Nobody's Dream by Kallypso Masters

the birth, which bothered him for some reason. He would have liked to experience that with Cassie.
    He stroked the animal’s long neck. “Man, that’s soft.”
    “Nothing softer. Graciela is the only one pregnant now. I wanted to start slowly this first year until I know what I am doing.”
    “Good thinking.” To the alpaca, he said, “Did you know you have one smart momma, Gracie?”
    The animal made a humming noise as if agreeing with him.
    He glanced across the animal’s back to where Cassie retrieved two empty buckets and a scoop for the bags of feed. The woman didn’t acknowledge his words of praise. Perhaps she didn’t take compliments too well. He’d have to make sure she heard them often and fix that problem.
    As he filled the buckets, she instructed him on how much feed to place in each of the stalls. When she walked away and then nearly topped off two large buckets with water, he set the scoop down. Sure enough, she lifted them without asking for help.
    “Here, I’ll carry the water. You dish out the feed.”
    She refused to set the buckets down. “No, I do this all the time.” The words were forced out between tight lips.
    Not while I’m around, you don’t.
    Cassie glared at him when he reached for one of the buckets she held, but she relented and set it down before carrying the other to the opposite end of the shed. Stubborn girl . He picked it up and poured it into Gracie’s water trough.
    As they worked together, he learned the names of the other three—Tika, Killa, and Qhawa—all girls, Cassie said. “Unusual names.”
    “They are Quechua girl names. Mi mamá is Quechua, a major native population in Peru, descendants of the Incas. Tika means ‘flower.’ I chose it because of her orange-colored fleece. Killa for ‘moon’.” He noticed that one was snow-white. “And Qhawa stands for ‘one who watches or monitors’.” She wrapped her arms around the neck of the last one—a mix of white and tan. “She is very curious, but timid. Is that not right, Qhawa?”
    Luke looked into Qhawa’s big brown eyes and sensed the alpaca never missed a thing. She’d been watching him since he’d come inside the shed.
    “You’re good at giving your animals meaningful names. When I adopted Picasso, he already had his name. For most of the others, I just named them after some of Maggie’s favorite women painters.” Except for O’Keeffe .
    He lifted the bucket and dumped it into her water trough as he glanced back at the pregnant one. “Why doesn’t Gracie have a Quechua name?”
    “I gave her a Latin name to honor that part of my heritage.” She left the feed scoop in Qhawa’s bin and walked toward the white and tan, very pregnant alpaca. Cassie buried her face in Gracie’s neck while wrapping her arms around the alpaca. “Graciela means blessing or favor, because she is a gift from the Goddess to help me heal.”
    Cassie ended the embrace abruptly without further explanation and returned to the feed bins. Was Cassie sick? She didn’t appear to be. So, did she mean another type of healing? Any fool could see she had a chip on her shoulder when it came to men.
    God, he hoped some asshole hadn’t taken advantage of her innocence. Or maybe she was recovering from a traumatic loss. With the anniversary of Maggie’s death coming up in days, he certainly could relate there.
    Luke filled two more buckets with water for the last two stalls, trying not to think about this gentle soul from Peru suffering pain of any kind. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d been hurt and hurt badly by some jerk.
    Would he ever be able to convince her to confide in him?
    “That should take care of them for now.” Cassie clapped the alpaca hair off her hands and waited while he stowed the buckets upside down for tomorrow’s use. He pushed the door open against the ever-present wind and let her precede him into the cold.
    As they drew near the cabin door, he pointed to the building down the path to