Page 29 of His Christmas Gift

“Melissa, we’re so glad you could join us,” Joanna said, turning towards the others. “You must be Mr. Thomas. Your donation helped us make all this happen, I don’t know what to say.”

“That makes two of us,” Jasper replied, looking down at her curiously and she laughed softly. “This was actually Melissa’s surprise for all of us, so it’s her any of the thanks should go to.”

“But the donation came from you,” Joanna stated looking between them. “It was your name that got the others to make donations as well.”

“Melissa has my full authority to make whatever donations she’d like and to put my name on them,” Jasper assured her, calming the woman’s worry. “This one was simply done as a surprise for us as well.”

“Please, come join us. The children are so excited. Most years these kids get nothing, their parents can’t afford to feed them let alone get them gifts, so this is such a treat,” Joanna said showing them into the mix.

Melissa stayed with Jasper, snuggling into his side once Joanna had moved off, not caring one bit what anyone thought of it.

“Would you like to explain this one to me, princess?” he asked lifting her chin up to meet his gaze. “What sort of donation did you make?”

“I used the savings from the Christmas party to make the donation,” she answered, not adding that she’d tacked on her own on top of it as padding. “I met Joanna when she was going to different places looking for donations to make the party happen. I overheard the manager’s rudeness and moved over to Joanna, asking if they’d received the donation from us. I’d just placed the order for part of the investor’s party with them, so he knew who I was. To her credit, Joanna said yes and that it was so appreciated, and I just nodded, asking her where else she’d been to look for others. When she mentioned they’d gotten a donation from Warrington’s, I hinted that I might have to change my mind and go with them for the investor’s party and the man immediately changed his tune.”

“And you then gave her the actual donation?” Jasper asked making her grin.

“Yes, along with telling her to add you were sponsoring the event and would be sending everyone that also donated a personalized thank you card,” she said with a little shrug pulling a laugh from him.

“Meaning I’d know everyone who also helped with it, and I’d be suspicious of those that didn’t,” he guessed. “You are a brilliant little manipulator when you want to be, aren’t you princess? But since it’s with a heart of gold it’s no wonder I love you so much.”

“What can I say, large corporations that refuse to donate even the smallest amount to make a child smile especially at this time of the year infuriate me. It’s a win-win usually. The donations can be written off and it makes someone else happy, not to mention can be really good press.”

“That it can, but how did I not hear anything on it until today?” Jasper’s question made her giggle a bit and his brow lifted. “Elaine knew, so anytime someone called asking on it, she either simply confirmed it, telling them I was in meetings, or likely passed the call along to you.”

“Guilty,” she confirmed, smiling more when he dropped a kiss onto the top of her head, before moving them further into the event.

They left late that afternoon when the kids fell asleep, going back to Jasper’s for their own Christmas dinner. The necklace from him was the perfect addition to her dress, and she rested in his arms late into the night with the others enjoying her hot cocoa.

The house was extra quiet when they left, and she headed to the office with Jasper on the twenty-seventh to catch up on everything she hadn’t managed while Jasper’s stepfamily was in town. She’d loved spending time with them, knowing they wanted nothing from her, liked her for who they saw her as—the girl that loved Jasper, rather than as the heiress everyone back home treated her as.

She was deep in the plans when the door opened, and Grace moved into the space. “Grace, how was your Christmas? I thought you were taking a few extra days off with Nora?”

“I am,” she said, making Melissa’s brow lift a bit. “I had to stop by to see you though.”

“Why’s that?” she asked setting her stack of papers aside.

“You knew I’d refuse to accept them, didn’t you?” Grace stated and she feigned ignorance until Grace set a piece of paper down in front of her. “All the Christmas gifts for the kids at the party, the extra donations to the Crestmont Center to give their entire neighborhood a party with food and presents for the kids, and everything that showed up on Christmas Day for Nora…was all from you, wasn’t it? You were living in a neighborhood that I’ve refused to move down to no matter how tight we’ve been, to keep everyone from finding out who you really are.”

“My father and I truly do have an agreement on the internship. I know he wants to guide me into taking over but it’s not what I want. It wasn’t then and it certainly isn’t now,” she admitted as Grace took the seat next to her. “I picked somewhere I knew he couldn’t easily stay to look over my shoulder, in a different industry as his, a different circle to the people that might somehow know who I really was. I didn’t expect to meet Jasper…but I wouldn’t change it for anything. I know he was worried about me not being able to fit into his world. He doesn’t know who I really am yet. I don’t want that hanging over us right now.”

“I won’t tell him, I just…why? Why us?” Grace asked, her brows knitted tightly together.

“Because you were kind to me when so many others were awful. Callum wasn’t the only one here that was making my life difficult. Yes, he was the worst, then his friends down there, but a lot of women were also giving me the cold shoulder, snickering whenever Callum would say something nasty about some missed formatting. I never knew growing up who I could really trust, so many people wanted close to me just so they’d get something out of it. From the moment I moved up to Jasper’s office and we started working together more, you gave me the benefit of the doubt.”

“I didn’t do it because I wanted something from it,” Grace started to say and she smiled, laughing softly to stop her.

“I know, you never complained when you had to explain something to me, I didn’t quite understand. You didn’t start snickering when you guessed that Jasper and I were growing close. You were simply my friend. I can afford to give out some electronics for Christmas, especially if it makes someone happy.”

“Someelectronics? Nora now has enough equipment to open a photo studio and software to create anything she wants. Not to mention enough items and decorations to fill a dorm room to make anyone envious. She was too excited for me to refuse the delivery, but I knew it had to come from you somehow. You’re the only one I talked to about Nora’s plans to at least minor in photography. I thought somehow you managed to convince Jasper to pay for everything and I was going to insist that any overtime from here on went to cover it all. Then I saw the story about the Crestmont party, and that Jasper was the largest donor to it, but it also listed Hannover in the list of contributors and that made me remember our discussion. I pulled up info on the company since that’s where the electronics came from and learnt that the CEO had a twenty-two-year-old daughter named Melissa. It was too much of a coincidence and when I searched for Melissa Hannover, your photo came up.”

“You’re the only one that’s put it together so far,” she said with a smile at the woman. “I was worried someone in HR would, because my real name is listed on my degree. Carson was my mother’s maiden name.”

“They didn’t have as much reason to wonder as I did,” Grace said, putting her hand onto Melissa’s. “I can’t accept all of it though, it’s far too much.”

“Did you happen to see how much the company’s worth?” Melissa asked making Grace’s brows furl together again. “Alone, I’m the heiress to a multi-billion-dollar company. Even if my father sold it rather than put me in charge of it or leave his shares of it to me and put someone else in charge, all of that would be left to me. Jasper is worth millions as well. I’d never worry about money again. I never had friends before now, so let me worry about the cost and you just enjoy the time with your daughter. Believe me, that’s worth far more to Nora than the cost of some electronics.”

“I don’t even know how to say thank you,” Grace replied, hugging her. “Anything you need, you let me know. Especially when it comes to your wedding.”

---