Once Upon a Christmas Night...

by Annie Claydon

  ‘Actually, no. I’m in the dark at the moment.’ She glanced at Greg, hoping he’d get the message.

  Greg chuckled. ‘That’s my fault. Jess, Charles was not only my father’s legal advisor for many years, he was also his friend.’ He paused and Charles beamed across his desk at both of them. ‘My father didn’t discuss his business with me, or my mother, but Charles was one of his closest confidants. That’s why I want you to hear this from him.’

  ‘This is about your father?’

  ‘It’s about everyone. Trust me.’ Greg waited for her nod and then settled back in his chair, gesturing to Charles that the floor was his now.

  ‘John Shaw was an extraordinary man. He was bold, inventive and had an enormous, if slightly unconventional talent for business.’ Charles spread his fingers in front of him on an empty area of the desk. ‘I think that John would forgive me for saying that sometimes that talent didn’t extend to his personal relationships. I knew him well, and liked him very much, but trying to gauge his personal feelings was often a very… shall we say… hit and miss affair.’

  ‘You mean he could be distant.’ There was no sense in beating about the bush. Jess had nothing to lose here, and it was beginning to look as if she had nothing to gain.

  ‘Exactly. Which was why Greg needed my help.’

  Jess pressed her lips together. If Greg wanted to fall in line with everything that his father wanted, that was up to him but she wouldn’t endorse that.

  ‘Don’t you want to know why this has suddenly become an issue?’ Greg was frowning at her now. Perhaps she should at least appear to show some interest.

  ‘Um, yes. I was wondering that, but I didn’t want to interrupt.’

  Charles’s gaze flipped quickly between her and Greg, perhaps wondering whether they were about to start squabbling between themselves. A moment of silence appeared to convince him that it was safe to go on.

  ‘To cut a long story short, Greg has used a management model that his father explored but never implemented, which proposed a radical reorganisation of Shaw Industries. The power base of the company would no longer be one man but is vested in the board of a charitable trust. The company is run by the trust and the profits that would have normally gone to the CEO are used for charitable purposes.’

  ‘And this was his father’s plan all along?’

  ‘No, it was just one of a number of feasibility studies. But, as in everything else, he was very thorough. This particular structure was designed along one of the principles of quality management.’ Charles leaned forward slightly. ‘No man is indispensable.’

  Greg was indispensable to her. And this… the thought that he might not be to the company… was a glimmer of hope. ‘In business terms, you mean.’

  ‘Of course. I realise your own profession takes no heed of that aphorism.’ Charles chuckled. ‘In fact, I rather hope that every man is indispensable as soon as he enters your door.’

  Charles was wandering again. This time it was almost charming. ‘But Greg’s father never did anything about those plans.’

  ‘No. He gave me no reason, but he did ask me to store the papers safely.’

  ‘And the plan would still work?’

  ‘Absolutely. The paperwork was all drawn up and Greg and I have been reviewing it exhaustively for the last week.’ Charles’s gaze flipped momentarily towards Greg.

  ‘Yeah, exhaustively. And Charles has been advising me, exhaustively, about the personal financial suicide involved in making the changes that I’ve proposed.’

  ‘Quite. But my duty is to facilitate.’ Charles turned back to Jess, his expression softening. ‘I imagine you’re wondering why we’re having this conversation here, instead of over a nice lunch and a glass of Chablis.’

  ‘Um. Yes.’ Jess hadn’t been wondering that at all. She had been too busy wondering about everything else.

  Charles laid a small bundle of documents in front of her. ‘It will take some time to effect the change, but these documents will set the ball rolling, to some extent irreversibly. We agreed on them yesterday, and met again early this morning to proof the copies for signature. Greg wants to sign them now, but before he does so he has asked me to explain their implications to you.’

  ‘I still don’t understand.’ Jess turned to Greg, not Charles. She wasn’t interested in any finagling over the structure of Shaw Industries, she was interested in Greg’s motivations. Whether he could make different decisions from those his father had.

  He was grinning. ‘The crux of it is, Jess, is that I want out. But I want the company to survive, because a lot of good people would lose their livelihoods without it. So I had to do the one thing that experience had taught me was only going to be a disappointment and try one last time to get to know my father.’

  That she almost dared to understand. Hardly dared to believe. ‘And… what? You deciphered the book he left you?’

  He shook his head. ‘No. But its existence made me realise something. My father gave the better part of his life to Shaw Industries, and he knew far better than I do how to keep it strong. If I wanted to leave the company able to survive on its own, I had to make my peace with the past and go looking for him.’

  ‘And you found him?’ Perhaps she shouldn’t ask that question in front of Charles. Jess didn’t care. It was far too important and she wanted to know now.

  ‘Yeah. Inasmuch as I ever will. This is his basic plan, with a few tweaks that… ’ he grinned in Charles’s direction and Charles ignored him ‘… sever my connection with the company completely. And with it my income from the company.’

