Chapter 16
CHAPTER 16
“S orry, sweet girl, I know that hurts.” Rayna pressed gently on Molly’s nipple again as Stark hovered behind her.
Molly hissed lightly, and Rayna stared at Stark when he grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand away from Molly’s belly.
“You’re hurting her,” he said.
She shook her hand free and petted Molly gently under the chin. She didn’t purr, and Rayna’s worry grew when the cat laid her head on Stark’s bed and closed her eyes.
“Something’s wrong,” Stark said. “I know it.”
She glanced at him, a little surprised to see the worry on his face. She opened her mouth to say something snarky like, “What do you care? You don’t even like her,” but closed it with a snap when Stark stroked Molly’s side lightly. “You’ll be okay, sweetie.”
Holy shit? Was Stark sincerely worried about the cat?
She swallowed her surprise and said, “I think she has mastitis.”
“That’s an infection, right?”
“Yes.” She stood and pulled her phone from her pocket, checking the time. It was just after eight and she called the vet clinic, quickly explaining the situation to Fatima. She ended the call, and Stark gave her an expectant look.
“If I can get her to the clinic in the next fifteen minutes, Nathan can look at her before his first appointment at nine.”
“We can’t move her from the nest,” he said, looking like he might throw up. “The babies will die.”
Guilt rushed through her. She swallowed hard and said, “Yeah, about that… I kind of, maybe, fibbed a little because I needed a foster home for Molly and the babies. She won’t abandon the babies if we move her or them to a new spot or house or whatever.”
She waited for the familiar muscle tick in his jaw, the one that said he was doing everything in his power not to murder her. To her shock, he grabbed his phone and shoved it into his pocket, giving Molly another worried look.
“I’ll drive.”
* * *
“Have the kittens lost weight?” Nathan kept one hand on Molly to prevent her from jumping off the exam table as he studied the kittens in the crate.
Rayna glanced at Stark, who was standing on the other side of the table and gently petting Molly’s face and throat.
He shook his head. “They gained less than normal yesterday but still gained. I haven’t weighed them yet today.”
“Okay, that’s a good sign.” Nathan examined each of the kittens. “The babies look good. She’s keeping them clean and well-fed.”
“She’s very attentive to them.” Stark continued to pet Molly. “She only leaves them for a few minutes at a time.”
He leaned down, and Rayna nearly fell over when he scratched Molly’s cheeks and said in a low voice, “You’re a good mama. Yes, you are.”
Molly chirped at him before butting her head against his chin, and Stark gave Nathan an excited look. “That’s a good sign, right? Her chirping like that? Normally, she does it all the time, and she wasn’t this morning.”
“It’s a good sign,” Nathan said before turning to Rayna. “So, I suspect mastitis, but the good news is only two nipples seem to be affected, and I think we’ve caught it pretty early.”
“You suspect mastitis, or you know that’s what it is,” Stark said.
“I’m confident,” Nathan said. “Rayna, the most cost-effective plan is to send her home with some antibiotics and pain meds. The babies are still nursing, so I’ll go with a safe antibiotic, but even still, it might cause some diarrhea for the babies, so you’ll need to keep a close eye on them. If they do get diarrhea, you may have to bottle feed them for a few days.”
“Okay,” Rayna said. She’d taken this week off to finish last-minute details for the fundraiser on Friday, and bottle-feeding kittens every two hours didn’t exactly fit into her plan. But she had no other neonate fosters available. She would have to hope that the antibiotics didn’t wreak havoc with the babies’ stomachs.
“If you do have to bottle feed, you’ll need to express Molly’s milk manually, so her milk supply doesn’t dry up,” Nathan said.
Rayna made a face. “I didn’t have ‘milking a cat’ on my Bingo card for this week.”
Nathan grinned. “Well, hopefully, you won’t have to.”
“Do you really just diagnose this by looking at her?” Stark frowned at Nathan. “That doesn’t seem safe. What if it’s something else?”
“Stark,” Rayna said, giving him a look. She didn’t care how worried Stark was. She wasn’t about to let him piss off her favourite vet in Harmony Falls. Nathan went above and beyond for the rescue, and she fiercely protected their relationship.
