Page 5 of His Christmas Star
“It was just a suggestion. I know everyone loves a Christmas wedding. At least they do in Christmas movies and romance novels.” I waved my hand in the air. “Forget it.”
Cece shrugged. “It’s not a bad idea, but it’s too close at this point to plan a wedding and a dance.”
“You’re right,” I agreed on a head nod. “All I need to know is what my duties are for the dance, and then I can go work out the particulars.”
I didn’t say it would be away from them, which is where I wanted to be.
Heaven leaned in over the table to answer. “We’re using the barn at Bison Ridge since it’s bigger than the one on Heavenly Lane. We plan to put the horses in the pasture for the event. We won’t be using the stalls, but I also don’t want the animals in the barn during the hoopla. Tobi, I’ll need you to pick the horses that will pull the sleigh. It can hold six passengers and the driver.”
I nodded and tossed my head side to side. “We need horses trained well enough to pull a sleigh. Well, I know four,” I teased.
“Don’t even suggest we use Grover, Matilda, Black Beauty, or Cloudy Day. You know they’re off the table.”
I rolled my eyes the way a teenage girl does when ordered home by curfew. “I was teasing. We’ll use the Halflingers. They’re excellent at that type of work, and their footing is solid in the snow. The ranch hands can put the horses at Bison Ridge in the pasture before the dance.” I stood. “My work here is done.”
Heaven pointed at the chair again, and I groaned as I plopped back into the seat. Eden laughed at my dramatics, forcing a laugh from me as well. I guess the little ones could still make me laugh today.
“We’re all part of this planning committee, and we will all be present at each meeting,” Heaven declared.
“Each meeting? You mean there will be more?” My voice held more distress than I intended, but what’s a girl to do?
“Once a week until the dance,” Dawn said. “This will be the event of the season. You don’t want to miss it, Tobi.”
What if I did, though? I hadn’t cared about Christmas since my dad killed my mom on Christmas Eve.
“I’ll take care of the horses and the sleigh rides. I know you’ll have the rest of it in hand.”
“This is going to be a big event,” Amity said. “We’ve kept it small the last few years, but this year we want to open it up to the community.”
“I was hoping we could do a cookie decorating station,” Cece said, again with too much excitement. “Kids would have so much fun, and they could decorate their cookie and then eat it during their movie.”
Heaven made a note on her notepad. “I’ll talk to the school about volunteers for the kids’ room. We’ll need them.”
“What’s on the menu?” Cece asked before I could jump in.
Since they were just going to ignore me, I would do the same. I sat through the rest of the meeting with my mind three-quarters of the way gone. Planning a Christmas dance was one of the things I was least qualified to do, but also something I was least interested in doing. It was making them happy to do something nice for the community, and for that, I could respect it, but I didn’t want to participate. Today, I was lost in the memories of an old kitchen with a clock ticking down to the moment when my life changed forever.
“Tobi is going to drive the sleigh.”
I heard my name and snapped to attention. “Say what now?”
“You’re going to drive the sleigh,” Heaven repeated. “You know the horses and the best path to take. I trust you to get the job done.”
I bit back the groan building in my chest. “Heaven, my hands.” I held up my lobster claw hands, split down the middle with two fingers on each side of the split. I didn’t even have thumbs. My hands were ugly, and while they did everything that I asked them to, I was still self-conscious about them.
Dawn held up a finger and grabbed a bag off a shelf in the kitchen. She handed it to me, and I opened the bag to see a pair of leather gloves. I glanced up at her after I pulled them out. “These are amazing.”
“Beau made them for you,” she said, motioning for me to put them on.
I slid one hand into a glove and flexed my fingers. “Wow, they’re so warm.”
“There’s a layer of Thinsulate between the wool and the bison leather, not too bulky, but still warm.”
“He added extra leather between the fingers for better protection.” I noticed that right away.
“Beau knows the way you hold things to do your work or ride a horse, and he didn’t want a repeat of last fall.” All four women stared at me pointedly. Last fall, Poppy Rose got lost on the ridge, and I’d gone out on horseback without gloves. The reins had chewed up my fingers to the point I needed intense medical care for weeks.
“Point taken,” I said, now wearing both gloves. “I’m impressed with how well I can still move my hands. My other gloves aren’t this cooperative, which is why I go without them most of the time.”
