Magic on Changeling Mountain

Just then, Colin came into the clinic. “Randy, I’m going to go have lunch with Colin and his mother. Would you like for me to bring you something from the diner?”

“Sure. A cheeseburger deluxe and fries, please.” Randy replied. “Hi Sheriff!”

“Hi Randy. How do you like working here?” Colin asked.

“It’s great! I’m learning so much!” Randy replied.

“I’ll call the puppy’s owner when I get back. See you in about an hour.” Carolyn said as Colin helped her with her coat.

“Hi Carolyn.” Sarah said as she got in the back seat so that Carolyn could ride up front with Colin.

“Hi. So what kind of trouble did you guys get into at the hardware store? Did you get supplies for the honey do list for when your husband gets here?”

“Nope. Tammy took care of all the little fixes that needed to be done, at least from what I’ve seen so far.” Sarah said. “Poor Ben will just have to take a break and get some well-earned rest for a change.”

“I’m sure it won’t slow dad down one bit. He’ll find plenty to do, once he’s here.” Colin said.

“So did you get the tractor taken down to your place?” Carolyn asked.

“No, I’m going to pick up the truck and trailer after lunch. I’ll start today but I doubt if I’ll finish it for a couple of days at least.” Colin said.

They enjoyed a nice lunch together and as Colin drove them back to the clinic, Sarah asked, “Carolyn, do you think Angela would object to some company?”

“No, not at all. In fact, if you can wait for a little while, I’ll go up with you and then I can introduce you to the fairies.” Carolyn smiled at her.

“Great! I’ll run home from there so that Colin doesn’t have to stop working on the road to come get me.” Sarah said.

“Do you remember the way?” Colin started to object.

“Colin Noble! I’ll have you know I know this mountain like the back of my hand. I was living here long before you were even born!” Sarah said indignantly. She was beginning to lose patience with his hovering over her, treating her like she was too old and decrepit to know what she could do.

“Yes, ma’am.” Colin said contritely.

“I’ll be home before dark and dinner will be waiting on the table for you.” Sarah said as she almost slammed the jeep door.

Carolyn looked from her to Colin but wisely kept her mouth shut. She kissed Colin goodbye and whispered “Want me to follow her home?”

“She’d know you were there and then we’d both be in the dog house.” Colin whispered back.

Sarah called Carolyn from the doorway of the clinic “Carolyn, Randy said he needs to talk to you.”

“Uh-oh. I hope that puppy is Ok. Love you!” She said as she quickly kissed him and then turned around and ran into the clinic.

“What’s up?” She said as she ran inside.

“Oh, just that the owner called and asked if she could come pick up the puppy. They have another appointment they need to get too and won’t be done until after you close. I told her I’d call her right back. Also the lab called and the results of the test you sent me down with are done.” Randy reported.

“Ok. Great. Thanks Randy. Here’s your lunch. How’s the puppy doing?” Carolyn asked as they walked back to the recovery area. The puppy was in one of the cages against the wall and he stood up when Carolyn came in. She lifted the puppy out and gave him a quick once over. “He seems to have come through it just fine. Call the owner back and tell her they can come now.” She put the puppy back in the cage and told Randy “I’ll call the lab.”

She went into a room that had a phone on the wall and called the lab. Katherine said everything checked out great. “A little iron deficient but nothing to be worried about. I just need to get the patient’s information for our records and a billing address for the bill.”

“It’s Colin Noble’s mother, Sarah. She’s going to be my mother in law soon so send me the bill. I’m not sure what their address is but I’ll be sure to get it to her.” Carolyn told her friend.

“Ok, Carolyn. I couldn’t do this for anyone but you. And considering it’s the sheriff’s mother, I guess as long as I have the name, that’s good enough for now. So when is the wedding?” Katherine said.

“April 4th. You’ll be getting an invitation as soon as I get them ordered.” Carolyn laughed as she hung up. That was another reason she wanted to talk to her mother today. They needed to get the wedding planning going with more than just planning. It was time to set things in motion.

