A Ranger For The Holidays. Allie Pleiter
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this is your and Boone’s wedding. You and Boone need to make some of the decisions.” Secretly, Amelia knew which she was rooting for—and it wasn’t the purple and sage. And the red and gold was just too bold no matter how she looked at it. No, the mint and cream was by far the best for Lizzie’s skin tone and the early-spring timing. It’s not my place to choose, she reminded herself even as her hand rested on the mint-and-cream palette. Don’t over-help. This needs to be Lizzie’s choice.
“Boone told me I could do whatever I wanted.”
Amelia had heard enough do-whatever-you-wants from Rafe to recognize such disinterest as a red flag between couples. Still, she could just as easily suspect Boone to be nothing more than frustrated with Lizzie’s indecision. “Well, then, it really is up to you. They’re all fine choices, Lizzie, just pick one.”
Lizzie straightened on the couch. Amelia wished she believed in mental telepathy so she could send Mint, mint, mint! messages to her sister. As it was, she just said a prayer for wisdom on Lizzie’s part and grace for herself.
“I want the red and gold. I want lots of shiny gold details so my wedding sparkles.”
Not exactly a spring palette—more holiday, to tell the truth—but at least Lizzie had chosen. “Excellent choice. You’ll have the sparkliest wedding in the county. I can see red roses and gold ribbons in your bouquet already, can’t you?”
Lizzie’s eyes fairly glowed as she picked up the paper with all the red-gold color variations on it. “You know what I was thinking, Lia?” Lizzie often used the nickname she’d given her sister when as a youngster she couldn’t quite pronounce Amelia.
“I was thinking I’d love to walk down the aisle in sparkly gold shoes. I’d feel like a princess in glittery shoes. And Boone’s vest could be gold lamé, couldn’t it?”
Amelia swallowed the disco ball remark tickling the tip of her tongue and smiled. “There’s all kinds of things we can do now that you’ve made your choice.” She slid the elegant mint-and-cream pages back into her file alongside the purple and sage. If Lizzie wanted to shout her color scheme to the world, that was a bride’s choice. She’d just have to do a big sister’s best to ensure the wedding guests didn’t feel as if they’d run off to the circus. Amelia hid the grin such a thought gave her behind a sip of iced tea.
“Can we rent a tent?” Lizzie asked, shifting the gold fabric on the paper this way and that to catch the sunshine coming in through the windows.
The circus-tent connection was a bit too striking, and Amelia nearly choked on her tea. “Pardon?”
“Do you think we can have the wedding outside under a tent?”
“April can be a bit unpredictable weather-wise, Lizzie. We might want to stick with the League banquet hall to keep things from becoming a circus.” She cringed at the word choice, fighting the urge to whack her own forehead.
“A circus!” Lizzie’s eyes went wide. “That’s it!”
That is not it. Oh, please, don’t let that be it. “Oh, Lizzie, I’m not so sure that’s a...”
Lizzie had already shot up off the couch, circling the room with animated gestures. “Can’t you see it? A circus wedding? No one would ever forget it!”
I can guarantee you that, Amelia thought. “Lizzie, honey...”
“Couldn’t you just see Boone in one of those red coats? The ones with the black lapels? And a top hat? Just like one of those—” she whirled a hand, trying to pick the word out of the air “—what are they called?”
Amelia began to feel slightly ill. “Ringmaster?” Her voice took on an unfortunate squeak with the word.
Lizzie spread her hands in delight, oblivious to Amelia’s alarm. “Exactly. Oh, Lia, you’re right—it is the perfect choice. You’re so good at this. I’m so glad you’re my sister.” She bent over Amelia and hugged her tight. “If anyone can give me a circus wedding, it’s you!”
“Sure.” Amelia winced inside her sister’s hug. “You know me and parties.”
Lizzie released her and began pushing papers around on the coffee table in search of her cell phone. “I’ve just got to tell Boone right away!” She punched in a few numbers and then practically skipped off to the kitchen to leave Amelia staring at the red-and-gold carnage scattered across the table. “Guess what, Pookie?” Lizzie shouted from the other room, using the ridiculous nickname she and Boone continually used. Amelia put a finger to the bridge of her nose and exhaled slowly. You wanted her to choose. At least everything red and gold should be on sale right after Christmas.
She would swallow the cringe she suspected would permanently settle in her stomach and give Lizzie a wonderful wedding, because she was the only one who could. Mama’s illness had taken her from Amelia and Lizzie when they were teenagers, so there was no mother of the bride to step in and help. Daddy had made sure she and Lizzie were very well provided for before his liver disease finally took him, but Amelia had always suspected Daddy died more of a broken heart than a sick liver. She had memories—good ones—of what Mama and Daddy had been like as a happy couple, but she could easily recall the light that never came back to Daddy’s eyes once Mama was gone. Lizzie, being younger, maybe didn’t have as many memories of their parents’ marital bliss. That could be what was driving Lizzie’s urges for a nuptial spectacular.
Or—and Amelia felt a shudder at the thought—the urge to prove that at least one Klondike could make it to the altar.
And really, was it such a chore to give her baby sister the wedding of her dreams? More like saving Lizzie from herself, Amelia mused, picturing what Lizzie’s unrestrained imagination could dream up. Left to her own devices, Lizzie might rent an elephant to give rides on the League front lawn. Oh, Lord, I’m gonna need a heap of grace and patience for this. And you know I don’t have much of either on this particular subject.
“Boone just loved the idea!” Lizzie came back into the room to plop down on the couch, arms and legs skewed at dramatic angles. “People will be talking about this wedding for years, don’t you think?”
“Oh, I completely agree.” One thing was sure—Lizzie’s “circus” wedding would give Little Horn’s wagging tongues something else to talk about than her own broken engagement. Amelia came over to sit next to Lizzie on the couch. “Just promise me one thing, baby sister.”
“Sure. Anything.”
Amelia took Lizzie’s hand. “Promise me you’ll put as much work into the marriage as you do into the wedding.”
Lizzie pulled away the slightest bit. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you and Boone are young. You haven’t known each other all that long, and I haven’t seen either of you in church for weeks. A marriage is a lot more than just a fabulous party. If Daddy were here, he’d tell you a happy marriage takes hard work. I want you and Boone to have a happy marriage.”
Lizzie pulled her hand from Amelia’s. “You don’t really like him, do you?”
Amelia sighed. They’d had some version of this discussion so many times. “I don’t really know him. I want to get to know him, but I can hardly find ten minutes together with the two of you. He stayed all of thirty minutes at Thanksgiving.”
“Boone had to be somewhere. Why are you coming down so hard on him?”
She’d never heard Boone talk of any nearby family—who had “places to be” on Thanksgiving? Places that didn’t welcome the woman he intended to marry? “I’m not saying he’s a bad choice, Lizzie. I’m just saying...”
“Oh, I get loud and clear what you’re saying.” Lizzie stood up. “Look, just because your fiancé left you high and dry doesn’t mean every man is a louse.”