Hearing the vehicle labouring up the track to their isolated farm, Grace detached the dozing toddler. He seemed contented enough. If he needed more, he could certainly wait until after John left. Hank rarely ventured through the front door, so a single button would suffice to close her blouse.
Lifting Sam to her hip, the slender young woman walked to the screen door. "I'll get it, John," she called on the way. "It'll be Hank, right on time as usual. You just finish getting ready."
She pushed the screen door open with her free hip and stood there. It was indeed Hank's truck pulling up in their driveway. As the dust clouds subsided, the driver's rusty side door creaked open and their wiry neighbour climbed out. Leaning his tanned forearms on the car door, he exchanged a wave with the petite good-looking girl in the doorway jiggling the sleepy toddler. They both knew John would come bustling out any second now.
Both sets of curious eyes swung behind Hank at once. A dusty yellow four wheel drive vehicle towing a huge empty horse trailer was following in Hank's dusty wake. It pulled up abruptly behind his truck.
After a flurry of activity in the front seat, a tall elegant woman in her late thirties in a brief halter-neck top, shorts and sandals climbed out. Clutching a flat wicker basket and a glass jar, she quickly approached Hank. "Please. Can I use phone?" Grace heard her call on the run. The urgency was apparent, and her eastern European accent quite thick.
He shrugged his shoulders and let two leathery fingers indicate Grace. As the woman turned and hastened to the porch steps, he ran his eyes up and down her long bare legs approvingly.
As the woman reached the top of the steps, Grace felt her attention being eerily commanded. The stranger was a classically beautiful European dark blonde with high cheekbones and the pale mesmerising blue eyes that were locking onto hers. It was almost like she alone was party to some silent, intense beckoning that sang to her very soul. She felt an utter sense of fascination start to well up.
The spell was broken when John swore loudly inside. Snapping her head around, Grace saw he had dropped his carton of cold beer. When she turned back, the woman's alluring eyes were once again staring into hers, almost serenading her.
"I need vet. Soon," came the pleading words. A captivated Grace could only meekly run her round brown eyes around the striking face.
"Who on earth is that, Grace?" boomed the deep voice inside, making her again jump back to reality.
"Eva," she repeated the distraught woman's prompt. She kept her eyes inside the house while listening intently to the limited smattering of English.
"I drive all day. My puppy, he stop drinking. Is doctor near? Puppy's mother die. I don't want puppy die," she heard.
Grace quietly relayed the message to John. She lowered her head, trying to avert the striking blue eyes as she added. "Come inside, Eva. Let's see if we can help." The thin lips of the stately woman grimaced as she squeezed past with her basket and jar.
Before turning, Grace looked upwards at the sky. It was still so warm out, considering it was a half hour to dusk. There wasn't a cloud above. The thought struck her that it would be such a lovely and warm night outside tonight. With a parting wave to Hank, she followed her in and gestured her towards the lounge. John's voice yelled from the kitchen.
"Grace, the nearest vet's at Derbyville," the bad news came. "But being Saturday, I reckon it's probably closed. Try calling them if you want, but I make it six thirty now. Plus they're over seventy kilometres away of course."
The tall, sturdy farmer strode noisily into the room and used a nod to acknowledge the haughty stranger. A quick stoop of his hefty fair-haired frame and he was kissing his beautiful young wife and son goodbye. Halfway out the front doorway, he paused. "Hank may drop me back late tonight. But if we go on too late or drink too much, we may bunk down at Roger's all night. If so, I'll get a lift back first thing tomorrow morning. Okay?"
"Fine by me," Grace replied. Tonight was his reward. He had worked a hard couple of days installing the French doors in their master bedroom. They were the new means of access to their newly-created area of paradise - a large, newly grassed courtyard bordered by a post and wire fence. Twenty metres square, an open gate provided access to a trail into the nearby forest she loved so much. Proudly sitting right in the middle was their only piece of outdoor furniture - a new outdoor sun-bed with a thin mattress base.
Grace had also felt glad John was taking time off to mix with mates on the neighbouring remote properties. She loved the comments he brought home from them, about how lucky he was to land such a beautiful-looking city girl. Somehow though, she was starting to feel a surge of impatience that only disappeared when she finally heard the rattle of Hank's truck moving off. Returning from the door to the intriguing woman, she felt herself again marvelling at how physically attractive she was.
