“Speaking of which, it’s time to get a move on,” Nick said. He motioned for Holly to join him on the rooftop. “Let’s go.”
“Forget about it.” Holly shook her head. “I’ll wait here.”
Nick didn’t waste a moment on a protest. He leaned into the sleigh, pulled back her lap blanket and unlatched her seatbelt. He took ahold of Holly’s hand and pulled her to her feet. “Watch your step. The roof is slightly pitched.”
“You think I don’t see that?” Holly drew back, but Nick gently tugged her forward. No match for his strength, she found herself standing next to him in a matter of seconds.
“You can’t seem to make up your mind, Holly. First you won’t get into the sleigh, now you won’t get out.” He smiled down at her. “I didn’t know you had a fickle side.”
He laughed as she narrowed her eyes before she turned to the elf.
“Please, Tinsel, can I wait here with you?” Holly asked.
“Tick, tock.” Tinsel shook his head. “Time’s a wasting while we stand here and discuss this. Off you both go.”
Seeing that as his cue, Nick put his hand on the small of Holly’s back and gently guided her away from the sleigh.
“Oh, Nick, no.” She turned wide, beseeching eyes up to him. “I don’t want to go down a chimney. I’m afraid of small spaces. I can’t even handle the thought of an MRI.”
“Don’t panic. No one but my father goes down chimneys.” Nick reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of skeleton keys. “Would it surprise you to know that I’m a crack locksmith?”
Holly rolled her eyes. “Apparently there are all sorts of things I don’t know about you.”
“Yes, and that’s exactly what got us in this fix in the first place. You don’t even know what you don’t know about me.” He pulled two small flashlights from his pocket and handed one to her. “Keep this pointed down and try not to talk.”
He heard Holly’s sharp intake of breath. “We’re breaking and entering?” she gasped.
“It’s not called that when a Claus does it.” He popped the lock and opened the door that led down from the roof. “Try to have a little faith in me, Holly.”
They went down six flights of stairs and into a hallway. Once there he pulled a slip of paper from his pocket and held up his flashlight so he could read the numbers on it. “Gonzalez. Apartment 814.” He shone the light on the door nearest them. “It must be at the other end of the corridor. Let’s go.”
He could feel Holly just one half-step behind him. He liked seeing this vulnerable, uncertain side to her personality. She wasn’t quite the ultra-efficient super self-assured taskmaster once she was away from her desk.
“There it is.” Holly tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to a door on their left. “I found 814. Can we leave now?”
Nick didn’t answer. He pulled an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Slip this under the door.”
“Why?”
“Because this is how we get Christmas back on track.” He placed a hand on her shoulder, and was relieved when she didn’t flinch or pull away. “I wish you’d trust me, Holly.”
She nodded and took the envelope. With a quick glance back at him, Holly bent and slid the envelope under the door.
He motioned for her to rejoin him. “Excellent. Let’s go.”
“Are you going to tell me what this is about?” Holly asked.
He nodded. “Yes, once we’re over Canada.”
But they didn’t take more than six steps before the door to apartment 814 swung open and a terse voice called out to them, “Hey, wait a minute. What is all of this? Why are you sneaking around my apartment door?”
Nick looked at Holly and raised his eyebrows.
Holly’s eyes widened. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Nick leaned in toward her so the occupant of 814 wouldn’t hear him. “Just follow my lead.”
“Why?”
He shook his head, glad his father wasn’t here to witness this. “We just got busted.”
Chapter Thirteen
Holly wasn’t quite certain what being busted entailed but Nick didn’t look overly worried so she tried to quell the butterflies in her stomach. She was more than happy to remain quiet while he talked his way out of the jam he had gotten them into.
“We didn’t mean to disturb you,” Nick said.
The woman in the doorway looked them over from head to toe. In the semi-darkness it was hard for Holly to make out what she looked like. But her voice was wary. Guarded. Suspicious. She held up the envelope. “What is this?”
“A bit of Christmas cheer,” Nick said. “Merry Christmas, Miss Gonzalez.”
