Gifts of Love Read online

  Gifts of Love

  Natalie Ann

  Copyright 2019 Natalie Ann

  All Rights Reserved

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without a written consent.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Author’s Note

  Also by Natalie Ann

  Where to find Natalie Ann

  Blurb

  Untitled

  Table of Contents

  Epilogue

  Prologue

  1. Past the Stress

  2. What He Had

  3. Shame and Guilt

  4. Thick and Thin

  5. Thank You

  6. The Fun in That

  7. Used and Discarded

  8. Temporary Working Relationship

  9. Analyze Things

  10. Live Up To

  11. Thrilled and Terrified

  12. Emotionally Manipulated

  13. Two and Out

  14. Dart At A Map

  15. Still Distrustful

  16. Those In Need

  17. Someone Special

  18. Power of Promotion

  19. The Person She Was

  20. Make An Appearance

  21. Picture Perfect

  22. So Different

  23. The Lucky Ones

  24. End Well

  25. Convince Me

  Epilogue

  Intro to New Series- Cupid’s Quest, Paradise Place

  Where to find Natalie Ann

  Author’s Note

  Author’s Note

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Also by Natalie Ann

  The Road Series-See where it all started!!

  Lucas and Brooke’s Story- Road to Recovery

  Jack and Cori’s Story – Road to Redemption

  Mac and Beth’s Story- Road to Reality

  Ryan and Kaitlin’s Story- Road to Reason

  The All Series

  William and Isabel’s Story — All for Love

  Ben and Presley’s Story – All or Nothing

  Phil and Sophia’s Story – All of Me

  Alec and Brynn’s Story – All the Way

  Sean and Carly’s Story — All I Want

  Drew and Jordyn’s Story— All My Love

  Finn and Olivia’s Story—All About You

  Landon Barber and Kristen Reid – All of Us

  The Lake Placid Series

  Nick Buchanan and Mallory Denning – Second Chance

  Max Hamilton and Quinn Baker – Give Me A Chance

  Caleb Ryder and Celeste McGuire – Our Chance

  Cole McGuire and Rene Buchanan – Take A Chance

  Zach Monroe and Amber Deacon- Deserve A Chance

  Trevor Miles and Riley Hamilton – Last Chance

  Matt Winters and Dena Hall- Another Chance

  Logan Taylor and Kennedy Miles – It’s My Chance

  The Fierce Five Series

  Gavin Fierce and Jolene O’Malley- How Gavin Stole Christmas

  Brody Fierce and Aimee Reed - Brody

  Aiden Fierce and Nic Moretti- Aiden

  Mason Fierce and Jessica Corning- Mason

  Cade Fierce and Alex Marshall - Cade

  Ella Fierce and Travis McKinley- Ella

  Fierce Family

  Sam Fierce and Dani Rhodes- Sam

  Bryce Fierce and Payton Davies- Bryce

  Drake Fierce and Kara Winslow – Drake

  Love Collection

  Vin Steele and Piper Fielding – Secret Love

  Jared Hawk and Shelby McDonald – True Love

  Erik McMann and Sheldon Case – Finding Love

  Connor Landers and Melissa Mahoney- Beach Love

  Ian Price and Cam Mason- Intense Love

  Liam Sullivan and Ali Rogers - Autumn Love

  Owen Taylor and Jill Duncan - Holiday Love

  Chase Martin and Noelle Bennett - Christmas Love

  Zeke Collins and Kendall Hendricks - Winter Love

  Troy Walker and Meena Dawson – Chasing Love

  Jace Stratton and Lauren Towne - First Love

  Gabe Richards and Leah Morrison – Forever Love

  Blake Wilson and Gemma Anderson- Simple Love

  Brendan St. Nicholas and Holly Land – Gifts of Love

  Where to find Natalie Ann

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  Blurb

  Holly Lane has been distrustful of do-gooders and charitable organizations ever since her granny was swindled out of her life savings. But that wasn’t nearly as bad as her ex accusing her of being with him to better herself in life. So when a sexy self-made millionaire shows up wanting to use the family tree farm for his holiday toy drive, she is anything but welcoming.

  Brendan St. Nicholas has made it his mission to give back since he experienced Disney as part of the Make A Wish Foundation. One of his biggest and proudest events is an annual toy drive where he tries to bring support to businesses struggling in the community. So it makes no sense that Holly Lane—whose family business could use his help—was more than willing to give him the boot.

