Chapter Ten
Shortly after Miranda opened the doors to the bakery the following morning, Heidi, who managed the mercantile there in the Old West town, came in with an emergency. She ignored the line that a college student who helped out on the weekends was managing, and went straight to Miranda. “Can I talk to you for a minute, Miranda?”
Miranda looked up from the cookies she was decorating for the tree lighting ceremony that evening. “If you don’t mind if I keep working while you talk.”
“Of course not!” Heidi took a deep breath. “One of the families here on the ranch lost their house to a fire a few days ago. All of their presents are gone. They decided to stay on the ranch, rather than go home to nothing. I’m trying to get everyone to donate a present or two to the family.”
Miranda frowned. “That’s terrible! I have a couple of pies they could have. Are there children? Any little girls?”
“There is a little girl. Why?”
“I made a Minnie Mouse quilt for Kelsi’s baby, but I have more than enough time to make another. It’s already wrapped and in my car. Would that help?”
“That would be wonderful. Are you sure?”
“Positive. That and the pies? I can throw in any Christmas cookies that are left.”
“Pies and the quilt are more than enough. Thank you!”
Miranda dug in her pocket for her keys. “I’m sure I have the only Beetle in the parking lot.”
“That blue Beetle is yours?” Heidi asked, grinning. “I’ll bring the keys right back.”
“Sounds good.” As Heidi hurried off, Miranda smiled. It was nice to be able to do something special for a stranger on Christmas.
*****
After a very long day at work, Miranda and her family met up with Bob, Annette, and Heather at the church the following evening. Pastor Kevin and Bridget had spent the day getting the church ready, and it was beautiful. The service was held by candlelight in the small chapel that was a replica of the chapel that the first members of the Weston family who had lived on the ranch had married in.
Pastor Kevin had done a great deal of research on the Weston family, and Kaya had promised her next book would be about the first Weston couple to live on the ranch.
Each of them was given a candle as they filed into the church, and Pastor Kevin welcomed everyone individually. It was strange to have her mother on one side and Bob on the other for such an important service, but she was pleased to have him there.
They sat in silence as Pastor Kevin took the pulpit and invited a small group of people to sing for them. They sang “Away in a Manger,” followed by “Silent Night.” When they were finished, Bridget went to the front corner of the church with a lit candle and encouraged everyone to light the candle of the person beside them. Bob held his candle to light Miranda’s, and Miranda turned to light her mother’s. Once all the candles were lit, Pastor Kevin gave a brief sermon on the meaning of Christmas.
After two more songs that everyone sang together, Pastor Kevin announced they were going to pass out the Christmas ornaments. All six of the Weston siblings hurried around passing out wrapped packages. Every person in the church got at least one ornament.
Miranda smiled as Kelsi handed her one, which was wrapped the same as all of her Secret Santa gifts had been. She held it in her lap with one hand, while she held the candle in the other.
Once all the gifts had been passed out, Pastor Kevin made an announcement. “We’re all going to traipse out to the Christmas tree now. The tree we’ll hang our ornaments on is the tree that the original Weston settlers decided they would not chop down, because they wanted future generations to enjoy it. There are six trash cans surrounding the tree that we will be putting our trash into instead of littering the beautiful ranch. If you want to take your ornament you receive, the Westons ask that you do that tomorrow after the feast the guests will prepare for the staff. Everyone here is welcome to attend the feast.” He looked at Wade. “Am I forgetting anything?”
“I think that’s good! Thanks for making the announcements for me, Pastor!” Wade smiled at him. “Follow me!” Wade headed to the back door of the church and waited as everyone stood and followed him.
Miranda was fascinated by the tradition of the tree lighting at River’s End Ranch. She’d attended the year before, and it had been beautiful, but last year she’d felt like an outsider peeking in at someone else’s Christmas tradition. This year, she felt like it was her tradition.
At the tree, Bob held Miranda’s candle as she unwrapped her gift, a smile on her face. She knew it was from Bob, and she had no idea what to expect, because Bob had proven himself the most unpredictable person she’d ever met.
When it was open, a smile spread across her face. They had made each other basically the same ornament. She carefully counted the number of chocolate chips on the cookie shaped ornament he’d given her, and laughed softly at the number. “Fifteen? It had to be fifteen!”
Bob leaned down and kissed her, ignoring their family who were opening their own ornaments close by. She took the candles as he opened his, and as soon as he realized she’d done the same thing he had, he laughed out loud. He turned it over in his hand, counting the chips. “Twelve. Even in ceramic, you can’t humor me?”
Once all the ornaments had been unwrapped, they were hung on the old pine tree in front of them. Wade was obviously in charge of this part of the service. “Has everyone hung their ornament?” he called.
After he’d heard a chorus of yeses, he called out, “Light me up, Andrew!”
