“Thanks,” she said relieved that he was going to do that for them.
The next morning, Dave showed up right on time and helped get Emma ready before carrying her to the vehicle. Along the way to the doctor appointment, he tried to make small talk to ease Kelly’s mind.
“It's a shame Emma doesn’t feel well. I would’ve suggested we hit the mall and do a little Christmas shopping,” he smiled in the rear view mirror at the small girl before glancing over to her mom.
“Yeah, that would’ve been nice,” Kelly agreed. All she could think of was how few gifts Emma would get this year due to her financial situation. And Dave, she hadn’t even bought him a gift. What do you buy a millionaire who already has everything? A tree for the island he owns off the Florida coast?
This was the first year in a long time that she was dreading the holiday. Normally, Christmas was her favorite holiday. She’d deck her house out in tiny snowmen with a nativity scene planted on top of the table near her front door and colored lights inside and out. This year, she barely managed to get a plainly decorated tree up in the living room and wrapped a few strands of garland along the door frame going into the kitchen. The tree had hardly any presents under it, but that was okay. That was normal, especially since Santa brought most of everything anyway. Boy, Santa sure is going to look pathetic this year, she thought.
Pulling up at the doctor’s office, Dave parked at the front door and turned on his hazard lights as he climbed out of the SUV to carry Emma inside for Kelly. Once they were inside the warm building, he headed back outside and parked the car. Dusting the cold winter chill off of himself as he re-entered the building, the medical assistant was calling Emma back for her appointment. He headed back to the private room with them. Surprisingly, Dr. Berringen didn’t keep them waiting this time.
“So I hear Emma’s symptoms have gotten much worse than they initially were. What has changed?”
“She’s still experiencing the severe pain and stiffening even with the prescription-strength NSAIDS and the methotrexate. It’s almost as if her body does not recognize the medicine.”
“Mmhmm, I see,” he mumbled, glancing through her chart at the last set of tests. “I think we’ll need to do another MRI and maybe a few more X-rays before we decide on the next step.”
“More testing?” Kelly could feel her heart drop. This wasn’t something she was going to be able to afford.
“Yes, I can get them scheduled right after Christmas and I’ll have you come back in right after the first of the year. With the holidays, I can only work so much magic in rushing the tests.”
“Dave, can you go ahead and start taking Emma back out to the car for me?” she wanted to speak to the doctor alone.
After he and Emma had been gone, she turned her attention to the doctor. “Look Dr. Berringen, I really like you. You’re a great physician, but I can’t afford to keep doing all of this testing. I’m a single mom who lives on an extremely meager income.”
“Miss Hall, I do understand your concern. These tests are necessary. I would never order additional testing if it weren’t required to determine exactly what we’re dealing with.”
“So you’re saying that these tests are absolutely necessary? You can’t just look at the ones she did a few months ago?”
“I’m afraid not. As the condition progresses, it takes its toll on the body. We need to see how much it has affected her bones and joints. If we don’t do that and don’t treat her condition correctly, it could leave her crippled in a wheelchair with severe pain—more pain that she’s in right now.”
Frustrated, she agreed, “I’ll make sure we have it done.”
Out in the warm car, Dave and Emma waited for Kelly. When he saw her walking out of the building, he circled around to pick her up at the front door. The car ride home was silent as Kelly thought about how much everything was really adding up. It also didn’t help the fact that she barely had Emma’s presents bought for Christmas. When they arrived at Kelly’s house, he carried the little girl inside and sat her on the couch.
“Emma Buggy, would you like some hot chocolate?”
“Yes, momma, I would! Can I have marshmallows in it?”
She nodded her head indicating that she could and made her way into the kitchen. As she filled the cup with water, tears began to blur her vision. Dave walked in and noticed her shoulders heaving as she cried silently by the sink.
He walked behind her and wrapped his arms around her, “Hey, it’s going to be okay. We won’t let anything happen.”
At her melting point, Kelly broke down. “Let’s go into my bedroom for a minute,” she sat the cup of water on the counter.
Once they were inside the bedroom, Kelly shut the door to prevent Emma from overhearing what she was about to say. Dave looked at her with concern in his eyes; this was going to be bad.
“What’s going on?” he asked her.
“I don’t know how to say this to you. I—I’m almost ashamed to admit this to you,” she paused, looking away. The tears began to flow. “I’m just so stressed out. I know that she’s sick and needs medical help, but I can’t afford it. I’ve maxed out my credit card, I have almost no cash, business has picked up some, but it’s not been great and I hardly have any of Emma’s presents bought. She was actually hoping for a tablet this year. Before she came out of remission with her symptoms, I told her to pray to God and ask Santa to bring it and maybe she’d get it. I don’t even have fifty bucks to go buy one of those small, cheap tablets! And the doctor keeps ordering all this testing….” Her voice broke as sobs washed over her.