"Eva, sorry. We're alone now. It's finally quiet," she murmured, caught up by the woman's allure. Despite the brief casual attire, Eva had the air of a countess about her. Her short blonde hair was neatly combed off her high forehead, and her bare flawless skin was a light golden brown. A good twelve inches taller than Grace's four foot ten, she had an almost hourglass figure.
The toddler stirred from his sleep, rubbing his eyes wearily on her hip, Grace glanced down. "Oh Eva, this is Sam incidentally. And I'm Grace," she offered as introduction.
"Grace, my English not good," Grace heard the broken reply. "Please. I show you."
Eva pulled back the cloth on the basket supported on her long legs. Lying on its side was a small puppy the size of a mobile phone, obviously weak and not moving. Grace watched her open the glass jar and fill the eyedropper inside with some of the milky contents. Forcing the tip into the tiny mouth, she squirted a minute amount inside. It all weakly flowed straight back out.
"I see," Grace softly empathised, sitting next to her as she watched. She ignored the sleepy tot onto her lap, jiggling him to encourage him to stay asleep. The tiny animal's eyes were closed. "Oh, look at it," she added. "So cute! But it'll die if it doesn't drink something soon. We should try something with a teat. I have a small baby bottle somewhere in the kitchen."
The woman gave her a polite but confused look. Grace realised her lack of English had meant Eva had probably picked up precious little of what she had just said.
"Let me look for a bottle," Grace slowly summarised instead. "I'll also ring the vet."
"Thank you," the woman replied, her eyes almost mesmerising Grace's for a few seconds before they re-focused on the tiny creature. Weary child on her hip, the barefoot young woman padded off to the kitchen.
Emerging with the toddler fast asleep a short time later, she passed over a doll-size bottle. "I tried the vet. There's no answer," she announced solemnly.
"Thank you. So kind," Grace heard the grave thanks as she let her dark brown eyes become captured by the icy pale blue ones staring. She was only able to break away when Eva's gaze lowered to transfer some of the jar's milky contents into the bottle.
Sam stirred. Instinctively, Grace deftly undid the lone button, uncovering her small curved breast to which she applied the toddler's weary head. She soon sensed Sam wasn't hungry, her squat brown nipple more often outside his mouth than in. But with him occupied, Grace could devote her attention to the stranger and her efforts to induce her tiny pet to drink. She glanced at the patrician face. How lovely she must look in happier times, she thought.
A disappointed Grace winced with Eva each time the puppy refused the bottle. She became aware the Sam had dropped from her sopping nipple and was fast asleep.
"I'll just be five minutes putting him down," Grace whispered. Loosely pulling her blouse across, her small frame strained as she picked the eight month old toddler up and gently carried him over her shoulder to his room.
When she returned a few minutes later, she could see Eva looking down at the small bundle of fur now extended across her hand, shaking her head. Grace's heart was heavy. She adored animals, and hated seeing them in distress.
"May I have a hold?" she asked softly, extending cupped hands. Eva almost poured the tiny creature into her palm. Using a thumb and forefinger, Grace stretched the forlorn length of fluff out full length. With one finger, she stroked along its body and between the closed eyes.
"Oh," she cooed at it. "He's just so beautiful. Do they grow up big?"
"Very big. Grow very quick," came the proud reply. "Hunting dog."
Lifting it gently, Grace flicked aside her long honey brown hair. She leaned right back on the couch, and lay its body flat out just under her slender neck. Now and again, its shallow breathing shuddered. Knowing how stricken it was, she wished she could save it.
She glanced over to Eva. The intense eyes were pleading as they drilled deep into her eyes. Grace was leaning forward to delicately pass the ball of fur back when she saw Eva's eyes drop to her gaping blouse.
"Please?" she heard Eva's stammer. "You try feed yourself to him?"
Grace knew instantly what was being suggested. She paused. "It's a long shot. I certainly have some left over," she thought.
She looked at the dying puppy in her upturned hand. Its head hung limply over the palm near her little finger. Spreading her blouse, she guided the blind face to the nipple. At first, it just lay there, not moving.
Using two fingers, she expressed a small drop of milk just above its mouth.
There was a faint twitch. The nose began weakly sniffing.
