Which made her think of another thing to discuss with Riel as she watched the children race to the porch.
"Now we're neglecting your grandfather, Riel."
"Considering he slept through most of the sermon, I'd say he enjoyed the drone of Pastor Bernie's sermon versus the noise of all of us in our future house."
They hadn't made much headway with swapping her and Russ's things between the house and the bunkhouse this weekend. But she promised to work on it this afternoon.
"He should be with us when we go to church, etc, rather than have to drive his own vehicle."
"True. We need to trade in a pickup in for a van?"
"Yes, and since your truck is newer and has more value than mine..." Jenna hinted.
"Oh man! You mean I have to trade in my sleek black, F250 truck for a dull silver carpooling minivan?"
"Part of being a family man, Riel," Jenna seriously quipped before grinning.
Okay. I’ll consider trading my truck in.”
Jenna studied Riel. His usually clipped chestnut brown hair had grown longer since he hadn’t had time to get it cut for the past two weeks. There were dark circles under his light blue eyes, yet, he looked at peace.
“Thank you so much for everything, Riel,” Jenna whispered before standing on tiptoe to kiss him.
“You are more than welcome, Jenna. It’s been a rough time for us, but we’ll get through this and every other big and little crisis that comes up with the kids.”
“Tomorrow morning is going to be very hard on Amie.”
“At least she did meet some of her new classmates in Sunday School this morning. I think we all should walk her to classroom in the morning, Grandpa and Lucy included. Think that will help?”
“Definitely. You’re a good man, Riel. How’d I get so lucky to meet you?”
“Not luck, but two accidents. And a third accident brought Amie and RJ into our lives. They say things happen in three’s, so we’re done with accidents and ready to start our lives as a family. Deal?”
“Deal,” Jenna agreed.
“Of course, our family will grow when Muffy has her puppies,” Riel humorously announced.
“And we need to train and sell all her puppies for our income. No sneaking another puppy in the house.”
“I won’t make any promises. You know how hard I fell for Lucy,” Riel said, thinking of how the puppy had helped him in so many ways.
“And the puppy has been a godsend for all of us. Maybe someone sent her as our own little angel to help us in times of need.”
“Due to her puppy shenanigans, I wouldn’t call her an angel most days,” Riel replied as they started walking toward the house. The kids yelling, and the dog barking was getting hard to ignore.
“No, but still, Lucy’s been a blessing, as are you, Riel Shepard.”
“Thanks. Both me and Lucy appreciate you saying that.”
“Speaking of Lucy, we better go see what she’s barking about, then I need to start Russ’ favorite hamburger casserole for supper.”
Chapter 11
Life had settled into a routine after the children had been on the ranch two weeks.
Jenna took Amie to school, then worked at her temporary job at a gift shop until school let out. The business had an online store, so needed extra people during the holiday season to pack and ship merchandise. Her job, giving them extra income, would end the twenty-second, and they’d marry the next day.
Although there were still some boxes for his grandfather to go through, they’d arranged the bunkhouse into a livable and comfortable place for him to live.
Jenna was settled into the guest bedroom for now, although most of her clothes were in the master bedroom. After moving so much stuff around, Riel declared he wasn’t going to move her things twice. Considering Jenna came back from Dallas a year ago with few clothes, she’d found a lot of bargains in the Thrift Shop since then.
“How’s this look?” RJ held the leather bookmark up for Riel to see.
RJ spent his mornings with Riel in his shop. Afternoons found him taking a nap with his grandpa in the bunkhouse, or inside the house doing something with Jenna.
Today was Saturday, a week before their wedding, and a week to get their Christmas gifts done. When he took RJ out to the shop with him after breakfast, Jenna and Amie were already in the guest bedroom with the door shut, so he guessed they were working on Christmas presents.
“I like it and I’m sure Grandma Sherry will too.”
