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He’d also been faithful to Ellen.
This new assignment didn’t change anything for him, not in that regard, but he couldn’t expect her to sit around and wait for him forever.
Still, Ford Hansen had been good to him; he couldn’t tell the man no, especially when Ford was doing everything he could to see that Travis got the best start in life that Ford could give him, learning everything Ford could teach and getting experiences that most men could only dream about.
As he put gentle pressure on the puppy in the birth canal, the sac broke, and water spilled out.
“Her water broke,” Ellen said hushed and fast.
“It did.” That put more pressure on his shoulders. He needed to get the puppy out without delay. He didn’t want it to die in the birth canal.
He felt it wiggle, and he breathed out a silent prayer of thanks. It was still alive.
The broken sac actually made his work a little easier, because he could feel the big head, the tiny paws, and the long body. As he had thought, the head was twisted, and now that the sac had ruptured, he was able to gently pull it around.
He appreciated that Ellen wasn’t peppering him with questions. She was beside him, ready to help him if he needed it but also giving him the space he needed in order to concentrate. She’d always been the perfect person to work with.
Chewy pushed, and the birth canal tightened. The puppy wasn’t quite in position, and as soon as the pressure eased off, he tugged just a bit more, and the head slid into place. He could tell because the body moved out easily as he pulled his fingers out, like the pup was following him already.
He smiled a little at the thought but didn’t allow it to distract him, since he was focused on making sure the little guy had the fluids cleaned out around his nose and watching for that first big breath.
Ellen put her hand on his forearm as she leaned closer, so intent on watching the pup that she probably didn’t even realize she was touching him and leaning over top of him.
“I can’t see,” he teased her.
“Oh. Sorry.” She moved back a little, checking to make sure he had a line of sight to the puppy, and then she turned her attention back to it.
In that amount of time, the puppy had taken a deep breath, its little body trembling, as Chewy looked around and started to lick it.
It lifted its head, wobbly and unsure, as Chewy maneuvered just a little so she could continue to clean it off.
“Oh my goodness. It’s so adorable,” Ellen said, and then she looked up at him with shining eyes. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“You could have done it.”
She nodded, knowing that he was probably right. “But I didn’t think to look on the Internet. I didn’t think to try to think about what could be wrong. I just...”
“When you get emotionally attached to things, sometimes it’s hard to take a step back and look at the situation in an analytical way.”
“You mean you’re not attached to Chewy?” she asked with her brows raised.
“I am. I love her because you do.”
She grinned, knowing that what he said was true. There were probably things that she loved because he did. His brothers for example.
Roger especially had struggled staying on the right side of the law and not going down the path that their parents had gone down. But it didn’t matter when he showed up, Ellen always welcomed him into her life and took care of him as best she could. Travis knew she did it because Roger was his brother.
Of course, that was the kind of person Ellen was too. Too nice for her own good sometimes. Although, there really wasn’t such a thing. The Bible didn’t issue any warnings to Christians about being too nice. It did, however, give lots of exhortations about how Christians needed to be kind.
“Oh! She’s pushing again!”
Ellen’s words brought his mind back to the fact that while they were out of the woods with the first puppy and it seemed to be doing well, there were more puppies to go.
“Well, she’s going to have at least two.”
Ellen laughed. “I don’t even care how many she has. As long as they’re all healthy. I don’t want to have to...bury a puppy tonight.”
“If you have to, we’ll do it together.”
