Her Billionaire Christmas Secret (Texas Ranch Romance Book 4)

by Sophia Summers

  Dani and Peter rode their bikes to the park for the last time, to say their goodbyes in private. Dani put her arms around him, sobbing. She stepped away and then kissed him for the first time. It was the first kiss of a teenage love, but it awakened passions he knew nothing about. He desperately held her tight, never wanting to let her go. She broke away and ran to her bike. He cried out “bye” and watched her ride down the hill and out of his life.

  The town butcher witnessed the scene and walked his dog over to Peter. “You will never be good enough for a girl like that.” Peter looked down, not willing to look the man in the face.

  The tall man reached down to pull back his small, snarling Shih Tzu. “You have bad blood.” As he walked away, he looked back. “Sooner or later, you will end up just like your father.”

  Peter could feel the truth of those devastating words. What if Dani ended up like his mother? It crushed his heart. He determined he would never do anything to harm Dani, the only person he loved in the world.

  When he got home from the park, there was a limo in front of his house. “Peter Jacobs, I am here on behalf of your aunt Meredith. My name is James. I already have your luggage, please get in.” The Dugans were still at work. He had said goodbye the night before. He got in and felt the door close on what he thought would be the only happy time of his life.

  James handed him a copy of the obituaries of his parents. They were simple. “Derrek Jacobs passed away due to complications associated with his illness.” His mother’s was even shorter. “Adelaide Walker Jacobs died of a brain aneurysm.” As he rode hours on end to his new home, he wondered what his aunt would be like. His mother’s sister was being forced to take him in. He hated to be a burden.

  James told him that his aunt was a very busy woman and was in Europe at present. She had made arrangements for his education. “You are a very fortunate young man. Your schooling will be the best this country has to offer.” As the limo drove up to a military academy, he was relieved. He wouldn’t be a problem to her directly after all.

  The campus was stately. The large red brick buildings reminded him of pictures he had seen of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The sidewalks were lined with large, old maple trees. He liked the looks of the place. Uniformed boys were rushing along the sidewalks. As they got out of the limo, the tower clock began to chime. He followed James up the stairs to the head office. At the door, James shook his hand. He looked down at Peter and smiled kindly.“ You are going to do well here. I will probably see you again for holidays and summer breaks—if that is what your aunt decides.” Peter clung to James’s words of encouragement repeating them over and over in his mind. It gave him the courage he needed.

  The school headmaster showed Peter into a room with uniforms that had been purchased for his use. When the headmaster looked at what was in his suitcase, he made a sour face. “Would you like me to throw these away for you?”

  “Can I get a few keepsakes out first?”

  “May I. And, yes, you may.”

  Dani had given him an arrowhead her father found in Montana on a hunting trip. She said it would be a reminder of their love. He also took out a small wedding picture of his parents. It was the only remembrance of his mother that he had. In the bottom of his bag, tucked away almost as if he wanted to hide it from his memory was an eagle-embossed coin.

  Looking at that coin the memory returned as it always did. Dani had always come bouncing over to his back door on Christmas morning to get Peter and bring him over to her house. On this particular morning, he woke up to hear his father screaming. He slowly crept down the hall toward the living room. His father was throwing furniture around, yelling over and over, “We killed them. We had to kill them!” His mother was trying to hold him back, but he threw her away, and she crashed into the wall and collapsed.

  Peter ran over to her. “Mother, Mother!” She opened her eyes, and he helped her stand up. She walked over to his father, who had fallen back onto the sofa. “Derrek, it will be okay.” She wiped his forehead and the drool that was hanging from his chin.

  His father picked up a coin from the table and threw it toward Peter. “I never want to see this again.” He then grabbed a bottle of whiskey and took a long drink.

  Peter picked up the coin just as he heard Dani knock on the back door.

  His mother nodded toward Peter. “You go ahead. I’m fine, and your dad feels better now. He’s sick and suffering, Peter. It’s okay.” Peter looked at the coin and put it in his pocket. All he could see was the sorrow in his mother’s eyes and the bleeding scratch on her forehead. She was the one that was sick and suffering, and it wasn’t okay. It was the only time he struck her, that Peter knew of. She never had bruises or injuries. But every day must have been a trial to endure.

  Peter looked over at the school master and put the coin in his pocket. His mother’s suffering was over now. His father was dead, but Peter carried the poison of that moment in his blood.

  “Let me show you to your room.”

  This was the beginning of his thirst for knowledge. He discovered he could gain recognition for doing well at school. The years passed quickly, and he graduated with honors. His aunt warmed to him as she saw him excel. He’d started to receive more holiday invitations to her home.

  Letters came from Dani. He saved them but never responded. She was better off without him. He had looked up alcoholism, and the research was there. He did have bad blood.

  It seemed his memories always ended with bad blood, the butcher and his snarling dog. Peter pulled himself back to the present, shaking the negative memories by humming along with the Christmas music for the last few miles to the airport where James, his pilot, waited.