Nathan gave Stark a thoughtful look. “Molly shows all the classic symptoms of mastitis. However, if you want to be completely sure, we could take a blood sample to check for infection and perform a bacterial culture to identify the bacterial strain, ensuring we use the correct antibiotic. We could also do a milk cytology to check for bacteria and white blood cells. But the testing is expensive, and the rescue -”
“Do all of those tests,” Stark said. “I’ll cover the expense.”
Nathan glanced at Rayna, who said, “I appreciate the gesture, but -”
“I have a work meeting at the office that I can’t miss,” Stark said to Nathan, ignoring Rayna’s protest. “But it should only last a couple of hours. Can I leave Molly and the babies here at the clinic while you do the testing? I’ll take them home after my meeting is over.”
“Molly and the babies will need extra care and attention,” Rayna said.
“I’m aware, Ms. Abrams,” he said before turning back to Nathan. “I’m happy to pay a boarding fee to keep Molly here while I’m at the office.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Nathan said, glancing at Rayna. “We’ll run the tests and then keep Molly and the babies until you’re available. I’ll draw up an estimate for the procedure cost, and you can sign it before you leave.”
“It won’t be more than a couple of hours,” Stark said. Rayna’s mouth dropped when he bent and kissed the cat’s head. “I won’t be gone long, sweetie, and then I’ll be back to take you home.”
He straightened and held out his hand to Nathan. “Thank you. I’ll leave my number with the receptionist. If Molly worsens or anything changes, call me immediately.”
Nathan shook his hand with a bemused look. “Okay.”
Stark bent and kissed Molly’s head again. “Be a good girl, sweetie. I’ll see you soon.”
He reached into the crate and gently petted each of the kittens before striding toward the foyer. Rayna stared at Nathan, and he said, “That was… unexpected.”
“You have no idea,” she said and chased after Stark.
She found him at the front desk, where he was giving Fatima his phone number.
“Molly’s staying at the clinic for a bit to do some more testing,” Rayna said to Fatima. “Nathan is just doing an estimate for us to sign.”
They waited in silence for a few minutes. Stark was texting rapidly on his phone, and Fatima looked him up and down before giving Rayna a look that she had no problem interpreting. Fatima was married, but Rayna couldn’t blame her for eyeing Stark like a tasty steak. Rayna might hate him, but he was objectively hot. And even hotter when he was paying the vet bill for a foster cat.
Fatima checked her computer and then printed off a piece of paper. “Okay, Nathan finished the estimate. You know the drill, Rayna.”
She held it out, but Stark took the paper before Rayna could. He scanned it and then picked up a pen and started filling it out.
Rayna leaned a little closer as, alarm in his voice, Stark said, “Why is this here? Molly isn’t dying.”
“That’s a standard section we have you fill out whenever you’re leaving an animal in our care. Obviously, the risk is very low that Molly will go into cardiac arrest or crash on us. Still, there’s always a risk, so we ask that you let us know if you want life saving measures taken as we’re trying to contact you, or if you want us to wait until we’ve spoken to you,” Fatima said.
Stark gave her a withering look. “Obviously, I want you to save her life.”
“Okay, well, um, just initial there,” Fatima said.
Stark initialed as Fatima said, “We also need an amount you’re willing to spend on life-saving measures until we can speak with you.”
“Put five hundred dollars,” Rayna said to Stark. It was her typical number for this sort of thing. She hated having to put a price on an animal’s life, and such a low one at that, but she had to be practical. She couldn’t spend all of the rescue’s funds on one animal.
Stark glared at her before writing ‘No Limit” in big letters next to the dollar amount. He turned his gaze to Fatima, and she returned his look nervously as he said, “There is no dollar limit for the life-saving measures for Molly. Is that clear? I don’t care what the final cost is. You don’t stop helping her.”
“Okay,” Fatima said.
“Stark,” Rayna said. “Are you -”
“Do not argue with me, Ms. Abrams,” he snapped. “Molly’s life is not up for debate.”
She rolled her eyes. “All right. Christ, don’t get your underpants in a twist over it.”
Fatima stared at her with wide eyes as Stark signed and dated the form and handed it back to her. He texted again on his phone before shoving it into his pocket. “I need to get to the office, but I’ve arranged for an Uber to pick you up here and take you home.”
“Oh, uh… thanks,” Rayna said.
He nodded and left the clinic.