The Gift, Book 2 (The Billionaire's Love Story) (2 page)

Except that Tobias wasn’t in the mood for sex, lately. Drinking into the early hours of the morning was infinitely more appealing.

Chapter 2

“You have a present, Mommy. It’s got your name on it.” Jacob beamed at her as she walked back in. She’d told him that Santa only bought gifts for little children.

“I know. It’s exciting isn’t it?” She gave him the box. “This is for you.”

His mouth dropped open and he looked at her like a shocked fish. “For me?”

“For you.”

He examined the gift tag. “Can I open it?”

“Of course you can,” said Savannah, picking up the phone. She called Kay as she settled back down on her sofa. When her cousin answered, it sounded as though she was at a circus from the raucous laughter that screeched out of the phone.

“Thank you for the presents,” she said, raising her voice.

“What presents? Hang on.” She heard some static and then the background noise dimmed. “That’s better. What presents?”

“The Christmas gift basket and Jacob’s present,” replied Savannah.

“I didn’t send you anything.”

“You didn’t?” Savannah got up and walked back into the kitchen to double check. The gift tag bore only her name and there was no other information indicating who the sender was. She cast her eyes over the chutney jars, cheeses, the meats and the boxes of biscuits and chocolates.

“Look, Mommy!” Jacob whispered excitedly, knowing she was on the phone but unable to contain his delight. He’d unwrapped but hadn’t opened the box which he was trying to hold while still also clutching two figurines in his chubby hands. The box contained an Iron Man figurine with an aircraft.

More Iron Man.

“You didn’t?” asked Savannah, doubly confused. “I wish I had sent you something, now that you mention it.” Kay sounded a little tipsy. Savannah tried to think. Would Briony have sent this? It didn’t seem likely. She and Briony weren’t friendly enough to be exchanging gifts and she was certain that Briony didn’t even know what her son was called let alone what toys he liked best.

“Someone sent you a gift basket?” Kay shrieked.

“Where are you?” Savannah asked as Jacob looked excitedly at her. Surely his eyes could open no wider? He mouthed a ‘Can I open it?” but she shook her head and put her finger to her lips. He nodded then placed the box on the floor and continued to play with his other toys.

“In a restaurant. With…with…uh. I forgot his name.”

Savannah shook her head. She knew her cousin well. Kay was all for having a good time. She worked hard, but she played even harder.
Good-time-Kay,
her friends called her, and the name didn’t come without a reason.

“Merry Christmas,” she said, trying hard to think who else might be the mysterious benefactor.

“Stop it!” She heard her cousin’s coquettish voice. “I’m on the phone…”

“It sounds busy where you are. Who were you talking to?” Savannah scratched her eyebrow. The suspense of finding out who her gift donor was made her antsy.

“Dessert.”

“Dessert?”

Kay giggled and Savannah could have sworn she heard Kay ask “Your place or mine?”

“You got to third course and you don’t remember his name?”

Kay squealed and Susannah heard her tell someone to go. “Sorry,” said Kay, her voice loud on the phone again.

“Are you talking to me now, or having conversations with Dessert?” Savannah asked her.

“I’m back.”

“I’m afraid to ask where you are and what you’re up to.” Savannah confessed.

“We’re at a restaurant that is serving Christmas dinner. Except that it’s like a dating kind of thing. We change seats with every course.” Pride rang out from her voice, as if she’d scaled a high mountain.

Savannah gasped, horrified by the prospect of such an event. She didn’t mind being single, in fact she loved not having anyone to answer to. Yet she knew that Kay found it tough and took every opportunity to get hooked up. This Christmas day dating event sounded like a nightmare and Savannah shook her head in despair at her cousin’s never-ending quest to find a partner.

“Didn’t you consider having dinner at home with friends?”

“This
is
dinner with friends, or at least some of them will become friends. It’s mostly ex-pats. I’m trying to settle in, Sav. It’s not easy. Everyone here just works all the time and I’m lonely, you know what it’s like.”

“Horny, more like,” said Savannah. “That, too,” sniggered Kay. “Don’t you get lonely?”

