“Good,” he said. “Want to see something really cool?” he asked.
“Sure.”
He grabbed her hand and started leading her towards the barn. She figured he would let go but he kept holding on and she didn’t have the will power to pull away. She’d noticed his entire family were all touchy feely people, so she told herself not to read too much into the gesture.
“My favorite mare is about to give birth. There’s nothing more miraculous and beautiful as that,” he told her excitedly.
Emily found herself eager to see the new foal. They got to the barn and heard some pained noises. Emily looked up in concern, “is she okay?”
“She’s fine. I’ve been checking on her the past couple of days and the vet has been looking over her. Everything is on schedule and the foal is in the right position. Giving birth still hurts though.”
“Yes it does,” she agreed emphatically.
“I guess you would know more than me,” he said with a sheepish shrug.
Emily laughed and then quieted as they approached the stall with the laboring horse. She was beautiful, with a dark brown, shining coat and a bulging belly.
“How you doing girl?” Mark spoke softly to the mare.
She seemed to role her eyes at the clueless man, or that’s what Emily liked to believe. She remembered when she was giving birth and the doctors had asked how she was doing. She’d wanted to punch them as hard as she could and then ask them the same thing. Guys didn’t have a clue.
“You’re a pretty girl,” Emily softly said to her, while gently rubbing her nose. The mare neighed a bit at her as if to say ‘at least you understand’ and then went back to ignoring them both.
Emily had no idea how much time they spent there but when the sky started to lighten, the mare finally pushed the new foal out of her body, along with some help from Mark. She looked at him, sitting there on the floor, with the gangly baby in his lap and felt her heart pounding. He was covered in dirt and blood and still irresistible.
Once the whole ordeal was over, she realized how exhausted she was. The sun was coming over the hill and she figured she’d better try to get a few hours of sleep.
“Thanks for sharing this with me. It really was amazing,” she whispered to him. She didn’t want to startle the new horse, so she was talking and moving quietly.
“Thanks for keeping me company. I didn’t mean to keep you up all night.”
“It was well worth it,” she responded honestly.
Mark was busy making sure the new horse was healthy, so Emily slipped out of the barn and headed back towards the house. She lay down and her last thoughts before finally succumbing to exhaustion were about her new employer. She knew she was going to have a problem keeping her distance.
Chapter Three
Emily slowly rolled over and realized it was one in the afternoon. She jerked upright in bed, trying to wipe the sleep from her eyes. She couldn’t believe how long she’d slept. She was always up early to make sure her son was okay.
She took a two minute shower, dressed and ran down the stairs. She was incredibly worried about her son. He may have gotten scared when he woke up and his mom wasn’t there.
She came running around the corner, into the dining room, where she found her son sitting with all the other kids, Mark and his siblings. All the adults looked like they hadn’t been up too long.
“Mom did you know a baby horse was born this morning and as soon as we are done eating our lunch Mark is going to take me down to see her,” he practically squealed at her.
“I did know. I got to watch her be born. I’m so sorry I wasn’t awake with you this morning,” she apologized to her son.
“It’s okay mom, I didn’t know you weren’t awake. We’ve been playing all day long,” Trevor told her.
Emily was relieved he’d been okay that morning but a little saddened he didn’t seem to need her so much, the older he got. She covered her disappointed look by going over to the table and grabbing some sandwich fixings.
“I’m sorry I didn’t make you breakfast,” she said, feeling guilty she hadn’t prepared a meal.
“You can’t work seven days a week Emily, I think Edward already told you on the weekends everyone fends for themselves,” Mark said, before stuffing his mouth full, like he was on his last meal.
“I know that normally but with your family here, they probably would’ve enjoyed a nice breakfast,” she defended.
“If the rest of your food is anything like some of those salads and desserts you made last night, we would’ve most certainly enjoyed your breakfast. It’s nice to have a make your own sandwich lunch, plus I found a couple bowls of your salad that somehow didn’t make it out to the food table last night,” Amy said, looking pointedly at Mark.
“Hey I love Potato Salad and I wanted some saved for today,” Mark defended.
Emily knew she’d brought that bowl out, so Mark must have snuck it back in. It actually made her feel pretty good he liked her food. He obviously did, as he was piling the stuff into his mouth.
“Seriously, I snuck into some early last night and then had to sneak it away. I haven’t had this good of homemade salad since…well hell since never. No offense to Mom,” he added as an afterthought.
“Well you know the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach…among other things,” Alex said with a wink.
“Amen,” Mark added, without even pausing in his chewing.
Emily must be getting used to his family, because she was blushing far less already. She knew the brothers were just ribbing each other and they didn’t mean any harm. She simply had to get used to the way they talked to each other if she wanted to be comfortable around them.
After everyone ate, the adults gathered up the younger kids, while the older ones clung onto Mark as he led them all to the barn. Emily was amazed when she saw the newborn foal up and wobbling around in the open space of the barn.
“She was just born, I can’t believe she’s already walking,” she gasped.
The three brothers laughed. “Animals are much more independent than human babies,” Lucas said.
“Hey speak for yourself, I’ve always been one of a kind and able to do things faster than the average person,” Mark added.
“I don’t think so, we all know I’ve always been the smartest one,” Alex said as he thumped his chest.