Kentucky's Best

Chapter 2

On the way back to the clinic, Harry was thinking about everything he did and saw that morning. He really believes he's going to love living here, it is a great place to raise his daughter.

"Harry, do you want Rose's number, it might come in handy when you have a difficult case?" Marty asks him after a few minutes.

"I'll get when we get back to the clinic." Harry says. "What's her story?" He asks his uncle.

"Well, as far as I know she's lived here all her life." Marty says. "Everyone seems to love and respect her. I will tell you this, that little girl has one special gift, she can calm any animal with just a touch and a whisper." Marty says with a shake of his head. "It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen. Every vet in the area calls on her when they know they will be working on wild or untrained animals. I do know her parents were killed by a drunk driver the night she graduated high school. She's been on her own sence then." Marty adds.

"What, no other family, siblings, boyfriend? How old is she?" Harry asks.

"She had a younger brother, he was killed also, and as far as I know she's never dated anyone." Marty says. "I've asked her about that once, and she told me when she finds a guy that can love her unconditionally like her animals do then and only then she might think about dating, and believe it or not she's only 6 years younger than you. She's 21, I know she looks younger, but I think that's due her being so tiny, but she's smart and she's good at what she does." Marty tells Harry as he parks in front of the clinic.

Walking into the clinic Harry goes straight to his office and puts on his lab coat. He then looks to see what he's has on the books for him to do next, just as he was about to walk out the door to start checking on the animals in the kennels in the back he feels his phone vibrate, looking down at it he sees his uncle sent him Rose's number. Shaking his head he continues what he was doing.
..........

On the way to the next ranch she was needed to help out at, Rose was thinking about the past 2 hours and the new vet working with Marty. Harry seemed to know what he was doing, which is a good thing. If he ever calls her for help it will make her job easier, and he is tall, really tall, and good looking. Rose has never been attracted to anyone before, but as she was watching the way Harry gracefully did his job she had to admit, even to herself, he caused feelings in her she's never felt before.
But for some reason Rose also felt there was more to Harry, something just under the surface. She could see it in his eyes, he's been hurt, badly.
With a shake of her head, Rose parks her truck and walks toward the stables. It's time to clear her mind so she can do her job and control Highroller, one of these days this horse is going to kill someone.
Hours later a very tired Rose walks into the local grocery store, she needed food even though she was to tired to fix it. Pushing her cart slowly down the produce aisle, Rose was just about to grab a bag of grapes when she hears a high pitched squeal and a child's voice say.

"Daddy, I want some grapes please." Stephanie asks politely.

Harry looks down at his adorable child. She looks so much like her mom it brings tears to his eyes at times, yeah she has his curls, but Stephanie has her mother's blonde hair and amazing blue eyes.
"Okay, you want green or purple grapes?" Harry asks her.

He then sees her point. "I want what she's getting." Stephanie says. Turning Harry sees Rose with a bag of green grapes in her hand. With a smile Harry walk toward her.

"Hello Rose." Harry says.

"Hi Harry, who is this adorable young lady?" Rose asks.

"This is my daughter, Stephanie." Harry tells her.

For some unknown reason, hearing that, Rose's heart seemed to skip a beat. "Well hello Miss Stephanie." Rose says, shaking the tiny girls hand. "I'm Rose, it's nice to meet you."

Stephanie giggles and shakes the ladies hand. "Nice to meet you too, Miss Rose." She says with a grin. "Do you work with me daddy?"

"I did today, but I don't always." Rose tells the child. "You sure are a smart little cookie, how old are you?" Rose asks Stephanie, tweeking her nose, making her giggle again.

"I'm almost 3." Stephanie says holding up 3 fingers proudly.

Harry couldn't believe what he was seeing. Usually his daughter would hide her head in his neck and not talk to strangers, but here she was carrying on a full conversation with Rose like she's known her all her life.

"Wow!" Rose says slapping her hand over heart. "And here I thought you were much older than that. You sure are a beautiful little girl." Rose says running her hand over the child's curls.

Stephanie reaches out and touches Rose's long ebony hair. "You're really pretty too." Stephanie smiles.

"Thank you, hun." Rose says smiling.

"Steph, we need to hurry up here." Harry says. "You need to get your bath and eat, pick the grapes you want so we can go baby."

"Yes daddy." Stephanie says.

Rose looks up at Harry and smiles. "She's amazing, you're lucky." She whispers with tears in her eyes. "Miss Steph, it was so nice to meet you. Hope to see you again sometime." Rose tells the child. "See you later Harry." Rose says, then she walks away.

"Bye Miss Rose." Stephanie says, she then turns and looks at Harry. "Daddy, why is she crying?"

"I don't know baby." Harry say as he watches Rose walk away. With a shake of his head he puts Steph's grapes in his cart and finishes his shopping.
Once he's home Harry bathes his daughter, feeds her and let's her play quietly for a while, while he goes over what he is suppose to do the next day. When moving here he and his uncle decided right away they would trade off working in the clinic. Right now Harry didn't go out on calls by himself because he didn't know the area that well, once he did Harry would then do house calls alone. Tomorrow though he was at the clinic seeing the animals brought in, which was fine with him.
Looking up he sees Steph was almost asleep, standing he picks her up.
"Come on, let's get you tucked in." He whispers as he walks into her room and lays her on her bed. "Night, bug. Love you." Harry says, kissing her cheek.

"Love you too, daddy." Stephanie mumbles as she drifts off to sleep.

Harry then goes to his own room and get ready for bed. The last thing he does is look at a picture of his wife, with tears in his eyes Harry lays down wishing things were different, wishing his beautiful wife was still with him. He then falls asleep and dreams of Rose.