Epilogue
That afternoon, Joel and Chelsea were sitting outside on the veranda of the main farmhouse, enjoying a cup of tea, when he looked up to see an unknown vehicle pulling in.
“Now who?” he asked, as he stood. He looked over at Sterling, who had just stepped outside to join them. “You expecting anybody?”
“Kinda, but I wasn’t sure if it would be today or not.” Just then Sterling recognized one of the men from Timber’s place. Sterling stepped down from the veranda and called out, “Hey, Lincoln. What’s up?”
He laughed. “Well, you guys are doing so much happy little romance stuff over here,” he quipped, “I think they thought that you needed more puppies to go with it. Now these aren’t the training kind, just the feeding kind.”
Joel frowned and looked back at Sterling.
Sterling laughed. “Yeah, I’ve been expecting more puppies.”
Chelsea bolted off the deck and raced down to see them. “Really, did you bring us puppies to feed? I’ve been wanting to help out, and having them here makes it even easier. I haven’t even taken a moment to see the other puppies in their new barn.”
“These needed fostering,” Lincoln replied. “The mom’s been injured, and she’s here with them, but she needs help. So the puppies need a surrogate mom.”
“Oh my,” she cried out, as she raced around to the back of the truck to take a look.
And there, indeed, was a crate with a small cocker spaniel and five puppies—at first glance anyway—and they were so very young.
“Oh my, you poor little things.” She laughed at Sterling.
“I’m surprised you allowed for little dogs to come here. ”
“Hey, the mom needed help,” Sterling pointed out, as they walked around to the back of Lincoln’s truck to join her.
Lincoln opened up the tailgate, and they slowly removed the crate with the terrified little mama dog and her puppies. They soon had her moved into Sterling’s small surgical center.
As Lincoln went to head back out, Sterling asked him, “Is everything okay out there at the Haven? I heard there was some commotion.”
“Not a commotion out there, but, when I was in town last,” he explained calmly, “I found a woman collapsed on the side of the road.”
“Oh my God,” Chelsea muttered, as she walked toward him. “Is she okay?”
“She’s exhausted and not in great shape. I took her to the hospital and got a doc to evaluate her. There wasn’t anything seriously wrong with her except exhaustion, starvation, you know the drill. She was dehydrated, not sure when her last meal was. She’s also looking for a place to hide out.”
At that, Sterling nodded. “We’ve seen people like that before.”
“Yeah, I don’t know what her story is, but she seems to have deemed me as her protector,” Lincoln shared, with an awkward smile.
“The trouble is, we don’t know what the hell is going on, and she’s not talking.
She’s not really talking to me either. So, as far as being a protector, that’s not really washing. ”
“Is there a center or a shelter you could take her to?”
“I called Timber, and he told me to bring her there, so I’m about to pick her up now.”
Chelsea’s eyes widened, and then she nodded. “Timber has never meant for his rescue center to be just for animals.”
Joel nodded. “If Timber thinks anybody out there needs a hand, you and I both know he’ll open his doors immediately.”
“Exactly,” Lincoln confirmed. “Plus, I think he wants to see what the deal is.” Lincoln looked around from one man to the other. “The name was somewhat familiar, so I don’t know if he actually knows her or if it’s not even related. I’m on my way to get her—if she’s still there.”
The two men frowned at him. Sterling asked, “You expect her to disappear?”
His tone was serious when he replied, “I don’t think she was homeless, and I don’t think that she was in any way incapable of looking after herself.
I think she’s been on the run for so long that it just got to be too much, and she collapsed.
” He shook his head. “Either that or somebody got a hold of her, and she managed to get away. … I’m hoping when she’s at Timber’s that we’ll have a chance to talk to her and to find out the truth. ”
“And that’s why you’re afraid she won’t be there when you get there?”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m afraid of,” he admitted. “Yet, if she needs help, we all know that the Haven is the best place for her.”
“Absolutely,” stated Joel and Sterling in stereo.
Lincoln checked his watch. “So, if you guys are good to look after the puppies, I need to go.”
“Already talked to Timber about them,” Sterling confirmed, and he looked over at his cousin. “You’re going to help, aren’t you?”
Chelsea grinned at him. “You bring in all the animals you want to bring in,” she said in delight. “I am here to help.”
He laughed. “Glad to hear that.” And, with a lifted hand, he added, “Take it easy with that woman, Lincoln. We don’t know what her story is.”
“No, we don’t, but you and I both have seen that look in her eyes, the look of a woman at the end of her rope, a woman with no place to go.
I think it was by sheer luck she made it this far.
Now it’s a matter of trying to figure out what the hell is going on and seeing if I can get her to open up enough about her life to talk about it.
If we’re lucky, we can help her to set it right. ”
And, with that, he hopped into his truck and left.