No.
She was never lonely, but then she had Jacob. She’d been so relieved when her divorce had come through that the idea of having a relationship was so far from her mind so as to be non-existent.

“I’m going to have to go soon, it looks like my next course is being served,” Kay announced and Savannah didn’t know if she was referring to food or eye candy. “Isn’t there a card on the gifts to say who they’re from?” Kay asked, as the noise in the background turned louder.

“No,” replied Savannah. “And nobody apart from you and your mom, and my parents know that I’m living here.”

“Maybe it’s a secret admirer.”

“I don’t have a secret admirer.”

“It sounds as if you do,” Kay insisted, emphasizing her words with a sexy voice.

Savannah ignored her. “I was worried that Colt might have found us.”

Kay hooted with cruel laughter. “As if that loser would ever spend a dime on you and Jacob. A sorry but true fact.”

“I know,” said Savannah, quietly.

“I’m excited for you, Sav!” Kay giggled as the noise in the background turned louder. “Promise you’ll call and tell me as soon as you find out.”

“I will.”

“Merry Christmas and give my love to Jacob.”

“Thanks, I will. Merry Christmas.”

“It sure is looking that way,” laughed Kay. As soon as she hung up Jacob raced into the kitchen. “I know who sent this!” he cried.

“Who?”

Happiness streamed from his face. “Mr. Stone!”

She sprang back in surprise.

Tobias Stone?

“How do you know?”

“That day when we went to the toy shop, he told me to pick something.”

“Did you?”

Jacob shook his head. “He asked me what I wanted and I told him coloring books but I was playing with this.” He stared down at the box in his hands.

Tobias Stone had sent this?

But why would he? What possible reason could there have been?

Anything to help.
Those had been his very words to her a few days ago. He’d obviously taken more pity on her. She stared at the Christmas gift basket which contained enough food to feed an army.

“Aw, Mommy. He’s so nice, and he gave you a present too.”

“Tobias Stone,” she murmured. Of all the people she thought might have sent this, it made perfect sense that Stone would be the main contender. Well, she couldn’t accept this. Definitely not. And then she remembered that she’d already opened the gift basket and had given Arnold a few items from it.

“Jacob, honey,” she hesitated, knowing that he hadn’t rushed to open his gift, that on some level her son could sense her own hesitation.

“Can I open it?” His green eyes sparkled with hope and she gulped, torn between letting him have it, and giving in to Tobias Stone, or holding onto her dignity and making her son suffer. “I’m not sure we should accept this, honey.”

“Why not?”

“Because Santa already bought you lots of gifts and I think he sent this to the wrong address.”

“But it isn’t from Santa. It’s from Mr. Stone and it has my name on it!” She’d forgotten what a bright spark he was and it killed her to refuse him when he was so obviously desperate to play with it. “Honey, we can’t keep it because…” She was flailing helplessly in deep water.
Because the man who gave this only did so because he feels sorry for us.

“You know, honey. We weren’t supposed to be there that night—the night we went to the toy store.”

His face crumpled. “Do you think this is for someone else?”

“No, I—”

“Because it’s got my name on it and the basket has your name on it.” She sighed and clenched her stomach, thinking about her wages which had been paid into her account before Christmas. She hadn’t thought too much about it before, but now that she was forced to consider it, even that could not have been Briony’s doing. Briony couldn’t change how or when she got paid. Only Tobias Stone had that power and she had the worrisome feeling that it had been his idea.

Did she really look that desperate? Were her clothes and shoes such a dead giveaway? Because it seemed that he’d seen right through her.

“We didn’t give him anything,” she replied in a dull voice.
Stop asking so many questions, Jacob.
“I think it’s only right that we give this back.”

She couldn’t accept it and now, knowing what she did, she didn’t want to accept any of it. But the damage had been done. She’d already opened the gift basket. At least they would eat well, not only today but for the coming days too, and she would have plenty of things to give to Rosalee.

“But won’t that make Mr. Stone sad if we tell him we don’t want his presents?” Jacob’s face fell and she hurried to soothe him, hating herself at the same time but knowing she would hate herself more if she accepted both gifts.

