Chapter 52
Chapter Fifty-Two
Sage
I’m trembling with excitement when Brooks sets me on my feet, and my ears strain for any hint of what Riley has planned. All he said was “a surprise” and I have no further clues beyond that.
Other than we’re still outside.
Waiting.
I start to get impatient, when a loud creaking whine fills my ears. A door opening?
“I’m going to count down from three,” Riley calls, his voice echoing slightly.
“Three, two, one, open!”
My hands fly from my eyes and I blink at the sudden light, only for my mouth to fall open in shock.
“Is that…” I trail off, stumbling forward a step. Brooks reaches out to steady me, and I glance at him to see a baffled look on his face.
My eyes are immediately drawn back to the tiny bleating creatures in front of me, though. Two white lambs with black noses and black knees that Riley and Neveah are holding in their arms.
“What?”
“They’re for you!” Riley says. “Well, for all of us. We’ll help take care of them, obviously. But they’re both yours!”
Baby sheep. The two cutest things I’ve ever seen in my life. And they’re for me. I fall to my knees in front of them and start sobbing. Great, heaving sobs that hitch in my chest and quake my entire body.
Riley looks terrified, Neveah looks concerned, and Brooks drops down next to me, pulling me into his arms.
“Sage?” he says, voice trembling. “Petal, what’s wrong?”
“I love them so much!” I wail, reaching out for the little lambs.
Riley scrambles over, and Vee quickly follows. They place the lambs into my arms and on Brooks’ lap, where I hug them to me and bury my face in their soft, baby sheep fur.
My tears soak into them, but they don’t suffer my hold long. They start fidgeting and bleating, asking to be let go, so I pull back, wiping my tears and snotty nose on my shoulder.
“Can I let them go?” I ask, voice watery as I look around at the renovated pole barn. I guess regular barn, now.
“Yep, I had a fence installed,” Riley says, gesturing behind me.
I release the lambs, and they hop off our laps to sniff around their new enclosure.
“They’re so cute,” I whisper, unable to take my eyes off them. “What are their names?”
“You get to name them,” they say.
Tears trickle down my cheeks again, and I swipe them away. I’ve never been overwhelmed by joy before, or cried of happiness.
“But I don’t know what to name them.”
“You don’t have to decide right now,” Vee says. “Take a few days to think about it. We can help, if you want.”
“Okay,” I say. I hate how wobbly my voice is, but I can’t help it.
They got me baby lambs! Who does that?
“They’re really ours?” I turn my tear-streaked face up to Neveah, seeking reassurance from my alpha.
She cups my face in both palms, thumbs clearing the tear tracks from my cheeks.
“They’re really ours,” she says with a decisive nod.
“Okay,” I whisper, turning back to watch the lambs as they stumble around in the overgrown grass.
“Why are there two?” Brooks questions. I don’t know why he would ask such a thing, unless he thinks we should have three?
“Well I couldn’t get just one,” Riley says. “I had to make sure they each had a friend. Figured more than two might be a bit much at first, though.”
He’s so thoughtful, ensuring the lambs aren’t lonely. My sweet beta.
I stand and fling my arms around them.
“Thank you,” I say. “This is the best present ever.”
They hold me tight, and I scent mark his cheek before pulling back to curl up in Brooks’ lap again to watch the lambs explore.
“I have one more thing for you,” Riley says. “Well, it’s borrowed, but, uh—here.”
He holds out a stack of three books from the library, and when I take them, I see they’re all about sheep care.
I start crying again, turning to bury my face in Brooks’ shoulder. He strokes a soothing hand down my spine and his purr revs under my cheek.
“You okay, Petal?” he whispers.
“I’m just… So happy,” I manage to choke out, and Riley and Vee drop down to wrap their arms around me too.
I spend the next few days almost exclusively with the lambs.
I sit in their enclosure and read through the books Riley checked out from the library for me, learning more than I ever thought I would about sheep care and raising lambs as pets.
I make a list of what we’ll need for them as they get older, and then try not to be too invasive when I inspect them to learn they’re both born female.
They’re the same age, but I quickly realize they have very different personalities.
The more social one I’ve named Daisy. She likes all the snacks, seems to welcome anyone who wanders by to give her a pat, and has less black on her nose, but more on her knees. She starts following me around after the first day, and bleats at me when she sees me outside her enclosure.
The other lamb I call Bramble. She’s a bit prickly, although she’s warming up to me quickly.
She doesn’t like when other people get too close to her, and I’m still learning which snacks she enjoys.
So far, it’s yes to dandelion leaves but no to the flowers, no to carrots, lettuce, spinach, and leaves from tomato plants.
Corn husks are hit or miss, and a handful of grain is normally a yes.
I’ve also learned she likes her space and alone time, which I can’t blame her for.
Daisy becomes attached to my hip, and I suspect if I brought her outside the fence, she’d stick right beside me. I decide to test it when the next Sunday rolls around and I remember Claire’s invitation to join them at gardening club.
Sure enough, Daisy trails after me, happily trotting along at my heels as I let her out of the enclosure and bribe her to follow with treats. I offer for Bramble to come too, but she turns her back on us and trots into the barn for some peace and quiet.
“That’s okay,” I say to Daisy. “We love her as she is, even if she is a bit antisocial sometimes.”
Daisy stops to munch on a dandelion, and I wait for her to finish before we continue walking the grounds toward the community garden area.
“Do you think they’ll like me?” I murmur to her.
Daisy bahhs, and I sigh.
“I wish I could understand you. But I’m going to pretend you were saying, ‘Of course they will, silly omega!’”
We round the bend, and the fence surrounding the raised planter boxes comes into sight.
“You’re not going to eat anyone’s plants, are you?” I eye her, suddenly second-guessing my idea of bringing her with me.
But then an excited shout reaches my ears, and I look up to see Siobhan waving at me, a big smile on her face.
“Oh my god, Sage! Is that a baby sheep?” she yells, and then they’re all dropping their tools and gloves and striding through the gate toward us.
“I wondered what Riley was up to,” Claire says. “Checking out those animal husbandry books. Sneaky beta.”
They all coo over Daisy, who nuzzles her snout into their hands and pockets looking for treats she doesn’t find, then accepts pets instead.
“What’s her name?” Wren asks.
“Daisy, and the other one—she’s less social but maybe you’ll see her sometime—her name is Bramble.”
“So stinking cute,” Siobhan says. “I can’t handle it!”
“I was going to come to gardening club with you, but then I realized on my way here that she might try to eat people’s plants.” I wring my hands together, trying not to let my uncertainty show.
“Who cares!” Siobhan says, waving a hand as though to dismiss the concern, then in a baby voice, “She deserves every wittle snacky-snack she can get her cute wittle teef on.”
“Oh my word,” Bea says, rolling their eyes.
“What? You can’t deny she’s cute. Not my fault if the law says you have to talk to cute baby animals in an annoying baby voice.”
Bea is crouched down scratching behind Daisy’s ear and they huff a laugh at Siobhan’s antics, then grin up at us. “She’s adorable, Sage.”
“Please bring her every week,” Siobhan says. She’s now criss-cross in the grass with Daisy searching for a snack in her loose braid.
I grin, happy my new friends are so accepting of my less-than-normal pet.