The Billionaire’s Christmas Miracle: The Billionaires’ Christmas Gifts Romance

by Hale, Chelsea

  She blinked and waited for his answer.

  He cleared his throat. He’d better keep his Santa voice all day if he was going to keep her from being stressed and feeling like she’d been lied to. Again. “My elf passes on all of my messages.” He moved his hands against his side, only then realizing that he still held the bells in his hand. He stuffed them inside his large coat pocket.

  She smiled her kissable lips at him. “It’s so good to see you again. I’m so relieved you’re here. Let me show you around.”

  Heat ran through him as she led him through the doors. Being next to her, but not being able to tell her anything, or apologize was acute torture.

  “Welcome to the Forest Festival,” she said, her tone hushed.

  Troy looked around. He’d left before everything was finished last night. The wonder and the transformation felt like stepping into Narnia. It was completely amazing. Rows of trees stretched the entire length of the room. Each sparkled with lights, and ornaments caught that light, creating a dazzling spectacle that was hard to completely take in.

  He’d imagined this moment—the first time he and Hailey would see the completed Forest Festival, the way it would come together regardless of the naysayers that had tried to convince her otherwise. She’d had in her head the vision of what it could be, and he hadn’t fully grasped onto the final display until this moment. Sure, he’d helped, but it had been Hailey’s passion for her aunt’s legacy that had pushed her. It was beautiful. “Wow,” he said, barely getting the word out as he tried to soak in all of the details.

  She beamed at him. “It’s something, isn’t it?”

  He nodded. “You’ve obviously done a lot of work, pulling this off.”

  Her expression clouded. “I had help, and besides, it’s not a success yet. We’ll know tonight if all the work was worth it. The first day is usually the best attended.” She ducked her head.

  He smiled under his curly beard, but he wondered how well she could see it. Would his lips look remotely familiar to her? Likely not. That was the Santa magic. People saw what they wanted to see. And what she wanted to see was a seasoned professional Santa who knew how to make the Christmas season magical for others. He wouldn’t let her down. Not when he could do this. He looked into her eyes. “You don’t need the numbers or the donations or the attendance to be a success.” He gestured to the room. “This is what success and hard work and perseverance looks like.”

  Her eyes glistened, and she sniffed. “Thanks, Santa.”

  He closed his eyes. He was Santa. He had to remember that. “You’re welcome, Hailey.”

  She blinked rapidly. “Let me show you around, and tell you a little more about what you’ll be doing.”

  “Lead the way,” he said, happy that she gave him the tour and told him everything he’d be doing. It was almost like they were still a team working on the Forest Festival again like they had for the last several weeks. Acute. Torture.

  Chapter 22

  Anticipation ran through Troy as he waited for the Forest Festival to officially begin. He was in an overstuffed wing-backed chair with candy canes on either side of him. His present sack had been filled with mini candy canes to give out to the children when they came to see him, as well as small velvet sacks of chocolates. He wiggled his toes in the black leather boots. He’d already been in costume for a couple of hours.

  Hailey stood next to the microphone on the main stage. He was diagonally behind her. She tapped the microphone, checking to see if it worked. “Welcome to the Forest Festival,” she announced. The crowd cheered, and she proceeded to explain the day’s events. The first day was bound to be more crowded, as those who wanted to bid on trees and other Christmas decorations wanted a chance to look at the trees available. The bidding didn’t open until the evening. She explained the procedures and how to mark a bid.

  Troy smiled as he watched her take ownership of the room. When she’d finished her announcements and explained the refreshments stand, she stepped away from the microphone and Christmas music immediately began playing.

  She made a face like she’d sucked on a lemon, blushing and looking down when she realized Santa had caught her making a face.

  She walked toward him and for a split-second Troy wondered if she could see him through the costume. But she only said, “Um, ignore my face.”

  “I don’t think it’s possible to ignore a face as beautiful as yours.” He coughed, wondering if that was an appropriate thing for Santa to say to her.

  She blushed again. “I meant the face I pulled. I-I wasn’t planning on being the one to announce it. I was going to have my … other Santa announce everything.”

  He tilted his head. “You’re a natural in front of a crowd.”

  “I have to be. It’s basically my job. But I prefer a smaller crowd. I don’t always get them, but then, I don’t usually have to make announcements up on a stage, with a microphone. I do it, but, it’s just one of the parts of my job I don’t love as much.” She shivered.

  Troy nodded, feeling bad that even though he was Santa and could have made those announcements, she hadn’t given him that task. “Well, if I can help in any way while I’m here, let me know. Santa is always happy to make an announcement for you.” He smiled, wishing he could hold her. Instead he gripped the armrests tighter.

  Hailey nodded. “Thanks, Santa. You’ve already helped more than you’ll ever know.” She bit her lip.

  He wanted to ask her more about that. He wanted to hear what she’d told Cara, and now he wished he wouldn’t have dismissed all of those details so easily yesterday. But before he could ask what she meant, she started speaking again.

  “The line for the kids will be starting in about five minutes. Is there anything I can get for you? Bottled water?”

  He shook his head. “I’m good at the moment.”

