The Billionaire's First Christmas - Contemporary Romance (16 page)

Frustrated with myself for letting
Robyn get away and feeling creepy about being in a cemetery, I
turned around and started to leave. That was when I got a glimpse
of her out of the corner of my eye. She was sitting down. That’s
how I had missed her. There were two graves marked with an attached
headstone. The headstone had an angel carved on one side and a
Santa Claus on the other, but I couldn’t read what was on them from
where I sat. I watched Robyn sit a hot chocolate on either side and
then she took out the last one and began sipping it. I couldn’t see
her face from where I was, and since I was still curious about what
she was doing, I decided to move around to the other side of the
graves so that I could. Walking around in a wide path so that she
wouldn’t catch me out of the corner of her own eye, I found a small
mausoleum that I could stand behind and see her face. I wondered
what she would think if she knew I was watching her. She’s so
sweet; she would probably just invite me over and ask me to join
in.

Robyn was talking, animatedly. She was
making hand gestures and she would smile and frown and grimace,
just as if she was having a conversation with a living person. What
struck me most were the tears I could see rolling down her pretty
face. She was always so happy that it tore at my heart to see her
cry. I wanted to go over to her and take her in my arms and make
whatever was distressing her go away. I didn’t want to interrupt
her moment, however no matter how kind I knew she would be about
it. Watching her, I could tell this was something she’d done
before. Whoever was lying in those graves was hearing about her
life… I wondered who she had lost that was so special to her that
she’d communicate with them like this even after they were
gone.

Robyn spent at least an hour there,
maybe more. I’d lost track of time, so mesmerized was I by watching
her. I was once again fascinated by her spirit. Her tears showed
that she was obviously deeply affected by the loss of whoever lay
there, but yet she smiled through them for the better part of the
time she sat there and talked. At last, she picked up her cup and
seemed to finish it, pulled herself up off the ground and blew a
kiss at each of the grave markers. Then I watched as she left the
way she had come.

ROBYN

Every year since my parents died I did
what I’d always done on Christmas Eve… I shared a hot chocolate
with them and told them what was going on in my life. This year I
told them about my new job and the fact that I’d already been
promoted to an executive position; I was really proud of that and I
knew they would be too. Thinking about how proud of me they would
be was what got me through college with a 4.0 GPA even after they’d
passed away. I learned to work hard by watching them and by basking
in the encouraging words they always had for me. My hard work was
paying off for me now and I had my parents to thank for that and I
liked to come to the cemetery and tell them so.

My mother was a housewife and mother,
but she excelled at it. So much so that it made me really upset
when I’d hear anyone say, “I’m just a housewife “or “She doesn’t
work.” My mother worked from sun-up to sundown making our home warm
and happy. I rarely saw her sit down unless we were having family
time. I had an amazing childhood and her efforts were a huge part
of that. I also learned from her that hard work didn’t always
produce immediate results, but it was the long term payoff that
really counted. The other part of my amazing childhood was my
Daddy. He wasn’t home a lot during the week because he worked so
hard to provide for us. But when he was home, he was there a
hundred percent. He sat down every evening and talked to me about
my day. Sometimes, if he thought I might find it interesting, he
would tell me about his. Then at night after I went to bed I would
hear him talk to my mother about hers. On the weekends we all
shared our meals and did something as a family usually on Saturday
and then on Sunday we went to church together and we’d all cook
dinner as a family. It was picture perfect and the only truly bad
thing that ever happened to me was a plane crash when I was
nineteen years old that took my parents from me. It took me a year
of grieving before I realized something: The crash had only taken
their bodies from me. I still had their spirits. Although I missed
seeing them, I could feel them in my own heart… in my very soul
most of the time.

After I told them about my job this
Christmas Eve, I told them about Aaron. I suppose that he’s not
mine to tell about, but somehow he’d made his way into my heart and
I can’t seem to let him go. I told them how handsome he was, and
how smart and when he wasn’t trying so hard to be serious, how much
fun he can be. He hurt me, the night of the party when he walked
away, but I still can’t let my hopes for him go. I told them that
too. I had a feeling they would be proud of that. They trusted my
judgment when they were here, I’m sure that they still
do.

Aaron may not have kissed me that
night, but I can feel how he feels about me. I might be thought
crazy by some to tolerate that behavior and still have feelings for
him and hope to cultivate more. But like I told Max, I think
something happened to him around Christmas time and now he’s just
afraid. I think all he needs is a little help to get past that. He
needs someone that he can trust and depend on to teach him that
there is so much more to life than a boardroom.

When I left the cemetery that day, I
dropped off one of my Santa gifts. I still did the Santa thing, in
memory of my Dad. This one was the last one on my list. I hoped he
liked it.

I went home then and
finished wrapping a few more gifts that I would give to my friends
on Boxing Day.
After I finished wrapping up
my gifts, my cat, Mr. Pibbs and I had our dinner and then I put on
pajamas and sat down to watch television for a while. I was
knitting some hats and scarves for my friends to go with the gifts
I’d bought them. I was also making a little hat and booties for
John’s babies. They were so cute I couldn’t wait to see them in
them. I worked on them while I watched Christmas movies. I was
thinking about going to bed around nine when I saw that
“It’s a Wonderful Life”
was coming on. It was a movie that my parents and I watched
together on Christmas Eve every year when I was growing up. I think
I was the only little girl in my second grade class who had a clue
who James Stewart and Donna Reed were.

