Chapter 11.
Luke had no expectations when he walked into the barn and he certainly was not expecting to see an explosion of Christmas inside. Taking his hat off as he got a better look around, he started laughing when he saw each of the horses were dressed as either elves or reindeer with their manes and tails beautifully braided filled with glitter.
"What the hell?" Nate said, sounding very confused as he walked in.
"Joanna and Quinn I'd say." Luke replied, still smiling.
"Oh no…" Nate said, his face dropping as something clearly dawned on him.
Luke never got the chance to ask him what was wrong before he got his answer.
"They turned Digger into a camp pony! He looks ridiculous!" Nate exclaimed, shaking his head as he saw everyone else's horses had been attacked too. "You don't have anything to say about this?" He asked, turning to look at his father but all Luke could do was laugh.
"I think everyone looks great." Quinn commented
"Agreed. We should do this more often." Joanna said
"I second this notion." Bryan added
"Then we shall." He said, nodding his head in agreement as they joined the others.
"I think you should at least leave my poor horse alone!" Nate demanded. "Why my horse?"
"We dressed up the other horses, plus a few other things." Joanna freely admitted.
"Other things?" Luke questioned, crossing his arms while giving her a stern look.
"Quinn and Bryan were in on it too!" She panicked, pointing to the boys who also reacted.
"Don't go throwing me under the bus! It was your idea!"
"Yes, well I'm living on a ranch full of grinches." Joanna said.
Quinn and Bryan went to open their mouths when Luke silenced them with his hand.
"Before you kids keep yellin at one another. What else have you done? Because is it a hazard to anyone?" Luke asked.
The troublesome trio exchanged looks as they thought about their own answers before Quinn spoke up.
"We may or may not have stuck antlers on a few vehicles." Quinn said.
"Chicken." Joanna muttered under her breath.
"Dude, he was gonna find out!" He whispered back.
"It's not anything bad."
"Then what is it?" Luke asked leaning towards the two siblings.
"Easier if we showed you. Lead the way Macquinn!" Joanna said with a grand gesture.
A short walk to the barn where the tractor and firetruck were kept and once more Luke let out a chuckle.
"Max has got to see this and take a picture." Luke said, turning to walk towards the house, calling for his wife.
"Thank you for helping me pull this off." Joanna threw an arm around each of their shoulders as she smiled.
"Always." Bryan said.
"I'm always down for messing with my brothers." Quinn replied grinning.
"Yeah well, celebrate while you can cause I will get you turds back." Nate threatened lightly, before walking away.
A moment later they could hear Maxine's soft laughter fill the air and then footsteps as her and Luke stepped into the barn.
"What made you think of this?" Maxine asked the three, her camera hung around her neck.
"I'm used to doing big christmas'." Joanna admitted.
"I thought it would be fun to dress up the horses just to see everyone's faces." Quinn said.
"And I joined in for the fun of it." Bryan added.
"Well done. It all looks beautiful and the horses look great but you should take the antlers off the horses before they try to eat them." Maxine said, her face was amused but her tone held a serious note.
"Can we leave the vehicles dressed up Aunt Max?" Joanna asked, looking at hers and the boy's clever work.
"That is up to your Uncle Luke, seeing as it is him driving the equipment."
Luke tried to keep a serious expression but as three sets of doe-eyed kids looked at him, he cracked as the corner of his mouth lifted in a half smile.
"I guess we could leave the tractor but you do need to take the things off the truck as it could be a hazard when I get called out." Luke said to them.
"Fair enough." Bryan said sighing with the others as they agreed, walking towards the truck.
"Before you kids take every down, I need a picture of you three showing off your work." Maxine quickly said, picking up her camera.
"Can I sit on the roof of the truck?" Joanna asked, turning to Luke. "I promise to be careful, I'm really light and I'll be sat down." She added, seeing Luke's hesitation.
"Me and Bryan could stand either side of the truck." Quinn said enthusiastically.
"That would look cool!" Bryan said.
"Alright, let's get you up kid." Luke said, before helping Joanna climb up the side of the truck and safely onto the roof.
"Big smiles everyone!" Maxine called out from behind the lens of her camera.
Joanna wore the biggest grin on her face, looking right at the camera while Bryan and Quinn looked up at her, wide smiles on their faces.
It was a moment that they all would find it hard to forget, Joanna especially. It was in that moment that she felt in her heart that this place, Three Ponies Ranch could be a place to call home.
"Talk to me kid, you look like you want to ask me something but you're not sure how to ask." Seth said, nudging Joanna.
Seth had helped oversee a training session with Hercules and they had just let him back with Missy.
"I'm nervous about Christmas." She said, "I know it sounds silly but I'm scared about the whole thing. My parents normally stayed with my grandparents over Christmas as they always held a huge Christmas Eve party and there were really important business partners that would attend. Christmas day was always fun, being an only child my parents always went all out with gifts and the house was covered in Christmas decorations. After opening presents we would go on a sleigh ride, it sounds cheesy but it was so cool, I loved it and I would spend all year thinking about it and then we would spend the afternoon doing what we wanted until we had to go to my grandparents for Christmas dinner."
"Not gonna lie, that sounds like something straight out of a movie." He chuckled at the thought.
"I never really thought about it that way." She said, thinking about what she had said.
"I can't say I blame you. I know Christmas won't be the same here but they are really fun. I mean look at what you, Bryan and Quinn cooked up around the barn, it hilarious and even Nate thought it was great. But you didn't hear it from me." He fake whispered to her.
"Yeah it was pretty good."
"It was. Mom and dad really liked it, but you still look upset."
"I thought guys were supposed to not know when a girl was upset?" She said, raising her eyebrow as she gave him a funny look
"Don't judge me. You're special to me, so shh." He said, trying to defend himself.
She allowed herself to laugh at him. Seth had been the one she turned to when she felt stuck and couldn't turn the adults, he allowed her to see the more sensitive side of him because his brother's would give him so much grief, calling him a girl but she thought it was nice.
"It's been over three months since I heard from my grandparents. I've tried calling the house a few times but they are always busy and they never call back. I'm trying not to freak out but they were such a big part of my life and it's like they are dead too. Have I done something wrong?"
"Jo…" Seth said softly, wrapping his arms around her. "I don't have the answer to that question and I can't think of anyone that would but I can promise you that you have absolutely done nothing wrong."
"It still doesn't sit right. They always told me I was their world and they gave me everything I could ever want and then went beyond that. It's just been so weird, I've lost an entire family and I've gained a whole new one." She said quietly and he hugged her tighter before breaking away.
"That's right, you do have a family and I know everything is different and you're scared but it's okay to be scared. We can't stop change, it happens without asking us but we can change how we react to it. You got this kid, you always have."
"So sooner or later I need to learn to stand on my own two feet instead of relying on other people?"
"Okay, that's one way of looking at it." He said, scratching his head. "I didn't think you would be that mature about this. Crap, you're thirteen not thirty but okay."
"Well, if I'm not supposed to act mature then what am I supposed to do?" She crossed her arms, wearing a sassy look on her face.
"I'm thinking of a few things I could say but I'm gonna say, Joanna Marsha Hanshaw, don't change because you are this perfect blend of serious and hilarious all wrapped in one."
"I try." She looked at him as a smile broke out on her face.