There's a stranger at the door on Christmas Day…
Single mother Paige Summerville wants to give her seven-year-old son the Christmas of his dreams. Jason needs surgery to beat the illness that's plagued his young life, leaving Paige desperate to make ends meet. So she turns to a charity that grants the wishes of sick children…
Then a stranger arrives bearing gifts for Jason—and for her. He's Daniel Kinsley, a lawyer who's grown cynical about family. But his kindness in making Jason's wishes come true offers him more than he ever imagined. Is there room in Paige's heart for a man who could fulfill all their dreams? And not just at Christmas!
He was glad he had some time to spare before his next appointment. His meeting with Gloria Farnsworth had put him in a miserable mood. He dropped heavily into his chair and swung it around to stare out the window. Across the street, a billboard displaying a Norman Rockwell–style scene seemed to mock him. It showed a cheerful, ruddy-faced Santa distributing brightly wrapped gifts to an elegantly dressed and ridiculously happy family. The husband clasped his wife’s hand affectionately, and the model-perfect woman stroked the blonde curls of a little girl in a red velvet dress. Daniel snorted. Did anyone really live like that? Not in his experience.
He thought of his own parents and their respectful, polite relationship. When was the last time he’d seen his parents touch? For that matter, his mother’s obligatory cheek kisses aside, he couldn’t recall his parents ever touching him with affection. They never argued. They never fought. But he also wasn’t sure they actually loved each other. A sad statement, especially after forty-three years of marriage.
It didn’t help his mood to remember that he’d agreed to spend more than a week with them in Newport over the holidays. He knew there’d be no Christmas cheer in that. At times he questioned why his parents stayed together. Then again, maybe they had it right. No love, no pain. Not wanting to dwell on it, he allowed his thoughts to come full circle to Gloria Farnsworth.
Daniel turned away from the window and looked down at the open Farnsworth case file on his desk. He’d been tempted to tell Gloria to find another lawyer. But would that really have accomplished anything? More than half his cases disgusted him in one way or another. Okay, maybe none quite as much as the Farnsworth case, but if he wanted to extricate himself from cases that he found morally reprehensible, where exactly would he draw the line?
He picked up his pen and twirled it between his fingers.
Gloria Farnsworth was definitely at the extreme end. She’d torn a strip off him when he told her she should be satisfied with the spousal support her husband had agreed to—generous in his estimation—and accept that she was on shaky ground trying to get child support for a nineteen-year-old who wasn’t attending school and didn’t have a job. Gloria had demanded to know under what conditions she would be entitled. And fool that he was, he’d treated her like a rational person and explained some of the circumstances under which case law might entitle her to child support. He never would’ve imagined that she’d jump on one of the alternatives and willingly label her own son mentally disabled for the sake of gouging more money out of her soon-to-be-ex.
It was repugnant. Daniel knew it wouldn’t hold up in court—no expert witness would testify to it—but things probably wouldn’t come to that. Having met the husband on a couple of occasions, he sensed that the man cared about his child. Daniel was quite certain he’d settle rather than subject his son to the pain and humiliation of being questioned in court about his mental capacity.
Maybe Daniel should tell Gloria Farnsworth to take a long hike off a short— Whoa! She’d really gotten to him. In more polite terms, he would ask her to hire another lawyer. He refused to be party to what essentially amounted to fraud.
He straightened the papers, closed the file folder and tossed his pen on top.
With his parents’ loveless marriage, plus the hostile family disputes he witnessed at work, it was hardly surprising that he was still single at thirty-six.
Why couldn’t people be civil to one another? As an idealistic law student, he’d chosen family law because he wanted to help people, yet his caseload was dominated by nasty divorce and custody battles. Who was he kidding? He hadn’t helped anyone in a long time in any way other than to better their financial circumstances or inflict hardship and pain on their spouses. It was a bitter disappointment to see how people who’d supposedly once loved each other and been committed to each other ended up.
