Page 35 of His Christmas Star
Heaven pointed at her. “Excellent. I certainly want Caleb to be able to eat at his wedding.”
Cece shook her head. “It’s so weird how reactive his disease is to gluten. If he sneaks a little bit, he has trouble for days.”
“Wait,” I said, leaning forward. “Caleb is allergic to gluten?”
“Not technically,” she said, “but it somehow affects him with his MG. His doctor was the one to suggest cutting it out, and by God, it worked. He has more stamina and less inflammation and pain when he’s not eating it.”
“Wow, I had no idea,” I admitted. “You better make sure that your tiered cake is gluten-free then.”
Cece smacked herself in the forehead. “Of course, duh! Thank you for saying that. I would have totally forgotten when I called the bakery.”
Dawn sat rubbing a swollen finger that was red, swollen, and looked hot.
“You okay?” I asked, wishing she didn’t have to suffer so much.
“Winter,” she said with a chuckle as she held up her hand. “I’ll be fine. Your boy Beau is on the job.”
Everyone laughed then because we had no doubt he made sure she took care of herself. He loved her like that, and his love had healed her in so many ways.
“Do we all have our jobs for the next few days then?” Heaven asked, and everyone nodded.
“I’m going to try to locate some jingle bells for the horse harnesses and do a few test-runs with Dolly and Jolene to familiarize them with the sleigh. I was thinking …” I paused, and they motioned me to keep going. “Has anyone hired a photographer for the dance yet? Or the wedding?”
“I totally forgot about photos!” Cece exclaimed. “Everyone carries a cellphone camera around now, so I don’t think about professional photography.”
“I agree, but I think for this event, we need a photographer or two to be present for the wedding and the sleigh rides.”
“The sleigh rides?” Dawn asked.
“I mean, we’re going to have families on the rides, so I thought it would be fun if we set up the pickup area for the sleigh rides by one of the trees on the property. Maybe the ranch hands could put Christmas lights on it to make it festive. Then, once the sleigh was loaded, the photographer would snap a picture of each group. If they wanted the picture, they could sign up on a form with an email, and it could be sent to them after the event.”
“That’s a fabulously festive idea,” Amity said. “You are in the Christmas spirit.”
“More like I’ve probably watched too many Christmas romance movies, but that said, if we’re going to do it, we may as well do it right. Right?”
“One thousand percent correct,” Beau said, walking into the barn. “I heard your suggestion, and I love it,” he said, stopping by his wife. “We’ll find the perfect tree, light it up, and set up a staging area. Leave it to us.”
“Thanks, Beau,” Heaven said, making a checkmark on her pad.
“Maybe we could check with the local paper and see if they’ll loan us a photographer for the night? Or check with the high school for a photography student?” I asked and Cece pointed at me.
“I’ll check into it since I know the school principal.”
Beau had Dawn’s hand in his and was cradling it gently. “Sammy is with Landry at the house. It’s time to go home and get this hand warmed up.”
Landry was hired as a floater for the dude ranch at the same time I was hired. She did housekeeping, cooking, and worked in the barn. Once the babies started arriving, Landry found her niche as a nanny for both ranches. She had been a lifesaver for Dawn, Heaven, and Cece as they tried to raise babies on two working ranches that needed them at all hours of the day and night.
Dawn sighed but nodded. “We were just finishing up. I think we all have our jobs for the week, but we can call each other with questions or problems. Let’s meet up again in a couple of days to see where we’re at with everything. We only have ten days until the event.”
Cece tapped on her leg with her phone. “I’m worried about that with the ordering. I may need to make a trip to Duluth for some of the food if I can’t get it here in time. I’ll keep you posted.”
I wanted to jump in and say I’d go, but before I could, Beau helped Dawn down from the sleigh and then Heaven and Amity. They dispersed, leaving me in the barn to work out in my head how to hitch the horses to the sleigh, and what path would be the most accessible and enjoyable for the rides.
The entire time, Heaven’s advice kept running through my head. Did I want to be more than friends with Joe Nash? Yes. Was that going to happen after all these years? Probably not. It wasn’t because I didn’t want it to, but I also didn’t want to lose him from my life. I’d rather have him as a friend for life than risk losing him by being honest about my feelings.
I sighed and leaned against the sleigh to take the weight off my foot. I loved Heaven like a sister, and her advice was usually spot-on, but this was one time her advice would go unclaimed.
Chapter Ten
