My Only Christmas Wish

by J. M. Jeffries

  Roo took a deep breath and glanced at Eli. “Can I whisper it to you?”

  Santa nodded and leaned over, his white beard brushing his daughter’s face. She put a hand up and cupped it around her mouth. An odd look appeared on Santa’s face and for moment Eli couldn’t interpret it. Eli wondered what she had to say that she couldn’t say in front of him. Was this a test? Was she telling Santa something that wasn’t on the list in hopes of…of what Eli wasn’t sure.

  “Santa’s going to work some special magic for you, Sophia,” the man said with a cautious glance at Eli.

  Compassion showed in his eyes and Eli wondered what his daughter wanted that made the other man look sort of sad.

  “Thank you, Santa,” Roo said, and suddenly she bounced away. “There’s Ms. Beverley, Daddy. She’s going to take me back to the day care center.” She ran back and gave Eli a kiss.

  Eli started to ask Santa what his daughter had asked for, but the man shook his head. Not even being owner of the store would shake Santa out of confiding his daughter’s secret. Eli felt a grudging admiration for the man.

  Eli followed after his daughter. She stopped briefly at the Christmas tree next to the Santa station and started picking pieces of paper off the tree. She turned to Eli and handed him her toy list and all the pieces of paper she’d pulled from the tree.

  “Daddy—” her voice had a very serious tone “—I want to help Santa. Can you buy these toys for these people? See—” she pointed at the list in his hand “—I picked out what I think each one would like.”

  He stared at his daughter and felt a lump form in his throat. He took the list, trying to ease the sadness in him. Where had she learned such compassion? She hadn’t learned it from him. Her mother?

  “I’ll take care of it,” he promised.

  She walked away with Ms. Beverley. He took a deep breath as he watched his daughter get in the elevator with other children from the day care.

  * * *

  Darcy sat at her desk reading the newest inventory report. She made a note about the damaged merchandise and started to file the report when her door slammed open.

  “What are you doing?” Eli demanded.

  “I’m reading inventory reports. That still is my job, isn’t it?”

  Eli glared at her and Darcy glared back. He was supposed to be out making the employees see who was boss, but here he was antagonizing her again, which didn’t make her like him.

  “I’m talking about my daughter.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.” She fluttered her eyes at him.

  “You know exactly what I mean,” he said in an accusatory tone.

  “Are you upset because she wanted a photo of us with Santa?”

  Eli ran his hands through his hair a look of frustration on his face. “Don’t be obtuse.”

  “Then explain yourself.” She settled back in her chair and placed her hands calmly in her lap.

  He walked back and forth in her teeny, tiny office, so agitated she was almost amused. He took three steps, and then turned around still glaring at her.

  “Stop using my daughter to get to me.”

  “I’m not using her. I’m teaching her. I invited her to go to tea because Mrs. Hansen has two granddaughters Sophia’s age. Every year she brings her daughters and granddaughters, we have tea and they all drop a lot of money. Bennett’s is now your daughter’s future and she needs to learn there is more about business than counting the register receipts.”

  He stopped, facing her.

  “This is a luxury business,” Darcy continued. “People shop here because they want to, they choose to. They can go to Neiman’s and Saks or mail order for Bergdorf Goodman, but they don’t. They come here because we make things comfortable and make them feel extra special.”

  “Don’t lecture me about business,” Eli growled.

  “Maybe somebody should. This is not some nameless, faceless Dollar Bin that’s on every corner in every city in this country where the employees change with the same regularity as I change my shoes.” She pushed herself to her feet, suddenly angry. “This is class, this is style, this is tradition. There is Harrods, Bergdorf’s and Bennett’s. Tell me, when you go to one of your Dollar Bin stores, do you go down on the floor and greet your customers?” She held up her hand. “Don’t tell me, I know the answer is no. The Bennett family may not own this department store any longer, but it will always be our legacy, and I won’t let you do anything to harm that.”

