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Chapter 1
“And they lived happily ever after.”
Ellen closed the book and brushed her hand over the forehead of her sister, Maeve. She wasn’t exactly her sister, since Ellen lived with her Uncle Tadgh and Aunt Ashley, since Uncle Tadgh had raised her after his sister, her mother, had passed away.
Still, she loved Maeve like a sister, and since her aunt and uncle had gone away for three days for a well-deserved anniversary trip, Ellen was in charge of taking care of her and her little brother, Cian.
Cian was already in bed, but Maeve had wanted a story, so Ellen had happily snuggled down with her while the wind roared outside and the promised blizzard moved in, making their little house on the outskirts of Sweet Water, North Dakota, feel cozy and warm.
Ellen wasn’t worried about the weather. She might have been born in Ireland, but she’d lived with her uncle in North Dakota for more than a decade. They had left Ireland so long ago she didn’t even remember it.
From the doorway of the room, Chewy, her Australian Cattle Dog, whined. Chewy was heavy with pups and due to whelp any day. Ellen was a little concerned since she had never delivered puppies before. But she wasn’t anticipating any problems.
“Can I sleep with Chewy?” Maeve said sleepily from her cozy position snuggled underneath the big blankets.
“No. Not tonight. I need to keep her close to me just in case she decides to have those puppies tonight.” It would be a good night for Chewy to become a mom with all the wind and snow and the blizzard conditions. A perfect night for a dog to have her puppies.
A little bit of unease went through Ellen. She hadn’t been very concerned. Dogs had puppies all the time without any help. But for her to be alone, with her aunt and uncle gone, the storm raging outside, and her unable to leave because she was responsible for her brother and sister, it put a different spin on things.
Plus, even if there was a problem, she wouldn’t expect Lark to drive through a storm like this. Everyone who had a lick of sense had stocked up on the essentials and hunkered down to wait it out. North Dakotans were tough, but they weren’t stupid.
Ellen was eighteen years old, an adult. Old enough to handle any problems that might come up.
Her little personal pep talk didn’t really help.
A harsh wind hit the house so hard the walls shook, and Ellen cast Chewy a worried glance before she bent down, kissing her sister’s forehead before tiptoeing out of the room, flipping off the light switch as she went, and closing the door softly behind her.
The house was dark and quiet. Unusually so. Ellen still had four months of her senior year left, but she’d turned eighteen in October and was legally an adult. She didn’t feel like it though. She still felt like a kid at heart, even though people told her she was more mature than normal children her age. She certainly had more responsibility than most kids her age. She had her own business raising Highlander cattle and another business training, and now breeding, Australian Cattle Dogs.
She was making as much money as a full-grown man, and still she was a full-time student in high school.
Chewy whined as Ellen went to the living room to look outside at the snow coming down in big gusts. Ellen dropped to one knee and used both hands to take Chewy’s head and hold it.
“Is it time?”
She didn’t think she was going to be scared, but the idea of Chewy having her puppies in the snowstorm while Ellen was alone and couldn’t call for help sent tendrils of fear with icy claws down her backbone.
She had been looking forward to snuggling up on the couch and reading a good book by candlelight while the snow came down, but this new development made that seem less and less appealing. How could she relax when Chewy could be in distress?
Without even really thinking about it, she pulled her phone out of her back pocket and sent a text to her best friend in the whole world. Travis.
I think Chewy is going to have her babies tonight. I’m scared.
She couldn’t admit that to just anyone, but Travis knew everything about her. They texted often. Back when she was younger, around fourteen, she’d had a huge crush on him and had been insanely jealous of the cheerleader who seemed to catch his eye.
But they had come to an agreement, and she had decided to be the very best friend that she could possibly be to him. And he had become her best friend in return. He confided in her about his business and the hardships he went through. She could tell him things that she couldn’t tell anyone else, and she could trust him. Just as he could trust her.
Most of their communication had been via letters, although in the last few months, they had begun texting more.
His answer came back almost immediately.
Is she having trouble?
I don’t think so. I just...don’t know what to do if she does. The weather is bad.
They’d talked about the weather earlier. He was in Fargo at a business convention, but he knew that her aunt and uncle were going away and she was responsible for her siblings. She had been a little bit worried about taking care of the kids during a blizzard, but she wasn’t expecting anything to happen and she watched the children often. That was nothing new.
Delivering puppies? Now that was new.