To keep RJ busy so Riel could get work done, he’d set up a child-size worktable in the corner of his leather workshop. Besides playing with scraps of leather, RJ had reading and coloring books, a tub of crayons, and a bean bag chair he, and often Lucy, could take a nap in.
Today’s project was making Christmas presents for everyone. Riel cut the leather for bookmarks and RJ was stamping designs on them. Actually, lots of designs on each piece of leather, but he was having fun and everyone would love the bookmarks since RJ made them himself.
To be sure RJ wasn’t tempted to use Riel’s antique tools, he bought the kids their own set of leather stamps and a small poly mallet. Who knew you could order cute cat, dog, cow, and horse stamps online. Riel also ordered a heart, a flower stamp, and a smiley face for Amie, and Christmas shapes too.
The first time Riel showed Amie and RJ his leather shop, he told them the story of the legacy box he’d received from his great-great grandparents.
It was passed down through the family and finally became his to use, because his name was the same as his ancestor’s.
The wooden box carved with Shepard and Sons Saddlery on the top of the lid, held the leather punches and stamping tools his ancestors, the first Gabriel Shepard, and his father, Reuben Shepard, used starting in 1873, when they opened their leather shop in Clear Creek, Kansas.
His great-great grandmother, Iva Mae Paulson Shepard, packed the tools in 1940 when her husband, Gabriel, died. Also in a larger outer box was Gabriel’s leather chaps, stamped with his initials, GRS, a letter written by Iva Mae explaining the things packed in the box, and their wedding photo taken in 1885.
Riel’s dad put the box in his pickup when he went to visit his grandpa. When Riel finally opened the box, he realized it was just what he needed to start a new profession. Losing his military career had devastated him, but when he held his ancestor’s tools he knew what to do. He’d taken saddle making classes, watched umpteen videos online and practiced on small projects.
Everyone was getting leather items for Christmas this year, which wouldn’t surprise anyone. Purses for Jenna, his mom, and a smaller version for Amie.
New chaps for his dad, and a miniature pair for RJ. The kids were light enough to ride grandpa’s old—and slow and tolerant—horses with someone supervising.
Grandpa was getting a special gift. The elder had given him so much this year. A new lease on life besides deeding his ranch to Riel.
Riel made him a rectangular storage chest to put in front of the sofa in the bunkhouse. It was a combination coffee table and ottoman, built sturdy to handle the kids sitting on it too.
In the top he’d leather tooled his new ranch design for the CS Ranch, but also stamped the words Cooper-Shepard Ranch below it.
He’d kept this project a secret from everyone, afraid someone would slip and tell Grandpa about it. He worked on it late at night, with only Jenna knowing he was in his shop working on Christmas gifts.
“I want to put snowflakes on Amie’s bookmark.” RJ held up the next strip of leather he was ready to stamp.
“Sorry, buddy, but I couldn’t find a stamp of snowflakes online. You’ll have to choose one of your other stamps for her bookmark.”
“But I want snowflakes,” RJ whined, then started to sniffle. Riel put his tool down and went over to RJ.
He crotched down, placing a hand on RJ’s chin, gently lifting the boy’s tear-stained face so they could look at each other in the eye.
“What’s wrong, RJ?”
“I want snowflakes, ‘cause they remind me of last Christmas.”
The last Christmas when he and Amie were with their parents. Being only four, did he really remember that? Probably, with the help of photos of his family skiing and sledding in Aspen last year. Jenna made scrap books for each child, featuring happy family times and the children looked through them almost daily.
Riel thought about the antique stamps he had. Did one of them look similar enough to a snowflake to appease RJ?
“Come here.” Riel hefted RJ up on his right hip and carried him over to his waist-high work bench. “Let’s look through my tools to see if there’s a special one you think looks like a snowflake.”
RJ studied each stamp tool carefully as Riel held them up for him to inspect.
“Here’s a snowflake!” RJ grabbed the tool out of Riel’s hand.
“Careful, please. This is very old and if we drop it, the edge might break and ruin the design.”
