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“I’m working on it,” he said. “Once we get a few backers, we can advertise spay clinics to the rescues in the area.”
“That’s a great idea! You’re so smart, Justy.”
Laughing, he shook his head, knowing she was teasing him. “I’ll let you get back to your horse washing.”
Melting, she threw herself at him, her belly in between their bodies.
Smiling at her, Justin grabbed her upper arms to pull her up, gave her one more kiss, patted her belly, and walked away toward the truck.
The rest of the morning passed by the way she’d dreamed it would be when she had first moved to Bayou Cottage: peace, silence, no other human beings. At ten she went inside and made a cup of English tea with milk, her new passion, took it out on the porch with her computer, and worked for the next couple of hours. At one point, Raven came into the yard and grazed close to the porch, lifting her head to watch Maggie from time to time. Lightning was at her side, ignoring Maggie for the most part.
Like an alarm clock, her stomach growled right at noon. She stood up to find something to eat when, the only way to describe it, a whoosh of liquid came from between her legs.
“Oh hell, what the hell is this?”
She couldn’t be sure, but there were flecks of brown in it, maybe red. She’d never heard of that when the mention of membranes rupturing came up. Getting her computer to dry, safe land came next; then she went off the porch around the side of the house to get the hose to squirt off the mess. The spray of the water covered up the sound of Justin’s truck until he was practically at the porch.
“Oh, great.”
She was still in soaking wet pants.
“What are you doing?” he asked, the scene confusing with her washing the porch. He didn’t notice her pants being wet yet.
“My membranes ruptured, so I’m just cleaning up.”
He quickly stepped over to reach for her. “How are you?”
“It was weird, but there was some brown stuff in it. See my pants? It wasn’t clear liquid.”
She saw the concerning tic in his jaw. “That could be meconium, Maggie. It’s stool from Tina. It could mean she’s in distress. You should call your doctor right away.”
“Could you?” she asked. She’d never wanted his interference before, so he jumped at it.
“Put the hose down and take care of yourself. You should be resting with your feet up. I’ll turn the water off.”
She didn’t argue with him for once, and he jumped off the porch to get to the faucet. Leaving the hose on the porch, which kind of drove her nuts, she made it an act of her will to ignore it.
“I’ll run up and get clothes. What do you want?”
“Underpants and another pair of these scrubs.”
The uniform distributor had left pink and white scrubs for his staff to try out, and he took them home to Maggie, who quickly took a liking to them.
He ran up and got her the clean clothes, and she went back out on the porch to wash up with the hose, not wanting the mess in the downstairs bathroom.
When she came out, he had her overnight bag and the baby bag at the door.
“Let’s go. You’re gonna be a mommy today,” he said, holding her.
“What about the dog?”
“Call Kelly and tell her we’re dropping her off.”
He got everything in the truck, including the dog, and then came back to get Maggie.
“Should I eat?”
“Hold off in case they need to section you right away.”
