Page 33 of The Princess Home for Christmas

Chapter 12

Thomas set out to make it up to Dahlia. He didn’t know if he was being ridiculously imposing or not, but at this point, he didn’t know how to love anyone but Dahlia. The brief moments when she seemed like she might feel something for him had been the happiest of his life.

And he had brought nothing but grief to her in return. The thing she most sought to avoid now plagued her, making her life inconvenient and exposing her to scandal. The whole reason he had kept the Theresa conversation separate was because she was such a negative subject, brought so much baggage. He had hoped to spare Dahlia those types of life’s realities. Especially ones brought about by his family, by his father.

The Valdez team was something to be admired though, because when they jumped in to help him, real, careful, and kind assistance was offered to him, the children, and Theresa. She started to receive excellent counseling, was moved to the best facility on the island, and had her stay extended significantly. Alcoholics Anonymous began a group for her the very next day. The legal work was quickly pushed through assigning the Castellanos family temporary custody as the legal next of kin. Theresa still refused to talk about who the father might be, and Thomas stopped worrying about it.

The press still speculated. He and Dahlia were frequent topics of conversation. And everyone wondered who would be the king and queen of the tree lighting ceremony. He snorted. As if such a thing mattered with all the other issues at hand. But the people loved their royals, and they had chosen him and Dahlia. A part of him regretted simply letting them down.

Bit by bit, everything was getting cleaned up. And as he waited for the press about them to die down and he noticed it wasn’t, he came up with a new plan. One he had already utilized as soon as his own popularity had changed his privacy and his lifestyle so drastically.

He would use the press to his advantage. He made a call and then drove to the Valdez favorite floral shop.

When he arrived, as expected, the street was lined with reporters, cameras, cars. He got out of his car whistling.

They hounded him and he said. “I’ve got to win back a princess!” His grin made a few of them smile. At least they didn’t hate him anymore. The real story, and Theresa’s questionable behavior was being spread.

He approached the florist, Miguel. “What are Princess Dahlia’s favorite flowers?”

At first, loyal Miguel was reluctant to help him, but Thomas charmed him and the crowd won him over and pretty soon everyone was helping him pick out flowers with different meanings to deliver to Dahlia. When Miguel saw the size of the order, he was much more cheerful and threw in some of her favorite balloons also.

When they were finished, Thomas walked across the street to the chocolate store.

They repeated the process with chocolates, only those would be delivered the next day. He then moved on to the bookstore.

After all his shopping, he held up his hand to quiet his press followers, still sticking with him. “It bears mention that we, of course, have a soft spot for the orphanage. Shall we go?”

The crowd cheered, and they all followed him across town to the orphanage. He called ahead and they had the children gathered for him. He kissed the head director on the cheek. “Thank you. I appreciate this.”

The warm and cheery woman responded, “But of course, we have supplies for months because of you.”

He turned to the children. “Hello friends!”

“Hello Uncle Thomas!”

He laughed. “I love that! I would be proud to be your Uncle Thomas. Can you help me with something?”

They nodded. Their sweet faces melting his heart.

“On the count of three, I need you to say, “We love you princess.”

The girls giggled.

“Can you do that?”

“Yes!” Their excitement warmed him.

He turned on his phone to video. All the other cameras were already rolling. “One. Two. Three. We love you Princess!” Their shouts echoed through their large hall and were so filled with the innocence of children that Thomas choked up.

Then he turned to the members of the press behind him. “We would love to continue supporting these lovely children and their awesome facility. In commemoration of our literacy efforts, in remembrance of the books put under the tree this year at the tree lighting, I would encourage anyone within the sound of my voice to help grow the orphanage library. If you can send enough books to fill a library wing for this building, I will donate the funds to build it.”

Several of the reporters gasped, and the children cheered.

The director came forward with tears in her eyes. “Thank you, oh thank you Mr. Castellanos.”

He squeezed her across the shoulders and then waved goodbye to the children.

Once in the parking lot, he told the press. “That’s all I have for the day. Thanks for tagging along. I’ll let you know my first stop tomorrow if you leave your business cards, you’ll be the first to know.”

They left him with a pile of cards, thanked him, and left him alone.

He let his shoulders drop. He was exhausted. As he got into the car with his driver, he leaned his head against the back seat. These were fun press events, win back the people’s appeal, but he didn’t yet feel like he had been a real benefit to Dahlia. He had only caused trouble where she wanted peace. He closed his eyes deep in thought. Surely there was more he could do, something of meaning and true value to her.

Then his eyes shot open. And he gave his driver instructions to drive toward the mountains.

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