Providence Springs Farm

They said cancer.

They said stage 4.

Emma and Daniel embraced, tears stinging their eyes before spilling over and rolling down their cheeks.

“We will beat this,” Daniel whispered into Emma’s ear, his fingers running through her long, greying hair, “49 years of marriage isn’t long enough.” He moved back a little, placing his hands on her cheeks and setting his forehead gently against hers. “You are the strongest woman I know. Cancer can’t beat you.” He brushed his lips over hers before wrapping her in his arms once again.

His mind whirled in crushing torment. He would give anything to trade places with her; he can’t lose her. Living without Emma would be like living without air. An impossibility. He remembered the day they met. Their first date. Their wedding, These pictures flipped through his memory like a series of snapshots. The bad was so small compared to the blessings they had experienced. Until now.

Emma drew back, her hands on Daniel’s shoulders, “We always said we’d retire to a farm. What better time than now?” She said with a smile as she wiped the remaining tears from her cheeks.

Providence Springs Farm. Everything about it was perfect: the price, the location, the buildings. It was only about an hour from the city. It was a working farm complete with a white two-story house, red barn, two cows, three sheep, two goats, and a dozen chickens. They put an offer on it the same day it was put up for sale, and the seller accepted.

One month later Emma and Daniel were moved in.

“I don’t understand,” Emma said the first night nestled into her bed under the roof of their new house. “How is it that everything just…” her hands flapped around a bit before her, before falling gently to her stomach, “fell into place?” Her face illuminated the darkened bedroom with her excitement of it all. “It was like it was meant to be… like… like… providence.” The excitement in her voice brought a smile to her husband’s lips.

“We are exactly where we need to be.” her husband answered, turning to kiss her gently. “Lots of animals to care for in the morning. We should get some sleep.” Emma turned into Daniel, allowing him to hold her as she drifted to sleep in his arms.

The morning was bright and clear. The sun shone through the old windows of the house, making the old wooden floors gleam. They creaked some, much to Emma’s delight, as she followed the lovely smell of bacon to the kitchen. Daniel stood in front of the stove with a spatula in his hand flipping a fried egg onto a plate. He turned and smiled at Emma as she entered the kitchen.

“Ah! Perfect timing!” he met her at the kitchen nook with a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast which he placed in front of her and placed a small kiss on her forehead before turning back to the kitchen to fetch her some coffee, and his own breakfast. He made his way to the table, expertly carrying his plate in his left hand and two cups of coffee in his right. He placed them on the table in their prospective places before sitting beside her.

Emma suddenly exclaimed, “We have feeding and watering and milking. Oh! We have an egg hunt too!” her voice was filled with the excitement of all her new chores, “Daniel, we have our farm!” she hugged him suddenly, “Thank you! Thank you for breakfast, thank you for this lovely morning, thank you for always being there for me!” she gushed before finally taking a sip of her coffee.

Emma peered out the window at the old, red barn. The realtor stated it was nearly 100 years old, but it didn’t look that old. The construction seemed to have been from that era, but that old barn looked like it could have been built yesterday. She smiled contently as she ate her breakfast and looked out at the pristine morning on their farm.

The morning chores went easy enough, once they got the hang of milking. The goats, two wethers, were let out of the barn to chew their way through the knapweed. The sheep were given their alfalfa, the chickens their scratch, and freshwater filled the stock tanks.

Emma and Daniel set to work cleaning out the stalls. It was hard work shoveling out the old, dirty hay pitchfork by pitchfork. Wheeling the whole mess out of the barn by wheelbarrows, and finally filling the stalls with fresh, clean hay.

“This will be perfect for next year’s gardens!” Emma chirped happily as she dumped the last wheelbarrow of muck from the barn. She wiped a gloved hand across her forehead leaving a dark smear in the gloves' wake. Daniel chuckled.

“Are you feeling okay?” he asked with concern.

“Never better!” she quipped. “Don’t you worry about me. I’ll take a break when I need one.”

Daniel opened his mouth to respond, but it snapped shut when he heard a painful bellow from one of their cows. Dropping their pitchforks, they ran toward the sound. On the far side of their property was a small creek. The animals would often go there for grazing and water. There lay Rose, her right front leg out in front of her at an odd angle. She looked up at them pitifully and bellowed once again as if she begged them for help.

Daniel went to the Holstein’s side, “Call the vet.”

Emma slid out her cell phone and called, “We have a cow that is down. It looks like her leg has been broken.” She paused for a moment, a pained expression crossing her face, “Oh. I see.” Another pause, “Yes, I understand.” She nodded, blinking away tears. “Tomorrow? That’s the earliest?” She nodded once more, “Thank you.” She hung up the call and stood for a moment before looking down at her husband.