“You got it, boss man!”
At the flick of a switch, the tree was lit with thousands of tiny bulbs. The top of the tree had been decorated earlier that day, and now that the bottom was done, the tree looked amazing. There was a concerted, “Aww,” as soon as the lights came on.
They stood around eating cookies and drinking hot apple cider for a short while, enjoying the Christmas tree, and slowly families trickled away. Miranda yawned, looking at Bob. “We get to sleep in tomorrow.”
“You’re still getting up at four to make kolaches. That’s not sleeping in!”
“It is when you usually get up at two.” She looked over her shoulder and saw the others were following them as they made their way to their cars. “You’ll be at my house at eight, right?”
He nodded. “I put your name on the gifts I got for Annette and Heather, just so you know.”
“I did the same with the ones I got for Mom and Scott.”
“Why did you have a gift for Scott? Wasn’t he a surprise?” Bob thought the younger man had planned to spend the holidays with his girlfriend.
“Yeah, but I was going to send a gift back with Mom for him, so I had one ready.”
Bob shrugged. “Makes sense I guess.” After a soft kiss, he said, “Goodnight. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“But not ‘til eight!”
He laughed. “Do you look the same that late in the day?”
She smiled at him, tired but happy. “Goodnight, Annette! Goodnight, Heather!”
Miranda rested her head against the back of the seat as her mother drove her home. She didn’t know if she was glad it was almost over or disappointed. Christmas had truly been magical this year. The ranch’s activities were fabulous, but when you added in the magic of Bob, it was truly special.
*****
Miranda slipped out of bed at four, surprised when her mother followed her into the kitchen. “You should sleep in, Mom. I can do this in my sleep.”
“I’m helping, and that’s all there is to it. We’ve been surrounded by people the whole time I’ve been here. It’s time we got a few minutes to ourselves.” Her mother took an apron off a hook in her kitchen and put it on. “Just tell me what to do.”
Together they made the kolaches. They made ham and cheese, because they were favorites of both Bob and Scott, and the others hadn’t had them. While they cooked, they talked. “It’s got to be weird at home now that Scott and I are gone. You should move closer,” Miranda said.
Her mom shrugged. “I don’t know about that. It is odd, but you don’t want your mother here.”
“Yes, I do. I hate to think that you’re all alone.”
Mom sighed. “I do feel kind of alone. I should have dated and gotten out there, but you kids were number one in my life.”
“Move here, Mom. They’re opening a child care center here on the ranch. You would be perfect to manage that.”
“I don’t know…I was a pre-K teacher a very long time ago. I’ve been working in real estate for a lot of years.”
“But you’ve never enjoyed it. At least put in an application with Wade.” Her mother had sacrificed the job she loved and found a higher paying one so she could support her family after Miranda’s father’s death. It was only fair that now her kids were grown, she got to do what she loved.
“I’ll think about it. I wouldn’t mind being close to you, and now that you and Bob are in love, I don’t see you going anywhere else.”
Miranda frowned. “We haven’t exactly said those words to each other yet.”
“It’s just a matter of time. I’m surprised that boy hasn’t given you a ring yet. It’s obvious how he feels.” They washed their hands and walked to the table to sit for a few minutes while the kolaches were rising.
Miranda smiled. “He’s been leaving Secret Santa gifts for me.” Miranda walked to her room and brought back the bracelet. “I haven’t put this week’s charms on it yet, but this is what I have.” She laid the bracelet on the table along with the loose charms.
“Oh, nice! What does the tiara one mean? And why is there a bug? Is the boy a little brain damaged?”
Miranda laughed. “When he first told me he was interested,” she began, leaving out the part about being kissed in Kelsi’s kitchen, “I thought he’d lost his mind. We’d been fighting for so long. So I asked if he had albino brain chiggers. That bug is a chigger.”
“Did you really ask him that?”
“Yes! I couldn’t figure out what was going on in his head. From fighting to letting me know he was very interested in the course of a day. It made my head spin.”
“He obviously thinks a whole lot of you, Miranda Marie.”
Hearing her real name sounded odd. “He calls me Miranda Sue.”
“Why?”
Miranda shrugged. “There’s no telling why he does most of what he does. I think that’s what I love most about him.”
Her mother had tears in her eyes. “I can’t believe my baby is finally in love.”
“You’re just happy because you’re closer to getting grandbabies,” Miranda said with a grin.
“You definitely have a point…”
When Bob and his family arrived shortly before eight, the kolaches had just come out of the oven and were still warm. “Food first?” Bob asked, his eyes gleaming as he looked toward the kolaches cooling on the counter. “You made a lot!”
“I made two dozen. I figured that would be enough for six of us. Mom helped,” Miranda said with a smile toward her mother.
