Magic on Changeling Mountain

Angela stood up and got a calendar and they all gathered around to find a suitable day. “Well, it’s already nearly the middle of February and we will need at least a month to get everything ordered and to let everyone know.” Angela said.

“When I called to find out about invitations, the lady told me they need at least 2 weeks advance notice or there would be an additional charge for a rush job.” Carolyn said. “I would like it to be in April, if we can get it arranged that quickly but let’s not do the first. Don’t want the jokes about getting married on April Fool’s Day.”

“Who is going to cater it?” Sarah asked.

“There is a small catering service in town that does excellent food. I would like to use them if we can agree on a menu.” Carolyn said. “I also found out that we can get a better deal if we do it during the week, instead of on a weekend, since she won’t have to pay overtime to her employees.”

“So April Fool’s day is on a Sunday this year. What day would you like it to be?” Colin asked.

“Wednesday’s bride is supposed to be happy for life. I vote for Wednesday.” Tammy said as she rejoined them around the table.

“That sounds good. The catering service should be happy. I just need to call and make sure the church will be available and I definitely want to be happy for all of my life.” Carolyn smiled at her. “Sound good to you, Colin?”

“Great! Now if that date is set in stone, I’d better call Kenny and Wendy and make sure they can get here. They both said they needed as much advance notice as we can give them.” Colin said.

“Let me give Pastor Robins a call first and make sure the church is available and then you can call them.” Carolyn said as she stood up from the table.

She found Pastor Robin’s number and quickly dialed it. Pastor Robins answered on the 3rd ring. “Hello?”

“Pastor Robins, this is Carolyn Masters. We are trying to decide on a date for our wedding and want to know if the church will be available on Wednesday, April 4th?” Carolyn asked and crossed her fingers in hope.

“Well, I’m sure it will be but let me just check my calendar.” Pastor Robins said and Carolyn heard him put down the phone and walk across the room. She could hear him turning pages and then he picked up the phone again. “What date did you say?”

“Wednesday, April 4th.” Carolyn replied.

“Yes. Yes, that should be fine. I have a baptismal the Saturday afterwards for the Johnson’s but otherwise, my calendar is free for now.” Pastor Robins said. He did not seem at all surprised that they had decided not to wait until spring.

“Well, pen us in for April 4th. I’ve got to get the invitations ordered but wanted to be sure the church was going to be available.” Carolyn said.

“Ok, I’ve got you down. Now when would you like to schedule the rehearsal?” He asked.

“Oh that’s right. How about the Monday before, in the evening, say around 6?” Carolyn asked.

“Ok. I’ve got it down. Please let me know if anything changes.” Pastor Robins said before they hung up.

“Ok. That’s handled. We have the church for 6 pm on the 2nd for the rehearsal and the 4th for the wedding. Now all we have to decide on is the time so that I can order the invitations.” Carolyn said.

“Well, if you do the actual ceremony early enough, you can do a luncheon for the reception. There are pro’s and con’s to that though. It means getting up super early in order to get your hair and make-up done, to get dressed and make it to the church on time but it’s the best time for taking pictures. You also won’t have as many children to deal with because they will be in school.” Angela said.

“Late afternoon weddings mean providing dinner for the reception but you have more time in the day for hair and make-up and sunset pictures are beautiful if you have the right venue.” Sarah said. “Have you decided where you are going to have the reception yet?”

“No. Not yet. Maybe in the hall at the church?” Carolyn said.

“That means no alcohol! I vote for that!” Angela said.

“There’s also the pond.” Colin said. He was hoping that they could do something there since Carolyn had fallen in love with the place and the idea of getting married there.

“The pond?” Sarah asked.

“Yeah, you know, the pond just below your old place.” Colin said.

“Oh yeah. That is a lovely spot but if it rains anytime up to 3 days before it’s going to be a mud pit by the time everyone leaves.” Sarah said.

“I was hoping we could do something up there but if having everyone up there means it could be destroyed, why don’t we save it for having our pictures done but do the reception somewhere else.” Carolyn said, looking at Colin.

“Fine by me. The church hall may be the only place in town that will be big enough to hold everyone and not having alcohol might be the best thing since it will keep the possibility of anyone getting drunk and causing problems. I for one want this to be a happy day and one I can be totally off duty for.” Colin said. He had an idea for a surprise he could do for her at the pond.

“Oh, I definitely agree with that.” Carolyn smiled at him. “Maybe I had better call Pastor Robins back and make sure the hall is available.” She said and picked up the phone again.

Pastor Robins picked up the phone on the 2nd ring. “Hello?”