“How do you know my name?”
“A neighbor sent us a letter about you and your siblings,” Nick said. “We just wanted to do something to ease your burden a bit and make sure that Maria and Edgar had a few new things on Christmas morning.”
“Who is we?” the woman asked. “How do I know you’re legit? Because if you’re trying to pull one over on me, I’m not going to let you.”
Holly glanced at Nick to see if he was offended by her accusatory tone but the expression on his face was gentle and kind. Exactly the way a future Santa should look.
“My name is Nick Kane and I’m with an organization called the Best Christmas Ever Foundation.” He held up his hands so that the woman could see he wasn’t holding anything. “I have an id card if you’d like to see it.”
After a moment’s hesitation, she nodded.
Nick slowly pulled out his wallet and removed a laminated card out from it. He held it out at arm’s length and with his other hand directed the light from his flashlight onto it so she could see it.
Holly’s mind raced to make sense of what Nick was saying. Best Christmas Ever Foundation. BCEF. Holly’s knees went weak. This was what Nick was involved in? This was what she’d cancelled?
“Okay, so it’s you,” the woman said. “What are these, forms or something? You want something from me? Because I gotta tell you that I don’t have anything to donate. This has been a really hard year. We’re barely getting by.”
The raw honesty in the other woman’s voice made Holly’s eyes sting. But she remained quiet and kept her gaze focused on Nick.
“Why don’t you just take a quick peek in the envelope,” Nick suggested. “I can answer any questions you have and then we’ll let you get back to whatever you were doing.”
“I was studying for my college entrance exams,” the woman said, her voice much more friendly than it had been when she first flung open the door.
Woman, no, she would be just a young adult if she were still in high school. Holly looked from Nick to Miss Gonzalez and back again. Considering it was nearly the middle of the night and they were strangers, the atmosphere was peaceful. Trusting. Nick radiated calm tranquility and good intentions. Holly put her hand to her throat. Was this it? Was she witnessing Christmas magic?
“Oh, my heaven, Mr. Kane, what is this? Is this all for us?”
Nick smiled and nodded. “Yes, Yolanda, it is. You’re proven to be such a good steward with what you have that Santa thought you deserved some extra help this year.”
Yolanda Gonzalez laughed, a merry tinkling sound. She drew a handful of gift cards out of the envelope. “But there’s too much here…I mean with the grocery card alone I could buy food from now until graduation!” She continued looking at the front and back of each gift card with an incredulous expression. “I can buy clothes and shoes for my sister and brother. And maybe even some toys for them for Christmas.”
“Leave the toys to Santa,” Nick said. “He’ll make sure that you all have some things under the tree on Christmas morning.”
Yolanda nodded. “I don’t know what we did to deserve this and I can’t thank you enough.”
Nick held up his hand. “No thanks needed. You’ve done a wonderful job keeping your family together.”
“You know about that?”
“I know t
hat you’ve kept Maria and Edgar out of the foster care system by working full-time and you’ve managed to stay in school. You’ve been a gift to those kids.”
Yolanda wiped away a tear. So did Holly.
“I just don’t know what to say, Mr. Kane. Please tell everyone at your foundation I said thank you from the bottom of my heart. And I promise one day to do something like this for someone who needs the help.”
“Perfect,” Nick said. “Now we’re going to go so you go back in your apartment and lock your door.”
But Yolanda Gonzalez didn’t do as he instructed. Instead she came out into the hallway and hugged first Nick and then Holly before she headed back to her doorway. “Please tell Santa thank you for me. This is going to be the best Christmas ever.”
The best Christmas ever. The words echoed in Holly’s mind as the door to number 814 closed and they heard Yolanda slip several dead bolt locks into place.
“Ready?” Nick asked.
Holly didn’t move. “Nick, she said this would be their best Christmas ever.”
He smiled. “Mission accomplished.”
* * *
During the sleigh ride home Holly tried several times to apologize to Nick but each time he brushed her apologies aside. He’d assured her that as soon as she reinstated his program when they got back to the North Pole, no permanent harm would be done.