  ‘Which will, of course, affect both Greg’s lifestyle and potentially that of any of his dependants.’ Charles cut to the quick and softened the blow with a vague wave of his hand. ‘But that’s something that you should talk about privately. Will you excuse me?’

  He was already halfway towards the door. ‘Charles. Thank you.’ Jess couldn’t just let him go like that.

  ‘It’s my pleasure.’

  ‘What do you think?’

  Charles’s gaze slid towards Greg again. Perhaps she shouldn’t have asked. Greg was his client, not her.

  A small nod from Greg seemed to assure him that an answer was in order. ‘I think… ’ He seemed to be searching for the right words. ‘I think that life affords us few opportunities of this nature. You should choose wisely.’

  The door clicked shut behind him and for a moment Jess’s gaze was caught in Greg’s. Staring, just staring at each other, as if the next tick of the clock was too valuable to just squander.

  ‘I’m glad you took the step, Jess. Thank you.’

  ‘I couldn’t do anything else. Is this really what you want to do, Greg? Sign away the company?’

  ‘Don’t you think it’s a good idea?’

  ‘I think it’s the best idea you’ve ever had. You were meant to be a doctor.’

  ‘Yeah, I know. I nearly made the worst decision of my life and let Shaw Industries eat me up just because I thought that it would finally bring me closer to my father. But even giving up the job I love wasn’t enough to make me see.’

  ‘What did make you see?’ Jess was shaking. Please, please. Let it be what she wanted to hear.

  ‘You and the baby. I can’t give you up, Jess, not for anything. Certainly not for my father’s company.’

  It was as if someone had flung the windows open wide. Light and sound and happiness burst into the dark place that Jess had begun to feel that she was going to be living in for ever.

  ‘I… ’ She swallowed. She had to be sure. However much it cost her, she couldn’t just take her own happiness and leave the people who relied on Shaw Industries stranded. ‘The company will be okay, though? In good hands?’

  ‘Yes. My father’s plan was a good one, and it included sizeable benefits for him. I get nothing—in fact, some of my own assets are being transferred to the company.’ He grinned. ‘I haven’t much use for a racehorse. Or a private jet. And most of the houses wi
ll be sold, although I’m planning to keep the house in Rome.’

  Jess grinned. ‘That’s a good choice. I do like the house in Rome.’

  ‘I know, that’s why I want to keep it. But, seriously, Jess, this is going to affect you as well as me. It means that I won’t be able to give… ’

  She leaned forward and laid her finger across his lips. ‘There’s only one thing I want. And I’m making this request on behalf of me and our child.’

  He smiled. Pure happiness seemed to radiate from him, warming the room. ‘Anything.’

  ‘We want you to be the man that you want to be, whatever that is. We want you to give us some of your time and some of your love.’

  A sigh shook his chest. ‘You and the baby have all my love. I may not be with you all the time but everything that I am is for you and our child.’

  ‘That’s more than enough.’

  ‘Even if I work double shifts sometimes. If I come home tired and full of the weight of the day.’

  ‘That’s okay. You know it is.’

  ‘I love you, Jess.’

  ‘I love you too, Greg.’

  For long moments they just smiled, the words echoing around them like a web of finely spun joy. Then she was on her feet. He moved at the same time, pulling her towards him and onto his lap, holding her tightly against his beating heart.

  ‘How long is Charles going to be?’ Jess was trying, without much success, to keep at least one strand of her attention on the door.

  ‘We won’t be interrupted. Charles makes an art out of discretion.’

  ‘Well, you’d better kiss me, then. Quickly… ’

  He cut her short. Kissed her slowly, taking his time to savour it. ‘I was wrong, Jess. I’m sorry.’

  ‘I was wrong, too. And I’m sorry.’

  He chuckled. ‘You’re going to fight me over it? I was wronger than you.’

  She laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck. ‘There’s no such word as “wronger”. We were both wrong. But we’ve got this chance now, and I’m not going to let it go.’

  ‘I thought for a while that I’d left it too late. That you wouldn’t come with me.’

  ‘Yeah, so did I. But I was just kidding myself. There was no way I couldn’t have come.’

  He dropped a kiss onto her brow. ‘No way I couldn’t have asked you. Or kept on asking if you turned me down the first time.’

  ‘I want to tell you something, Greg.’ Jess pressed her lips together.

  ‘Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter.’

  ‘No, it does. I’ll say this now and then there’s an end to it. We can leave it behind here.’ She dug him gently in the ribs. ‘I’m sure Charles knows What to do with any worn-out thoughts that people leave floating around in his office.’

  He chuckled. ‘No doubt he does. What do you want to say?’

  Jess took a deep breath. ‘I thought that I could do it all by myself, Greg. I’d told myself for so long that I didn’t need my father, that I didn’t care that he wasn’t around, that I started believing it. I didn’t want to feel that loss.’

  ‘You feel it now?’

  ‘Yeah. In a strange way I do. But you’ll help me through that, won’t you? You’ll show me that there’s a different way to make a family.’