She called Sarah to come in and sit with her in the area she had taken the exam. “Mrs. Noble, I have your test results and just as I suspected, you just need some iron tablets and you should be feeling back to yourself in no time. You can get what you need over the counter. A multivitamin with iron would be the best and easier to digest. Sometimes straight iron pills can make you constipated and that’s never a good thing.”

“I’ll get some the next time I’m in town.” Sarah promised.

“Well, as soon as my patient picks up, we can go. It shouldn’t be long.” Carolyn said and Randy knocked on the door. “They’re here, Dr. Masters.”

“I’ll be right there, Randy.” Carolyn called out.

“Thanks Carolyn.” Sarah said.

Carolyn quickly checked out the puppy to its owner and told Randy what she wanted him to do before he left for the day. She and Sarah left the clinic and as soon as they were a safe distance from the main road, they transformed and ran up to the Masters homestead.

Angela Masters was just finishing up the lunch dishes when they entered the house.

“Hi Mom! I’ve got Mrs. Noble with me. Have you got time to go over some wedding stuff? I need to get the invitations ordered and the food and the cake and the flowers.” Carolyn said as she went through her mental list of what she wanted to accomplish this week. Sarah and Angela looked at each other and smiled.

The three women spent the next couple of hours making up a priority list, then a menu as well as the wording of the invitations. “Oh thank goodness you were here, Mrs. Noble or I would have spelled things all wrong. I just assumed that Ben was short for Benjamin. I did not know that your husband’s first name was actually Bennet.”

“I don’t think I did either.” Angela said.

“Well, he hates to be called that but I asked him about it before we left and he said he wants his legal name used for this.” Sarah said.

“I want Colin to be there when we choose the outside but I like this wording, so that much is decided. I wonder if we need to make an appointment at the printers. I’d better call and find out.”

She called and made an appointment for the day after tomorrow at 9 am.

“I hope Colin will either be finished with the road or can take an hour or so off to go with me. How many people do we have on the guest list so far?” Carolyn asked.

“Well, I’m almost positive that anyone I could think of to invite from around here is already on the list, except our family from out of the area. I’ll have to sit down and go through my address book and I’ll come up with a list before you go. I doubt if most of them will make the trip but it would be bad manners not to send an invitation for our oldest son’s wedding.”

“True. We’ll have one number for invitations and probably a smaller one for the actual food reservation. We need to get this done as quickly as possible so that people will have time to RSVP. That’s the only way we’ll know for sure how many people we will need to order food for.” Angela said.

“Oh, boy. We are going to need help from Tammy I think. She’s a really fast typist and can print labels instead of us handwriting everything. I’ll call her tonight.” Carolyn said.

“Whew. Are you sure you can’t wait to get married until the summer? We are really rushing to get all of this done.” Angela said.

“Well, that’s why I’m going to cater it. I don’t want you worrying about there being enough food and spending all the time in the kitchen trying to fill everyone up.” Carolyn told her mother. Just then the clock in the hall struck 4 and Angela said “Well, if I don’t have dinner ready by the time everyone gets home, I know of a hungry bear that’s not going to be happy.”

“Can we help?” Sarah offered, knowing that Angela would turn her down.

“No, thanks! Not going to be anything fancy tonight. You are welcome to stay if you want.” Angela said.

“Thanks but I’ve got to get home and get dinner for Colin too. It was good seeing you Angela.” Sarah said as she pushed away from the table.

“Mom, I’m going to take Mrs. Noble out and introduce her to the fairies and then over to their place. I want to talk to Colin about the invitation appointment and I want to see how he’s doing on the road work too.” Carolyn told her mother.

They left the house and walked across the yard to the barn. Daniel was there attending to the animals.

“Hi Dad.” Carolyn said when they entered.

“Hi Daniel. How are you?” Sarah said.

“Well, hello! What do I owe to the honor of this visit?” Daniel said with a smile.

“I brought Mrs. Noble over to meet the fairies and then we are going over to see how Colin is progressing on fixing the road up to their place.” Carolyn explained, walking over to the radio set up. “Foster! Queen Rose! Can you please come down? I’ve brought someone to meet you.”

Within seconds, several tiny lights flew down to the stall rail next to the radio. “Queen Rose. Foster. I would like for you to meet Colin’s mother, Mrs. Sarah Noble.” Carolyn whispered. Each of the fairies bowed as they were introduced and Sarah did the same in return.