Yes, he told himself again, maybe his parents had it right, after all.
Selena, his executive assistant, interrupted his thoughts, calling to announce his next appointment—probably a good thing, as he was getting more and more depressed. Checking his schedule, he felt his mood lighten. This meeting would be a nice antithesis to his day so far.
He rose as Selena escorted a plainly dressed, middle-aged woman into his office. “Ms. Andrews, I’m Daniel Kinsley.” He extended a hand in greeting. “Would you like a coffee? Some water?”
“Call me Laura, please,” she said, shaking his hand, “and no. I’m fine, thank you.”
Daniel signaled to Selena that she could leave and offered Laura Andrews a seat.
“Thank you for meeting with me,” Laura began.
“The pleasure is mine. Your organization has a stellar reputation, and so do you as its executive
director.”
“All of us at the Wish I May Foundation believe wholeheartedly in what we do, and we work very hard for our program’s children and their families. Yet we always have more families in need than we have sponsors, especially at this time of year. I can assure you that if your firm sponsors a child, you won’t regret it. All our sponsors tell us how much it means to them to make a difference in a young person’s life.”
“What’s involved in sponsorship?”
“It’s straightforward. You’d be given information on a chronically ill child and that child’s family and Christmas wish list. You’ll find that their wishes, for the most part, are very basic. Winter clothing, books, some small toys.” Laura’s smile conveyed sadness rather than pleasure. “Basic because these families often endure hardships that extend well beyond the illness of the child. We encourage sponsors to consider doing something extra for the child, if they can.” Daniel thought he saw a mischievous glint in her eye. “A trip to Walt Disney World, perhaps, or a PlayStation gaming system.”
It didn’t take Daniel long to commit his firm.
“All that’s left is to decide on the family you’ll be sponsoring.” Laura reached into her bag and pulled out a folder. Flipping through the papers, she finally drew out two sheets.
“Problem?” Daniel asked when Laura continued to scrutinize the two pages.
“Hmm? No. Not really.” She glanced up. “It’s just that I know both these families personally, and I’m having a hard time choosing between them.” She held out both sheets. “Here. Why don’t you decide?”
Daniel read the pages and examined the photographs at the top of each. Choosing between the two children and their families was impossible. Finally, coming to the only decision he could, he set the pages on his desk and looked up at Laura. Her eyes were focused on him, and a small smile played at the corners of her mouth. Her expression made him think that he’d been masterfully manipulated. In this case, he didn’t mind. “You’re very good at your job,” he acknowledged.
She gave a slight nod, and her smile remained in place. “I do my best.”
Daniel knew that when he shared the children’s stories with his partners, he’d be able to raise the needed money for each of them, including enough for some nice extras. “We’ll sponsor them both,” he said.
For the first time in months—no, years—he felt he was doing something worthwhile. And it had nothing to do with the law.
Kate spent eight years of her childhood living in foreign countries as her professional parents travelled on business. She lived in four countries and spoke five languages before settling down in Canada again to attend university. After graduating with a degree in civil engineering, she held a variety of positions in the field of real estate development and operations, and ran three substantial organizations. While her writing during this period was mostly business related, including presentations and speeches she delivered both nationally and internationally, her passion is and always has been fiction.
Kate's business and personal experiences enable her to write fiction with a deep, often first-hand knowledge of what she is writing about. This approach makes Kate's stories richer and more vivid.
Kate’s goal is to entertain you with well-written, engaging stories, set in intriguing places and with strong, likeable characters. “I hope my stories bring you pleasure and entertain you. Nothing pleases me more than receiving feedback from people who have chosen to spend their valuable leisure time with one of my books,” notes Kate.
Kate married her husband, Ken, in an elegant, ocean-front wedding on a tropical island. When they are not traveling, they split their time between their properties in southern and central Ontario in Canada, with their beloved black Labs, Harley and Logan.
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