She opened her mouth but no words came out.

“It’s okay, Mommy. You can give this back. I’ve got enough toys, anyway.” She nodded, because she couldn’t find her voice.

“But can we keep that?” He pointed to the gift basket, his eyes, she felt sure, had already glimpsed the boxes of biscuits and chocolates. “It’s
your
present.”

“It’s not my present. This was intended for both of us.”

“Is that a turkey? Wouldn’t it be nice to have turkey?” Jacob said, looking closely at the gift basket. She hadn’t bought turkey because it would have been too big for the two of them. Now she stifled the sadness she felt rising in her throat on hearing Jacob’s simple request.

Accepting the gift basket meant they could have a truly extravagant Christmas feast. It would would make a change from the small roast chicken dinner she’d planned and she could freeze the chicken she’d already bought. She pulled the decorative festive gold and green ribbon and peeled away the cellophane completely away. “Look, honey. There’s ham as well. You like ham don’t you?” So much wonderful food. His eyes sparkled with happiness again and the gift was forgotten. “Thanks, Mommy. I can’t wait!” He kissed her on the cheek.

No,
she thought, her eyes misting over as he scrambled away with his Marvel figurines.
Thank you, Jacob.

She took the contents of it out one by one. There was a spiral sliced turkey joint glazed with honey, and a ham joint, and smoked salmon, roasted vegetables and scalloped potatoes, all cooked; they only needed to be heated. And there was sourdough bread, and relish, lots of types of cheeses, chocolate truffles, mixed nuts and cherry and walnut slab cake and so many other little jars and boxes. She could almost see the extra inches adding to her waist and hips during the coming days. And there were bottles of red and white wine, and Champagne.

Warmth radiated all over her body at the thought that someone had gone to the trouble of putting this together. That Tobias Stone had done this. Of course,
he
didn’t put this together and had probably just called the store, or asked Candace to. But still, the thought had been there. A caring intention, even if she still couldn’t reconcile the action with the personality of the man as she had come to know him.

Yet it was because of his actions that she and Jacob really would have the best Christmas ever.

Two years ago she would never have dreamed that she would be spending Christmas in New York, yet here she was and now not only did she have a beautiful apartment, not hers, but still…, and a job, one that was temporary, but still…and a magnificent Christmas feast, not bought by her, but still… things were so different.

The decision was made. She would keep the gift basket and return the toy. There was only so much charity she would accept, even from Tobias Stone.

Chapter 3

Their sumptuous two day feast kept their overstretched stomachs deliciously full all of Christmas Day and the day after.

Yet Savannah wasn
’
t sure how she felt about the matter. A
t first she was annoyed, then she was grateful, and then she alternated between the two emotions as she tried to analyze the reasons behind Tobias Stone’s act of goodwill.

Charity. That’s all it was,
she kept reminding herself.

Jacob’s contented sighs, as he had double helpings of turkey and ham, convinced her that she had done the right thing in keeping the gift basket at least.

She would deal with Tobias Stone when she next saw him but she wasn’t sure when that would be. If he didn’t come in next week then she would never see him again and she wouldn’t get the chance to thank him for his gifts. According to Briony, he wasn’t jetting off on vacation this Christmas, but she could hardly imagine that a man like Stone would come into the office during this time of year.

He probably had better things to do and was most likely having the kind of Christmas she could only dream about.

~~

Her return to work a few days later was made all the more painful because she had loved spending time with Jacob playing games and reading, watching endless amounts of TV and eating.

Frightened by the thought of being without a job in the New Year, she had emailed her resume to a few agencies even though she didn’t expect to hear from them over the holiday season. Secretly she’d hoped that Briony might have mentioned something about having more work for her but she hadn’t and Savannah wasn’t going to see her again either. Worries about her financial situation had made her look elsewhere as a backup.

With slight trepidation she walked into the Stone building and made her way to the 21st floor. She carried the toy gift and went straight to Tobias Stone’s door. After knocking and not getting an answer, she placed it on the floor outside his door.