Leaving, she was relieved Matthew wasn’t against using her to do chores around his house, like Moses was. She could understand Moses not wanting her around his place because of the dogs he was training. She had seen him occasionally around the property, trailing after the dogs, expecting them to follow him, yet he was the one following from behind. When he had introduced her to the dogs, he had her stand still and told each of the six dogs to sniff her. After that, he had left with them.

All of Silas’ brothers had been friendly to her, with Matthew being the friendliest, and Moses and Isaac being the most closed off. Fynn and Ezra, she had been around the least. Matthew had told her during their walk yesterday that Fynn and Ezra were close and spent a lot of time together. Judging from cleaning Jody and Jacob’s trailer, those men were fixated on their video games and food, reminding her that she needed to pick up several items they wanted restocked.

Silas’ truck was just pulling up the road leading to the outbuilding as she came down the rise from Ginny’s home. She came to a stop then started running when she saw there was a trailer attached to his truck and she could see what was inside.

She ran up to Silas’ truck as both he and Matthew were getting out.

“You bought the cow!”

Matthew leaned across the hood, grinning.

“Are you happy?”

“Ecstatic!” She made herself tone down her enthusiasm. “Thank you, Silas.”

Silas shook his head. “Don’t thank me. Matthew bought her for you.”

She turned wondering eyes to him. “You did?”

“I did.” He smiled, his eyes twinkling at her. “She’s all yours. You’re going to be the one to take care of her once we have you tested to find out if you’re allergic or not.”

“You’ll have to show me how.”

“There’s going to be a lot of dirty work involved,” he warned.

“I don’t care.” She went around the side of the trailer to see the cow from the opening.

“See? I didn’t leave you.” Alanna twirled around in joy, thrilled that the cow hadn’t been killed. Then she turned to face Matthew, trying not to cry.

“I’ve never had such a wonderful present. Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome.” Matthew walked to where she was standing. “You know what this means?”

She stopped smiling, fear gripping her heart so hard that she was afraid it had stopped beating.

“You’ll have to stay in Kentucky. It’s going to be hard to find a place in Ohio where you can keep a cow this size in your backyard.”

She started smiling again. “I don’t think she would fit in a rental car either.”