Page 168 of Cowboy Daddies

“Duh, you think?” is what I mentally snarked back though I was smart enough to answer, “Yes, Daddy.”

Chapter Nineteen

Lincoln

“They’re so adorable!” Livvy cooed as she looked between the slats of the stall. One calf had just nudged the other away to take a turn at nursing. “What are their names?”

“We don’t name animals, we brand them,” I said which I should have known was not the thing to say to anyone who taught lullabies to pregnant bovine. I’d just learned it had been Livvy I’d heard singing during the storm.

“What? Everyone deserves a name! You’ve got to name them!”

“Honey, I hate to break it to you, but giving a couple of hundred head of cows names simply isn’t possible.”

She looked beyond me and tilted her head to one side. “Remind me, who is that?”

I turned to look thinking someone from town had dropped by but only saw Luther as Kate was sitting on the haybale beside Livvy, her head swiveling as if she were watching a tennis match. Evidently it was my serve as both girls were looking up at me. I looked back again but beside Luther, only saw my horse sticking his head out of his stall.

“Do you mean Zephyr?”

“Hmmm, Zephyr is quite handsome but he sure doesn’t look like any man I’ve ever seen.”

“That’s because he’s a horse.”

“So you do name animals!”

“Horses, not…” At the sound of Kate giggling, I knew I’d been set up. “You know what, you win. You can name the babies, I mean the calves.”

“Oh, can I name one?” Kate asked.

“I’ll make you both a deal,” Luther said as he approached. “Since MC seems to be having a little difficulty⁠—”

“MC?” I cut in to ask.

“Momma Cow, of course,” Luther said as if he’d always called our cattle by name. “Anyway, as I was saying, MC is gonna need a little help feeding her babies. Lincoln and I will take the first few turns until MC is more comfortable having people around her babies, but then you two can help with the bottle-feeding. Deal?”

“Deal!” both girls agreed with enthusiasm and huge smiles, hugging each other as if they’d won the lottery.

As they began to test out names, I looked at Luther. “You do realize that you just ensured they are going to try to name everything that so much as breathes on this ranch, right?”

“As long as they don’t start dressing them up and applying lipstick, I think we’re good,” he said with a grin as he passed me one of the bottles he’d prepared.

I chuckled and looked down at Livvy. “Okay, pixie, who exactly am I gonna be feeding?”

“Skeppy,” she said proudly.

“Um, is that the boy?”

“No, silly, Skeppy is a girl,” Kate said, pointing to a calf.

“And Skippy is the boy,” Livvy provided, pointing to the other one.

“Good grief. Skeppy and Skippy? What kind of names are those?” I asked.

“Perfect ones,” Livvy said. “I found MC when I was out looking for the bees to put into the skep but Kate thought I said skip so, this way she can remember the difference.”

I looked over at my brother who just shrugged. “Hey, don’t look at me. Until Livvy educated us, I thought bees lived in hives. What did you think?”

When Livvy giggled, I smiled. “Oh, I think there’s going to be a great deal of schooling in her future.” As I waited for him to open the stall’s door, I added, “Starting with not getting up from that haybale.”