Gifts of Love

by Natalie Ann

  She had no clue why she just shared that with him. “Which she probably didn’t want to do.”

  “No. She didn’t. But bills had to be paid and it was the best way to get the cash that was needed as the debt was mounting. She wants to pay the loan back, but no one will let her. The business is jointly in her name and my father’s. She put everything into it and it’s hers as much as my father’s.”

  “Your business has done a lot in the community. No one thought to do any drives or anything to help raise money?”

  She snorted. “No. And we aren’t the type to ask anyway. If someone did come forward—but no one did—my family would have said no, I’m sure.”

  “Why did you snort when you said that?”

  “No reason.”

  “Of course there is a reason,” he said, taking her chin and lifting it up to look in her eyes.

  “Let’s just say my grandmother was a soft woman and would give the shirt off her back. She gave a lot, more than she should have, especially to places that didn’t use her money for what they said. When she needed something, no one came forward for her.”

  “So she was taken advantage of?” he asked, his face showing some anger.

  “You could put a lot of words to it, but it’s in the past now.”

  “Just so you know, every place I give money to, donate time to, anything, they are checked out fully. I don’t give to any place that spends more than ten percent on admin costs. I’m firm on that. I give a lot and I want to damn well know that it goes to those in need.”

  “That’s good of you. I wouldn’t have expected any differently.”

  Things she wished her grandmother thought to look into. Instead her grandmother would hear someone needed food, clothes, water, you name it, and give a sad story and she was pulling her checkbook out to sign her name faster than the Roadrunner taking off with Wile. E Coyote on his tail.

  “Do you want to meet some of the kids that will get the toys when the time comes?”

  “What? You meet them? How is it possible to do that?” She’d read about his drive. He collected thousands of toys. Not little toys, but big toys, some high-priced ones too.

  “I don’t meet them all,” he said. “I do go to some of the hospitals when they are delivered. I donate gaming systems to the hospitals and then games too so those are always there for the kids. But the toys for the kids, I find out who is there, their ages and such and then we try to match what we can if we know. I like to see their faces when they get them.”

  “You know, I think I would like to see that too. You just go to the hospitals?”

  “For the most part. My mother gets the names of families in need in the area and she puts together toys from the collections and we will deliver them. I try to go to a few of those deliveries, but I just can’t get to them all.”

  “That has to be hard, going to those houses.”

  In her mind, a family in need might be in a poor financial situation. She’d already been told that most of the recipients of the toys were lower income families who couldn’t afford to have a true Christmas.

  “Some of them, yes. But it is a reality check too. My staff deliver all the toys to the organizations or those families my mother sorts through. Most take part in it. Those families, it’s not just toys. My mother is good at vetting out families in need and their situations. We bring food, household items. Anything they need, we provide.”

  “Cash?” she asked, thinking he might not do that.

  “No. That isn’t what this is about. It’s about the holiday. It’s about gifts. It’s about giving the family a day away for their troubles. But I won’t help with their bills. If I start doing that, it never ends. I have to put a limit on things.”

  “Or you get taken advantage of?” she asked, though she knew he’d never be someone that would let that happen to him.

  “Not necessarily that as it would never end if I handed over cash.”

  “Why Christmas?” she asked.

  “Probably because I found out about Make A Wish on Christmas morning and remembered how I felt. I wanted others to feel it too. To have that memory of the day.”

  “So what did you get from Make A Wish?”

  “A trip to Disney.”

  She giggled. “As a teen I don’t see you wanting to go to Disney. Unless it was for the rides. Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

  “It wasn’t for me,” he said.

  “Who was it for?”

  “My parents and Kat. My parents always talked about wanting to take us. Kind of that Hallmark thing. Kat was so into princesses and stuff like that. She kind of got pushed aside for years with all the attention on me and my health problems. She never said a word, but I felt bad about it. I wanted to get something to give to them.”

  She gave him a gentle kiss on the lips. “You were giving back to people long before you had the wealth to do it. It’s just your nature.”

  And that nature of his was going to make it hard for her not to fall hard for him. What the hell was she getting herself into when she’d been down this road before and swore never to return?

  17

  Someone Special

  The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Brendan pulled into Lane Tree Farm and shouldn’t have been shocked there wasn’t a place to park.

  It was a beehive of activity with people looking at pre-cut Christmas trees and those cutting their own walking in the distance. His family had never done that before and it was something he’d always wanted to do. He wondered why he hadn’t it since he’d been on his own.

  Maybe because he didn’t think it’d have the same effect if he did it alone as with someone special. And there had never been anyone special before.

  He finally found a place to squeeze into when someone else pulled out, then made his way to the greenhouse that would have been open to start collecting gifts at eight. During the week, Lane’s didn’t have the staffing to watch the building that far out, nor would he want them to even pay someone.

