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He laughs, shaking his head. "I'm having none of that; having you guy there is enough for me. You’re family."
My heart warms from his words. He's right. We are family. "I guess it won't be long till you are promoted to grandpa, huh?" I say it off handily as a joke, but it's true. One day Conrad and I will have children, and Donna and Burt will be grandparents.
Burt's eyes shine with happy tears. I didn't mean to make him emotional, but damnit, if he isn't making me emotional too. "Don't you start crying now, Burt or I'm going to, and this will be a whole mess," I warn him.
He nods his head in agreement. "We have way too much work to do, and I'm only running on half-engine days. That poker party took it out of me last night."
I don't recall precisely when Conrad came to bed, but it was late. I don't think he got more than a few hours of sleep. "Where is Conrad anyways?"
"He needed to meet with the hay distributor." I nod my head recalling his plans. When did he even mention that to me? Or did I just read it off his calendar? I finish brushing Opus and then help Burt with lunch feed. In my head, I start planning an evening for just the two of us, no matter what.
That plan lasted about an hour, when my mother and Donna come racing into the barn. Almost in tears about cancelled catering, late decorations, and God knows what. We spent the rest of the day trying to figure out this stuff. With the wedding only a few days away and on Christmas Eve, we don't have much time.
"Where is Oscar?" I ask my mother.
"Oh, Honey, he had too much to drink last night, so he's sleeping."
I suppress an eye roll. Here we are working our asses off, and my brother is sleeping. "Wake him up; he can help Burt in here. While the three of us run into town, find a new caterer, and fix whatever else had happened." This is going to be a long day.
I was wrong. It wasn't a long day but also a long night. I didn't get back to the farm till ten at night. On the plus side, we have everything figured out for the wedding. Delivery for most things will be tomorrow; then, it's mostly just set up till the big day. I stare at the house, seeing the light still on and bodies moving around. Even if I had walked in there, I wouldn't have had any time with Conrad or myself. I feel a wheel of emotions bubble up inside me. It's all gone so wrong, and nothing is how I wanted it to be. With no desire to go inside, I head to the place where I feel the most comfortable. The barn. As soon as I open the barn door, the horse's heads poke out. Opus sees me and starts pawing at the ground.
I stop at the feed stall and pick up some sugar cubes before standing in front of Opus.
"Hey, boy. I missed you." I give his forelock a good scratch and feed him come cubes. His head nudges me wanting more attention.
I look out the barn door and see that it's snowing with the warm glow of the lights. It's such a beautiful scene, and for some reason, it saddens me. The emotions well up, and I can't seem to control them. I start to cry. They flow out. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because of the holiday or how everything seemed to fall apart. I'm mad and frustrated about everything. But I'm also guilty. I lucky to even have any family members alive to celebrate. Conrad has no living family members. To say I have a mixed emotions is an understatement.
I hear footsteps coming down from the hall, and I look up to see Conrad walking toward me. He looks concerned.
"What's wrong?" he sits next to me in front of Opus's stall.
I sob even harder at this point. "It's just all a disaster. I wanted to have a perfect first Christmas together, with the perfect gift, and nothing has gone the way I wanted it to go." I sob.
He hugs me tight, kissing the top of my forehead. "Darling, it's fine. This is all I need."
"What is?" I asked, confused.
He lifts my chin and wipes some of my tears away. "This. You and me. Having you in my life as my wife. No matter what happens in our busy lives, I have everything I need as long as we can do this."
He makes it seem so easy. Is it this simple? I suddenly feel Opus nudge my shoulder, looking for some attention. I watch Conrad slowly and warily reach up to try and pet him. The two never really get along. Opus always tries to take a bite out of him. But I guess this holiday would give us at least one Christmas miracle. Opus let Conrad pet him, and for a long minute as well.
"Well, I'll be. I thought for sure I might lose a finger."
"He's been in a better mood since his retirement. He's getting all fat and happy now."
"Well, he won the triple crown. He could have a gold plated stall if he wanted, and I’d be okay with it." He laughs.
I smiled at him, loving the light-hearted humour he brought to the conversation. It's exactly what I needed. We must have sat in the barn for hours, talking, almost catching up. We talked about the farm and the following year of training. That whole evening opened my eyes; this is all I need: nothing fancy or unique, but us. And for now, that's more than enough.
CHAPTER6
CONRAD
Iwatch the chaos around me; we are finally here after the mad dash to get this wedding ready. Christmas Eve morning and Burt and Donna are getting married. The outside patio of our house is filled with wooden benches and red roses. It's a small wedding, just how they wanted it to be. I promised Burt I would ensure everything was ready, one less thing for the girls to worry over. From the noises I've heard upstairs, I don't want to add another worry to their list.
"So, how do things look?' Burt asks, walking up behind me.
I turn to him, "Looks all ready. We should go have a quick drink."