  “You can’t stop me,” he almost shouted.

  “You know, you’re right. I can’t. But the lease on this land comes up for renewal in two years, I don’t have to renew. And then you’ll have to put a big yellow sign across the front door that says, Moving Sale: Lost Our Lease.”

  She heard him grinding his teeth. He was a man used to getting his own way. He was right, he could steamroll right over her, but he needed her. She was the heart and soul of this store.

  “You can’t get rid of me yet,” she said.

  “I’m well aware of that fact. But I can make being here very uncomfortable for you.”

  “That is so immature.”

  He tilted his head at her. “Maybe, but in the end it’s about winning.” He stormed out, slamming her door.

  Darcy sat down at her desk and rested her chin in her palm. Think, she commanded herself, running various strategies through her head. She wasn’t giving up anything without a fight. And she already had Sophia on her side. All she had to do was find a way to pierce through his bullheaded stubbornness and he would see she was right.

  The door opened and her ex-husband, James, peered around the edge. “There was a lot of shouting going on in here.”

  Darcy sighed and gestured him in. James was a nice-looking man in a bland sort of way with his dark hair, brown eyes and an incredibly beautiful mouth. She’d always loved his mouth. She still did.

  “I take it,” he said as he eased into her office, “the transition is not going well.”

  “We’re still marking our territory,” she said with a glance at the clock. Six hours. Eli Austin had been here for only six hours.

  “You haven’t won him over yet?”

  “This is only day one,” she said as she sat down.

  James laughed as he took a seat across from her. “Darcy, I’ve seen you work your magic in five minutes.”

  “I must be getting complacent in my old age.” Maybe Eli was immune to her magic. No, he couldn’t be. No one was immune to her.

  “I am my mother’s favorite son, Darcy, and you got her in the divorce. You can win over anybody.”

  “Except Mr. Dollar Bin. He has a cash register for a heart.” She studied James. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

  “Setting up the exhibit. You did say I could exhibit my paintings for the holidays. Also, I’m meeting a potential client to discuss a portrait. I suggested we have a late lunch here.”

  “I haven’t forgotten,” she said, smiling at him fondly. Surprisingly enough they were better friends now than when they’d been married.

  “Don’t worry about Mr. Dollar Bin,” he said, “you’ll win him over. He’s just a little bump in your road.”

  “He’s more like a hundred-foot sinkhole, but thank you for being so supportive.” Darcy smiled at him. “Why did we get divorced?”

  “Because my mother ended up liking you more than she liked me,” he said with a grin.

  “Be serious,” she responded with a little laugh. She still loved James, but more like a brother than a husband. Their marriage had been comfortable, almost too comfortable. Even at the end when things got too rocky, she’d continued to be fond of him even as they knew they needed to go their separate ways.

  He sat down and said, “Dr. James is in.”

  “That man,” Darcy
said with an exasperated sigh, “could tax the patience of a rock.”

  “How is that?” James asked, grinning at her.

  “I get that I’m in business to make money. I like making money and the things money can bring,” she explained. “But I like to think I can make money and make people happy, too.”

  “But you already do that.”

  She slapped her hand down on her desk in frustration. “He wants to kill everything that Bennett’s is. Like he hates us—he hates this place. He’s on some sort of personal vendetta.”

  “Have you asked him?”

  “How do you ask someone a question like that? Oh, by the way, Mr. Austin, did you buy this store just to destroy it?” She sighed. “Maybe I’m being ridiculous and reading more into his actions than are really there.”

  “That is so unlike you. You’ve never been all about a worst-case scenario.”

  “I have no idea what this man is doing.”

  “Darcy,” James said, “you’re a very good manipulator, and you’re incredibly nice about it. You manipulate the world and we all go along happily because we know we’re going to enjoy the ride.”

  “He thinks I’m shamelessly manipulating his daughter.”

  “Are you?”

  “I would never manipulate a child, though I did have a half-formed plan using Sophia, but that wouldn’t be right. She’s just a child and she’s lonely.”