“Okay”. RJ held the stamp tool with both hands while Riel lowered RJ down to the floor.
“Can I put her name on it too?”
“Yes, let me get the letter stamping tools. What letters do you need, RJ, for Amie’s name?”
They practiced the alphabet and numbers with RJ whenever they could work it in with whatever they were doing.
“A.M…E.”
“We need to use an ‘I’ too. Can I hold the stamping tool for you, so they line up straight?”
RJ nodded while Riel lined up the tools in the order they needed, then picked up the first letter, holding the tool steady for RJ.
“Okay, pick up your mallet and carefully use your mallet to hit the top of the stamp.” Riel winced as the first blow hit his knuckle instead of the tool head.
Riel lifted the tool so they could study the leather together. “We need to hit the left side again to make it even. I’ll put my hand on top of yours and I’ll guide the mallet this time. Ready?”
Riel imagined each father and son doing this same motion with the same tool in each generation before him.
Father and son. Shepard and Son Saddlery.
RJ could do whatever he wanted for his eventual career, but Riel wanted to teach him the leather business, so they could work together for as long as RJ wanted to help him.
Riel pressed the tool and tapped the mallet just right to make a perfect A.
“Wow! That looks good!”
Next we need the…”
“M!”
They stamped in the four letters running down the leather together, then Riel handed the star tool which RJ thought looked like a snowflake.
“Add snowflakes around the edge of the leather, as a border, or freefalling from the sky.”
“Okay I can do it, Daddy Riel.” Riel stared at RJ as the boy picked up the tool and his little mallet.
“Yes, you can,” Riel said after he swallowed the lump in his throat. “Um, why did you call me Daddy Riel this time instead of Uncle Riel? Either name is fine with me though.”
“Daddy Jim lives in heaven now and I need a daddy here with me. Okay?”
“Yes, it’s okay, because I love you and think of you as my son now.”
Riel blinked back tears as he watched RJ painstakingly use his ancestor’s tool. His past, present, and future was right in front him.
Chapter 12
“But you’re the bride. Aren’t you supposed to wear white?” Amie asked Jenna.
The two of them were in the guest bedroom, with the doors closed “to keep the boys out” as Amie emphasized.
Jenna chose today to show Amie the dress that she’d wear for the wedding, and reveal what Amie would wear as her maid of honor.
“Well, this is my second marriage, so I don’t have to. I saw this dress in the Thrift Shop and thought it would work. It’s Christmassy and will go with the church’s decorations.
Jenna held the dark red velvet dress up to her front and looked in the full-length mirror attached to the sliding closet door.
It was plain and…red. Amie was right.
Jenna had picked up the first dress she’d seen and didn’t give it another thought. This might be her second wedding, but it was Riel’s first, and he deserved to see a happy, blushing, traditional bride walking up the church altar to marry him.
But the dress would have to work because she didn’t have time to find and alter another.
Well, I’ll think about it,” Jenna said to appease Amie. “But, I want to show what you’ll be wearing as my maid of honor.
“Really? I’m your maid of honor? Wow!” Amie’s eyes lit up with the announcement.
“But why don’t you have a lady friend to stand up with you?”
Jenna cleared her throat. “Your mother was going to stand by me. Since she’s not with us anymore, I want you, her daughter, to take her place. Is that okay?”
Amie bowed her head as sad thoughts flooded her mind, but she nodded okay.
Jenna laid her dress on the bed, opened the closet door and pulled out a large box she’d had hidden in the closet.
“When I was going through your mother’s closet, I found this box. Go ahead and open it.”
Amie pulled off the fancy department store lid and tossed it on the bed. Jenna imagined Amie had opened many such gifts from her mother before, but this would be the very last one.
Amie folded the tissue back to reveal a float of cream-colored lace, covered with embroidered and sequined snowflakes.
“Oh my, it’s beautiful!”
Amie reverently pulled out her dress, featuring a satin bodice and full skirt, with long lace sleeves and overskirt.
