Under a Montana Sky

Chapter 7

Walking outside I'm a little scared for what we might encounter. Since this is a farm with animals and I've never been around them.

I grew up in Boston, a girl like me doesn't see livestock daily. The closest I got to an animal was my dog. Oh I miss my dog. A little King Charles spaniel named Lucy Lou. Oh how I miss her.

If you would have asked me if I would be living on a farm in the future I'd say your crazy. I loved living in my fancy house. I had people to do things for me and it was easy to get what I needed. I mean I'm not dependent on the maids but I truly haven't ever needed to do laundry, cook, and clean. I simply rang the bell and they did if for me.

  "Alright so I'll just tell you what you need to do. It won't be to much so don't worry." Will says snapping me out of my thoughts.

  I just nod and keep following him to the barn. He opens the door for me and I enter. This is the barn further away from the house. Not the shop. Having not been in here I can't help but look around. Ribbons and pictures cover the one wall where the wood now has small holes showing the setting sunset.

  The floor is just dirt with some hay and straw scraps scattered around. There are two pens set up on one side with stacked hay in both. Seeming to not be used. The ceilings are high with a hay loft of sorts on one side.

Looking back at the door I see Will smiling at me. "What?" I ask him.

  "I think you have an admirer." His eyes point behind me. I turn and see a little cow sticking it's head through the wood panels of the pen. It is all black with some white on its head. The tip of its left ear having white.

"Well hello there." I walk over and say in a sweet voice. Crouching down to put my hand through the panels. The baby calf takes a step back almost afraid of me a bit.

"She was born a couple days before you came, born a set of twins. Mom only took one so we have her on a bottle." He turns and grabs a bottle off the table along the wall.

"I'll be back, need to go fill this." He holds up the bottle showing what he means.

Turning back around to look at the wall I see some old photographs. One catches my eye immediately, two boys holding a fish in each hand with their arms around each other. Both with big smiles, messy black hair, and freckles. Looking almost the same except for their eyes, one's green and the others brown.

I feel like one is Will, but the other boy is one I don't recognize. Although I've only met his sister, perhaps he happens to have a brother. His brother and my brother would be completely different. Mine wouldn't dare to touch a fish probably afraid of catching some disease.

There are a few other pictures that scatter the walls. There are more pictures out here than they are in the house. All the pictures look to be from years ago.

Hearing the door open I turn and see him again. This time with a filled bottle with a cream color to it.

"Do you want to feed her?" He asks while walking over to the latch on the pen.

"I mean I can try." He gives me the bottle and we walk into the pen. The baby cow, calf, almost immediately starts budding her head against the bottle and finally latches on.

"Hold on tight she'll pull it from ya." I hear him laugh from beside me. I never really noticed how his laugh sounds. It's very contagious almost forcing a smile on my face. The little calf is a very messy eating, making me wish I would have changed my dress.

  "Hopefully our baby isn't as messy as this one is." He laughs out, but one word catches my ear. Our.

After feeding the calf we then do some water checks and feed the remainder of the animals. He really doesn't have too many barn animals only a few chickens, a milk goat, and a dog to check on.

  The dog being my favorite. A red tick coon hound is the breed Will says. His name is copper.

Will tells me how he has a head of 25 cattle on some acres. He sells the calf's from them every year and makes some money.

"We don't have to do the herd cows tonight, they got fed this morning." He tells me as we walk back to the house.

Will seems to wear his smile more tonight than I've seen. He truly is very handsome now that I've seen him in different lights.

"You can go up to bed if you want, I'll wash up." He suggests to me while opening the door.

"Oh I'm good. I might just sit down here with my book for a bit." I reply back to him with a smile.

  He starts to walk back to the kitchen and I follow but just before he can go over to the sink I get up the courage to ask a question.

  "In those pictures on the wall in the barn." He turns and looks at me as he grabs a towel in his hands. "Are those your siblings? I didn't know you have a brother." I finish my thought but immediately regret it with seeing the look in his eyes drop.

  I shouldn't have been so bold.