After they’d had breakfast, they moved to the small Christmas tree Miranda had put up. “I thought it was only going to be Mom and me,” she said apologetically. “We would be content with a small tree after going to the tree lighting at the ranch. Now I feel bad that I have six people with a two foot Christmas tree!”
“Don’t,” Annette said. “The tree at the ranch was amazing. And this is all we need after that.”
Heather knelt in front of the tree. “That’s a baby tree. I like it!” She looked at the presents under the tree. “Can I pass them out?”
“Sure,” Miranda said. She remembered when Scott had always passed out gifts. It was his favorite part of Christmas.
Everyone had a small pile in front of them when Heather had finished passing out presents. “Do we all go at the same time? Or one at a time?” Heather asked. She was all but dancing with excitement. Her pile was the biggest of all.
“You go first,” Miranda said. Her favorite part of Christmas was watching people open things she’d gotten them. She’d done a surprise order from Amazon when she’d found out that she would be spending Christmas with Heather and Annette, so she had gifts for everyone, even though she knew Bob didn’t expect her to.
After Heather had opened her pile of dolls and Barbie gear, Scott opened his gifts. After Scott, Bob urged Miranda to open hers.
She looked down at her pile for the first time, seeing something that was obviously Christmas pajamas from her mother, and probably a quilt as well. Her mother was always worried that she was going to freeze in the winter if she didn’t make her a blanket of some sort. There was a small box that looked like all the other charm boxes she’d gotten over the past couple of weeks.
She picked up the charm box first. “I can’t wait to see which charm you thought would be right for Christmas morning,” she said. “The chigger is my favorite so far.”
Bob grinned. “No idea what you’re talking about.”
“Of course not.” She peeled the paper off and opened the jewelers box, startled when she saw the beautiful heart shaped diamond she’d admired in the store. “Um…this isn’t a charm for my bracelet, Bob.” The jeweler must have told him her favorite and clued him in on her size as well. Unbelievable.
He got off the couch, where he’d been seated beside her, and dropped to one knee in front of her. “No, it’s not a charm.” He took a deep breath. “Miranda Sue, I love you more than I ever thought it was possible to love another human being. Will you marry me, so we can spend the rest of our lives creating the perfect chocolate chip cookie together?”
Miranda laughed, even as she felt a tear slip down her cheek. She nodded. “Cookies are everything.”
“They are.” He slid the ring onto her hand and stood, pulling her to her feet, and kissing her. “Everyone’s staying until tomorrow afternoon. We should get a marriage license in the morning and talk Pastor Kevin into marrying us in the afternoon.”
She laughed. “Tomorrow? Only you would ask me to marry you and then try to talk me into tomorrow.”
He shrugged. “Why not? I love you and want to spend my life with you. Why waste time? I’d say today, but I don’t think we could manage the license.”
Miranda looked at her mother, who was watching with a grin on her face. “Mom? You want to see me get married tomorrow?”
“Yes!”
Soon they were all hugging, and Miranda realized they hadn’t finished unwrapping gifts. “You have to open your present from me!”
Bob sat down and reached for his gifts, opening the one from her. Inside was an apron and a cookbook with cookie recipes. He laughed, and set it aside.
She stopped him. “I want you to read the inside cover.”
He opened the cookbook, a frown on his face, and his eyes widened as he looked at her. “You gave me your kolache recipe?”
She nodded. “I thought it would be special.”
“Thank you.” She was right. Receiving her best recipe was everything to him.
*****
It wasn’t hard to talk Pastor Kevin into marrying them the following day. He even filled in for Miranda while she hurried to get the marriage license. The wedding was simple, though many of the ranch staff attended. Pastor Kevin smiled as he performed the ceremony. Their vows were unusual, but they were written by Pastor Kevin himself.
“Miranda, do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband? To love, honor and bake kolaches until death do you part?”
Miranda laughed, even as the tears coursed down her cheeks. “I do.”
“And do you, Bob, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife? Do you promise to love, honor, and bow to her superior knowledge of chocolate chip cookies ’til death do you part?”
Bob nodded, his eyes lighting up his face. He took her hand and slid on the wedding band he’d picked out. “I do. I really do.”
“I now pronounce you baker and Bob. Bob, kiss your bride!”
Bob swept Miranda into a kiss that she readily returned, her heart full. She looked down at her new niece who had served as flower girl. “I think I’m going to keep your uncle!”
Heather nodded. “You have to keep me too, Aunt Miranda.”
“Forever!” Miranda couldn’t believe how much her life had changed in less than a month, but she couldn’t be happier. Obviously River’s End Ranch had its own form of Christmas miracles. For two people like her and Bob to find their way to fall in love, there had to be miracles at work. And she was extremely thankful for all of them.
River’s End Ranch Christmas continues in two weeks on 4-24-17 with Merry Manager by Pamela Kelley!
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