Page 47 of Lost and Found Cowboy

“I need to grab some shoes,” she told Mack as he was pulling on his boots.

She opened the door to see her son come flying out of their bedroom, his hair poking up in all directions and his cowboyboots pulled on over his Paw Patrol pajamas. His eyes were wild as he looked up at her. “I heard Dodge say he got the moo-call. And the clock by the bed says eleven two zero, so it’s before twelve.” He didn’t seem to mind that his boots were on the wrong feet as he ran down the hall, waving her along with him. “Come on Mommy, we don’t want to miss Junebug having her calf.”

“All right, let me put my shoes on.”And maybe a bra too.

“I’ll take him out,” Mack said, brushing back his shock of dark hair and pulling a ball cap on backwards over it as he came through the door behind her. “You can come out when you’re ready.” He scooped Max up in his arms as he headed for the front door. “Yee haw, buddy. Let’s go meet a new baby calf.”

By the time Lorna pulled on some sweatpants, her sneakers, and a bra, and made it out to the barn, the blessed event was in full swing. And she seemed to be the last one to the party.

One section of the barn had been set up with pens to hold the pregnant cows, and the group were all around one pen that held a red and white cow who Lorna assumed was Junebug.

Duke had a firm hand on Max’s shoulder, probably to keep him from climbing into the pen with the cow, as they kept an eye on the action through the bars of the makeshift corral.

Maisie looked adorable with her glasses on, and her mess of curly hair pulled into a bun on top of her head. She wore ankle-high pink Ropers and what Lorna assumed was one of Dodge’s Carhartt hoodies over a mid-calf nightgown that had little blue flowers on it, which looked both boho-chic and also like something out of her grandma’s closet—but Maisie pulled it off.

Dodge and Mack were in the pen with the cow, both leaning over her and offering words of encouragement as they ran their hands over her belly.

“How’s it going?” she asked Duke.

He shook his head, a concerned expression on his face. “Not great. The calf is in breach, and the boys are trying to turn it.”

Lorna pressed her hands to her stomach, trying not to imagine the pain the cow must be feeling as the two strong cowboys tried to shift the calf around inside her belly. “Can they do that?”

“Let’s hope so,” he said. “Otherwise, we might lose her and the calf.”

“How could you lose her?” Max asked. “She’s right in front of us.”

Lorna smiled down at her sweet son, thankful he didn’t understand Duke’s true meaning. She sent up a silent prayer for the life of both mother and baby.

Mack pushed his sleeve up, doused his arm with the soapy water in a bucket by the gate then went in shoulder deep to try to retrieve the calf. “I’ve got her back legs,” he told Dodge. “Can you try to push her rump forward?”

The two of them worked together, straining and adjusting until Mack finally pulled his arm out with two small hooves clutched in his hand.

“I need the chains,” he said.

Duke passed him a set of chains with steel handles attached to them, and he hooked the chains around the hooves then leaned back, holding a handle in each hand as he braced his boots against the bars of the pen.

“Come on, baby girl,” Mack cooed to the cow. “I know this hurts, but I need your help. We’ll take it slow.” He pulled gently as the cow let out a painful bawl. “I know, baby. I’m here.”

The hooves slowly came forward as Mack pulled and Dodge inserted lubricant and massaged the cow’s belly, both trying to move the calf through the birth canal.

Duke’s whole body seemed tense as he leaned closer to speak quietly to Lorna. “Once they get to a certain spot, they’ve got toget it out quickly, otherwise it could suffocate because its head is still inside the cow when the umbilical cord pinches off or breaks. This kind of thing is always dangerous to the survival of the calf and the health of the mama cow.”

“Mack seems like he’s done this before,” she said, amazed at the skill both he and Dodge were showing as they worked together to ease more of the calf out.

Duke nodded. “He’s been involved in ranching his whole adult life. And he’s damn good at it. We’re lucky to have him.”

Mack’s muscles strained as he leaned back and pulled with the cow’s next contraction. “We got this, baby,” he said, releasing the hooks of the handles and moving them up the chains to get better traction.

“Do you want me to grab the calf jack?” Dodge asked.

“Nah, I think we can do it,” Mack told him. “The hips are almost through.”

“What’s a calf jack?” Lorna asked Duke.

He pointed to a steel contraption leaning against the wall. It had a large U-shaped piece on one end of a steel handle with a ratchet mechanism connected to a steel cable. “It’s used to help pull the calf out if the guys can’t do it. They’ll hook that cable to the hooves then position the U-shaped part around her backside, then ratchet the cable tighter until it pulls the calf free.”

Lorna winced, the memories of giving birth to Izzy still fresh in her mind.