“Pastor Robins, It’s Carolyn Masters again. Can you tell me if the church hall is open for our reception?”

“Wednesday night is when the local AA meetings are held but I can request that they have it another night. Do you want me to call and make sure?”

“Yes, please. If not, do you know of another place that will be big enough to have a reception?” Carolyn asked.

“How many people are you having?” Pastor Robins asked.

“At least 200, I think.” Carolyn replied and looked at her mother who nodded.

“Well, the church hall is limited to 250 people. The only other place in town I know of that is big enough is the skating rink. They sometimes rent it out for stuff like this.” Pastor Robins replied.

“Oh yeah, I didn’t even think about that. I went to Charlotte and Ray Mitchell’s reception there. It was nice.” Carolyn said but the conviction was not in her voice. “Thanks, I’ll keep it in mind but I’m hoping the church hall will be available. It will be much more convenient.”

“Well, let me call and check that they can reschedule their meeting and I’ll call you right back.” Pastor Robins replied and then hung up.

“He’s going to check that the local AA meeting can be changed and will call me right back.” Carolyn related to everyone sitting around the table.

“Ok. So it sounds like we have the where and when, except for the exact time set. What else do we need to discuss?” Colin asked.

“Sounds like you’ve had your limit of wedding planning for the day.” Carolyn said, giving him a scolding look.

“No, it’s not that. I’m just thinking about all the other things we have to do today. I need to get my mom up to their house and get it set up for her to stay there. If I had thought about it, I would have gone up there and cleaned up but I was so worried about just finding you guys that I didn’t stop to think about where you would stay when I got you home.” Colin said.

“You are right and I’m sorry. We’ve already accomplished a lot so how about we go and take her home and help her get set up.” Carolyn said, refolding her wedding planning list and stuffing it back into her pocket. She rarely went anywhere without that list nowadays.

Angela gathered some cleaning supplies and together, they loaded into Carolyn’s jeep and she drove them all up to the Noble’s homestead, with a quick stop at the pond.

“Oh goodness. You were right. This will be a wonderful place to have pictures taken, no matter what time of the day you decide to have them done.” Angela said.

They all loaded back into the jeep and continued on up to the Noble homestead. “Wow, your place is as high up as ours if not more so.” Angela said as they bounced along the long unused road.

“Actually, I think we are about level with your place but the road has really deteriorated. It’s never been what I would call smooth but I don’t remember it being this bumpy.” Sarah said as they hit several large pot holes.

“I’m sorry but I can’t see the potholes because they are covered with snow.” Carolyn apologized as they hit yet another pot hole.

“I’ll have to borrow a bobcat and come regrade it.” Colin said. He hadn’t been up to his parents’ house in a very long time and even then he had run up in his wolf form so he hadn’t used his vehicle on the road and didn’t realize how bad it had gotten.

They pulled into the yard of the Noble’s homestead and everyone sat looking around. The yard was currently covered in snow but they could tell that it was really overgrown. The house itself was in bad need of a paint job and there were several shingles missing off of the roof.

“Wow, it’s a lot more run down than I thought it would be.” Sarah said.

“Well, let’s go see what needs to be done.” Angela said as she opened her door and stepped out.

They climbed up the steps to the front porch and one of the boards gave a loud crack. “Hang on everyone. Maybe I had better do a walk through and make sure the floor is still safe for everyone to walk around on.” Colin said as he opened the front door and stepped inside. Everyone waited on the porch while Colin quickly walked through the house. A few minutes later, he came back out onto the front porch and said “Come on in. The floors seem to be fine. The porch is exposed to the weather more so some of the boards may need to be replaced. I’m going to go see if there is still wood outback for the fireplaces.”

“I’ll go help you.” Carolyn said. She was hoping for some alone time for them. They walked around back while the other women went inside to see what needed to be done.

There was a small amount of wood in a stack behind the barn but it was so dried out that it would burn very quickly. “Looks like I’ve got some wood chopping in my future. My folks are going to need more than this if they are going to stay here for a couple of months. I wonder if being back here will make them want to stay or if they will go back to Canada?” Colin wondered out loud.

“Don’t know but come on. Let’s carry what we can into the house for now. We’ll worry about getting some wood cut later.” Carolyn said and began picking up the cut wood. They both picked up as much wood as they could carry and walked into the house.

“How long have your parents been gone from here?” Carolyn asked.

“They left right after Wendy left for college, so about 4 years ago. Wow, I hadn’t even realized that until just now.” Colin said. “They had talked about moving up to Canada for a long time. My mom’s family is from up there. My dad met her when he went camping with some friends one summer. He fell in love with her and moved her down here.