  “I’ll be around if you need something. And I’ll have two volunteers who will be here with you. One of them will always have a radio, so keep us posted.”

  “I will. Thank you, Hailey.”

  Hailey disappeared into the Forest Festival, and Troy had little time to think about Hailey over the next hour as he greeted children, posed for pictures, and gave out candy canes. Volunteers rotated through the North Pole, helping take the pictures and also making sure that he was stocked with candy canes.

  There was a lag between children in the line, with a sleepy little boy who didn’t seem like he was in the mood to see Santa, whether he was given a treat for it or not. As the mom wrestled with the small toddler, Troy picked on a conversation behind the mounds of cardboard snow decorations making the North Pole look like the North Pole.

  “I heard her announce it. She’s going to auction off her aunt’s house at the Forest Festival,” a woman said.

  “I’ve had my eye on that property for years,” a man’s voice said. “I talked to Hailey’s aunt multiple times about selling, but she never would. I made offer after offer on it.” There was a pause. “It really would be the best place to put condominiums. We could capitalize on the location. The land is big enough. Nobody here wants that property as much as I do. We could get a huge discount on it, and the wrecking ball could be there by New Year’s. When did she say it would be auctioned off?”

  The woman spoke lower, and Troy strained his ears to hear more.

  Out of nowhere a toddler came bounding toward him, and between the loud toddler’s voice calling, “Santa” and his squeaky bubble shoes, he couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation. When the toddler’s turn was over, he stood up from his chair, hoping to look like he was stretching. He couldn’t see the people who’d been talking, but the voice had sounded familiar to him.

  An hour later when his volunteers rotated, he heard the voice again, and confirmed the guy’s identity. Paul, Hailey’s ex, was the one who had a dream to build condominiums. In all reality, perhaps it would bring some business to the sleepy town, but Troy was going to fight it. Hailey had asked him to rescind his offer on the ho
use, and he’d kept that promise, but maybe as Santa he could at least raise the price enough that her ex or anyone bidding for it would have to pay a fair price for it. He hated the idea of it being knocked down though. He had to at least tell Hailey. She had to know. But would Santa be able to convince her it was a bad idea to auction it off at the Forest Festival?

  Chapter 23

  Hailey looked around the Forest Festival. The first day was more than halfway finished and already it felt like a smashing success. Bids were starting to pour in for the trees. Volunteers had regularly reported how busy their rows were. They’d helped patrons record their bid for each tree they’d been interested in, and many of them had been going between trees non-stop during their volunteer shift.

  Between the bustle of kids and adults chatting through the aisles, the clinking of glasses and forks against plates in their dining area, she could barely hear the underlying Christmas music anymore. Every half hour the place became more filled. Very few people were leaving. She’d already given a few statements to both the local news reporter and journalist, who were covering the Forest Festival. The online edition of the article would post later tonight and hopefully draw in a larger crowd for the rest of the week. With any luck the footage would air on the evening news.

  A twinge of sadness filled her as she watched Santa for probably the tenth time in the last hour. He was so good with the kids. She imagined that he’d spent most of the last ten years perfecting his ability to talk with children the way he did. It was endearing and at the same time the sadness hit her again. How she’d wanted to see Troy in that role. She laughed at the silliness of that thought now.

  Troy was so personable with all of the businesses they’d gone to. He seemed to bring a natural energy into each encounter with people, and she’d wanted to see if he could translate that into the Santa role. Was Troy good with children? Did he have nieces or nephews in his life? They hadn’t spent much of their time talking about extended family, except for her aunt, but then she realized that was mostly because she’d talked so much about her aunt.

  Hailey shook her head again. “I’m not thinking about him,” she muttered to herself, though she was. She looked at Santa one more time, wishing Troy had never offered to get out of the position. This Santa was amazing, the best she’d ever seen, but each time she looked his way, or heard the jingling of bells, she missed Troy. She held a hand to her forehead.

  What was wrong with her? Troy hadn’t been honest with her. She couldn’t pine for him anymore. She wouldn’t pine for him anymore. He’d made his choice. She’d given him a choice, and he hadn’t chosen her. She inhaled deeply through her nose, determined to let this Santa know how grateful she was that he’d come.

  She looked toward the North Pole, where Santa had been sitting each time she’d looked up toward the stage. A rope blocked the chair and Christmas tree off from access to the patrons. He’d probably gone to get dinner. Santa’s “Elf” that she’d been in contact with had made it clear that Santa needed his own private dressing room and place to eat. His anonymity was very important to the work he did, and she understood that. To be as good as he was, he probably had to protect himself a little. She busied herself for the next half an hour, smiling at patrons and admiring rows of trees that she’d already seen a dozen times.

  A red-headed volunteer heading toward the North Pole carried a large bag of candy canes. Hailey headed her off before she reached the doors that would allow her access to the stage from the main room. “I can take these,” Hailey said.

  The volunteer nodded. “I was going to stay and help Santa,” she said.

  “You can go and get dinner now if you haven’t already. I can take a shift helping Santa,” Hailey offered.

  The redhead beamed. “Thanks. I’ve been wanting to try one of those freshly made cinnamon rolls.”