  “You’re not quite the scheming type,” James said.

  She studied her ex-husband. “I can’t decide if that’s a compliment or not.”

  James stood up and came around the desk. He kissed her on the head. “It’s a compliment. Look at it this way,” he said as he walked to the door. “You have a goal, and he has a goal. The two of you have to work out how to make your goals work together. And if anyone can find a compromise to suit you both, it’s you, Darcy.”

  “My goal is to save Bennett’s and I’m willing to change and make things work, despite being up against a bad economy and a skilled adversary.”

  “You can’t do anything about the economy except ride it out, and I know you already have a plan to show him the magic of Bennett’s and talk him over to your side.”

  She sat back thinking. She felt sorry for Sophia. She looked so lost and alone. If ever there was ever a child who needed the magic of Bennett’s that child was Sophia.

  “Do you have an exit plan? What happens if you fail?”

  “I’ll lose Bennett’s.” The sadness of losing her heritage almost brought tears to her eyes. The tears turned to anger, and the anger to resolve. She wasn’t going to let Eli Austin destroy her or her store. She didn’t care if he owned it now. Bennett’s was still her store.

  “You’re a smart woman, you can start your own department store.”

  “I told Austin that but in reality, I don’t know how to do that. I was born to this and until my mother and wicked stepfather sold me out, I had everything under control. It wasn’t perfect—but under control.”

  James smiled at her. “I know you were doing okay.”

  “I don’t understand Mom’s reason for taking something so important to me and getting rid of it.”

  “Think about it,” James started sympathetically. “Your mom was raised to be a hothouse flower, a wife, a mother and a hostess. She was trained to arrange flowers and do calligraphy just to sign thank-you cards. When your father died and you were all grown up, she fell back on the one thing she knew and that was to be wife. The fact that she fell for the first guy in a shiny suit doesn’t mean she was a bad wife and mother, she just doesn’t have anything else in her life. She needed a man.”

  “Are you telling me I don’t need a man?” Darcy demanded.

  “That was one of the most attractive qualities about you,” James said solemnly.

  “So why didn’t our marriage work?” Darcy asked sincerely.

  James sighed. “Darcy, my love, I was a fixer-upper project and once you dressed me up and made me the man I am now, you didn’t need me anymore.”

  “You make me sound so conniving.”

  “No,” James said with a smile. “It just makes you you. You like a project. I will be eternally grateful. People have forgotten where I came from because of you. I know which fork to use and which verb tense goes with a sentence.”

  “I know you didn’t have a formal education, but you weren’t stupid.”

  “Darcy, you helped me find my way but, like any momma bird, you had to kick the baby out of the nest.”

  Darcy closed her eyes. Eli wasn’t a project, he was a mission. And that was a totally different thing.

  “I have to go, Darcy. I’ll talk to you later.” James bent over and kissed her.

  She almost grabbed him to keep him from leaving, to keep him telling her how good she was at what she did. Instead, she let him go and sat back in her chair, thinking hard. She had to find a solution to the problem of Eli Austin. Sophia was a start. Sophia was already half won over. Now, Darcy had to work on her father.

  Chapter 5

  Darcy and Eli sat in an alcove in the restaurant. She loved the subdued reds and browns of the decor and the pristine white tablecloths, with fresh flower arrangements, and the fancy candleholders. Her father had had the idea of making the top floor of Bennett’s into an upscale restaurant with fabulous food and the kind of service people could only get in five-star establishments.

  Across from Darcy sat Monica Hansen. She was a tall, imposing woman who looked born to royalty but really grew up in San Francisco. In her mid-sixties, she had salt-and-pepper hair framing a stubborn face and twinkling blue eyes. She wore an ankle-length dress in a bright orange-and-brown print and fashionable brown boots on her narrow feet. Her daughters looked like her, but one was taller and the other shorter. The two granddaughters were the spitting image of their grandmother right down to their fondness for brightly colored clothes.