  Chapter 2

  Christmas morning arrived, and Dani got up early to make Sam’s favorite pancakes. Her husband, Mitch, pushed his wheelchair to the living room to be there when Sam came out to open his gifts. “Is it going to be a good Christmas for Sam?” he asked.

  “Sure, you know our parents always send a ton of gifts. He’ll be thrilled.” Dani finished setting the table.

  After high school, marrying Mitch seemed the next logical step. Everyone expected that they would marry. At first their marriage was wonderful. Mitch had a good job managing a sporting goods store. And, before Sam was born, they traveled together to football games around the country.

  She smiled as she remembered the fun their group of friends would have during the football season. Weekly BBQ’s were scheduled to watch the games. It seemed, in their small town, you just kept the persona of your high school days. Mitch was still the football star, and she, the homecoming queen.

  After a time, Dani wanted more than that. She hadn’t finished college, and she wanted a family; soon she was pregnant. The joy of being pregnant was dampened when Mitch collapsed at a football game. He was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with a severe case of early onset Parkinson’s. She was in shock. Her world was crumbling before her. The next two weeks were a nightmare in and out of the hospital.

  One afternoon, she was sitting on the front porch in the shade of a large maple tree when Mitch’s boss drove up. He walked up the sidewalk, looking down. “Hello, Dani, I’m afraid I have some bad news. I received a message from headquarters. They’re sending Mitch’s replacement next week.”

  “He’s fired? We just bought this house; what are we supposed to do now?” She’d known he would not be able to keep his job. But she’d hoped for something to come up. “So you don’t have any office jobs that Mitch could do?

  “I’m so sorry, we don’t.” His eyes held sympathy, but she could tell he was relieved to get back in his car and drive away.

  This was just the first of many disappointments. “Mitch, my friends never call now. I think Sherrie was avoiding me at the grocery store last week. We are not invited to the football parties anymore either,” she said one evening when she was tired of pretending everything was normal. “You can see clearly who your real friends are when something l
ike this happens.”

  “Who wants a sick, dying guy at their party? Talk about a letdown.”

  Dani could see the truth of what he said, but admitting it just made it worse. It locked her into the situation with no way to get out. She was too positive a person to admit defeat. “You are not dying. They have more medicines to try. People can live many years with this disease. There are even celebrities with this disease.”

  Mitch tossed his sports magazine on the floor. “I don’t like being around the group anymore, Dani. Not when they don’t really want me there.”

  “Well, I love you, and I want to be with you, so we’ll just spend time with people who appreciate us and do everything we can to keep you here.”

  She was trying so hard to keep him happy she didn’t recognize her own fall into depression until her OB mentioned it. “Dani, I know you have a hard family situation. You also have a baby that needs the best nutrition your body can give. You don’t want to take medicine for depression during your pregnancy.”

  “Why would I do that?” Dani was surprised by his comment.

  “Dani, you are obviously depressed. I see all the signs. As hard as this is, you can’t let this get you down. I want you to start walking at least three miles a day. If the weather is bad, go to the gym or even the mall and walk. You are becoming a shadow of the person you once were.”

  Dani broke down and cried for the first time since Mitch’s diagnosis. Her OB had been a good friend in high school. They’d been debate partners. He put his arm on her shoulder. “It’s good to cry. I bet you never do anything for yourself these days.”

  Dani laughed through her tears. “How did you know?”

  She felt much better after her appointment. She had to get a grip. She read in one of her pregnancy books that a stressed mother could make her baby more prone to stress. If she was going to be a good mother, she needed to start now.

  She went home that day and took a serious look at their finances. She figured she had enough in the bank to make house payments for two more months—until the end of the year. That gave her time to try and figure something out. Her parents had encouraged her to come and live with them, but she wasn’t ready to give up her independence, not yet.

  One day in December, just as she returned home from her daily walk, she found the bank manager sitting in his car out in front of her house. He got out when he saw her and handed her a letter. “Dani, an anonymous benefactor has paid off your mortgage. We received this letter from our headquarters in New York. You will find the deed with the other paperwork.”

  Dani sank to sit on the porch steps. “Who would do this? And how can I possibly thank them.”

  “I don’t know, but seeing this sure gives me the Christmas spirit.” He smiled at her. “Merry Christmas, Dani.” He got into his car and drove away.

  “Merry Christmas!” she called after him. She sat down just inside the door and opened the letter. She could not believe what she was reading. The letter stated that just as he said, a benefactor had paid off the mortgage on their home. Dani fell back onto the sofa, crying with relief. Once the tears stopped, she whooped with joy.

  Mitch was in the hospital again for testing. The meds he had been taking were not working any longer. She showered and rushed to the hospital to tell him the good news. He read the letter over a couple times and smiled. “You will be okay, now. I have been so worried.”

  “Mitch, we will make it now. We can do this! This is the perfect Christmas!”

  After they changed his medicines, Mitch started to feel better. But he became less communicative and kept to his room longer each day.

  Sam was born that spring. At the hospital, Dani held her new baby close as she shed a tear. Could she protect him from his life’s sorrows? Mitch was failing fast, and she was afraid this little boy wouldn’t get to know his father. All at once, she could see Peter’s destitute expression as he’d received news of each of his parent’s deaths. She shed a tear for him too, remembering their tender goodbye years ago.

