Madferit: The Novel

Chapter 142

            We didn't stay in the US until Christmas as we still had a few things to take care of in the UK before the holidays.

            "Hi, Princey!" I beamed crouching down and extending my arms towards him.

            He barely waited long enough for me to sit down before he hopped up into my lap. He definitely had grown some in the last month. Him and his siblings were all about the same size and I was happy none of them ended up being a runt.

            "I love you too, Rupey!" I assured him reaching over to stroke him on the bridge of his nose when he came over to check.

            He juked back a bit at first as if he didn't believe me but gave in when he just couldn't resist a pet.

            Noel stood outside the pen leaning against the gate and watching. After a couple minutes, he opened the door and joined us. "Don't worry, Rupe." He said to him as he began scratching him along both sides of his neck. "I'll make sure to pay attention to ya when our Addie gets too busy."

            I rolled my eyes while I continued holding Prince in my lap.

            "See, this is what happens when ya get too many." Noel glanced over at me for a second before turning back to Rupert.

            "There's no such thing as too many!"

            "Yes, there is! Think about all them big farms up north, right? They have so many sheep they don't give 'em names, just numbers. A tag in their ear or a tattoo and that's it. Where's the personalization in that, eh?"

            "All of ours have names." I countered as Ella crept over to me. "Don't ya, Love?" I petted her bottom jaw with one hand while I petted Prince with the other.

            "We've reached our limit, Adds. This is our lot." Noel declared. "No Swaledales. No Herdwicks. No Ayreshires. No Guernseys-"

            "'Kay."

            "Hello?" Someone called from outside making me gasp.

            "Who's that?" I asked.

            "That'll be John." Noel replied hopping up and heading for the door.

            "Who's John?"

            It didn't sound like John, the lawyer, so I had no idea who it could be.

            "Most of 'em's in here." Noel spoke from outside the barn. "Includin' the wife."

            "Ah! Nice one!" The unfamiliar voice returned.

            Just then, the man door swung open again and Noel appeared with another guy following right behind him.

            "Right. This is almost everybody." Noel waved his hand at me and the others inside the pen to introduce us to the man. "Our Addie and her sheep. Addie, this is John." He pointed at the middle-aged man. "He's gonna be our gardener."

            "Alright, Mrs. Gallagher?" John smiled at me with a nod.

            "Alright." I replied turning back to Prince.

            I wanted to say, "Since when do we need a gardener?" but I didn't want to be rude. He seemed nice enough.

            "So I see you've got some sheep, have you?" John nodded at them.

            "I have, yeah." I nodded back pointing at them. "This is-"

            "Our Addie's very fussy about her sheep." Noel interrupted me. "And her other animals as well."