The Christmas Bond

A treasure worth having is worth believing in

Margo Wilson understands two things really well: planning and timing. After looking carefully at the statistics, her family tree, and the town she lived in, Margo knew one thing for certain. She was in the last six months of her two-year window of optimal breeding. None of her close friends would understand or approve, but she has to get pregnant in the next six months if kids are going to be in her future. She needs to find a good donor, write a great contract, and voila, instant Mommy.

Roman Gray should have been a happy man. After being erroneously incarcerated for a year, the real culprits were found and brought to justice. Unfortunately, that year in prison was plenty of time to destroy his life and connections and to lose his fiancée. Now he wanders around doing odd jobs and going wherever they take him. Disillusioned and bitter with life, he believes he’s seen it all, and it’s all bad. Then he meets Margo Wilson, who proposes a deal that seems too good to be true. If he signs on the dotted line, he could set himself up and regain his old life.

Margo and Roman are both realists, but they’ll discover that love doesn’t care about contracts. Love cares about the hearts within. Can Roman soften his jaded perspective on life to find the joy in Margo’s heart? Can Margo soften her plans to see the potential in Roman’s love?

Come find out if these two can find the magic in love’s future!

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Chapter
One

The
only thing Margo Wilson liked to do more than standing up for the little guy was
protecting her small town from nefarious business owners. It wasn’t like she
could point to the proof yet, but she knew she was getting close to nailing one
of those business owners named Equinox Construction.

Jay
Lockwood of Equinox Construction wanted to buy property on the same block as
her best friend’s husband, Daniel. There was some concern that Equinox was not
a small construction company, and if given the permits and licenses to move, it
could lobby to change the zoning laws in their favor, subsequently changing the
feel of the town with plans they claimed they couldn’t disclose because they were
proprietary due to their critical nature. If Equinox made less than ten million
a year, the town would accept them as a new small business. If it was found
their assets were greater, their licenses would be denied.

Every
time Lockwood showed up at court, he had more paperwork than last time. It was
clear that Lockwood’s strategy was to overwhelm the opposition with so much
documentation that they would just give up on the research and give him the
licenses.

If
it had been any other independent auditor assigned to this case, Lockwood might
have had a chance. However, Margo Wilson intended to hunt down every last dime
that Lockwood made. She knew that at some point, the lawyer she was working
with, Cassia Pental, would have to make a decision if she could continue with
this case if no conclusive proof was found. Cassia had already asked for two
delays while she read through the boxes of documentation. If she didn’t present
the judge with some evidence that Lockwood wasn’t telling the truth, the judge
would grant Lockwood what he wanted.

As
six more boxes of documentation were brought into the courtroom, Margo could
see the despair forming in Cassia’s eyes. Every week, Lockwood claimed the same
story. He said he wasn't sure how much more documentation was to come, but he
wanted to provide all of the paperwork in order to be compliant. Each court
date, he told the same story with a glint of victory in his eyes. When Cassia
opposed his presenting even more documentation, the judge always took Lockwood’s
side.

“Now,
Ms. Pental, it’s a lot for a single business owner to run his own business. Due
to staffing shortages, Mr. Lockwood has had to reach out to temp agencies to
get the information,” the judge said in a sympathizing tone. “We want to make
sure we don’t push people away from our town by being impatient.”

As
a witness called to review the financials, Margo was in the courtroom daily.
When she heard the judge spout off veiled threats for Cassia and saw the
triumphant look on Mr. Lockwood’s face, she knew she was going to give this
case all she had in attention and additional time. This was her town. It was
the town where she had friends and memories. Lockwood sent warning bells off in
Margo, and as soon as today’s show was over, she was going to start doing some
real digging into his records, not just reviewing the ones that had been
presented.

What
would make it challenging was the lawyer defending Lockwood. It was Gabriel
Brogan. He was a local resident who had come back to his hometown to practice. Margo
knew Gabriel wanted to prove himself; she just hoped he wasn’t going to
sacrifice his moral compass to establish himself.

As
everyone left the courtroom, Margo walked with Cassia.

“I’m
going to look into some other things, Cassia. I know there is something there,”
Margo said as Cassia watched boxes coming out of the courtroom to be put in her
car.

“I’m
not even done with the other boxes,” Cassia said dejectedly. “If I don’t find
something soon, there won’t be any options left. I thought I had something, but
the person I was going to talk to about Lockwood backed out. I just can’t
understand how Gabriel can represent Lockwood.”

“Gabriel
is trying to make a career. I believe that he’s still a part of Cooper’s Sand,”
Margo said. Margo was saying the right words to Cassia, but she had to admit
that she had her doubts about what Gabriel was doing, as well. He was a smart
kid. Margo knew that Lockwood was paying him well. Money was always a
temptation. Margo just hoped that his upbringing wouldn’t be lost in the face
of money.

Recently,
Margo had decided that this case was important in defending her town. In the
last year, she had been tracking her fertility, and although the opportunity to
have a child was slipping by, she had to do her part to preserve the most
perfect place to have a baby.

She
approached fertility like she approached everything else; every facet and
detail had to be fact-checked and confirmed. Her two best friends had children.
Their children were balanced and growing up to be smart adults who she’d be
proud to claim any day of the week. In her mind, that meant growing up in
Cooper’s Sand was not a detriment and that she had good role models of mothers
to emulate.