  Instead gifts were collected at the main building, set aside and Lane’s staff brought them to the greenhouse when they had time. He’d already made one trip over to get a big collection in just the first week.

  This was the first event they were holding and Holly had told him last night when they had dinner that black Friday had brought people out in droves dropping off toys.

  When he looked around the greenhouse, he was stunned to see every tree that Nancy had put up was overflowing with toys several feet out in each direction. The main staging area was packed with even more. The greenhouse had only been open for two hours.

  On the weekends, he had staff that volunteered to work and collect from eight until five. His staff was great that way and he was thrilled to look around and see his mother getting ready and setting up supplies.

  It was ornament decorating day. His mother probably went overboard, but it was for the kids and a great cause.

  Tables were jammed together at one end, folding chairs set up, and boxes of wooden ornaments that kids could choose one from, then paint, glue, or draw on, and take home along with sheets of Christmas-themed coloring pages.

  Each table had everything from crayons, markers, paint, glue, glitter, even fuzzy eyes and mini Santa hats. His mother was like a kid in the candy store when it came to stuff like this.

  “Hey,” he heard and then felt a hand on his arm.

  He turned to see Holly standing there, then leaned down to give her a kiss on the lips. She looked shocked by his move prompting him to ask, “What’s wrong?”

  “People are watching us. Like your mother and sister. Some employees.”

  He looked around and caught the smirk from his sister, his mother’s grin. When he turned his head, some employees were laughing, others not paying attention. “What’s the big deal?”

  “I didn’t know if anyone knew about us.”

  “My sister and mother do. I don’t make it a habit of announcing to my staff when I’m dating someone though.
”

  In his eyes they were dating too. It’d been a few weeks now and he figured he’d redeemed himself enough. Holly and he didn’t spend as much time together as he’d like, but it was enough since it was one of her busiest times of the year and he was swamped with work and the toy drive.

  “Oh. Kat never said a word to me and we’ve talked several times this week alone,” she said.

  He ran his finger down her nose. “She wouldn’t, but they didn’t find out until Thanksgiving.”

  She breathed out. “Okay. That makes me feel better.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Well, if she knew longer and hadn’t said anything I would think she didn’t approve. Maybe she thinks I’m just not worthy of her brother.”

  There was a grin on Holly’s face, but he could read the true concern behind her eyes with that statement. “First off, my sister is pretty straightforward and would have no problem stating if she wasn’t happy about something. Not that it would matter because it’s my life and not hers.”

  “But you’d want their approval, wouldn’t you?”

  He always thought he would but found with Holly that he didn’t care what anyone else thought because she made him happy and for once that was enough in his life.

  “Of course I’d want it, but if I didn’t get it it wouldn’t change anything with us.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me last night that your family knew?” she asked.

  Holly had come over and spent the night and he was hoping she’d stay again tonight too. “By the time you got to my house you were pretty beat. It was a long day for you. I could see it on your face. We ate and then had other plans.”

  Those other plans were stripping each other naked, cleaning up in the shower together, then messing each other up in bed again. They’d both fallen into an exhausted slumber after, then she got up and left bright and early this morning to come to work.

  Once Holly was gone, he’d done some work and here he was ready to be by her side all day even though he knew that wasn’t possible.

  “Are you staying all day?” she asked him now, then stepped away when someone walked by. “I can’t believe how busy it’s been already and there is still another twenty minutes before the event starts.

  “I planned on it. I’m glad I got as many staff here as I did and I’ll have lunch brought in for them. I’ll make sure I get enough for all your staff if you can let me know how many are working and then figure out a way to make it available for them.”

  “You don’t need to do that,” she said.

  “I don’t need to do anything. You should know that by now. Your staff is still putting in time and they work hard. Ordering a bunch of pizzas or subs is the least I can do.”

  She nodded her head. “They’d appreciate that.”

  “What’s easier? Pizza, subs, something else?”

  “Either works and is your choice. It’s a nice gesture from a great guy.”

  “You think I’m great?” he asked.

  “Are you fishing for compliments?” she whispered. “I thought I gave you a bunch of them last night.”

  “I think we both did that,” he said.

  The blush that spread across her face just made him grin.

  She turned when she saw some commotion and Kat moving forward. “Oh my God, I didn’t know there was going to be a news crew here today.”

  “Is that a problem?” he asked. “Kat always has some kind of media. I think she wanted to get it yesterday, but with it being such a big shopping day, the news was more focused on that for some reason.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I guess I was just shocked over it. They aren’t going to want to talk to me, are they?” she asked, looking a little horrified.

  He started to smirk. “Kat will talk with them, and I’ll be interviewed, of course. They will want to talk to someone from Lane’s. Kat will prep who you want. Maybe you, maybe your mother or father? It’s your choice.”