  Table of Contents

  Past the Stress

  What He Had

  Shame and Guilt

  Thick and Thin

  Thank You

  The Fun in That

  Used and Discarded

  Temporary Working Relationship

  Analyze Things

  Live Up To

  Thrilled and Terrified

  Emotionally Manipulated

  Two and Out

  Dart At A Map

  Still Distrustful

  Those In Need

  Someone Special

  Power of Promotion

  The Person She Was

  Make An Appearance

  Picture Perfect

  So Different

  The Lucky Ones

  End Well

  Prologue

  Brendan rolled over on Christmas morning and looked at the clock to see the bright red light showing seven thirty. It was later than he imagined since he was normally up earlier when it came to the holidays.

  He guessed he was more tired than he thought he was. He couldn’t wait for the day when he didn’t feel like this. Like his body was fighting for every breath to just get up and move. He was hoping today wouldn’t be one of those days, but it seemed not much in his life was going the way he thought it would.

  When he walked out of his room and down the stairs, he saw his parents sitting at the small kitchen table drinking coffee. “Morning,” his mother said.

  “Merry Christmas,” he said back, looking around for his sister. “Where’s Kat?”

  “Sleeping. You know her, once her head hits the pillow she is out like a light.”

  “Yeah, but it’s Christmas morning,” he argued.

  His younger sister, Katrina, was the most chill eleven-year-old he knew. When she was a toddler she hardly ever cried. If she didn’t get her way, she just strutted away proud as can be like it was her right to not get what she wanted and decided to do something else. Like a cat—and that was when he decided to shorten her name.

  His father shrugged. “You can go wake her if you want. I’m s
ure she’s excited...at least she will be once she stretches and rubs the sleep from her eyes.”

  He grinned, turned, and went back up the stairs. When he pushed Kat’s door open he saw that she was almost curled into a ball with the comforter half hanging on the floor. “Wake up, Kat. Santa came.”

  She did exactly as his father said, lifted her arms over her head, stretched, her legs straightening, her toes pointing, her mouth twisting in a yawn. “Did Santa really come or are you making it up?”

  He figured she probably didn’t believe anymore, but he wasn’t about to ask that and give up the secret if she did.

  She stood up and stretched one more time, then followed him down the stairs. They were both wearing their new Christmas pajamas that they opened the night before, a tradition his parents had done for as long as he could remember.

  “You know I wouldn’t tell you something that wasn’t true. There are gifts under the tree from Santa.”

  “I believe you,” she said, running past him and down the stairs. There were the energy and excitement she showed when she wanted to.

  Brendan jogged down after her. Trying to fight back how tired he’d just gotten, he sucked in a bit of air, his heart racing, then sat down on the floor while his sister looked around at the boxes.

  “Are you okay?” his mother asked.

  “I’m fine. Just got winded a bit. You know how it gets. It will pass.”

  “I’m sure it will,” his mother said, always one to humor him. He’d like it to pass permanently. Soon, he knew. Not much longer before he had surgery to fix his heart.

  Was he scared? Shit yeah. No fifteen-year-old wanted to have their chest cracked open and their heart exposed, but he knew he’d be fine after, so it was best to get it over with.

  He looked around under the tree hoping to see some new video games. It seemed like that was all he did with his time since it was discovered he had aortic stenosis a few years ago. He was most likely born with it, though he never showed symptoms.

  Then all of a sudden he got active in sports and found he was tired more than he should be. A routine physical showed a heart murmur. He was watched and continued to play sports, but everything got worse. That was when all the tests were done, the procedures and such.

  Nothing was working and as a last resort he was having valve replacement surgery in two months.

  It wasn’t what he wanted to think about right now. Instead he was looking forward to what was on his wish list.

  What he wanted was a gaming computer. He had a Playstation and an Xbox. He had no care for a Wii, but his big wish was the computer.

  The problem with that...a good one was thousands of dollars and his parents already spent enough money on his medical bills. He couldn’t ask them for something as expensive as that.

  His hope was that he could get a job when he turned sixteen to add to the money he was putting away from all the holidays. Then he could buy one himself.

  Kat was now ripping into her gifts. New clothes, jewelry, a few board games, and books. She was easy to please and all girl. Princesses and frilly things were right up her alley.

  Once the living room resembled a war zone of red, green, and Santa paper, his father handed him another small box. “One more thing.”

  “Who is this from?” he asked, not seeing a name on it.

  “Just open it and you will see.”

  Kat turned to watch while he opened it up and saw the letter from Make A Wish Foundation. No way. It couldn’t be. He’d applied a while ago, never thinking he’d get it.

  He read the letter, felt his eyes fill up with tears and wasn’t even the least bit embarrassed over it.

