get our temporary paddock done, and I can get them out for a bit.”

Jake nodded, then lifted his kit onto a chest-high table that had been built into the wall. “Well, let’s see what we’ve got,” he said, wondering if perhaps Mitch or Lacy could drive Hailey over to Seven Sons, as she would want this longhorn experience.

An hour later, Jake pushed out of the huge stable just in time to see Hailey getting out of Mitch’s truck. Mitch got out next and waved to Jake, who returned the gesture.

Mitch went to the back door and opened it, where he started leashing a dog. Jake had had way more to do at Seven Sons than Hailey did at the Deaf Academy, and all Mitch needed was for Jake to examine the beautiful red setter that jumped to the ground as Mitch backed up.

“Hey,” Jake called to Hailey. “JJ’s got the three longhorns I want you to look at, but can you stay and interpret for me and Mitch?”

Hailey came around the front of the truck, and she signed to Mitch, and then said, “Okay,” to Jake. Both she and Mitch nodded their agreement.

“Tell me what’s been going on,” Jake said but Mitch first picked up the pretty red dog and put her on the tailgate of his truck.

Jake moved over and started to stroke his hands over the dog’s head and down her pretty ears, while Mitch’s hands flew as he spoke to Hailey.

“He’s just concerned that Magnolia’s got something wrong in the back,” Hailey said. “She used to jump up on their bed, or the training platform at the dog facility, or the small deck off his office at the Academy…. He said about two weeks ago, she stopped doing all of that, and he had to retrain her with a new sign for steps.”

“She’ll still go up the steps?” Jake asked, moving to the dog’s hind legs and focusing there.

“Yes,” Hailey said a couple of moments later. “No problems going up the steps.”

“How old is she?”

“Three and a half,” Hailey said.