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He crosses his heart. "I promise. I never doubt you're capable, Dani. I only ever want to make your life easier, but I'll talk to you next time."
"Good. Want to stay?"
He nods at Arty. "I'll help you get him tucked away safely, at least."
"No. I mean, yes. Please help me with Arty, but will you stay here with me tonight? I've missed you enough this week for one lifetime. I want my boyfriend in my bed tonight."
His smile warms every part of me and I can't resist kissing his sweet lips again. "Of course I'll stay," he says. "I'll stay as long as you'll have me."
I look at the dark house and the barn beyond, its light casting a glow around the entrance. I can't see anything beyond it to give me any idea where all the other animals are. "We should make a run for the small barn first."
We leap from his truck and race through the rain toward the barn. Well, he races. I trot awkwardly while I try not to jostle Arty too much. He survived sliding down a mountainside with Grant on top of him - though Grant says he flipped and put Arty on top of himself as soon as he could — Arty doesn't need any more trauma tonight.
The small barn is empty except for Mari in her stall. And in the two stalls next to her, our three pigs have been set up with comfy beds of hay. Honey has moved most of her pottery supplies to the back half of the barn, but there's no sign of new animals.
"I thought I heard a truck pull up." Goldy appears in the entryway to the barn, an open umbrella held loosely in her right hand and dripping onto the floor. "Is that the missing goat?"
She smiles sweetly at the little animal in my arms, some of her hard edges softening far more than I've seen in years.
"This is Arty," I say. "Short for Escape Artist."
Her smile grows. "Well, hello there, Arty. I think you're going to like it here."
She looks up at me and Grant. "Jared says we need to keep the new animals quarantined from Mari and the pigs until he can clear them of disease. Henry brought over a ton of tarps and constructed a make-shift barn for the new animals that'll work until we can get the actual barn built." Her eyes go misty, her smile softening still more. "You should have seen it, Dani. I swear half the town was here helping Henry get a temporary shelter built and bringing in hay and feed for the animals. It was a beautiful thing."
"I wish I was here."
We follow her out of the barn. Grant takes Arty from me for our second run through the rain, but he's still faster than me. Goldy flicks on a flashlight and illuminates what looks like a circus tent built of multiple colors of tarps and flat-topped. "Henry did this tonight?"
Goldy pulls aside a flap and leads us inside. Not only is the interior mostly dry, but Henry constructed fence-like dividers to separate the space into stalls. Stalls that are filled with hay and sleepy animals.
"I had a lot of help," Henry says, stepping out of the dimly lit space, a little boy asleep on his shoulder. "I'll be by to talk to you tomorrow about the construction of your real barn and whatever other outbuildings you need right away. Waiting on your cousins to get around to building it is no longer an option."
"I appreciate that," I say. "But we haven't even started fund raising yet. I have no way to pay you."
Henry shrugs. "Pay me what you can when you can. I've already got folks in town volunteering money, supplies, and labor to get this done. A lot of people were here to see the animals unloaded. So many people want to help give them a good home for as long as they need it."
I press a hand to my chest. "I never thought…"
"This is a good thing you're doing here," Henry says. "The vast majority of folks will be supportive. Don't be afraid to lean on them." He pats my shoulder as he passes. "I've gotta get this little guy to bed."
"Thank you again, Henry," Goldy says stiffly.
Henry flashes her a smile that shines brighter than the flashlight in his hand. "Anything for you, Goldenrod."
Goldy's cheeks flame red, but she clears her throat. "It's Goldy and you know it."
He chuckles as he lets himself out of the tent barn.
"I've got the goats set up over here." Goldy points to the far corner of the structure with her umbrella as she heads that way. "Jared and Liz did a cursory examination of the animals and don't think any of them have a disease that could transfer to humans, but we should be careful about how much we touch them." She glances back at Grant with Arty in his arms. "Probably too late for that."
"We'll wash up good," Grant says.
"We kept all the goats together in one stall, because they got upset when we separated them." Goldy shines her light over the stall so she isn't shining it directly into the goats' eyes.
They're all huddled together in the corner, but they perk up and start making a racket as soon as Grant gets close with Arty. The little goat maaas back at them.
Grant carefully lowers Arty to the ground, and the goat runs right into the middle of the group.
