Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch (The Ryan Family #1) by Carolyn Brown

“That’s downright mean and harsh.” She almost gritted her teeth. “Honestly, I don’t know, but we’ll never know, will we?”

“How many cousins do you have?” They weren’t far away from their destination now because Jesse could hear the alpacas’ strange humming noises as they communicated with each other.

“Uncle Nate has twins who are about eight years old. Uncle Quinn has a daughter who is ten now,” she said.

“I remember Nate and Quinn. They were about five years older than us, so they were already gone from home when we were in high school,” Jesse said.

“And yet, their kids are younger than me,” Mia sighed. “You were always her best friend, right?”

“That’s right,” Jesse answered about the time they reached the corral. He climbed over the side, looped an arm around one of the mama hembras, and talked softly to her. “We’re going to a better place for you. We’ve got it all cleaned up and ready, and you’re going to love it.” Mia handed him a bridle, and he gently eased it into place then attached the lead rope.

“Not bad,” she said as she did the same with the other mama.

“Thank you. I did a little research on them last night,” Jesse said.

The animals were tame enough that it didn’t take much to get them separated and out of the corral. Then it was a simple matter of leading them over to their new home. Right up until they reached that ditch full of water, and the hembras set their heels. The crias had been romping behind their mothers like little wind-up toys. When the grown-ups decided that they weren’t wading through water and climbing up a hill to a barbed wire fence, the babies balked, too.

“Let’s take them on down the road a bit to where the gate is,” Jesse suggested.

“If they’d just hop over the puddle, we could lead them down the fence line and we wouldn’t have to be so careful with the crias and the traffic,” Mia said.

“If plan A doesn’t work, we move to plan B. If we hear a car, we may have to carry the babies until it gets past us.” Jesse slipped an arm around his alpaca and whispered in her ear.

“Now you are an alpaca whisperer?” Mia asked.

“Nope, but that mama told me that she’d prefer to go down the road rather than jump the ditch. It’s only a few hundred yards.” Jesse tugged gently on the lead rope, and the animal followed him.

Sure enough, when they got to the place where Jesse could open the gate, the alpaca sailed over the ditch and then turned around and called its baby to it. The cria ran up and down the ditch and then made a jump, landed on the other side, and nuzzled against its mama’s neck. Crazy animals, Jesse thought. but then realized the first place had water in it and that's probably what spooked the alpaca.

Mia hopped over the water, tugged on the lead rope, and her animal made the leap. When the baby started over, it misjudged the distance and landed neck deep in the water. The mother panicked and pulled against her rope, and the other female became agitated.

Jesse handed both ropes to Mia and waded right out in the water to get the baby, put it on his shoulders, and started up the slippery slope. He’d only gone a step or two when he fell backward into the water, but he managed to hold the cria up high enough to keep water from getting in its little nose.

In seconds, Mia had tied the two mother alpacas to a fence post and waded out into the water to get the cria. She managed to get it up onto dry land so it could run to its mama for comfort before she made a misstep and landed firmly on her butt in the water right beside Jesse.

“I’m sure glad this is not mud.” Jesse stood in water nearly to his knees. “I’m cooled off. How about you? Getting those mamas tied up was fast thinking. You did good.”

Mia got to her feet. “Aren’t we going to go to the house and get into dry clothes?”

“Nope,” Jesse answered. “We’ve got three more trips to get the animals crossed over. Why change when we might have the same problem next time?”

She kicked at the water, sending a spray all over him.

He chuckled and did the same right back at her.

Before long, they were soaked from head to toe, and Jesse was sure that the folks back at the ranch could hear their laughter.

She reached out and gave him a push, and he fell backward to sit in waist-deep water. He grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her down beside him.

She looked over at him and grinned. “Bet I can beat you to the top of the ditch,” she challenged.

Before he could answer, she jumped up and scaled the slippery bank like a monkey going up a tree. Jesse had to concentrate to get up to the top without falling backward, but he made it on the first try. He poured the water out of his boots, put them back on and untied his hembra from the post. “Come on, pretty lady. The worst part is over. From here, it’s clear sailing to your new five-star home. Hey, Mia, close the gate before you untie your animal.”

“Yes, sir…boss!” Her tone was cold but not quite as bad as it had been that morning.

“Progress,” he muttered under his breath.

She had to hustle to catch up to him, and when she did, the first words out of her mouth were, “So you and mama were, like, friends and nothing more?”

His worry radar shot up into the red zone. “Why are you asking?”