Clearing her throat, “There’s nothing he can do about a broken leg except put her down. You cannot put a cast on a 1200 pound cow.” Emma slid a glove off and ran her fingers over her eyes, “He said it was best to get her to the barn, make her comfortable, and he’ll be out first thing tomorrow morning.”

Daniel stared at the cow for a moment, running his hand over her soft nose as he thought. “I’ll go down the street. See if our neighbor can help.” He spoke quietly, then stood up, “you stay with her. I’ll be back soon.” Emma nodded and headed to Rose’s side. Daniel heard Emma murmuring to the cow as he left.

The neighbor helped load Rose into the front bucket of one of his tractors and drove her to the clean stall in the big, red barn. Emma and Daniel worked at making Rose as comfortable as possible, put the rest of the animals up for the night, and retired to the house. That evening was a very restless one. Emma and Daniel’s hearts were broken for their injured animal.

The next morning dawned just as beautiful as the first, though, this morning there was a heaviness in the air. Emma and Daniel went out to the barn to check on Rose. They walked, hand-in-hand, to the old, red barn and entered with trepidation. They made their way to the stall, then stopped in disbelief. Before them was the cow, her markings were the same, her ear tag was the same, yet, she stood, on all four legs, looking at them and chewing her cud. Daniel opened the stall door and out Rose walked without even the slightest limp.

“I… I don’t understand.” Emma whispered, “How?”

All Daniel could do was shake his head, “I …” his hands flicked upwards in a “no clue” gesture.

I guess you need to call the vet, let him know not to come.” He saw Emma take her phone out and step away. Daniel approached Rose and ran his hands over her smooth coat, then down her leg. There was no swelling, no redness, not even the slightest of nicks anywhere.

When Emma came back, she too looked at Rose with awe. Caressing the cow and thanking her for being okay. “I’m going to go make us breakfast… and coffee.” She stated as she turned to leave.

Daniel nodded, “Sounds like a plan, Love.” He watched Emma leave, then turned to the work at hand. He filled feeders, water tanks, released the goats, but as he was shutting the gate behind the goats, he caught his arm on a nail. Cussing, he snapped out his handkerchief and tied it around his forearm. The blood soaked through the cotton but kept it from running down his arm. He turned and went back to the barn to finish his work before caring for his arm. He led both cows to the milking room, gave them food, got out the stools, the milk buckets and as he was sitting down to the first cow, Emma came out with a smile and a coffee.

She handed the coffee to Daniel and saw the blood on his arm. “What happened? Are you okay?” She asked worriedly and led him to the washroom inside the barn.

“Em, I’m fine. I’ll take care of it after chores.”

“You need to wash it out at least.” She untied the handkerchief, then turned on the hose and looked at Daniel expectantly. He stuck his arm out. She let the cool water flow over the cut, then reached out with the handkerchief and wiped the blood off of his arm. “That’s it?” she said, “It’s barely a nick,” she rolled her eyes and turned off the hose. “Breakfast is ready in ten,” she said as she left the barn.

Daniel stared at his arm, the wound was barely visible, but how? He looked up at the ageless barn. Nearly 100 years old and as perfect as if it was built yesterday. A cow whose broken leg was healed overnight. A pretty big cut reduced to… he glanced at his arm again… nothing. It was completely gone.

That evening as they began their nightly routine, Daniel snuck up behind Emma and wrapped his arms around her. “Let’s sleep in the barn tonight?”

“What? Why would we do that?” Emma laughed at the suggestion.

“Come on! It’ll be an adventure! We can sleep in the hayloft, open the loft doors, and fall asleep staring at the stars.”

Emma turned in Daniel’s arms to face him. “This is ridiculous,” she said with a sly smirk. “Let’s do it.”

Giggling like school kids they gathered what they needed and headed to the barn. There they held each other, stared out at the night sky, and fell asleep under the roof of the old, red barn.

When they awoke, things were different. The barn was dark, musty. The ladder creaked as they climbed down, the door hung open at an odd angle. The stall doors had fallen off and laid on the floor. The animals were all out grazing on the green grass that surrounded the old, dilapidated barn.

Emma looked about in confusion, “I don’t understand. What happened?” She asked, her voice shaking.

Daniel took her in his arm and kissed her hard, “Maybe it worked!” He said excitedly.

The doctor stared at the test results and shook his head, “I don’t understand this…” he said, “Emma, you don’t have cancer. It’s like you never had cancer. I can’t explain…” He paused, glancing at Daniel, “Are you okay?”

Daniel coughed lightly. “I’ve been feeling off today, but I’m sure it’ll pass.”

“You’re awfully pale. Let me run some blood tests while you’re here.”

As they waited for results, Daniel received a call from the neighbor, one of his cows fell and had the same break as Rose.

Daniel shook his head, “It goes somewhere else…”

They said cancer.

They said stage 4.