A small blue car was parked erratically, abandoned outside the clinic’s front door. Cass peered around the courtyard—all she’d been told in the brief message she’d received half an hour ago was that a dog was having difficulties and its owner would bring it straight to the surgery. She heard a muffled sound beyond the bank of colorful begonias that lined the bright green grass at the side of the stone building.
“Hello!” she called, trying to make herself heard above the dawn chorus of a thousand early birds. “Can I help you?”
The woman who appeared from beyond the begonias was elderly, red-faced and very distraught. Cass recognized her at once. “Mrs. Park!” she exclaimed. “Is it Poppy?”
“Oh, thank God,” the distressed old lady responded. “Yes...he’s in the car.”
A heavy lump settled in Cass’s chest as she dug through her pocket for the surgery keys.
“Don’t worry. We’ll get him inside right away. What seems to be the problem?”
“He’s choking on a chicken bone or something. He raided the garbage bin, you see.”
Dropping her keys back into her pocket, Cass hurried toward the small car, flinging open the back door to see Poppy’s smiling face eagerly awaiting her. When the little dog jumped out onto the tarmac and proceeded to run around in crazy circles, Cass took a deep breath, trying to control her irritation.
“Mrs....er, Mary,” she began. “I don’t think...”
“Oh, you’ve saved him! However did you manage to do it so quickly?”
The sheer delight and admiration on the old lady’s face dissolved Cass’s anger instantaneously.
“But I didn’t do anything,”
“So modest, as well,” she added. “I must admit that, at first, I thought you looked far too young to be a vet. From now on, though, we will be singing your praises, won’t we Poppy? That’s twice you’ve saved my little precious in two days.”
* * *
CASS RELATED THE incident to Donald later that morning. He let out a hoot of laughter, and suddenly she was laughing, too, feeling like a real part of the place.
“There you are, then,” he announced. “You have your first adoring patient.”
“Do you mean Mrs. Park or Poppy?” Cass giggled.
Just then, Todd strode into the room.
“If you’re talking about my aunt, then she’s already been on the phone,” he remarked, reaching for his white coat.
“Your aunt?” Cass echoed.
“Ah, so you’ll know that Cass here is a miracle worker, then?” Donald said.
“But I didn’t do anything,” Cass insisted.
“Just enjoy the adulation,” Todd suggested with a broad smile. “Knowing my Aunt Mary, she could well change her mind tomorrow. Now, on a more serious note, there’s a call from Ben Naylor up at Hill Gate. Bad calving. Better get over there right away. Sally will give you directions.”
“I’m on my way,” Cass said, picking up her case.
Donald took hold of her arm as she passed by on her way to the door.
“About that dinner... Can you do tomorrow night?”
Cass nodded, smiling broadly.
“Thanks, that would be great.”
* * *
THE BAD CALVING took longer than Cass had anticipated. Halfway through she almost called in for help, but thankfully the calf suddenly decided to greet the world. It slid from its mother, and Cass immediately began cleaning the mucus from the newborn’s tiny nose, willing it to breathe as she rubbed its chest with a clump of straw. Elation flowed through her veins as the calf let out a low cry. There was something so special about bringing a new life into the world.
“Well done, lass,” Ben Naylor remarked with begrudging surprise. “Frankly, when I saw you walk in, I considered telling you to get out. Slip of a thing like you! Todd told me there was no one else, though.”
“You rang Todd?”
“Didn’t think you were up to the job, to be honest.”
She sat back on her heels, struggling to contain a surge of irritation. The middle-aged farmer stared back at her, his face open, and Cass couldn’t help smiling.
“Now do you think I’m up to the job?”
He looked at the newborn calf, already struggling onto its tiny feet.
“Now,” he said. “I’m going to get the missus to make us a nice cup of tea. Might be a slab of cake, as well, if you’re lucky.”
As Cass followed Ben Naylor across the yard to the gray stone farmhouse, she felt a warm sense of satisfaction. Today she’d proven herself to at least one member of the farming community. It was a start. And tonight she was taking her belongings over to Sky Cottage, her very own place. It felt like a turning point—a fresh start and a whole new life. She breathed in the country scents that filled the air around her—grass and flowers and always that underlying, heavy odor of cow muck. The smell that greeted her senses as she stepped through the kitchen door, however, made her mouth water.
“Come in, lass,” urged Ben, ushering her ahead of him into the kitchen. “And meet my wife, Cathy.”
Ben’s wife was definitely not what Cass had expected. Small and dark and smartly dressed, Cathy moved quickly across the immaculate kitchen, shaking Cass’s hand with a surprisingly firm grip.
“It’s a nice change to have a female vet around here,” she announced, smiling.
“When I was at vet school,” Cass responded, “there were more than twice as many female students as males, so I guess you’ll be seeing a lot more women vets in the future.”
“Sign of the times,” Ben grumbled. “Women are taking over the world.”
“And about time, too,” Cathy said brightly. “Especially around here. We’re fifty years behind in these Lakeland hills. It’s about time we joined the rest of the country. And Cass here did a good job, didn’t she?”
“Well, that’s true,” Ben agreed. “It was a rough calving, too.”
“So,” Cathy asked, placing a pot of tea on the pine-topped table and motioning for Cass to sit down. “What made you decide to be a vet in the first place?”
Cass settled into a chair. “That’s easy. I can pinpoint the exact day...well, almost. My parents had—have—a store in a busy village, and as a kid I spent a lot of time on my own, so they bought me a dog.”
Cass hesitated, wondering why she was telling Cathy Naylor all this. Noting the interest in the woman’s warm brown eyes, she went on.
“He was killed on the road when I was twelve years old, and when I realized I could have saved him if I’d known what to do, I decided to become a vet.”
“What...just like that?”
Cass shrugged. “Pretty much, I guess.”
Cathy set a plate heaped with homemade cakes onto the table and began pouring tea into three china mugs. “It seems to me that you must be a very determined and single-minded young woman.”
Ben Naylor grinned, reaching for a muffin. “Bit like you, love,” he said.
“Did you get another dog?” Cathy asked, ignoring him.
Cass shook her head.
“Well, now that you’re settled into your new