Instead of going to bed, I made
cookies while I waited for the movie to come on. I used the same
recipe that my mother used to use. Like I’d told Aaron that day,
they were the best cookies in the world. When they were done, Mr.
Pibbs had his special treat and I had my warm, gooey cookies and we
watched the movie together. I was glued to it as if this wasn’t the
twenty-sixth year in a row I’d watched it and I cried at the end
like I always do. No matter how many times I’d seen it, Clarence
getting his wings was a beautiful thing.

When it was over and I could stop
crying I cleaned up after myself and headed into my room for bed.
Once I was tucked in, I thought about my parents and I cried again,
finally crying myself to sleep at last.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

~

AARON

I waited for Robyn to leave
the cemetery that morning and then I went over and looked at the
grave stones. One said,
“John Hurst”
loving father.
The other said,
“Samantha Hurst” loving mother
. The caption underneath it said,
“The real Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus.”
Underneath that it said,
“Alas! How
dreary would be the world if there was no Santa Claus! There would
be no childlike faith then, no poetry, and no romance to make
tolerable this existence.

FRANCIS P. CHURCH, New
York Sun, Sep. 21, 1897”

I couldn’t help but smile at that.
These must be her parents, the ones that had taught her to have
such an amazing heart and spirit of the season. The sight of their
graves made me sad for her. They also made me wonder even more how
she could have such a positive outlook on life. How could she be
such a happy person when the two people she loved most in the world
weren’t here any longer? I wondered about what she told me when I
asked her how she was spending her holiday. She had simply said,
“With my family.” Was this what she meant, or did she have extended
family that she holidayed with?

I finally left. I felt like it wasn’t
alright for me to be there without Robyn. I got back into my car
and headed home. Although it no longer sounded so appealing, I
still had a plane to catch. When I got home, I found a gift on my
doorstep. I wasn’t really surprised when I read the note and saw
that it was from Robyn.

“Do not open until
Christmas day. If your plans change, I’d love to have you join me
for Christmas dinner tomorrow. Come over any time.”
There was an address there as well.

As usual, she left me smiling and
shaking my head. She never gave up. Obviously, if she was inviting
me to spend Christmas with her, she was alone just like I was. I’d
been alone for a long time though… so long that I’d forgotten what
a warm, happy Christmas was really like. I purposely tamped it all
down, thinking there was no reason to think about it since I would
never get it back. After a while, I’d stopped wanting to get it
back. Then, I’d met Robyn. As I was lost in these thoughts, my eyes
fell on the clock. I hadn’t realized that it had gotten late so
fast. I grabbed my keys and raced out the door.

ROBYN

Once Mr. Pibbs and I finally went to
bed and fell asleep, I slept like a log for about seven hours. The
hot cocoa had done its job and cancelled out the sugar rush of the
cookies and lured me to sleep. I’d just opened my eyes and rolled
over to see if Mr. Pibbs was still in his bed or not when there was
a rap on my front door. I wasn’t expecting company. I was hoping
that Aaron would come for dinner, but that was just a fantasy.
Besides if he did show up, he certainly wouldn’t come first thing
in the morning, would he? No, it wasn’t Aaron. I wasn’t going to
let myself get my hopes up.

I couldn’t imagine who else would be
at my door so early on Christmas morning. I looked at Mr. Pibbs who
looked as confused as I was. I shrugged and he went to his corner.
He was a bit of an introvert, company wasn’t really his thing. I
got up and donned my fuzzy robe and slippers and went out to get
the door.

“I’m coming,” I yelled out as there
was a second rap. When I reached the door I stood on my tip toes
and looked out the peephole. Aaron was standing there in the
ugliest Christmas sweater in the world, the one I had bought for
him as a joke and left on his front doorstep. I told myself that
the world must be coming to an end. Why else would he be standing
on my doorstep wearing that thing instead of soaking up the sun in
Belize? I honestly thought it might make him smile but never in a
million years did I expect him to put it on.

“Good morning! Merry Christmas,” I
said as I pulled open the door. I was trying not to laugh at his
sweater. I wasn’t sure yet if he’d understood that it was a
joke.

“Good morning. I’m sorry, did I wake
you?” He was staring at me with a funny look and I suddenly
realized what I must look like. I’d gone to bed with the tear
stains from my movie and now that I thought about it, I could feel
my hair sticking up every which way. My robe was a little ratty…
not because I couldn’t afford a new one, but because this one was
my favorite. I hadn’t expected Aaron to ever see it, that’s for
sure.

“Yes, but I was getting up soon
anyways,” I told him. “Come in, please. You look… festive this
morning. Please excuse how I look.”

With a serious look he said, “You look
amazing.” It sounded like he really meant it. Then, he laughed a
little about the sweater and said, “I thought it would be rude to
show up for Christmas dinner in anything other than the sweater you
so painstakingly picked out for me.”

I couldn’t hold it back any longer. I
had to laugh. He was killing me in that sweater. It had a knit
Santa and two reindeer sitting at a table playing cards on the
front of it. It was tacky, to say the least.

“Are you laughing at my sweater?” he
said, with mock offense. “My good friend, Robyn got this sweater
for me.”

“Well, I hate to tell you this but
with friends like that…”

“I know, right? I was hoping it was a
joke.” Aaron finally stepped inside and looked around. The
apartment was small, but decorated in good taste and very festive
with a Christmas tree and a table set with an entire tiny Christmas
village. It was warm and welcoming and it smelled like cinnamon and
spice. It reminded him of his home when he was a little boy. “Your
home is very nice,” he said. “But I thought you were spending
Christmas with your family.”