  Darcy hadn’t expected Eli to show up, but he had and he looked mildly surprised at Monica as she slid her hand around his elbow.

  “I was walking past Bennett’s, almost thirty years ago,” Monica said, “and I saw this divine pair of kente cloth gloves in the window. I still have them.”

  Mrs. Hansen continued, “And I just knew I had to have the gloves. So I walked right in and was I surprised to find myself the only white woman in here. And this divine child with the cutest curly hair showed the gloves to me. How old were you then, Ms. Bennett?” Mrs. Hansen’s amused glance fell on Darcy.

  “I was only four years old, ma’am,” Darcy answered dutifully, pleased at the odd look on Eli’s face. Even though Darcy herself didn’t remember the gloves, her grandfather told her the story over and over again until it moved into family legend.

  “And then Darcy’s grandfather walked out and started showing me around. My goodness, I’ve been a customer since then. And for a long time I was the only white customer, but I talked about Bennett’s so much to my friends they all eventually started shopping here.”

  Eli smiled and nodded. Darcy grinned. With Mrs. Hansen, no one had worry about keeping up their end of the conversation.

  “Scone, Mr. Austin?” Mrs. Hansen said. “I so adore tea. And Bennett’s puts on the most fabulous tea once a month. All the LWLs come.”

  “LWLs?” Eli said with a confused glance at Darcy who simply grinned at him.

  “Ladies who lunch,” Monica said, leaning toward Darcy as though to emphasize her words. “Really, Darcy. If he’s going to run the store, he needs to learn the lingo.” She patted him on the knee as though he were a child. “You listen to Darcy, and she’ll steer you in the right direction.”

  Monica Hansen was more than just a lady who lunched. She’d been born to the elite Hansen family who could trace its lineage back to Henry VIII, and was a powerhouse in Atlanta societ
y. Her LWL group consisted of a number of wealthy, influential women who flew in from all parts of the world to their monthly conclave. In some ways, Bennett’s reputation and growth into the upscale department store it had become was due to Monica’s interest.

  The granddaughters sat at the next table with Sophia. Darcy hid a grin. They all wore little hats and gloves and handed scones around acting exactly like Mrs. Hansen. Sophia looked up, and Darcy winked at her. Sophia winked back and turned her attention to the youngest girl’s teddy bear who resided in its own chair. Darcy would have to see about setting up play dates for Sophia and the Hansen grandchildren. What am I thinking? Sophia isn’t my daughter.

  Eli’s mouth tightened as Monica continued on about Darcy’s abilities. Darcy tried not to laugh. He wanted her gone and every time he spoke to a customer they told him how wonderful she was. She wondered if he had a clue yet. Bennett’s was not a Dollar Bin.

  Mrs. Hansen’s daughter stood up and excused herself to go to the restroom. Mrs. Hansen leaned over to Darcy. “Did you set aside those darling leopard-print Christian Louboutin’s for her?” She glanced meaningfully at the retreating daughter.

  “You know you always have first look at the shoes, ma’am,” Darcy said politely.

  Eli tried to look like he was enjoying his tea, but his face was pinched. Darcy wanted to tell him that Mrs. Hansen and her family spent a lot of money all year long, but especially at Christmas. He couldn’t afford to be rude. She wanted to kick him under the table.

  Once tea was ended, Mrs. Hansen announced it was time to shop. Dutifully, her daughters and granddaughters stood and waited politely as Mrs. Hansen paid the bill.

  “Are you going with them?” Eli asked as he stood.

  “Of course. I love to shop. I’m going to get my own Christmas shopping done, and Sophia asked if she could come with us. She says she has a list and I’m sure she has a budget. I need to know what she can spend.”

  “I beg your pardon,” he said.

  Patiently, Darcy repeated, “Sophia wants to finish her own Christmas shopping and, when I asked her about her budget, she said she didn’t know. So if you could tell me her budget, I promise you she won’t go over it.”