“I imagine your mother bought the dress for you to wear at our wedding, and for the Christmas services at church.” Amie knew her family had planned to spend the holiday with her and Riel because of their wedding.
“Can I try it on now?”
“Yes, I think you better in case it doesn’t fit right and needs to be adjusted.” Jenna should have done this sooner, but didn’t think Amie was ready to see it until now. The girl had finally accepted that she and her brother would be living on the ranch with them, instead of going back to Dallas.
Amie quickly took off her top and pants, and stuck her hands up in the arms, waiting for Jenna to lower the confection over her head.
“Now don’t move, so we don’t tear anything. Let me adjust the dress in place and pull up the back zipper.”
The both held their breath until the dress was on and Amie turned toward the mirror. The looked at each other in the mirror, smiles on both of their faces.
“It’s perfect!” they said in unison, then hugged.
The girl in the mirror is now my daughter. Before I know it, I’ll be seeing her in her own wedding dress.
Jenna held up her wedding dress and stood behind Amie to see how they looked together. They both shook their heads. Amie’s dress was very festive and beautiful, and her dress was…off the vintage rack from the Thrift Shop.
“I wish I knew someone—and of course in my size—I could borrow a wedding dress from for the day.”
Amie bit her lip and looked at the floor a minute before asking, “What about my mother’s wedding dress?” Amie knew Jenna had packed it from their home.
“But she was so much taller than me, so it wouldn’t fit. Plus, we need to save that for your wedding day, if you want to wear it.”
With two tall parents, Amie would be towering over her, and probably Riel before she was out of middle school.
“But, there was another wedding dress in the attic with your mom’s. I don’ know who wore it, but I assume it was an ancestor, of one of your relatives.”
“Try it on!” Amie’s expression brightened at the thought that Jenna might still be able to wear a bridal gown after all.
“It’s very old and I didn’t look at it closely to see what kind of shape it’s in.”
Jenna looked at the stacked row of tubs on the bedroom wall. She hadn’t decided where all around the house s
he was going to stash the keepsake boxes for the kids.
“Is it that tub?” Amie pointed to a tub on the bottom row that looked like it was full of old ivory material.
“I bet so,” Jenna replied as she moved the tubs around to reach the right tub.
Jenna set it on the bed, opened the plastic lid and carefully pulled out the old dress. She smoothed it out on the bed spread so they could look it over.
“And it has a veil,” Amie exclaimed as she looked in the bottom of the tub. “You need to wear a veil to be a proper bride.”
Jenna smiled as she ran her hand over the dress. It might have been white satin at one time, but it had dulled to ivory, in most places anyway. There weren’t any glaring yellow or rust spots on the dress.
Fragile-looking half-inch wide lace trimmed the high neck, bodice and sleeve cuffs. The skirt had a layer of pleats showing in the front panel, with a silk overlay skirt which draped around the back. She turned the dress over.
“What’s that?” Amie pointed to the wad of extra material on the back of the dress.
“You know, I think that’s a bustle. That was the style in the 1800s.”
The dress reminded Jenna of photos she’d seen of her own ancestors in their wedding attire.
“Try it on!” Amie excitedly urged her.
She was ready to see what she’d look like in this antique dress. What a contrast from her usual shirt and jeans. Jenna unsnapped the metal buttons on her worn flannel shirt and tossed it aside as she unzipped her jeans and wiggled out of them.
“Okay, lets be very careful, Amie. Please don’t tug on the dress. I’m betting it is way over a hundred years old,” Jenna reverently whispered.
Jenna looked it over first, realizing it had a line of buttons on the side of the dress instead of the back. She gathered the dress’s material in both hands and lowered it over her head, shaking her body a little to get the dress to drop down.
She might be slender due to all her ranch work, but wouldn’t she be larger than a normal woman living in the 1800s?
The shoulders and sleeves fit though, and she had room to move as she carefully reached for the side buttons.
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