  “Are you getting your computer?” Kat asked.

  “No,” he said, looking at her, then his parents. “We’re going to Disney.”

  Kat screeched and started to jump around the room. Disney wasn’t his first choice, though he enjoyed a good ride like the next person. He was all about Epcot and special effects at the movie studios. But this trip wasn’t for him, it was for his family.

  So much time, energy, money, and emotions were spent on him and it was time to give back for all that everyone sacrificed. He was getting a new lease on life, and with it, he was going to pay back his family.

  So he did the one thing he could. He was giving his parents a vacation and his sister a chance to spend some time with princesses.

  The joy on everyone’s face made up for not asking for his gaming computer. And when they went in a few months and he saw them all smiling, it would be the best trip of his life.

  1

  Past the Stress

  Fifteen years later

  Holly was sitting at her desk trying her darnedest to get two and two to equal four. If it equaled five she’d be thrilled, but currently it seemed like it was a big fat red three.

  She wanted to lay her head down on the cold metal contraption of a desk that was older than her and just start to bang it a few times and try again. It didn’t matter. The business was still struggling.

  The last few years just weren’t kind to the family tree farm. This past summer had been better for sure, but they were still digging out of the hole of repairs to some of the greenhouses. Equipment that had to be replaced. And then there were her grandmother’s medical bills that had mounted when the family realized her life savings was gone.

  Added to that was her brother Ryan’s idea to use fifteen acres for growing hops for local brewers. It was a great investment in their future, but it was an investment and that meant loans they had to take.

  This first summer had covered their investment, but they didn’t yield much profit. Next year they would. Now she just hoped to get past the stress on her end to make it all work.

  One thing or another always seemed to happen.

  But Christmas was around the corner and always a big time of year. At least she hoped so.

  She looked up when she heard a knock on the doorframe to see her older brother, Ryan, standing there in old worn jeans, work boots, and a thick flannel shirt open over a T-shirt. She wasn’t dressed much differently. Though she worked in the office, she’d fill in where she was needed and could end up on the grounds getting her feet and clothes dirty.

  “Brynn Harper was here earlier.”

  “Who?” Holly asked.

  Her brother walked in and sat in the chair across from her. “From Harper Construction.”

  That perked her up a bit. Harper Construction was one of the biggest construction companies in Saratoga. In all of the Capital Region in Upstate New York.

  “What did she want?”

  “They had a falling out with their landscaper and are looking for bids for new ones for the spring.”

  “Really? And they reached out to us? This could be huge.” Her heart was already moving faster than Thumper’s big fluffy feet over the possibilities and the potential income of this.

  “Yep. They are big into family-owned businesses. Her husband and his brother have owned and operated Harper’s for years. They are looking for a few things. They have a lot of rental properties, and they do flips. So they need landscaping for those houses. But the bigger part is the new builds in their developments. Most people want the property already landscaped and so they would pick what they want and Harper’s would contract with someone. Hopefully us,” Ryan said, grinning wide.

  She wished she could be as carefree and laid back as Ryan, but she seemed to be born with the stress gene in the family. That was probably why she sat behind the desk while he got to work the land. It suited him better, often the one found whistling while he worked.

  “So what do I need to do?” she asked, her pen ready and paper in front of her, dying to dive right in.

  “Here’s her card. I told her you’d get in touch for more specifics.”

  She reached for the card and placed it right in front of her on the keyboard. “The minute you are out of my office, I’m on it.”

  “That’s the smile I’d like to see on
your face more often. I’m kind of sick of seeing the frown. You know you’ve got more worry lines than anyone should for twenty-eight.”

  She snorted. “What no woman ever wants to hear. That’s why you’re still single at thirty-two.”

  “The same as you,” he said back. “But I’ve got one more thing. It’s a day of good news.”

  “Good news is always welcome, especially when I keep seeing red and would love to see some black.”

  “Better you than me,” he said. “I’m happy dealing with the green all day long.”

  “We all have our strengths,” she said. “So put me in an even better mood and tell me the other good news.”

  “Brendan St. Nicholas just left here a few minutes ago.”

  “Am I supposed to know who that is?”

  “Really, Holly? What world do you live in?”

  “A world that doesn’t know who Brendan St. Nicholas is.”

  He laughed and started to rub his hands together. “Does Force Frontier ring a bell?”

  “Huh?” she said. “Should it?”

  “It’s one of the best-selling battle royale games out there. Right up there with Apex.”

  “No clue,” she said. “That is your thing, not mine.”