The boys came to cuddle up with me, and the girl jump-climbed up my hip soon after.
I must’ve been close to falling asleep, finally, when something made the kitten closest to my face jerk enough it woke me up.
“Huh?” I squinted, then realized all the kittens were awake and listening carefully.
A dogboofed in the yard. That wasn’t normal.
The house was so quiet, I could hear Cook’s bed creak when he got out of it. Something was going on. I carefully got up and went to my door, cracking it open.
“Cook?” I asked as soon as his door opened.
He glanced at me. “Something’s going on in the yard. I’ll go check.”
“Okay.”
I watched him vanish to the stairs with grace I would’ve never guessed from a man his size. Then I remembered he’d been in the military, and it made more sense.
Closing the door, I made sure all kittens were accounted for, then dashed to the window, for once not thinking about how it made me feel.
There was a porch light below, but the next light was in the corner of the office. That meant most of what I could see was Theo’s flashlight in the yard, then Cook approaching Theo and Lake, and they vanished from my view.
I could hear the dogs better now. Everything went quiet for a while, and I should know with how my ear was glued to the crack in the window.
Soon, I heard them talking, and saw them walk past toward the stable. Theo was carrying something, and then they were out of view.
Had something happened to one of the dogs? Or did someone drop off an animal? Frowning, I wished I could just go look.
River was likely sleeping through the night, so I didn’t want to wake him up.
Instead, I put on my little lamp and sat on my bed, listening for Cook.
The kittens gathered around me, one of the boys curling up on my lap. I closed my eyes and leaned against the wall, then jerked awake when I heard Cook’s door close.
I put the kitten aside and padded to open the bathroom door just as he stepped inside the small room.
“Oh,” I gasped.
He stopped in his tracks, the grinned in that slightly loopy way very tired people do. “Sorry, was coming to wash my hands.”
“And I was coming to ask what’s going on.” I leaned to the doorframe.
He turned the tap on and grabbed some soap from the pump bottle, then started to methodically rub it between his hands.
“Someone dumped a foal.”
“What?”
“Yeah, less than a week old. Seb should be here any minute to take a look, but Theo and Lake sent me to sleep.” He stopped talking, yawned, and finished washing his hands.
“Will it be okay?”
“Theo wasn’t sure, so I guess we’ll see.” He turned the tap off and reached for the hand towel, then swayed on his feet.
“Okay, you need to get to bed,” I said firmly, grabbing his arm.
One of the kittens dashed between our feet and into Cook’s room. I glanced down and realized Cook’s feet were filthy.
I blinked. “Wait, did you not put on shoes?”