  “My mother would be best. She’s done the most work for this. It’s my father’s family business, but he isn’t one for getting in front of the camera and he’s busy. My mom planned on spending some time in here anyway today. She’s excited about this event and didn’t want to be ringing out customers when she could be playing with kids.”

  “She likes kids?” he asked.

  “All she talks about is grandkids someday.” Her hand flew to her mouth. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way.”

  Any other time if a woman talked about the future in terms of marriage and kids, he tuned it out and moved on, but hearing it from Holly, then her embarrassment over it, made him want to yank her forward and kiss her again in front of everyone.

  It wasn’t the time or the move to make when she still looked so unsure. Not only that, the place was filling up with families and kids excited to start working on ornaments.

  “It’s not a problem,” he said. “My own parents have been making comments for years. I think that is the nature of it. Have kids, raise them, push them out the door, then beg them to have their own kids so they can spoil them rotten and send them home to us to remind us of how bad we were at that age.”

  She tilted her head with a grin on her face. “That about sums it up. Thankfully Ryan is older than me and gets it more than I do. My family knows we are dating too. I just wanted you to know in case my mother says something to you. She’s known for a bit, but I told her not to say anything.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I didn’t want to put you on the spot. It was new. It is new. But if your family knows and your mom is here and my mom is here. And oh man, I just thought of that. What if they start talking to each other about us?”

  He looked over and saw the two moms together with their heads down, but they were organizing supplies. “Then they do. I think they will be pretty busy today doing other things. It is what it is. Let’s focus on the kids today and tonight we can focus on other things.”

  “You wanted to make plans tonight?” she asked.

  “I had hoped.”

  “Me too,” she said.

  18

  Power of Promotion

  “That was the most tiring day I’ve had in a long time,” Holly said in the greenhouse.

  Between the kids, the gifts, the crowds, the media, the cookies and drinks, and music piped through. It was like an all-day party.

  She’d had no idea he was going to have cookies and drinks for the kids while they made ornaments. She thought the kids would stay ten to fifteen minutes each to finish their craft and then leave. Most did do that, others stayed longer.

  The older kids were talking to Brendan about his video games, when new things were coming out, how to beat certain levels and so on. She could see he was eating it right up. And he should because he worked hard for it.

  When she wasn’t helping out with the kids—not that she needed to with all his staff there—she was directing people on the farm, where to go for trees, answering questions on winter plants and their care. You name it, she was doing it and her head was spinning and her feet were aching.

  “In a good way?” Brendan asked.

  “Absolutely. I’m sure from a revenue standpoint it was one of our best days in years.” She’d told him last night that their revenue was already up thirty percent from this time last year and she attributed it to the toy drive and publicity.

  It wasn’t just the media that he had here today, but the fliers around town, in the newspapers, posts on social media. Lane Tree Farm’s name was out there like it never was before and this was enough for her to prove to her family the power of promotion.

  She’d been trying to get them to pay more for advertising over the years, but they didn’t want to waste the money on it. Since she was cutting so many budgets on everyone else, she had to back off when they cut hers.

  Instead, she spent a lot of time trying to build a social media presence that did nothing but give her a headache, as she felt too inept with it.

  But a few we
eks of their social media accounts being linked with St. Nick’s was enough to make all her headaches vanish like Santa up the chimney on Christmas Eve.

  She never should have been so distrustful of Brendan when he chose their family business to work with his toy drive this year. It was benefiting the kids and their family business.

  Her family was thrilled, as they needed this boost, but they were on her case Thanksgiving Day about her relationship with Brendan.

  “You aren’t dating him because you feel like you have to play nice during this event, are you?” Ryan had asked her.

  She’d been appalled he’d think that. “Do you think I’d do that?”

  “No,” her father had said. “No one thinks you would, but we know how much you put into the business and how much you didn’t want to do this. Now you’re dating Brendan and we wonder about your motives.”

  “No motives. He’s a nice guy. I judged him wrong is all,” she argued.

  Her mother had come to her defense. “Brendan is a great guy. His sister is wonderful. Even his mother. They are a wonderful down to earth family, and if Holly is happy, that is all we should care about.”

  “Are you happy?” her granny had asked her.

  “I am,” she admitted. “Happier than I thought I’d be.”

  “You think you don’t deserve to be happy?” her mother asked. “Are you still holding everything that Jack did tight inside? You know he was wrong and you shouldn’t have let what he said get to you.”

  She hadn’t wanted to talk about her ex and how things had turned out on the holiday. She never wanted to talk about the douche that made her feel like shit. That she thought she was in love with even though she always knew she wasn’t good enough for him.

  Jack had said it to her enough. On the sly of course. As a joke. Enough for her to think he was serious, but then to make comments that he was kidding.