Joy to the Wolves (Red Wolf #1) - Terry Spear Page 0,104
pack some of his things. Adam, Ethan, and Maverick followed them back to the ranch house. When they reached the barn, Josh and Brooke quickly shifted and dressed. Maverick, Ethan, and Adam had disappeared but soon joined them, already dressed.
“We’ll head to the ranch so I can pack some more clothes and personal items,” Josh said.
“I’m going to relieve the other officer watching over the store,” Adam said. “I’ll see you in a little bit.”
“Yes, and you have to join us for breakfast,” Brooke reminded him. “Lucas will be joining us to help with my website and online store.”
The idea of Josh moving in with Brooke permanently and having her to love on anytime they could get away hadn’t sunk in yet. But he was certainly ready for that.
Chapter 24
Josh and Brooke said their goodbyes to the rest of the pack, carefully put the Santa suit and Natalie Wood’s coat set in the car, and then Josh drove them to the reindeer ranch. Maverick followed behind them in his truck, pulling the trailer carrying the reindeer, but they lost him somewhere along the way.
“What are you going to do about the clothes from Miracle on 34th Street?” Josh asked.
“I could sell them, offer them to a museum, or make a special display for them at the store to bring in more business,” Brooke said.
“I’d display them in the shop. Make up a poster with a picture of the movie cover and some particulars about the story since it’s your favorite one.”
“That’s what I’ll do.” That was what she was leaning toward in the first place. “I love the pack. I just hope the bachelor males aren’t mad at both of us for not giving them a chance with me.”
Josh chuckled. “They’ll get over it. Besides, the pack still has two eligible she-wolves to date. Who knows? Maybe others will join us unexpectedly like you did. I’m surprised we never saw you when you visited your great-aunt.”
“Except for during the summers, I rarely was able to come here, with helping to run the shop back home. My great-aunt didn’t attend a lot of pack functions here either because she was busy running her shop. You know how that is if you don’t have anyone to help. She didn’t hire anyone to work for her, even near the end, because she had her way of doing things. When I visited, I’d want to help her organize things, and she’d tell me not to because she wouldn’t be able to find anything after I left. I still can’t believe she had so much valuable stuff she hadn’t tried to sell.”
“She was probably like you and unable to keep up with all of it. She might not have had the contacts like you do to sell the really rare items to collectors either.”
“That’s true. When I visited with her, she knew the value of antiques, but a lot of her connections had died. You know how it is with human connections. They don’t have half the life expectancy that we do. And she wouldn’t get the internet, which is the way I make a lot of my connections for the big stuff now.”
When they reached the ranch, she took in the size of the ranch house and the Christmas lights on the house and the big red barn and several other buildings, but the red barn was what caught her attention. She stood in awe of the whole place: forested land, a river meandering through the meadows down below, even a small Christmas tree farm. She loved it.
A hand-carved, gilded sign hung over the entrance to the barn: WILDING REINDEER RANCH. Nearby was a corral with another engraved sign: REINDEER MAKE DREAMS COME TRUE.
Another smaller corral was near that: Where the Magic Begins.
“That’s the corral for the reindeer calves when tour groups come out to see the reindeer. We’ll let the kids go in and pet them,” Josh said. “Come on inside and meet the reindeer.” He turned on the lights inside the barn, and it was just like Christmas. Little colorful lights twinkled over each of the stalls, and each had a hand-carved sign with gilded letters proclaiming the name of the reindeer. Each stall was trimmed in gold, and the whole barn was painted red inside, including the siding and stall gates. Up above, the ceiling was blue, covered in stars and the moon.
“This is beautiful. I expected a working barn, not a showcase work of art.”