“Kelly, it’s not the end of the world. She needs this medical testing and she needs you. She needs you to be strong for her and show her that everything’s going to be all right. I know that I offered to pay for everything before, and you shot me down, but would you consider it now? Please?”
“I’m sure you mean well, but I can’t just let you pay for everything,” she said, wiping her nose with the sleeve of her sweatshirt.
“Listen, Kelly, you’re my girlfriend, not some charity case. You and that little girl on the couch out there mean the world to me. Here’s what I’d like to propose, and you tell me what you think; don’t interrupt, just hear me out.”
She nodded her head, still sniffling her tears as she wiped her cheeks dry.
“I’ve actually put quite a bit of thought into this; it’s something that’s been on my mind for a while now. I realize that you won’t take my money, you’re not that type of person, but what if I was able to get the money to you in a different way?”
Now he had her attention; she was listening.
“What if I didn’t give you the money?” he asked, putting the word give into air quotes as he said it. “I’d like to hold a fundraiser, and call it the “Emma Buggy Fund”. I will personally finance all of her medical bills and procedures. All money raised from the fund will directly go to help benefit other children with her condition.”
He looked into her eyes, trying to gauge her reaction, but her face was blank. As she processed his words, she was at a loss for words.
“Can I be honest with you?” she asked. “No man has ever been this good or kind to us, why are you? Why do you care so much? I mean, I appreciate what you’re proposing, but what’s your motivation to do it?” she asked out of curiosity.
“I’ve never seen someone as pure as you, so genuine. Kelly, you may not realize this, but you’ve shown me that people with good hearts really do exist. Your love for Emma is something that I wish I would’ve had with my own mother; I want you to have the best in life. Please, let me help you.”
“Let me think about it. I need time.”
Dave’s words replayed through her mind. How can I, she thought, not take his help? This could make a huge difference in my baby’s life; how can I deny her of that? There’s no way that I could pay for all of this—well, if I did, it would take years based on my salary. I might have to swallow my pride and accept his help. Doe
s that make me a bad mother for taking his money? Angry, she wondered, knowing that I’m too proud to accept his help, how could he publicize my need? On the same token, it’s so touching that he would go through all of the trouble to organize an event on her behalf. It could also help other families that are in the same financial struggle that I am.
She hated the fact that she needed to accept his offer and how ashamed it made her feel. With all of these emotions coursing through her, she wore herself down as she pondered on whether or not to accept his generous offer as she drifted off to sleep. Not only would it make a difference in Emma’s life, but it could make a difference in the lives of other children. After a good night’s sleep, she mulled it over some more in the morning; it was Christmas Eve. Staring at the bare tree made her feel even worse, but at least Santa would be coming that night. He would deliver several more presents for her baby girl, though, none of them would contain the tablet that she so desperately wanted. The one she’d been hoping and praying for.
“Dave,” she said when he answered the phone, “I was wondering if you were coming over tonight for dinner?”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Is there any particular time I should be there?”
“Oh, I thought maybe we’d eat around six o’clock, and maybe we could have some egg nog after dinner.”
“Sounds good to me. Do you need me to bring a dish or pick anything up on my way over?” He knew that she couldn’t leave her little girl to run to the store.
“Actually, yes, if you could pick up an apple pie and some whipped cream, that would be great. I forgot to get dessert when I went shopping for dinner.”
“I’ll be there in just a bit; I’m wrapping some presents right now and then I’ll head over.”
“You didn’t have to get us anything for Christmas,” she said, feeling guilty for not having a present for him to open.
“I know I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. It’s nothing significant.”
Honesty got the best of her. “Dave, I have to admit something to you. I didn’t have money to get you anything,” she explained as shame swept over her.
“Don’t worry about whether you bought me anything. You’ve already given me the best present in my life: you and that sweet doll face who’s probably wondering when I’ll be there,” he laughed. “I’m going to jump off of here and get over there as soon as I can.”
Kelly had just placed the ham in the oven when Dave knocked on the door. “Come in,” she yelled from the kitchen.
“Momma! It’s Dave!” Emma exclaimed as her eyes widened, staring at the presents in his arms.
“Here, let me help you,” she offered, placing the gifts under the tree.
“I’ll be right back. I have to go back out for the dessert, but I wanted to bring the important stuff inside first.”
The trio had an excellent dinner, and afterward, they sat around sipping hot cocoa and coffee. Emma couldn’t take her eyes off the brightly wrapped presents with big bows on top.
“Momma, could I open my present from Dave? Please, please, please?” she begged.