My grandparents were still alive then. My grandfather was the one that built this house but he had a stroke and my grandmother needed help with him. My dad was the youngest and had stayed here to help them. He only had one sister and she moved away when she married. She and her husband were killed in a car accident not long afterwards.”

“Oh wow. I’m sorry to hear that. Funny, how little we know about each other’s family lives when we’ve lived on this mountain together for all of our lives.” Carolyn said.

“So true. I’ve got a feeling there are a lot of things that we don’t know about each other but that just means we’ve got lots to talk about on those long snowed in evenings. I’m really tired of staring at the TV on my days off.” Colin laughed, trying to lighten the mood. “Besides there’s nothing we can do about the past and I would much rather focus on our future together.”

“Me too.” Carolyn said as they climbed the stairs together. They found the women standing in the kitchen talking about what needed to be done around the house. Tammy was more or less standing off to the side, listening with a small smile on her face.

“What’s going on?” Carolyn asked as she walked into the kitchen.

“Well, I’m waiting for the assessment list and then I’ll need you to get everyone out of the house for a few minutes. “ Tammy whispered.

“Why? What are you planning?” Carolyn asked but she pretty much knew what Tammy was planning on doing and when Tammy just smiled at her, she was certain. Carolyn turned to her mother and her soon to be mother in law and said “Mom, do you two know what you want done?”

“Yeah and it’s going to take several days, maybe a week or more to get this place livable again, even with all of your help.” Sarah answered.

“Come on. Let’s go outside for a minute.” Carolyn said and led them outside, calling to Colin to join them. “Hold on lighting the fire for a minute. Come on outside with us.”

Once they were all outside, Tammy stepped in front of everyone and waved her wand. The house seemed to shutter for a moment and then all of the windows went up and dust started blowing out of them. Then what sounded like a hundred hammers started banging and the smell of paint became heavy in the air. In the matter of minutes, what had been a rundown old house now looked like newly finished construction.

Tammy turned around to find them all staring at the house with wide eyes and their mouths hanging open. Then one by one, they all broke out into wide smiles and even the usually subdued Colin came up and gave her a big hug.

“Thank you, Tammy! You just saved my days off between now and the wedding and who knows for how many months after the honeymoon.” Colin said.

“He is exaggerating of course.” Sarah Noble laughed. “Come on back inside out of the cold and let’s see what more needs to be done.”

“Unless you left something off of the list, then it should all be ready for you to move in. Even the beds are made.” Tammy said, brushing her fingers across her shoulders. “That was fun!” She laughed at their disbelieving looks.

Sure enough, there was nothing that any of them could find that needed to be done except to turn on the power and for the water in the heater to get hot. Tammy had even lit the fire in the fireplace.

“I would suggest leaving the upstairs windows open for a little while to help with the smell of paint and I do hope I got the colors right but if not, I can easily change it for you.” Tammy said.

“Yeah, she redid my whole cottage and I love it!” Carolyn smiled and gave Tammy a friendly, one armed hug.

“Well, if you don’t need me anymore, I’m going home. I have some paperwork that needs to be done.” Tammy said, pulling out her wand.

“Thank you for everything. I’ll call you later.” Carolyn replied and smiled at her friend as she apparated.

“I don’t think I will ever get used to her being able to do that!” Sarah said.

“Well, I was going to invite you to come stay with us until we could get your place in order and you are still welcome to, if you don’t want to stay here alone.” Angela said.

“Well, I would appreciate a ride to the store and thanks for the invitation, Angela, but I’d like to get familiar with the place again. I’m not worried about being alone. There were times when I was all alone for days on end in Canada when I would get snowed in at the cabin and Ben was stuck at the outpost. Plus, if I remember correctly, your place is a short run that way, right?” She said, as she pointed in the direction of the Masters homestead.

“Yep. But know you are welcome to come stay if you change your mind.” Angela said.

“Mom, I know where the box is to turn the power back on so wait a minute and I’ll go back with you. I need to go get my car.” Colin said. He hated to admit it but he felt almost helpless without his vehicle. He walked down to the barn and turned the power back on and then rejoined the lady’s.

“Well, daylight is burning. Let’s get going.” Carolyn said. “I need to go check the messages at my clinic too.”

They all rode back down the mountain, dropping Colin and Sarah off at the station. “Come by the cottage when you finish?” Carolyn asked.

“Sure. I’m just going to take my mom shopping and then drop her at home and then I’ll come down.” Colin said.

