Maddie shot Kara a mischievous grin. “He does? How sweet”
“I guess I just want to make up for every hurt that Simon has ever had, every Christmas that wasn’t good when he was a child,” Kara said thoughtfully.
“You realize that’s exactly what they’re trying to do for us,” was Maddie’s insightful response, as she nodded toward all the gifts under her tree.
“I know,” Kara said with a smile, glancing at her watch as she rose. Walking over to a large picture window, she gasped as she pulled back the curtain and saw exactly what she and Maddie had been waiting for. “Wow.”
Sitting her hot chocolate on the coffee table, Maddie rose. “What?”
“This guy is incredible.” The light was dim, but the man who had promised to deliver all the gifts to Sam’s pool house at midnight looked incredibly authentic. He was slinging another bag of presents onto his back, and was dressed up as Santa Claus. He was even driving what looked like a sleigh. Since they were in Florida and there was no snow, the vehicle had to have wheels, but they were obviously well concealed because Kara couldn’t see them. “Holy crap. Those even look like…reindeer. Where did you find this delivery service?”
Maddie pushed up beside her and peeked out the window. “I didn’t. I asked one of Sam’s security team to find me a Santa to deliver gifts and gave him the details. He checked out the service and said it was legit, and I swore him to secrecy about the whole thing.”
Kara squinted as she tried to figure out how what had to be horses had been disguised so well as reindeer. “We need to ask the agent where in the heck he came from. This guy is perfect.”
“Come to think of it, that agent quit just yesterday. Said he had a family emergency and didn’t know if he was coming back.”
“We need to get the guys,” Kara said excitedly, her whole body quivering with excitement.
She dashed up the stairs and sought them out, finding them in one of the guest rooms. It appeared that they’d just done a nighttime sugar check on Timmy, who was lying down trying to get to sleep. It wasn’t difficult for her to muster up excitement as she told all three of them, “Santa’s here, hurry!”
Timmy sat up in bed, his expression excited but wary. “Aren’t I supposed to be sleeping? What if he’s mad?”
Kara felt Maddie push in bedside her and said, “He won’t be mad. I just asked him.”
Timmy shot out of bed and raced past the two perplexed men. Simon shot Kara a confused looked, but she simply took his hand in hers and led him after Timmy, Maddie doing the same with Sam.
“Out in the pool house,” Kara called to Timmy. “Santa said there wasn’t enough room under the Christmas tree for everything.”
“What are you up to?” Simon whispered loudly in her ear as he let her lead him outside and into the pool house, Maddie and Sam following close behind.
“It’s Christmas,” she told him. “You’re allowed to act like a child and be surprised.”
“I was never a child,” Simon retorted nonchalantly.
Isn’t that the truth!
The fact that Simon and Sam had never really had a childhood was one of the reasons she and Maddie were giving them this night. Simon had told her more than once that he’d been an adult his entire life. Just once, she wanted to take care of his needs, let him enjoy getting something for himself at Christmas.
“Be one tonight. Please,” she told him softly, turning her head until their eyes met and held.
“Okay. Is Santa really here for Timmy?” Simon asked playfully, picking up on her mood.
“He’s here for all of you. I told him you’ve been a good boy this year, too.” She hesitated before she added, “Mostly.”
They entered the pool house before Simon could reply, both of their gazes suddenly riveted to the massive piles of presents in the gazebo and bar portion of the pool house.
There was a small tree with twinkling lights set up and the room was decorated in red and green, something that Kara assumed Maddie must have arranged.
Santa was squatting next to Timmy, talking to the boy in a low, soft voice.
Ruffling his hair, Santa stood up and said in a booming voice, “Time for me to go. I have a lot of houses to visit tonight.”
“Is all of this for us?” Timmy asked in an astonished voice.
Kara blinked as Santa stroked his very authentic looking white beard and winked at Timmy. “They’re for every one of you who has been very good this year.” His jolly, red face became sober for a moment as he added, “Some things that you should have had years ago.”
Timmy was down on his knees, looking through the gifts. “Some are for me,” he exclaimed excitedly.
Kara smiled at the pseudo Santa. “Thank you,” she said in a voice low enough that Timmy couldn’t hear.
“You’re very welcome, Kara,” he answered with a beaming smile.
How does he know that I’m Kara and not Maddie?
She’d never met the man before, and Maddie had arranged the delivery.
Santa looked at her and Simon’s conjoined hands, and then his eyes moved to Sam and Maddie, specifically at their clasped hands before he said solemnly, “Love each other well. You all deserve that.” In a louder voice, he bellowed, “Ho, Ho, Ho. Merry Christmas.” Lifting a black gloved hand, he strode confidently out the door.
“There’s a present here for you, too, Kara. And for Simon, Sam and Maddie,” Timmy squealed happily.
Maddie and Kara exchanged a startled look. “Oh, no. He must have made a mistake,” Kara muttered, distressed. She let go of Simon’s hand and ran after the delivery guy, Maddie on her heels.
Both of them stopped abruptly as they reached the area of the circular drive where the sleigh had been parked.
“He’s gone. How could he have left that quickly?” Kara asked Maddie breathlessly. She looked down the drive, seeing no sign of life.
All was quiet.
“I don’t know,” Maddie answered, sounding as confounded as Kara. “There shouldn’t be any gifts for us in there, but we’ll act cool. Timmy’s so excited. I’ll try to figure it out later.”
Kara nodded to her, and the women made their way back to the pool house, only to find the “boys” already opening their gifts.
To Kara’s relief, it was everything she and Maddie had bought for them. Both women kneeled beside the tree and watched as the men and boy plowed through the mound of gifts, all of them grinning like children.