“Very nice to meet you.” Sarah whispered to the fairies, following Carolyn’s lead.

Queen Rose flew over to the microphone and said “How do you do? Very nice to meet you as well. Are you a wolf like your son?” She asked.

“Why, yes, I am.” Sarah said and stepped back and transformed so that she could see. She transformed back into her human form and smiled at the Queen.

“Very nice. Are you here for their wedding or do you live in the area?” Queen Rose asked.

“My husband and I do have a house here but we are currently living in Canada. We take care of the community Outpost there. My husband, Ben, will come a week or two before the wedding.” Sarah replied.

“I’m sure that they are very happy to have you here. I know it was causing them both some concern when they could not contact you. They have been so generous in helping us to relocate here. Hopefully we will be able to move into a permanent home in the spring and will no longer have to impose on their kind hospitality for much longer.” Queen Rose said.

“No imposition at all, your highness. We have enjoyed having you.” Daniel whispered.

“You are so very kind Mr. Masters.” Queen Rose said with a bow towards him.

“Please, won’t you call me Daniel?” Daniel whispered.

“As you wish, Daniel. You have been so very kind to allow us to not only stay here but to make sure we have fresh water and food daily. For that I cannot tell you how grateful we are.” Queen Rose said.

“Well, it was nice to meet you Queen Rose and Foster but if we are going to get home before dark, we are going to have to go now.” Sarah whispered.

“Very nice to have met you as well. Please, come again.” Queen Rose said then she and the rest of the fairies flew back up to the warmth of the loft.

“Bye, Daniel.” Sarah called out.

“See you later Dad.” Carolyn told her father as they left the barn.

“Be safe.” Daniel said as he went back to work.

Carolyn and Sarah left the barn and transformed as they headed across the yard in the direction of the Noble homestead on the north side of the mountain. They jogged along in companionable silence, not seeing another soul as they went.

When they got close to the boundary of the Noble homestead, they could hear the bobcat and they turned in that direction. Colin had only made it about a third of the way up and it appeared that he was having trouble with a particularly large boulder. Sarah howled at him, startling Carolyn who jumped back and froze.

Colin saw Carolyn jump and couldn’t help but laugh. He turned off the bobcat so that they would not have to shout over the noise of the loud machine.

“Hahaha. I’m sorry Carolyn but you looked like you had stepped on something hot the way you jumped.” Colin apologized.

“I just wasn’t prepared for your mom to howl like that.” Carolyn said, shamefaced.

“I’m sorry, Carolyn. I should have warned you.” Sarah said. “Colin, what’s the problem? I expected you to be farther along than this.”

“I did too but this road is full of really big rocks. I’m beginning to think I should just bury this one. I think it’s too big for me to move with this machine. I’ve dug all the way around it and I don’t think I’ve even found half of it. I’ve had to bury a couple like this so far. I’m beginning to think it would be better to just fill in the holes and then smooth the whole thing over and pour gravel on top of it to keep it from eroding again.” Colin said.

“Your father said the same thing every year. He kept threatening to line the road with cut logs and boulders and pouring gravel but when we checked into it, doing it all the way from the house to the road was too expensive. I would say just get it as smooth as you can and maybe do it in smaller batches as you can afford it. That is if you plan on living up here?” Sarah said.

“I don’t think we will live up here. At least not right away. It’s too far for me to go to work and Carolyn has her clinic so the cottage is a lot more convenient for her as well.” Colin said and Carolyn was glad he had been around for this discussion.

“Well, I’m going to go up and start dinner. Come on up when you are ready. You are more than welcome to join us, Carolyn.” Sarah said.

“Ok. I’ll be up soon.” Carolyn replied, then climbed up on the bobcat. She kissed Colin hello and then asked “So how long are you planning on working?”

“Actually I was about to give up. I’ll get up early tomorrow and work on it. I’ve only got a couple more days off from the station so I’ve got to work on this as much as I can.” Colin said.

“Well, I won’t bother you tomorrow but the day after that, I need you to come with me to the printers for the invitations and then over to the bakery and then maybe to the caterers. We are running out of time to make all of the arrangements if we want to be married on April 4th.” Carolyn said.