“But I really am sorry, Nick. I had no idea that this is what you were doing. The expense accounts seemed so out of line. There just wasn’t the kind of documentation that would have justified such expenditures.” Holly reached over and laid a hand on his arm. “It all seemed so excessive.”
“With four hundred thousand children in the U.S. foster care system we were bound to run up some exorbitant bills, I get that.” Nick looked deep into her eyes. “But every child matters and every dollar was well spent.”
“I know,” Holly agreed. “I saw the difference you just made to the Gonzalez family.”
“It’s not just me. It’s all of us working together.”
“Does your father know about your foundation? Why the secret entrance to your office?” Holly could think of a dozen other questions but those two were the most pressing.
“Dad? Of course he does, he loves it. His greatest fear is that he’s going to miss a child. He loves that the foundation has so many people down below working hard to help him make sure each child is remembered on Christmas morning.”
“So why the secret entrance?” she asked.
Nick grinned. “Hold over from my teenage years. I enjoy being able to come and go without reporting in all the time. Time enough for that when I’m Santa.”
For the first time Holly wondered what it had been like for Nick and his sister Carol to grow up at the North Pole. Hadn’t they missed being around other kids their own age? And what was it like for Nick to know that his future was predetermined? He was going to be the next Santa Claus, like it or not. How much pressure was that?
Holly studied Nick’s profile as they continued on their way back to the North Pole. There was such strength in his character, such goodness, such utter kindness…how could she not have seen it? How could she have mistaken his good natured gentleness for selfishness? Even the frosty cold North American air nipping at her cheeks couldn’t dispel the hot flush of shame she felt.
How often had she derisively discounted Nick’s contributions to Christmas? When they first met she’d made a snap judgment and colored him a playboy. But based on what? The fact he was charming and easy going? His only crime had been that he reminded her of her father.
It became painfully obvious that without even realizing it, she’d assumed her mother’s suspicious, defensive and judgmental attitude toward men. As clear as the nighttime sky underneath her, Holly could see what lay ahead of her, a cloud of sadness just like the one her mother had lived under for so many years. With a sudden, painful jolt of awareness, Holly realized that what she wanted most in the world was to love, and be loved by a man like Nicholas Claus. But he deserved so much better. Holly turned away from Nick so that he wouldn’t see her tears.
* * *
From the moment the sleigh touched down in the arrivals area, Nick and Holly were swept up into a whirlwind of activity that was both dazzling and draining. Like everyone else at the North Pole, they were each given a countdown wristwatch.
“It’s a little like wearing an explosive device,” Nick told her. “But you’ll get used to it. Just try to ignore the ticking.”
“Stop teasing her, Saint Nick,” Tinsel admonished. “Miss Jamison is under enough pressure as it is.”
Nick studied Holly’s face. She did look drawn and worried, Tinsel was right. He needed to let her get through the holiday. “Right, let’s focus on the business at hand. Tinsel, you find Rapz and Jolly and let’s meet in the wrapping department to see how things are going there.” He turned to Holly. “You’ll let yourself into my office and take care of reversing things?”
She nodded. “I’ll do that right now and then find Santa and see where he wants me to be stationed.”
Nick watched her go with an uneasy feeling that she needed him. But so did Christmas. Reluctantly he turned his attention back to work.
And work they did. The corridors of Christmas Central teamed with elves scurrying to finish up just one more last minute task. Carts laden with gaily wrapped gifts trundled down the hallway. Every two and half minutes it seemed the overhead speaker was paging him, which kept him dashing from one department to the next.
To his surprise and delight, Nick ran into his sister Carol and her guests. He waited while she saw Ben and his two children off down below so he could spend a moment with her. His first order of business was a huge hug, which she looked in desperate need of, and the second was a bit of big brother teasing. “So that was Ben, huh?”
Carol’s eyes were unusually serious. “Don’t tease me, Nick. I think I just made a huge mistake.”
“What happened?” Nick loved his sister, and the agony in her eyes pained him. “What can I do to help?”