  Mitch did have that much wished for remission from his illness and the years passed in happiness. He participated more in the family and kept up an internet job. The secret gifts arrived every year, sometimes by delivery and sometimes they found them on the front porch. One year she received a scholarship to a university that had online degrees. She was thrilled and enrolled immediately. But most of the gifts were for Sam. She had come to feel like she had a guardian angel somewhere out there. It gave her a sense of peace and comfort through all the uncertainty.

  The Woodlock home was always the most brightly decorated house on their street. Yearly, her parents sent her a box of decorations from the ranch. She always laughed, thinking she could decorate the entire grade school with her Christmas loot.

  Her parents owned the Rio Lago Ranch. She loved it there. It was a high end ranch resort. There was a little cottage behind the ranch house, in a grove of trees, that was hers any time she came. It was away from the guests and had a huge swing and little playground for Sam. She had only been home once since he was born. With Mitch’s illness, she hated to leave him home alone, and he didn’t want to travel.

  She let her mind roam through her memories while she finished making the pancakes and decided she had a good life. She felt satisfied and grateful. Finally, Sam came downstairs with bright eyes as he surveyed the presents under the tree.

  “Boy, Sam, I wondered if I was going to have to wake you up on Christmas morning. Merry Christmas!” Dani gave him a big hug, and he ran over to his Dad for another.

  Her parents always sent fun gifts for Christmas. She wished she could have been home with them this year. Mitch had been in remission for the last few years but his prognosis now was getting worse. Her parents couldn’t come up—Christmas was a busy time at her parents’ dude ranch. She sighed knowing she wouldn’t have their help as she tried to make Christmas fun for Sam.

  As Sam went over to look at his presents, he squealed with delight. He carefully lined up each gift on the table.

  It was a tradition in their family that Mitch told the Christmas story from the Bible at breakfast on Christmas morning. This year Dani did it. Whole wheat, fluffy pancakes filled Sam up, and he asked to go outside to see the snow. It was a special Christmas if Kentucky received snow. Dani bundled him up and opened the door to the porch. She turned away but stopped when she heard Sam yell. She looked back. He was beaming, standing next to a beautiful, red bike.

  Dani stepped out. “Where did that come from?” Dani looked around the street. Everything was magically white with snow. There was no sign of Santa’s helper.

  “It was Santa, Mom. He told me at the mall that I could have any wish I wanted.”

  “I’m starting to think you are right, Sam.”

  Chapter 3

  Peter drove to the airport hangar where the pilot of his Learjet waited. He rented this particular hangar full time so he could leave his Jaguar in its place to wait for next year’s Christmas delivery to Dani. At the estate he had a garage full of cars; some he purchased but a few were left by his uncle George that his aunt hadn’t wanted to sell.

  “Thanks, James, I appreciate these Christmas trips you take with me.”

  James smiled and taxi’d the jet out of the hangar. “These trips make Christmas real to me. Having these secret deliveries is not only fun it’s a part of Christmas that I look forward to.”

  “I really appreciate the help and good advice you’ve given me over the years. And besides who can say their limo driver is also their pilot?” Peter laughed.

  James laughed. “Only the people who pay like you do.”

  Peter reached into his brief case and pulled out a carved wooden box. “That reminds me, here’s your Christmas bonus.” James opened the lid and found it was full of gold coins.

  “Thanks, Peter, I may have to start burying this loot.” James laughed. “Before you take your seat, have you thought about what I said last year about contacting Dani? You’re not th
e pariah you once believed you were.” James leaned back to look him directly in the eye.

  “She is happily married, and I won’t do anything to upset that.” He frowned, thinking of her and her husband’s illness.

  “Well, it is good that you can help her now and then. Even though you are not a part of her life, you’ve still taken steps to support her life whenever you can. It shows where your heart is.”

  “That’s all I can do now.” Peter took the arrowhead and his dad’s coin out of his pocket. Deep down he still felt that nagging butchers voice. This was all he should ever do.

  Peter shut the cabin door and took his seat.

  He sat back, satisfied with this year’s Christmas trip. It was getting harder to figure out things that Sam might want to have. His mall Santa idea had helped, but Sam wasn’t going to believe in Santa for too much longer.

  At thirty, Peter had dated a few women, but he still compared everyone he met to Dani. Sleek Magazine had voted him the most eligible bachelor of the season. He had dark curly hair, cut a little long. He was 6’7”, and he stayed in pretty good shape. He had been a runner at school and spent every morning working out. The fact that he never touched alcohol allowed him to skip the middle age belly most of his work associates were gaining. He was also the richest bachelor in New York at present. He tended to avoid social events just for that reason.

  He was an impressive business leader in New York and had the respect of the community. As CEO of his Aunt’s hedge fund Peter had doubled revenue since he had taken charge. His aunt was more than happy to have him manage the business. Time and again, people hinted or out right nudged him to date, to settle down. But he resisted.