“Actually, if you come by after you finish shopping, I’ll go back up with you and help your mom put things away and then we can spend some time together. Ok?” Carolyn said, which earned her a big smile, from both of them.

“We’ll see you soon.” Colin said. He still wasn’t comfortable showing affection in front of her mother or, for that matter, his own mother either.

Carolyn pulled away and Angela asked “I wonder if he will ever get over it?”

“What?” Carolyn asked.

“His shyness. He has issues with showing his affection for you, even though he’s been in love with you all of his life.” Angela said.

“I find it endearing. Some of the local kids grossed me out by hanging all over each other and making out in public. Colin and I went to the movies one night and had to move because the kid’s two rows in front of us were practically having sex.”

“Hahahaha! I understand and while I’m glad you guys are practicing some discretion, you have to admit, it is unusual for a newly engaged couple not to kiss each other hello and goodbye.” Angela said.

“I’m not complaining. We will have time for all of that.” Carolyn said as she drove to her clinic.

“Carolyn, I will not try to tell you what to do or how to manage your relationship with Colin but take my advice and never let the chance for the good things in life pass you by or put them off because you never know when they might be taken from you unexpectedly.” Angela said.

Carolyn didn’t respond but agreed with her. They pulled into the clinic parking lot and Carolyn told her mom. “I just want to check the messages on the machine, if there are any. Do you want to come in or are you going to wait here? I wonder if Randy is still here?”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you that he called. I’m sorry. He asked that you call him back. I’ll come in. I’d like to use the restroom.” Angela said.

They entered the clinic and Carolyn glanced around. She could tell that Randy had been in because the air smelled like oranges and there was no dust on anything. She walked all the way through the clinic and everything was in its place and clean. She would have to remember to thank Randy for taking care of things while she had been away. She checked the answering machine but the light wasn’t blinking, telling her that there were no messages waiting to be heard. She also checked the message pad to make sure that Randy had listened to the machine and wrote them down for her but there wasn’t. She found his number and quickly dialed it.

“Hello?” Randy answered on the 3rd ring.

“Hi Randy. It’s Carolyn Masters. Thank you for taking such good care of the clinic for me while I’ve been away. I just stopped by to check on things and I can tell you were here because of the orange smell.”

“Yes, ma’am. I thought you were going to be gone longer but I was there this morning to check the messages and I ran the mop over the floors. When do you expect to be back to work?” Randy asked.

“Well, I guess that depends on if you had any calls while I was away?” Carolyn asked.

“Yes, ma’am. I left the messages on your computer, along with my time card.” Randy said.

“Ok. Thanks. I’ll call and find out what they want and get a schedule worked out. Come in tomorrow and I’ll let you know your schedule for the next few weeks. I’m going to be working but also taking some time to plan my wedding, so I’ll be in and out. I’m so glad you will be here to keep an eye on things for me while I’m gone.” Carolyn said.

“Ok. What time should I be there?” Randy asked.

“Around 10 in the morning?” Carolyn said. “If I need you before then, I’ll call you back. OK?”

“Sure. I’ll see you then.” Randy said and hung up.

“So Randy is working out?” Angela said as she came down the hall from the bathroom.

“Yes! He’ll never be able to replace Cindy but he’s working out just fine.” Carolyn answered as she passed her in the hall. She found the two messages Randy had mentioned, both of them having been dated and a notation of the time, the person’s name, phone number and a short note of what the person wanted was written on a steno pad page in very neat handwriting and Carolyn was impressed. Most men barely got the name and number and with the exception of a few, you could barely make any of it out because of the poor handwriting.

She quickly called the customers back and scheduled appointments for later in the week. One was a 6 month old golden retriever puppy that the owners wanted neutered. The other was a Great Dane, appropriately named Goliath.

He belonged to the Anderson’s and had been coming to her since he was a puppy. While he was not as bad as Rusty, the Brown’s St. Bernard, but she was going to need help with him so he scheduled him to come in at 10:30 the next morning.

The large dog was the size of a small horse and had the strength of one too. The last time he was here, he had drug her half way down the hall, trying to get out of the clinic, before she managed to get her feet back under herself and get him under control. He had snapped at her several times and almost bit Cindy when she tried to help corral him.

After that, Carolyn had insisted that Mr. Anderson stay with him and that he was to be muzzled before he was brought in. Carolyn hated muzzling dogs but she hated getting bitten more.

She found Randy’s time card and could tell that he had been in and was doing a very nice job of keeping the place clean and well taken care of. His note also let her know that he had collected the mail and she found the large stack of bills just where he said they would be under the counter. She stuffed them in a plastic bag and then made sure everything was locked back up before they turned off the lights and left.