Page 6 of Just A Dash of Holiday Magic
Chapter 3
MARIE
What am I doing? I should be telling this guy, this criminal, to take the necklace and go. Why am I letting my attraction to his easygoing smile cloud my judgment? But there is something about him that says there is more to this story, and I want to know. The second he walks out of this apartment, I know I will never see him again, and I don’t like that thought at all.
“You needed money,” I repeat his answer from earlier when I asked why he was stealing the necklace. “I’m sure that just by looking around this place, you could have found many items of value that didn’t involve you breaking into my safe.”
He glances down at the necklace in his hands and sets it on the coffee table sitting between us. His jaw ticks, like he’s clenching because he doesn’t want to explain, but after I just saved his ass from getting carted off to jail, he knows he owes me at least an explanation.
“It’s more than just the money.”
“I’m on pins and needles.”
He runs his hands over his face before meeting my gaze. “My nephew, Billy, he’s sick.”
That’s not at all what I was expecting him to say, but I stay quiet, wanting him to continue.
“He was born with a rare congenital heart disorder. He’s on the transplant list, but the likelihood of him getting a heart in time—” Will’s voice breaks on those last few words and my heart along with them. “I took this job to get the money to pay for a surgery that the insurance company refuses to pay for. They said that because it’s still in its early experimental stages, the cost versus the risk is too much.”
I knew I saw a sadness in his eyes earlier, but I just thought it was because he was about to get caught. Not because this was his last chance of saving his nephew.
“Tell me about Billy.”
The look of surprise on Will’s face tells me that he wasn’t expecting me to ask this. I’m sure most people shy away from wanting to hear about a little boy fighting for his life, but I don’t want this illness to be the only thing I know of him. He is more than the disease he is fighting.
“He’s the best person I know,” Will chuckles. “He’s ten, but already he has so many plans for his future.”
I listen as Will tells me about Billy’s plans to sail around the world, head out west to see the wild Mustangs, and his wish to get his first kiss from a little girl in his class named Amelia.
I didn’t need to know all this to make the decision to act, but I wanted him to be more than a name to me.
“What do the doctors say?” I ask.
“If he doesn’t have the surgery in the next month—” Will shakes his head, unable to finish.
"Well then, we are just going to have to do something about it." I push to my feet and retrieve my phone from my clutch near the front door when I came in.
I scroll through all the contacts in my phone to the one number that I know will always pick up for me—my Uncle Everett. I can feel Will’s eyes on me. He doesn’t understand what I’m about to do, but he will.
WILL
No one who’s found out about Billy has asked me to talk about him. I suppose there is enough sadness in most people’s lives that they aren’t eager to take on someone else’s—except Marie.
I watch her from across the room, feeling a flicker of hope in my chest that I thought was snuffed out the moment Harry peeled out of here to leave me to deal with the cops on my own. She holds the phone up to her ear and waits for whoever she’s calling to answer.
“Hi, Uncle Everett,” she says, her face lighting up. “Merry Christmas to you too.” She pauses and listens. “I’m sorry to bother you on Christmas Eve, but you’ve been asking me what I want to do with my share of the dividends from the family fund this year.” Her eyes meet mine. “I know what I want now.”
Marie explains to her uncle about Billy and how the surgery must happen as soon as possible. I can’t hear what he says when she finishes, but from the look on her face, it doesn’t appear like he’s giving her bad news. Again, the flicker of hope I felt earlier ignites in my chest.
This can’t be it. It can’t be this easy.
“Please look into this as soon as possible.” she pauses and nods. “Thank you.”
I wait impatiently for her to hang up the phone so she can tell me everything.
“Well?” I ask, standing up.
“He’s going to make a few calls. Uncle Everett is on the board at St. Nicholas Hospital. So we should know something soon."