 Ava had several kids, male and female that
were well adjusted and not in jail or rebelling for some unknown reason. Karina,
her other best friend, had a female child, and there had only been one fall into
rebellion, but she had run to her father. According to the statistics, these
were great outcomes.

“Well,
I hope he remembers that sooner rather than later,” Cassia said as they
approached the doors of the courthouse. Hearing the hopelessness in Cassia’s
voice just cemented Margo’s purpose to assist in any way she could to help in
this case and thereby save her town.

Margo
went to her office and found the high school senior she had hired for the
summer filing, answering phones, and writing out messages for Margo to pick up.
Her name was Kinsey Ivan, and Margo saw a lot of herself in her. Kinsey was
hardworking. She wore the same white top and black skirt every day to work.
Some might say it was a uniform, but Margo knew the signs of not having enough
money. Margo also knew that Kinsey was the oldest of four kids in a single-parent
home.

Kinsey’s
head came up from behind the front desk, and bouncy coils of hair revealed a
beautiful girl with brown skin and a face that was a little gaunt. Margo would
have to start ordering lunch for them both. She gave Kinsey a nod and then went
into her office.

On
her desk was the paperwork for operation Stork. She had been to several
doctors. Margo had taken every genetic test there was and had found no
disturbing genetic conditions to worry about. So, her health was a go.

She
had money. In fact, she had a lot of it. Margo had a home that looked like it
should have been in a real estate magazine, but she loved her beachfront condo.
She had a support system, so she wasn’t worried about that, either. She had
planned to meet a like-minded male by this time in her life, but she hadn’t
found one.

However,
Margo didn’t think her time had been wasted, as she was the godmother to her
best friends’ children and also known as the favorite aunt to her niece. Margo
knew being an aunt wasn’t the same as being a mother but hated to think she had
wasted any time. If only a man had shown up as she had planned. Perhaps it was
her fault. She was very adamant about knowing where a man’s money was and how
he made it. In most cases, men were open as long as she was open, but when they
discovered that she had more money, their attitude started to change toward Margo.
Dinners became dutch, and going out on date night became a chore unless she
wanted to pay.

 When she did run into a man that had more
money, he didn’t want to control everything including her and that wasn’t the
partnership she was looking for.

Ten
minutes later, as she looked through her color-coded file, Kinsey’s voice came
over the intercom.

“Your
eleven o’clock is here,” she said.

“Send
her in.”

“Tonya,”
Margo said as her sister stepped into the office. She could see Tonya assessing
the value in everything she saw. Dressed in jeans and a T- shirt, her younger
sister’s hair was surprisingly done in the latest style. Margo had to admire
the style and wondered where her sister got the $350 it would have taken to get
it done.

Tonya
finally took a seat and gave her a smile as she nodded at the surroundings.
Tonya had the same last name and same mother, but that was all. If it weren’t
for the fact her mother had bred into Margo to take care of her siblings, she
doubted they would have even kept in touch after their mother’s death.

“I’m
glad you could make it,” Margo said.

“I
have to admit, it’s the first time you sent a ticket for me with Christina’s. I
wasn’t going to turn down an opportunity to get on a plane,” Tonya said.

“Did
you read the proposal I sent to you?”

“I
did and I think you are crazy as a loon,” Tonya said as she laughed. When Tonya
finally noticed that Margo wasn’t laughing, she stopped. “Okay, let me get this
straight. You want my kid to stay with you beyond the normal four-day amusement
park trip you take her on.”

Margo
nodded.

“That
about sums it up.”

“While
you are with my kid, you will buy me a ticket to go wherever I want, is that
right?” Tonya asked in a slow voice that told Margo that something else was
coming.

“Yes.”

“Well,
what if I don’t want a ticket and I just want the money?” Tonya asked.

Internally,
Margo sagged in relief. Her sister wanted money. Margo had money to give.

“Done,
as long as it doesn’t exceed $1500,” Margo said. She had money, but she wasn’t
going to just give it away.

Margo
watched the scheming gleam in her sister’s eye diminish, and then she nodded in
agreement. Margo pulled out a check and her sister held up her hand.

“Umm
. . . can you wire it, please? I can give you my email. I need the cash ASAP.”

 Margo paused. She thought about asking Tonya
what she needed the money for, but she didn’t want to argue with her. Her
sister was famous for poor decisions in life, with men and finances. So, Margo
picked up her phone, and as she typed in her sister’s email, she was reminded why
she didn’t deal with her family. After the funds were transferred and confirmed,
her sister left, and Margo went back to her planning.

 Margo needed to work on part two of the plan.
She heard hammering outside her window and saw Roman Gray out there working on
putting up an extension on the building across from the building her office was
in.

As
far as genetics went, Margo couldn’t think of anyone who had more to offer than
Roman Gray. He had come to Cooper’s Sand last year after he had gotten out of
prison. He was friends with Daniel and, according to her background check, had
been wrongly convicted of using substandard products in a construction project
his company was running.

After his release, he
had come back here with his mother. Who could resist a man who took care of his
mother? In town, Roman taught classes on doing DIY projects in the house, like
putting up cabinets or cleaning gutters. Roman also did construction projects
on the side. The consensus was the man could build anything; his hands were
gold. Margo was hoping his business sense was as acute as his skill because she
was going to offer him the chance of a lifetime, at least that’s what all of
her planning indicated.