3. Star
3
STAR
“Gramma, for what do we owe the pleasure?” I ask, giving her a hug after helping her down from Toby and Dee's truck.
Wrapping her arms around me, she gives me a loving squeeze before stepping back. “Family meetin', child.”
My spidey senses start tingling. “Is somethin' wrong?”
“No, no. Nothin' of the sort. Aggie, Toby, Dee, and I just have somethin' to talk to the family about.”
“OK… you're bein' very mysterious today,” I muse, knowing that anything my grandmother and her Sally friends plan is going to be–at the very least–entertaining. These are the four women who decided to start a private eye company out of my shop in town. They always mean well though, and so far they've been surprisingly good at what they do.
I watch Aggie walk ahead with my husband Landry, my heart swelling at the sight. He's so good with all of them and they love him just as much as they love me.
“Should we go inside then? Everyone's waitin' just as Toby asked,” I say.
Thirty minutes ago, Toby messaged the family chat and called a family meeting. He wouldn't say what it was about, just that he was bringing guests and they'd explain everything when they got here. Now, all of the ranchers and their Ones are gathered in the main ranch house waiting to hear what's going on.
Once we're all inside and everyone has been served their drink of choice–either Cowboy brew coffee or juice–we wait with bated breath for Gramma and Aunt Aggie to start talking.
“What can we help y'all with,” Red Grayson–head of the ranch–asks from where he stands with his wife Mags. She came home early from her diner in town just for this meeting.
Gramma turns on her biggest Majorette smile. “First, I should explain how this all came about.” She pauses as if trying to build up the anticipation. “For the past year or so, I've been writin’ to a pen pal who lives in a town you two–” she nods to Red and Mags, “might remember from your road trip.”
They look at each other, their brows pinched before turning curious eyes back to Gramma. “Which one?”
“Rainbow Springs,” she replies, earning a slow-growing smile from the couple.
A few months ago, Red and Mags drove Red's son Wyatt to Anchorage so he could start work on a crab fishing boat. They followed it up with a road trip around the Kenai Peninsula and then back up to Palmer for the last rodeo event of the season. Little did they know–although the rest of us suspected and hoped–that the mountain spirit living within Bull Mountain had plans for the last two singletons of our extended family.
The mountain's Call was heard, and Red and Mags finally realized that they were meant to be together, soulmates called together as each other's reward from the mountain. And the town where they were staying when they completed the Call–during a snowstorm no less–was Rainbow Springs.
Mags's face turns soft and gooey as she and Red look at each other again before realization seems to hit.
“You've been speakin' to George ? George Rainbow?” Red asks Gramma.
She nods, holding her head up high. “I like to talk to people in chat rooms on the computer. You never know what mysteries there are to solve in small-town Alaska.”
“She's right. Ruthie has found us some interestin' cases that way,” Aggie adds.
“Out of all the people in the world, you happen to start chattin' to George,” Red mutters, shaking his head with a wry smile. “How is our favorite fire chief, sheriff, town mayor, gas, hardware, gnomery, and convenience store owner doin'?”
Gramma chuckles. “You forgot the post office. But it's still quite a mouthful, isn't it?”
“That's what I said,” Mags pipes up. “I told George to combine it all into a name that's less taxin' to say. He said he'd take it under advisement and thanked me for my kindness. He's a sweet old man, even if all of those gnomes were–”
“Kinda creepy?” I ask.
“Yes. But also cute,” Mags replies. “We bought a gnome with a cowboy hat and chaps, then went and hung it on the gnome fence. We called him Jim-Bob.”
Red chuckles and wraps his arm around his wife's waist, giving her a gentle squeeze.
“We did too,” Lee adds from her spot sitting in her husband Colt's lap. Lee came to us via Eagle Mountain Ranch where Colt was from too. They're also soulmates. It was their love that brought the Call to Bull Mountain. “George was so lovely, but he did seem like a bit of a one-man show. There were so many gnomes there that we bought three just to lighten the load a bit.”
“I can't believe I didn't make the connection,” Dee replies with her ever-present Australian accent. “We bought a duck one and a kangaroo one and hung them on the fence as well.”
“That damn fence must be made of stone with all the weight of those gnomes on it,” Landry says. “Those things ain't light.”
Everyone in the room nods and a low rumble of murmurings fill the air.
“OK. What does George need? I'm guessin' that's why you called this meetin'?” Red calls out, quieting the chatter.
“Yes, sir,” Aggie replies. “Seems that Mr. Rainbow is not just a lover of gnomes, he's also wishin' he could give his little town the Holly Jolly Christmas treatment just like we did last year to Spring Haven.”