  ‘We’ll face that together. We’ll show each other, darling.’ He hugged her tightly. ‘I won’t let you go, Jess. I’m not going to let you fall.’

  ‘Mmm. I know. Feels good.’ She took a moment to let the happiness seep a little further into her bones. Banishing the shadows. Freeing her from them. ‘And you’ll get to meet my mum and stepdad on Boxing Day. If you want to.’

  ‘Of course I want to. Do you think they’ll want to meet me?’

  ‘My mum will love you. And I think you’ll get on with my stepdad too. They were going to help me move some furniture.’

  ‘Right. Or I could do it for you and we could all sit down and have a nice meal. Get to know each other.’

  ‘Or I could forget about moving the furniture and tell them I’m coming to live with you.’

  He chuckled. ‘That would be my first preference. Is there any particular reason why you want to move the furniture?’

  ‘They want to help. I realised last week that I want them to help too.’ She twined her fingers around his.

  He chuckled. ‘I’m sure you’ll find something else for them to do. If you don’t, I’ll be sorting something out with your mother myself. But I’m glad you took that step.’

  ‘Me too.’

  ‘Will you take another?’

  ‘I’m starting to get used to it. Why stop now?’

  He kissed her. Warmly, tenderly and full of assurance now.

  ‘Was that it?’

  ‘No. I just did that because I wanted to. The step I want you to take is to sign these papers with me.’

  ‘Me? Why me?’

  ‘There’s no legal requirement for you to sign them. But I want your name on there too. I want this to be something we do together.’

  ‘Yes.’ She could hardly wait to write her name under his. Help set him free.

  ‘Then we’ll go back to the hospital. Make sure that everyone’s doing whatever it is they’re supposed to be doing. Then I’ll take you home and feed you.’

  ‘You’ll cook?’ The thought of Greg’s cooking was already making her stomach growl.

  He chuckled. ‘Yeah, I’ll cook. And then… ’ He paused just long enough for Jess to feel a shiver of expectation. ‘And then I’ll make love to you until you can’t think straight, and you’ll say yes to anything.’

  ‘I can’t think straight now.’

  ‘Well, I’ll make love to you anyway. That’s the plan, and I’m going to stick to it.’ His lips brushed her ear. ‘When I slip that ring on your finger, I want it to be the only thing you’re wearing.’

  Jess couldn’t answer. She didn’t dare draw the inevitable conclusion and then be wrong. Perhaps it was some other ring.

  ‘That okay with you?’

  ‘Y-yes?’ She gulped out the word.

  His eyes reflected the concern on his face. ‘Jess? I’m sorry, am I going too fast?’

  She took a deep breath. ‘No. I’m just not quite sure where you’re going, that’s all.’

  ‘Ah. Okay, where was I?’ He stopped to think for a moment. ‘Yeah. Making love to you until you couldn’t think straight.’

  ‘Liking it so far.’

  ‘Good. Then I hold you, tell you that I love you and ask you to marry me. And then you say… ?’

  ‘Yes?’

  He smiled. ‘That’s exactly what you’ll say. Then I’ll put the ring on your finger.’ He caught her left hand and brushed a kiss on her third finger. ‘Seal the deal.’

  She didn’t need to answer. He saw it in her face. ‘Two deals in one day.’ The first gave Greg his life back. The second gave her everything she had ever wanted.

  ‘I’ll wait until midnight. At one minute past twelve on Christmas morning we’ll have this Christmas and all the other Christmases yet to come to look forward to together.’

  ‘I love you, Greg.’ She hugged him tight. ‘What made you do all this?’

  ‘Don’t laugh.’

  ‘I won’t.’

  ‘It was a dream.’ He shrugged. ‘About the path I was on. How things would end up. Does that sound completely crazy?’

  A small shiver began to travel downwards from the nape of her neck but dissipated in the warmth of his embrace. Jess wondered if his dream had been anything like the one she’d had, and dismissed the thought.

  ‘Not really. Dreams are just our unconscious minds, telling us what we already know.’

  He nodded. ‘Then I guess it was just me. Telling myself what my life would be like if I let you go. And that I love you and our child more than anything.’

  ‘That’s all either of us needs to know.’ She could let him go now. Now that she knew he wasn’t going anywhere. And the sooner she did, the sooner he could sign the papers
and they could be out of there. Jess slid off his lap and sat back in her own chair. ‘By the way, have you got a turkey?’

  ‘No. Have you?’

  ‘I wasn’t really banking on doing much celebrating.’

  He sprang to his feet, suddenly full of energy, and strode towards the door, flinging it open and bellowing down the stairs. ‘Charles… Charles, we need to sign the papers. And do you know where we can get a turkey? It’s Christmas!’

  ISBN: 9781472003508

  ONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS NIGHT…

  © Annie Claydon 2013

  First Published in Great Britain in 2013

  Harlequin (UK) Limited

  Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

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