  Hailey nodded. “Ask them for the North Pole Special, and you’ll end up with a dusted layer of candy canes on top of it with no extra charge. It’s delicious with the hot chocolate.”

  “Thank you,” she said, practically skipping away in the opposite direction.

  Hailey pushed her way through the door and onto the stage. The striped clock showed Santa would be back at any minute. She spread the candy canes out on the gold tray that was next to Santa’s chair. He’d put several into his present sack, but it had been an awkward thing to reach from, so they’d found the charger tray to put on the table next to him. She arranged them into a spiral, letting all of the canes point the same way. The design swirled beautifully.

  “In about two minutes all of your hard work will be messed up,” a voice said behind her.

  She turned around and smiled. “Hi Santa,” she said.

  “Hello Hailey.” His deep voice was rich with vibrato.

  “It’s my turn to volunteer in the North Pole.” She smiled brightly.

  He looked at the ornamented list that was propped next to a book. “What happened to Sally?”

  Hailey smiled. “She heard about the North Pole cinnamon rolls, and I told her I’d take her shift. You’re stuck with me for the next half hour, if that’s okay.”

  He nodded, his beard moving as he smiled. “You’re the boss, so I suppose you can take whatever position you want to.”

  “I actually wanted to thank you,” she began.

  “For what?” He sat down in his chair, holding his arms open toward the first child in the line.

  Hailey stepped back, only now realizing that trying to tell him thank you for helping her make this day what it needed to be was going to be difficult. As the little girl took her candy cane from Santa and hopped off his knee, she took the little girl to her mother, giving them directions for how to exit the North Pole and return to the Forest Festival. With her as the sole volunteer next to Santa, she kept the line going as fast as she could, only then realizing how ill equipped she was to help him.

  At the end of the thirty minutes, she swapped with the volunteer at the beginning of the line, and watched Santa as he listened to one child after another tell their hopes and dreams. From this side she wasn’t able to hear what they were saying, but she was able to get a front view of his smile and his entire suit. He really made the best Santa she’d ever seen. He smiled in her direction after each child, and it took her way too long to catch onto the fact that he was smiling at the next child in line, and not her.

  * * *

  “I thought you were selling your house today,” Santa said casually, when the Forest Festival was finished for the evening. He slung his present sack over his shoulder, and took out the bells that were in his pocket.

  “They made an announcement that the house would be ready for auction on the last night. You might have missed the announcement when you were eating. I couldn’t get everything lined up like I wanted to for tonight,” Hailey said. The realtor was still working out the details on the way to make the sale work so that someone couldn’t bid $1 and buy it. It had to be a reasonable bid, and it was causing her realtor a slight panic attack.

  Santa’s words cut through her thoughts. “That’s nice of you to donate the proceeds of the house. It’s a very generous offer.”

  “It will be if there are any bites on it,” she said, not sure what else to say. There was no way that she’d get as much as the offer she’d turned down from Troy. Her realtor had repeatedly told her as much after informing her how much Troy had been willing to buy the house for, and the stupidity of that move finally sunk in. She should have just taken his offer. She didn’t need the house. She wasn’t coming back. But she couldn’t bear the thought that Troy would own her aunt’s house, and she’d never have the option to see it again, especially not the way they’d left things.

  “How much is the house worth?” he asked her.

  She studied Santa, and told him the price. “I should be able to get $750,000 for it.” Perhaps it was a little optimistic, and it was still less than what Troy had offered on the house, but she needed the power that came from think
ing positively.

  Santa nodded. “That’s a generous donation. I’m sure the Children’s Hospital will appreciate it.”

  Hailey nodded. “I hope so. And speaking of that, I wanted to thank you for jumping in at the last minute.” She looked around the darkening room as row by row the power was shut off to the Christmas trees. “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

  Santa paused next to the chair and smiled. “You would have managed, I’m sure.”

  She shook her head. “For all of the beauty of the trees, and the donations, it’s Santa that draws the crowd.”

  “There were many more people among the trees than in Santa’s line,” he said, as they headed through the candy cane rope entryway out of the North Pole.

  “Maybe that’s true the first day, but that won’t be the case for the next couple of days,” she said.

  “Are you trying to scare me off?” he asked, giving a jolly laugh that sounded a little forced.

  She shook her head. “No, just trying to tell you how grateful I am for you. I-I wasn’t sure it would work into your schedule, and I’m grateful it did.”

  He nodded. “I’m happy to be here. I’ve heard great things about the previous Forest Festivals.”

  “I hope it lives up to those expectations.”

  “It has so far,” he said.

  “That’s good to know, Santa.” She paused, tilting her head at him. “Does it ever get old that people call you Santa?”

  “It hasn’t so far.”

  “You’ve been doing this for a while?”

  “Longer than I ever planned to,” he said.

  They walked toward the doors and Hailey did a quick check that everything was shut down before she locked up for the night.

  “Thank you for trusting me enough to let me come to the Forest Festival. It was a great day,” he said.

  She looked around the now deserted parking lot, except for her rental car. “Did you need a ride?” she asked.