Bucky's Hope (A Bucky Barnes Love Story)

Chapter 22

Hope's POV:

After getting Auggie and Alpine settled it was already time for Miracle's feeding, so I headed to the barn and made her bottle then went to her stall, when I got there I saw her ears already perk up when she heard me an,d came over to the stall door.

"Hey girl, are you hungry?" I cooed to Miracle.

Once I got inside, I closed the stall door and settled myself down, holding the bottle to Miracle and she took it immediately.

"Yup, definitely hungry."

"Well, she is a growing girl."

I looked up and saw James standing outside the stall.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Nothing, just wanted to see her, I didn't get chance to earlier."

"Sorry, because of the conditions she was in when we found her it was important that we got her to take a bottle because it was obvious that she had not nursed at all, when I say that it was a miracle that she was alive, it rea, it's important for foals to nurse soon after they are born, that's why I was rushing."

James nodded at my explanation, "you said she's a newborn, how long ago was she born?"

"Three days," I simply said.

"Wait, what, what happened?"

I could feel tears wanting to spill, "the same thing as before, cruel people inflicting pain on other innocent lives, but her mother was strong until the end, and Miracle is strong too, defying the odds until we found her."

"So, what's the plan now for Miracle?"

"Well, because she's a newborn, she's going to be needing feeding every few hours, I have already scheduled off what times she will need a bottle, what will be ideal is to find a mare that's lost her foal and see if she can take Miracle as her own."

"Is it hard to find a mare to adopt an orphaned foal?"

I sighed, "it can be, the main thing is if the mare will accept the foal as her own because they can always reject the foal, sometimes it happens where a mare will reject her own foal."

"Are you going to look for a mare?"

"Scott is already keeping an eye out for one, in the meantime, I will be her momma and I'm gonna be in for some long nights," James laughed.

"What?"

"Don't let Tony hear you say that, 'cause I don't think he's ready for grandkids yet."

"Oh, wow, yeah, no, I can already see the look on his face, thanks for that," I laughed.

"At least it got you to laugh."

I looked at James, "thank you, James."

"You're welcome, and I guess I'll leave you with your new baby, good luck," that made me laugh again.

"James!" He was gone but I know he heard me because I heard him bark out a laugh too.

I looked at Miracle and shook my head, "what am I going to do with that man."

After Miracle was done I decided to head back to the house to pack a bag so that I could stay in the loft of the barn to be closer to feeding Miracle during the night. When I entered the living room, I was surprised to see mom come out of my room with a bag in hand.

"Mom, what were you doing in there?"

"Well, I figured you were planning on staying in the loft tonight to be closer to Miracle, so I went ahead and packed you what you will need."

I had no words, I just walked over and hugged her, "I love you."

Mom kissed me, "love you too, are you still going to eat dinner here or do you want to take some and eat at the loft,"

"I'll eat here."

"Alright, well dinner will be ready soon."

"How's the party coming along?"

"Good and don't worry it's not going to be crazy like your father's parties."

"I figured but what about dad's annual firework show?"

"Yeah, that unfortunately can't be changed."

I laughed, "of course, dad is lucky that the horses are okay with loud noises and Miracle will be in the barn where it will be quiet for her since all of this is new to her."

Dinner that night was quite the entertainment for everyone but dad and it was even more interesting because of who started it. We were all at the table eating when I caught James giving me this smirk, I gave him a look back that said, "don't you dare," but I should have known better.

"So Hope, how is that new baby doing?" James slyly asked.

Dad was taking a drink of wine and immediately choked and started to cough.

"What baby is he talking about?" Dad was finally able to say, "are you pregnant!"

The look on Dad's face was priceless and I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"What is so funny young lady, I don't think this is a laughing matter," Dad said.

"It is if you had seen the look on your face and come on Dad, no, I am not pregnant and did you seriously forget about the foal."

At this, everyone started to laugh too.

"Wait, what?" Dad asked.

"James is talking about Miracle, she is a newborn, and is this what I should be expecting from you the day you find out that you're going to be a grandpa."

Dad was again taking a drink and started to cough at the word grandpa.

"Alright Hope, stop messing with your father like, you know his old heart can't take a lot," Mom said smirking getting everyone laughing again.

Dad gave us all a dirty look, "are you all done with you laughing?"

Since I was already done eating I got up to take my plate to the kitchen so I stopped where he was sitting and kissed his cheek.

"Calm down Pops we're just messing with you, besides I'm currently free as a bird in that department."

"Yes, and you better keep it like that until I'm dead, plus four days just to make sure I'm dead," Dad said as I walked into the kitchen making me laugh.

A/N: 😂🤣, Gotta mess with Tony, and did anyone catch that reference at the end? Happy New Year everyone and may 2023 be even better for everyone.