Page 21 of His Christmas Gift

The soft whispers quieted further until a booming belly laugh sounded from behind the doors. The eyes on the kids lit up and she saw even the smile on Jasper’s face widen as she turned off the microphone. He stepped up behind her as Santa and Mrs. Claus came into the room, the woman with a huge tray of cookies and the man with a large bag of gifts for the kids.

“Merry Christmas early everyone,” he said loudly, not needing the microphone to be heard.

“Don’t tell anyone but we snuck off from the elves to have a nice peaceful evening,” he added charmingly, and she grinned as Jasper’s hand slipped onto her back, sliding up and down her spine sending tingles through her. “Mrs. Claus has lots of cookies and I have something for the young ones. I believe I heard mention that your nice boss there has something for the older ones too.”

There were cheers from the crowd and Jasper chuckled as the two moved towards the chairs.

“Now I get it,” he said softly to her more than okay with her surprise.

“No need to be shy, there’s plenty inside the bag for everyone,” Santa stated, and the kids hurried over to him leaving the adults to get drinks or food as Mr. and Mrs. Claus handled them wonderfully.

“How on earth did you find a Santa and Mrs. Claus on such short notice?” Elaine asked as she brought over the briefcase that held the Christmas bonus checks. “They look so real, not like part of the would-be ones that you see around right now.”

“Perhaps I believe in miracles?” Melissa mused not about to admit who the man behind the beard was. No one needed to know how well she knew him and his wife, because then they would know who she was, and she didn’t want that yet.

“You certainly are miraculous,” Jasper stated beside her ear, and she was certain Elaine had heard by the way her brow lifted slightly. Melissa didn’t respond as they arranged the envelopes and began to pass them on to Jasper as the others came up to see what they held.

“Oh my god,” she heard a teenager say after opening the gift from Santa and Melissa smiled seeing the exuberant joy appear on her face. “Mom,” she said hurrying over towards the next person in line for Jasper to speak with, one of the assistants who helped her earlier.

Melissa saw the curious look from Jasper her way as to what made the girl so thrilled.

“Honey what is it?” Grace asked as Melissa handed her envelope over to Jasper while a paralegal from the office headed out to get something to drink with her fiancé.

“This can’t be real, right?” the girl stated showing her mother the card from inside the bag.

“Oh, my goodness,” Grace gasped seeing it, looking from Jasper to her and then back in shock.

“Everything alright, Grace?” Jasper asked and the girl turned the card his way making his smile grow. “I’m certain that anything from Santa is real—Merry Christmas, ladies.”

“Okay, how on earth did you manage that?” Elaine asked her after Grace and her daughter moved away from the line and one of Jasper’s attorney’s took her place.

“I didn’t do anything, it was all Santa,” she teased, enjoying the surprises as the evening went on around them. They locked the briefcase with the few checks of those who either weren’t attending or weren’t there yet aside, knowing it was safe with Keith.

Jasper caught Melissa in the corner as everyone was merrily enjoying the food, drinks, and gifts, unable to keep from discovering how she’d managed this. He knew the cost of the items for the kids hadn’t come from his pocketbook.

“Would Santa’s helper like to explain this bit?”

“The kids’ gifts?” she guessed.

“Gift certificates to Hannover Electronics for the teenagers for fivehundreddollars?” he said lifting a brow her way. “The little Hannover readers for the younger kids with hundreds of pre-purchased items downloaded and two hundred dollars credit for books? I didn’t pay for that Melissa. I’ve seen all of the receipts, so where did this come from?”

“The business does a ton of charitable work throughout the year, especially around Christmas because it has people purchasing items from them after hearing about it. I contacted them, used the company’s health care and HR records to estimate how many kids and what ages they might be to give them the number,” she said, knowing she couldn’t possibly put him off; he wouldn’t give up as easily as Elaine might, then grinned at his surprise.

“And they just sent you the freebies?” Jasper asked. “A company that size usually wouldn’t even bother with it, princess.”

“It’s a tax write-off for them plus its good publicity when people have their products out and about in public. It promotes literacy with children. Yes, it’s electronic but it’s still reading, engaging kids, and helping them to learn.” It was one of the only things about the company she’d had any hand in. Her father quickly realized how right she was and expanded her small gift giving endeavors into a whole new division several years ago.

“I know Grace’s daughter is getting ready to head to college, five hundred dollars will go a long way to getting her a new laptop for that. Her husband died two years ago and didn’t have life insurance, they’ve been struggling since. If there’s a need for overtime she always volunteers in order to get them by a little more, so thank you for this Melissa. It certainly makes the kids’ holidays.” Jasper wanted to reach out and touch her, kiss her, but he’d promised he wouldn’t bring their relationship to work.

“You make mine just by being here though, so thank you for everything you’ve done. I can’t imagine what you’ll manage for the investors’ dinner after how you decorated the house and this,” he added fighting even more desperately to stop himself from following through on what he wanted, unable to resist her when she smiled at him as she was now.

“Well, my idea behind the investors’ dinner is ‘Icing the Competition’,” she teased making his brow lift slightly while her brain whirled with ideas. “You’ll love it, I promise.”

“Of course, I will. If you have anything to do with it, then I know for a fact that I will.”

“Ah, trying to steal a little Christmas magic there, boss?” Matt questioned interrupting them. “Miss Melissa, you look incredibly lovely tonight. I was always a Mrs. Claus boy, but I think you could be my new favorite Miss C.”

Melissa felt color attacking her cheeks as Jasper reached out to grasp the inebriated man’s arm to keep him upright when he leaned towards her. She laughed softly at the dark look in Jasper’s eyes and took a step back from them as a couple others turned in their direction.

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