Kelly looked at him and raised her eyebrows, signaling that if he didn’t care, she didn’t care. “Let’s see what he thinks.”
“Oh, go ahead!” he said as he retrieved a gift from under the tree. “Open this one.”
She tore into the package like a pro, after carefully removing the beautiful bow on top of the present. Her jaw dropped when she saw it was a Color Blaster.
Giddy with excitement, she yelled, “Look momma! Look! He got me a Color Blaster!”
“That’s awesome!” she exclaimed, giving her daughter a high-five.
“Would you like to open one of your presents tonight?” he asked her.
“If you want me to,” she said, snuggling up to him on the couch.
He reached under the tree and pulled out a square-shaped present, neatly wrapped with a ribbon tied around it. “I hope you like it.”
“I will because it’s from you,” she said as she carefully opened her gift.
She pulled out a cashmere sweater decorated with beautiful sequins. “Dave, this is so sweet,” she said as she nestled the sweater against her face.
“Thank you,” he said, kissing her forehead. “I thought maybe you could wear it to the benefit,” he said, hoping that she’d thought about it more and would accept.
“Actually, I was going to talk to you about that.”
He leaned in, waiting to hear her response.
“I think we’ll accept. It’s not something that I’m very proud of, but I thought a lot about it last night and I have to do it for her.”
“Do what?” Emma asked.
“We’re going to have a benefit on your behalf and any money raised will help other children with your condition,” he explained to her.
“What’s a benefit?”
“Um, it’s kind of like the fundraisers that you have at school,” her mom explained, trying to relate it to something that she would understand. “You know how your class sold chocolate bars when your teacher was raising money for a class pet that you could all play with?”
Emma nodded her head.
“Well, it’s kind of like that, only except the money will help pay for other little boys and girls who have the same thing you do. It will help pay for their testing, medicine and equipment that they might need.”
“And you’re going to do that for me?” Emma asked Dave, shocked that she was so special to him.
“Absolutely! I have to tell you something, Emma,” he knelt down before her. “You and your mommy mean the world to me. You’re such a big piece of my heart and I want to help you and other children with your condition in any way that I can. Do you wish to have a party next week?”
“Next week?” Kelly asked, surprised it would be so soon.
“Yes, I thought we’d have a New Year’s Eve benefit. I can advertise on social media sites and have my assistant get in touch with some of our close friends and family. We can have some food catered, order a band and, of course, have our star guest at the party,” he said, turning his glance to Emma.
“Can we? Can we mom? Huh? Please?” Emma begged. She couldn’t wait to be the star guest at the big event.
She smiled before she finally agreed that they could. As the evening wore on, the three of them laid around watching classic Christmas programs on television until Emma fell asleep.
“I feel so sorry for her,” Dave announced once she was conked out on the sofa.
“I know. She can hardly get around at all. I take her for more testing next week; I just hope she doesn’t end up in a wheelchair before her tenth birthday.”
“Nah, that’s not going to happen,” he reassured her.
“I hope not, and I want to tell you how thankful I am that you’re doing this benefit for her. I know I was a pain in the ass about it at first and refused to go along with your little plan. But I did a lot of thinking and I decided that this was in her best interest. Sometimes it’s not all about me, it’s about her.”
“True,” he agreed. “I was wondering if it would be all right if I spent the night over here tonight. I have a lot more presents out in the car,” he confessed.
“You what?” she asked, confused and surprised.
“I know that you wanted her to have the best Christmas and you’ve been working so hard, but things just haven’t been working in your favor. I also wanted to make sure she had an awesome Christmas so I figured what could be better than two Santa’s?” he grinned.
“Of course you can spend the night, but you didn’t have to bring presents. I feel so sorry that I wasn’t able to get you anything,” she said again.
“Don’t worry about it. Really. You two are my presents. I couldn’t think of anything else in the world that I’d want more than you two. Now come help me carry in all of them,” he laughed as he joked around with her.
The couple tiptoed out of the front door and out to his SUV. Kelly’s eyes popped out of he
r head as she saw the entire hatchback filled to the rim with tons of presents.
“Oh, my God, Dave! You really didn’t have to do this!” she said as he lifted the trunk open.
“I know that I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. Here, take these and I’ll grab the bigger ones. After this trip, you just stand by the front door. I’ll bring them to you so you’re not out in this cold,” he said as the cold December wind whipped and cracked across his face.
They carefully placed each present under the tree until it was completely full. It was unbelievable how bare the tree had been only hours ago and now the presents were spilling out into the living room. The couple dozed off on the couch watching Christmas movies until they were loudly awakened by Emma shrieking at the sight of all the presents that invaded their living room.
Rescued by the Billionaire (Billionaire Romance Novel) Page 12
