“I would be if I was in his boots.” Jesse said as they put one last panel on the truck. “I’m so glad that Mia loves this lifestyle and hope the twins grow up to love it as much as she does. That’s a load. I reckon we should get on back and get them unloaded. We’ll have just enough time before supper to come back for the gates. We could even leave them on the truck if it’s going to cause us to be late.”

Cody tried to call Stevie again, but it went to voice mail. He left a message and shoved the phone back in his pocket. “I wonder if she’s got a cow down and is pulling a calf. Maybe I should drive out there and see if she needs help.”

“Maybe you should let well enough alone,” Jesse suggested. “She’s been cooped up with you for days. She might need some time to herself. Addy gets like that every so often, like now, and believe me, when she does, I take a step back and give her some space. I’ll be glad when you two can get back to seeing patients again. She enjoys that.”

“Me too,” Cody said.

When they had reached the barn and unloaded the panels, Cody tried again to reach Stevie, but got nothing. “She might want time alone, but I’m driving out that way to see about her. If she wants time alone, she’s just honest and blunt enough to tell me. Stevie speaks her mind—loud and clear. I’ll go get the gates tomorrow morning while you and Mia build the stalls.”

Jesse gave a quick nod and tossed the pickup keys across to him. “I’m headed to the house then. Call me if you need another set of hands.”

Cody had a gut feeling that something was wrong—and Cody’s gut had never lied to him. He drove the old truck down the grooves the four-wheeler had cut in the snow. Deep boot prints told him that Stevie had gotten off the vehicle to open the gate into the pasture. She had driven through, then more prints said that she had gone back to close it again. Cody did the same thing, and then he was driving on slick grass instead of in deep snow. Mia had done a good job of plowing the pasture so that none of the cattle had to wade in it halfway to their bellies.

He drove slowly, keeping an eye on the tire prints ahead of him. When he turned the corner at the back edge of the field, he noticed the donkey with his head up and ears back, braying at a couple of coyotes out there beyond the fence line. There was a whole pack of them, most likely lying in wait for a cow to drop a calf, and then they would swoop in for the kill.