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“Are you happy?”
“Ecstatic!” She made herself tone down her enthusiasm. “Thank you, Silas.”
Silas shook his head. “Don’t thank me. Matthew bought her for you.”
She turned wondering eyes to him. “You did?”
“I did.” He smiled, his eyes twinkling at her. “She’s all yours. You’re going to be the one to take care of her once we have you tested to find out if you’re allergic or not.”
“You’ll have to show me how.”
“There’s going to be a lot of dirty work involved,” he warned.
“I don’t care.” She went around the side of the trailer to see the cow from the opening.
“See? I didn’t leave you.” Alanna twirled around in joy, thrilled that the cow hadn’t been killed. Then she turned to face Matthew, trying not to cry.
“I’ve never had such a wonderful present. Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome.” Matthew walked to where she was standing. “You know what this means?”
She stopped smiling, fear gripping her heart so hard that she was afraid it had stopped beating.
“You’ll have to stay in Kentucky. It’s going to be hard to find a place in Ohio where you can keep a cow this size in your backyard.”
She started smiling again. “I don’t think she would fit in a rental car either.”
“Nope, she won’t,” Silas said from the back of the trailer. Matthew and she walked to the back as Silas pulled the metal ramp down so he and Matthew could nudge the cow out of the trailer.
Both men were sweating when Silas closed the trailer.
“For now, let’s put her in the old goat pen. I need to go the tractor store to get some hay.” Silas used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe his brow. “Matthew, you mind helping Alanna organize the storage room?”
“Can do,” he said from over his shoulder as he went to open the old wooden gate and Silas herded the cow inside the pen.
Running to where Ginny had shown her where the water hose was kept, she turned the spigot on, holding the hose where the metal met the rubber tubing, the way Ginny had shown her to because the connection was old and needed to be replaced. Carrying the hose, she ran back, waiting for one of the men to show her where to put the water. Her cow was probably thirsty after the ride across two mountains.
“There’s an extra trough in the equipment building,” Silas told Matthew, seeing her waiting with the hose.
“I’ll get it,” Alanna offered as Matthew started to open the gate so he could get out of the pen.
“It will be too heavy—”
Shoving the water hose at Matthew, she forgot to hold the connection until he took it from her hand. Matthew automatically reached out to take the nozzle, and when he did, water blasted him in the face.
“Oh my God.” Alanna tried to grab the hose again, but Matthew had crimped it closed with his hand as he stared at her accusingly.
“You did that deliberately.”
“I di—” She gurgled with laughter at seeing water drip off the tip of his nose. “Did not.”
Matthew turned the hose in her direction.
“Don’t!” she screeched.
Water hit her in the mouth.
She put up her hands up to protect her face, but the water was immediately shut off.