“When would you be lookin' at doin' this?” Rhett, the oldest Graham brother, asks before looking over at Red. “I think if we plan accordingly, we'd be able to call in a few ranch hands to cover the daily chores so that we can all go and lend a helpin' hand.”
Red rubs his bearded salt-and-pepper chin. “You're right. We can spare a few days if need be.” He turns to Aggie and Gramma. “When were you thinkin'?
Toby's the one who answers. “We'd leave on the 18th and get back on the 24th, just in time for our own Christmas festivities here.”
Austin, another Graham brother, nods. “Dependin' on Charlie's hospital roster, I think we can all make that work.” He turns to his doctor wife who's already bouncing her head, her attention on the phone she's typing away on in her hand.
The room goes quiet as we wait for her reply. “Yes!” she cries, a wide smile transforming her features. “I'm free as long as I can cover nights after Christmas. That means I'm in! I mean, if everyone else is, of course…” She blushes and I can't help the giggle that escapes me.
I look at the nodding Lee, then Rhett's wife Cora who is a Christmas lover from way back. Dee gives me a thumbs up and Mags is already waving her hand in the air. “I'm a yes. That man deserves the gift of the holidays. If he wants his own Winter Wonderland in Rainbow Springs, I think we're the perfect people to give it to him,” she says.
The men look between each other, their brains working overtime behind their eyes. Without needing to say a word, I can tell that they're all on board with this plan–whatever it may entail.
Because they're all about giving back and helping others. That's why the mountain spirit rewarded them with us soulmates after all.
“OK. Looks like we've got a Christmas road trip to start plannin',” Mags replies, sounding more excited than I've seen her in a long time. Then again, her last road trip ended up changing her life so who wouldn't want to do it all over again?
“I just have two stipulations,” Gramma calls out as we all huddle together to start strategizing. Having won the Holly Jolly Christmas Cup last year and turning the whole of Spring Haven into a winter wonderland, there's a lot of organizing to do.
“What's that Gramma?” I ask.
“Firstly, Toby has made me promise that he can play Santa.”
“He can have that job,” Colton replies while everyone else smirks. “I've heard all about what happened when Moose Mountain was lookin' for a Santa. Don't want any part of that drama. The job's yours, Tobes.”
“What's the second rule, Ruth?” Rhett asks Gramma.
“That damn duck stays at home,” she states emphatically, leaving no room for argument.
“I think that goes without sayin',” Austin states.
Red barks out a laugh. “If you think anyone can control Duck Dickward Doofus Norris, you really don't know that duck at all.”
“Maybe he won't realize we're gone,” Cora states, sounding a little too hopeful.
“And pigs can fly,” Tobes says, earning a round of chuckles since Dee's pet Miss Piggy can definitely not take flight, but she can get up to mischief whenever Duck Norris or our pet goat, Nelly, is around.
“We can only hope,” Gramma mutters before looking around the room. “Now, let's get down to business and get Operation Rainbow Christmas started.”
Aggie grimaces. “Not sure that sounds right, Ruthie. I was thinkin' Operation Give a Gnome a Holiday.”
Charlie shakes her head. “That's too wordy.”
Red snorts. “Did you hear the name of George's shop? I think George Rainbow is a fan of words.”
“At least words he sends to Ruthie ,” Aggie stage whispers, making us all snicker. Gramma's eyes narrow on her best friend.
“George is just a friend. I don't know how many times I have to say it.”
“OK, OK. I get it. Charlie and I used to be friends too,” Austin jibes.
Mags nods. “Red and I were best friends.”
“You're all a bunch of children,” Gramma mutters, making me laugh.
“It's fine, Gramma. I believe you,” I say, crossing the room to sit on the arm of her chair. “How about we just think of it as Bull Mountain saving Christmas.”
“I've got it,” Lee says, jumping to her feet.
All eyes snap to her, the room now so quiet you could hear a pin drop–or a duck quack.
“Quack. Quack. Quack,” I hear from outside.
“Dammit, it's as if sayin’ his name conjured Doofus up,” Mags groans. “Quick Lee, before the Dastardly Duck of the North ruins it.”
“Okay,” she says, puffing her chest out and taking a deep breath. “I now pronounce this year's holiday mission 'The Mountain that Saved Christmas,' but a less green, less grinchier version.”
“I like it,” Gramma says.
“Just remember I'm Santa. I'm not gonna be the Christmas fairy. That's Landry's job,” Toby calls out.
“Is not,” my normally mature husband shoots back.
“Is too,” Toby replies.
“Children…” both Rhett and Austin growl at their brothers.
That's when Gramma and Aggie turn to each other and grin, and just seeing my beloved grandmother happy and knowing she really wants to give her friend the Christmas he's always dreamed of is enough of a gift for me.
And if it comes down to it, I'll be the Christmas fairy, just the tie-dyed, crystal-wearing version.