Lily gulped.“…A… horse delivery?”She shookout her hair.“Never saw that onAnimal Planet.Okay, okay,whew… Everyone just breathe.”She took a few calming breaths,looked Sandy squarely in the eyes and said, “What can I do tohelp?”
That was exactly what Sandy was hoping shewould say.Her tally of points was getting higher.
“We’ll just watch her for a while and see howit goes.If she needs any help, here’s what we’ll do.”He explainedthe procedure to Lily so matter-of-factly that she felt capable ofdoing the task at hand.It was important… This was Sandy’s favoritehorse.
He decided Lily would definitely be helpfulin any adverse situation.Even one in which she lacked experience.She was forthright, smart, and willing to do what needed to bedone.Much had been done with less.
Over a period of several hours, the mare hadbecome increasingly restless.The rain finally stopped, so theincessant pounding on the roof had ceased.Sandy moved the otherhorses to another side of the barn.Anna needed to be alone andmoved about, switching her tail and looking at her sides.When shebegan sweating all over her body, Sandy announced the birth wouldhappen soon.Lily moved when Sandy gave her instruction and stayedout of the way when he didn’t.
The horse started pawing at the ground andgot up and down several times.She was trying to position the foal.He checked to see where in the birth canal the foal was and gotquickly out of the way.Suddenly, a fluid was ejected from Anna’sbehind.Sandy explained this fluid would help to lubricate thebirth canal.The horse was probably four hours into the birthprocess by now and Lily was fascinated.Her eyes watched the horsesteadily and she didn’t cringe with each new development.
Anna’s abdominal muscles started contracting.She positioned herself to strain to push out the foal and then amiracle happened!Anna began pushing and to their amazement, thefoal’s shoulder came out.This seemed to be the hardest part, sincethe horse rested a few minutes and easily pushed out the rest ofthe foal.
Lily blinked away tears.The small horsestruggled to stand up and the umbilical cord broke.Sandy tookstraw to wipe him down.The mare waited about ten minutes and thenpushed out the placenta.Sandy checked to make sure it was allthere because leaving in even part of it was considered dangerousfor the horse.
“We’ll need to watch Anna for a few days.Herdischarge color could indicate an infection.”When Sandy looked atLily, she had tears streaming down her cheeks.“Are you allright?”
“Oh, sure.Don’t worry about me,” she gasped.“How are the horse and the baby?”Sandy reached over and gave her atissue he found in his soggy jacket.
“I think they’re doing better than you are.What’s the matter?”
“What did she have?A boy or girl?”Lilycontinued crying.
“It’s a boy.A colt we call them,” Sandymoved towards her.“Anna’s fine now and needs time with her foal.Let’s go over there and give them some space.”He walked with Lilyover to a wider section of the barn.“Come sit by me.”
He sat in a chair by the door and brought achair for Lily too.She sat shakily brushing back tears.
“Tell me what you’re not saying.”Sandylooked into her red-rimmed brown eyes.He took the tissue andpatted her still flowing tears.“What happened to you?You’re notjust crying because of the birth.”
Lily paused so long that Sandy thought shewasn’t going to answer him.She mopped her runny nose with herjacket sleeve.
“Colt would be a nice name for a boy,wouldn’t it?”Lily swallowed hard.Nobody knew about this.Shestarted hesitantly, hiccupping a few times trying to get it out.And there, in a lonely barn in rural Nevada with a man she felt shecould trust, her defenses came down at long last.She heard thehitch in her own voice…
“I was married for a few years in SanFrancisco.Ron was an engineer in the City and I taught at one ofthe local elementary schools.I thought we had it made.I thoughtwe were happy.”She looked at him.“Boy, I was kidding myself,apparently… Dad never really liked him, but I chalked it up to the‘he’s stealing my little girl’ jealousy.But Dad was right.Ron wasa bum.”She stopped and coughed, then hiccupped again.Another longpause…
Sandy gentled encouraged her.“I’m here andI’m listening.”
Lily turned to look at him.“That’s exactlywhat I didn’t have in that marriage.Ron was never home and hedidn’t listen to me.He didn’t care for my poetry and hated to hearabout my day.”
She looked at the hands folded in her lap andcontinued reluctantly.“I finally caught him… cheating with a…colleague of his at the engineering firm.When I confronted himabout it, he just laughed.”Sandy’s jaw dropped.She looked at himruefully.“Oh, it gets worse.”
“Worse?”
“Yeah.The day before, I had just discoveredthat I was pregnant.When I told Ron about it, he suggested anabortion.An abortion!Can you believe it?”
“No.”
“I couldn’t either.I told Ron I was keepingit and he moved out the next day.He moved in with whoever he wassleeping with.”She mopped her wet face and looked hard at him.“Can you take any more?”
Sandy winced, “More?”He shifted in his seat.“Let’s have it.”He had taken hold of her hands and grasped themtighter.
“I had a miscarriage the next week.And thedoctor told me it was a boy…” Lily trailed off, starting to cryagain.“A little boy like Jesse!Sometimes… when I see Jesse’sface, I think of the boy I lost.Please forgive me.I didn’t meanto dump this all in your lap.”She mopped her face again with thesoggier-than-ever tissue.“The whole thing just reared its headwhen the b-b-baby horse was b-b-born,” she stammered.
“And you haven’t spoken to anyone about this?Ever?Not even your dad?”Sandy looked stricken.His face blanchedand he shook his head.“Why couldn’t you confide in your dad?”
“I was expecting an ‘I told you so’ from him.I told him about Ron’s cheating, but I could never bring myself totell him about the miscarriage.It was and is too painful asubject.I don’t know why I’m telling you all this now.”
“Maybe you needed to talk about it and you’reknow you’re safe with me.”