His sister shook her head. “Nothing, we’ve got to focus on work. Everything else can wait until after the twenty-fifth.” She hesitated for a moment as if to weigh her words. “Nick, is it true what Dad said about you and Holly?”
Nick hesitated. “That depends on what he said.”
“He said you had feelings for her.”
Nick smiled. “I love her. You’re going to love her too. She’s absolutely amazing and I want to marry her.”
Carol look surprised. “Oh, Nick, are you sure? What did she say when you proposed?”
He shrugged. “I haven’t yet. I want to get her a ring and I wanted to tell Mom and Dad first. Now obviously isn’t the right time.”
“No, it certainly is not,” a voice from behind them boomed. “And if you two don’t stop standing around gossiping I’m going to cite you for loitering.”
Nick turned to look down at Rapz. “Newsflash, you lost your authority to cite people last year, remember? But you’re right, we should get back to work.” He leaned in and kissed his sister’s cheek. “Don’t worry about anything. As your big brother, I will ride to the rescue and straighten out your love life right after the countdown is over.”
Rapz came between brother and sister and held his arms out in protest. “Okay, I’m calling this lonely hearts convention over. Let’s move. Nick, you’re wanted in wrapping. Carol, Mrs. Claus wanted to see you in the tracking department.”
Once his sister was on her way, Nick turned to Rapz. “Have you seen Holly within the last half hour?”
The elf nodded. “She was in conference with Santa. But don’t even think about looking for her, Saint Nick. You’ve got work to do and I’m going to see you do it. Holly can wait.”
Chapter Fourteen
"Santa, I can’t apologize enough, truly I can’t.” Holly cursed her unprofessionalism as she accepted a tissue from Mrs. Claus and dabbed at her tears. “I never meant for any
of this to happen.”
Santa’s eyes twinkled. “No one here can blame you for falling victim to Saint Nick’s considerable charms. It’s a curse the Claus men have dealt with for generations.”
“Oh, be serious, Santa.” Mrs. Claus shook her head ruefully. “Ignore him, my dear girl. He always gets this way before his first flight of the night.”
While Holly appreciated their kindness, in a way it only made her misery more acute. There was only ten minutes left until Santa departed from the North Pole with his first packed sleigh. Yet here Nick’s parents were being unimaginably patient and kind to her. She deserved to be run out of the North Pole on a rail for the way she’d made a mess of things.
“If you’re certain you’d like to leave, my dear, we can certainly make room for you in the sleigh,” Santa said. “But we wish you’d stay. I think we can all agree that you belong here with us.” His blue eyes were suddenly serious. “You love my son?”
Holly nodded but didn’t trust herself to speak. With even the gentlest persuasion from Nick’s parents, she knew she’d agree to stay at the North Pole. And that would be the wrong thing to do.
“And yet you’re still sure you want to leave?” Santa asked.
“Yes, absolutely.” She watched as Mr. and Mrs. Claus exchanged a glance. Holly gripped the handle of her suitcase so hard her knuckles turned white.
“Then my husband will see you home,” Mrs. Claus said. She put her hands on Holly’s shoulders and looked deep into her eyes. “Just know that you are welcome here at any time in the future. We would love to have you come back, when you’re ready, and stay as long as you’d like.”
“Forever would be good,” Santa added.
Holly wiped away several more tears. “Thank you. For everything.”
She held firm to her resolve to leave while Nick’s parents said their goodbyes to each other. The small space just inside the departures area didn’t give her anywhere to go to give them any privacy. The loving way they spoke to each other, the gentle way they embraced, the unspoken bond of togetherness that they shared…it added up to more love than Holly had ever witnessed between her parents in all the years they were together. Holly gratefully accepted one more hug from Mrs. Claus while Santa wedged her suitcase into the present laden sleigh. “You’ll have to sit up front with me, my dear. It’s a bit drafty but the view is astounding.”
Mrs. Saint Nick : A Christmas Central Romantic Comedy Novella Page 9
