Page 33 of Texas Tycoon's Christmas Fiancée
“He knows I’m his uncle,” Nick said. “And he’s glad to see me, just as I am glad to see you both. Sleep well?”
“Of course,” she answered.
“Let’s do Christmas. Dad can’t wait to give Michael a present. I don’t think he ever got excited over either Bart or me on Christmas morning.”
“He might have when you were very young,” she said.
“We were in his way when he was young. Now, he’s changed. His illness has turned him into a different man. Many of those driving goals he had are gone and the people around him get his full attention.”
“Michael is probably hungry. He’s a very good baby, but I don’t want to keep him waiting.”
In the kitchen Vanessa waited. As soon as she saw them, she came to take Michael from Grace. “How adorable he is,” she said, smiling at Michael. “Michael is happy all the time. I’ll feed him and you can eat your breakfast. Mr. Rafford and Megan are in the great room. They’ve already eaten and have coffee waiting for you in there.”
Grace handed over Michael and joined Nick at the table. The cook brought plates of eggs and toast. After they finished, they joined Eli and Megan by the Christmas tree. Little toys filled Michael’s stocking and his toys sat at the foot of the tree.
“Santa has been here,” Eli said with twinkling eyes. His color was better and he looked stronger than when Grace had met him, causing her to wonder how big an influence Michael was in his life.
Grace left to get her cameras. When she returned, she saw that Eli also had a camcorder and a camera ready, and she laughed. “I think this baby is going to be a celebrity this morning and he’ll have no idea what’s going on. It’ll be a thoroughly documented first Christmas.”
Nick smiled. “Dad wants every minute caught. We’ll start with Michael though I know he can’t open anything.”
“No, he would promptly put the wrappings in his mouth.” As Vanessa handed her the baby, Grace said, “I’ll put him on the floor and let’s see if he gets one of his toys first.” She set Michael down and picked up her own camcorder. He promptly crawled to a transparent ball filled with plastic butterflies and glittering spheres that played tunes when he rolled it around.
In minutes they were immersed in gifts and Nick handed her a box with a lovely blue ribbon that she intended to take home and keep. It was from Nick and as she opened it, she guessed he had one of the women who worked for him do his shopping.
It was a silver frame that would be perfect for Michael’s picture and she looked up, smiling at Nick. “You know I love this. It’s beautiful and perfect.”
“Great,” he replied, his eyes filled with a special look that thrilled her and made her forget they were in a room with others.
“Now I’ll open yours,” he said, taking a present and sitting near her as he tore it open. Startled, he looked up at her. “Where did you get these?” he asked, surprise in his voice. He lifted out two framed pictures of the last rodeo he’d been in as he rode a bucking horse.
“I’d read about you in rodeos in a Texas magazine, so I called around and finally found the pictures. I hope you don’t already have them.”
“No,” he said, smiling. “I don’t, and I’m happy you tracked them down. Thank you,” he said, and she had another tingle because his tone made the statement personal, carrying silent meaning. He might as well have been blatantly flirting for the effect he was causing. She watched as he walked to the tree and picked up one of her presents for Eli.
The moment Eli opened the box and removed a scrapbook filled with photos of Michael, he smiled at her. “Grace, what a treasure! You couldn’t have possibly given me anything that would please me more. I’m so grateful,” he said, flipping through the pages.” He looked at her and his eyes filled with tears. “Thank you. This means more than you know,” he said, his voice cracking.
“I’m glad,” she replied, surprised by his reaction, which was far deeper than she had expected. She could feel the barriers around her heart develop cracks, a dangerous reaction.
It took most of the morning to get through the presents and to watch and film Michael, plus getting snapshots of him with each of them.
Lunch was long and leisurely, and filled with stories from Eli of other generations of Raffords, and then they spent another hour playing with Michael before he fell asleep. While Michael slept they went to the lavish entertainment room to watch a Christmas movie, which was timed perfectly with Michael’s nap that ended as the movie finished.
It was almost five in the afternoon before Grace told Nick she should go home. She thought Eli was beginning to droop. Goodbyes took another twenty minutes. Finally she was in the car with Nick. The day had become overcast, a fog settling in, bringing darkness early.
“You made my dad a very happy man today. You can’t imagine how much this meant to him.”
“That’s good,” she said, wondering how Nick truly felt about his nephew. Michael had to have cut into Nick’s life and caused upheaval in trying to please his dad’s wishes. She glanced back at the sleeping baby. “I think Michael is worn to a frazzle. His brief nap this afternoon helped, but he may sleep through the night now, since he ate just before we left your dad’s.”
“I imagine Dad is worn to a frazzle, too. He usually has catnaps and he missed them. All in all, the visit was fantastic.”
“You sound surprised.”
“I’ll have to admit, I am. I knew it would be good to be with you, but we had a house filled with people—Dad, Vanessa, Megan and the rest of the staff constantly present. I wanted to be alone with you, but today was enjoyable and I’ll admit, I’m surprised by my feelings for my nephew. I’ve never been around kids, never thought about them. I haven’t particularly cared to get to know any if I’m briefly around them. Michael is cute and he can certainly win you over, which is funny, because he can’t converse and he drools.”
She laughed. “So you like him after all. He’s adorable and who could resist him?” she said, her smile vanishing as she wondered if today had simply reinforced Eli’s determination to get Michael into the Rafford family and hereafter it would be easier to enlist Nick’s help.
“Don’t start worrying,” Nick said quietly.
