Holly! Holly! Come quick! Hurry!” Braden yelled at his sister as he hit the back door with a thump after school the next day and rushed inside with a newborn baby goat in his arms. “I need help, Holly! We got to keep her alive.”

Holly had been in the living room watching television, but she didn’t waste time getting past her mother in the kitchen. “Good Lord, Braden. I thought Mama was dying.”

“Not Mama,” Braden huffed. “This baby’s mama died, and we got to keep her warm or she won’t make it. Get some old towels. Mack said to rub her fur until she’s dry, and then we’ll see if one of the other nannies will take her.”

Lily opened a bottom cabinet drawer where her mother always kept scrub rags and tossed a fistful into the utility room. Braden and Holly each grabbed an old towel and started rubbing the newborn baby. They were talking to the animal as if it were a human baby, and they weren’t arguing. Lily watched them, amazed. Who would have ever thought her kids would bond over a goat?

When Mack finally came into the house, the baby was on her feet and throwing a fit. Evidently, she was hungry and wanting either a bottle or a mama that had more to offer than dry towels.

“I’ve put two nannies that gave birth today into stalls,” Mack said. “We can take her out to see if either one of them will take her as their own.”

“Can’t we keep her in the house?” Holly asked. “I’ll give up my cat from Granny Hayes if we can.”

“She’ll be healthier if we put her on a nanny, but she can be your goat. You can name her and spoil her every day,” Mack said. “Since Braden carried her to the house, you can take her to the barn.”

“Her name is Star, because that white spot on her head looks like a star.” Holly wrapped her in a clean towel and scooped her up in her arms.

Mack winked at Lily, who was still in shock that Holly would even touch a goat. Life had sure taken a big turnaround since the first of the month. Lily fully expected Braden to hate the name or else put up an argument that the goat was his, but he just followed his sister out the back door with Mack right behind them.