“Ok. Well, hopefully, I’ll be able to make better progress on this tomorrow. I think I’ve done pretty well considering I didn’t get started until nearly 3 pm.” He said as he looked at his watch.

“Well, it’s going to be dark soon so why don’t you go ahead and park this thing and come up to the house. I’m going to go help your mom get dinner and you can get a shower.” Carolyn said.

“I’m just going to rebury this boulder and then I’ll be up.” Colin said.

Carolyn jumped back down off of the machine and transformed, then ran up to the house. She knocked and then let herself in. She called out “Mrs. Noble?”

“Come on into the kitchen.” Sarah’s voice came from the back of the house. Carolyn walked through the house and found her bent over in front of the oven.

“I’m just going to shake and bake some pork chops and if you will peel some of those potatoes, I’ll make mashed potatoes. Your mom gave me some of her green beans and with some sliced tomatoes, we should have enough to fill us up.” Sarah said as she straightened up. “Can you keep an eye on this while I go get a shower? If I know Colin, he’ll use up all of the hot water!”

“Sure. Glad too.” Carolyn said. She found the potato peeler and set to work peeling the potatoes that Sarah had sat on the kitchen counter. She diced them and set them on the stove to boil. She found dishes and silverware and set the table while she waited. Colin came in and found her putting butter, salt and pepper on the dining room table.

“Very nice.” He said as he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Where’s my mom?”

“She wanted to shower before you used up all the hot water. She should be out soon.” Carolyn said.

“Well, in that case…..” he started to slide his arms around her but she batted him away as she wrinkled her nose at him.

“Go shower and get ready for dinner. You smell awful.” Carolyn said frankly.

“Hey, you may think that the bobcat does all the work but it’s a lot of work to keep that thing upright and it’s hot inside that cab.” Colin said, then lifted one arm and sniffed. “Oh, boy, you are right. Be right back.”

“Don’t take long. Dinner is almost ready.” She said. She was enjoying cooking for them, even if his mother had done most of the work. As he went off down the hall to his bedroom for clean clothes, his mother came out of the bathroom in a cloud of steam.

“Oh boy that felt good.” She told him as they passed in the hall.

“Hope you left me some hot water!” Colin teased.

“I’m sure there is but you might want to wait a few minutes. On second thought, hot or cold, go get a shower! You stink!” Sarah teased as she sniffed the air.

“I’ll be out in a few. Don’t start without me.” Colin said.

Sarah entered the kitchen just as Carolyn was lifting the pan of pork chops out of the oven. “Looks like they are done. Would you prefer garlic potatoes or cheese or do you want to have gravy?” Carolyn asked.

“I bought some of that gravy in a jar and I want to try it. You just have to heat it and eat. If it’s any good, I want to order some for the Outpost.” Sarah said. “If it’s not any good, then I have some shredded cheddar in the fridge.”

“OK. Sounds good to me. I’ve tried the turkey one and it’s pretty good. Not as good as my mom’s, mind you, but edible.” Carolyn said.

“Your mother should have been a chef. Everything she makes tastes good, even if it rarely has any meat in it. I’ve got to get her recipe for that squash soup she had the other night. It was delicious.” Sarah praised Angela.

“I know. I wish I had inherited her gift of cooking. I do ok but I’ll never even try to compete with my mom.” Carolyn admitted.

“Well, with Colin as a husband, so long as you don’t skimp on meat, you should be fine.” Sarah said.

“That’s where I’m going to need your help. Growing up in my mother’s household, I can cook vegetables a hundred different ways but when it comes to meat, I’m at a bit of a loss. I know how to fry bacon and sausage and make a mean hamburger but other than that, I usually manage to overcook it and it turns out hard and dry.” Carolyn said.

“Heat the pan and put the meat in and then turn the heat down. Steaks are best when done rare but pork and chicken should be cooked till they are done to the bone.” Sarah said.

“I’ll write down some of Colin’s childhood favorites for you before I go back to Canada.” It did not escape Carolyn’s attention that she never referred to Canada as home but for now, she kept quiet about it.