A Firefighter in Her Stocking

She was both eagerly excited to see what the box held but also afraid of what gift he might have given.

Or maybe it was a consolation prize because he planned to cancel after all?

No, he’d said he couldn’t wait to see her in it and, truly, she couldn’t see him doing that, not with how passionate he’d been about Kenny having done so.

Taking care, she pulled the ribbon off from around the box, then lifted the lid, and moved aside the tissue paper.

Oh, my.

Inside were a small gold-foil-covered box, a shoe-sized box, and the most beautiful dress she’d ever seen.

Had she gone shopping she never could have found anything so perfect in color and style.

Not that the items were likely to fit right. Not with her lack of curves, and how would Jude have known her size? But the sea-green dress was gorgeous, modestly cut, and very close to the color of her eyes.

She ran her finger over the silky material. Not too flashy, not too revealing, yet definitely something more figure-flattering than she’d ever worn. What size was it?

She moved the material aside to where she could see the label. Oh, wow. She dropped the material for fear she might damage the dress. She might be a fashion wreck, but even she recognized the designer and that the dress would have had a hefty price tag.

Christmas morning excitement or not, she couldn’t wear the dress. She didn’t want Jude spending money on her. That wasn’t who she was. As a matter of fact, she’d planned to offer to pay for her show ticket and dinner.

Not that she’d thought he’d let her, but she would have been sincere in her offer to do so.

With shaky hands she picked up the shoe box, knowing what she’d find inside, and lifted the lid. Matching designer shoes in her exact size with medium-height heels. Smart man in choosing a pair that wouldn’t make her feet hurt or make her walk like a shaky newborn fawn.

Again, the designer name on the shoe was one she recognized, but not one she’d ever splurged to purchase.

Unless he’d seen her size in the shoes she’d slipped off her feet while snuggled up on his sofa, drinking her wine, she had no clue how he’d known what size to buy. Good grief, the man paid attention to details.

A dress, shoes...she could only guess what was in the small box. The skimpy panties she’d imagined earlier?

She was wrong. Very wrong.

Inside was a velvet jewelry case.

If she’d thought her hands had been shaky before, now they shook with full-blown tremors. Earthquake-sized ones that probably had some Richter-scale-watching scientist freaking out as he tried to track down the source.

Holding her breath, she flipped open the box lid.

Inside was a stunning pair of dangling, sparkling earrings that surely to goodness weren’t real diamonds, and a folded piece of paper with a handwritten message.

I won’t forget.

Her eyes watered. He wouldn’t. He’d be there. He’d bought her a dress, shoes, and earrings to wear. She’d never been given clothes or jewelry by a man. Not ever.

The only jewelry she owned was a gold chain with a quote pendant on it that her mother had given her at her high school graduation and that she rarely took off.

To thine own self be true

She pulled the chain from beneath the layers of her scrubs and long-sleeved undershirt and fingered the charm.

She wasn’t quite sure how to take Jude’s gifts.

Obviously, from his luxurious apartment, he didn’t live on a firefighter’s pay but on the deep Davenport dollars. He probably had trust funds. The gifts meant nothing to him, but were likely commonplace things he did for women.

If so, no wonder they came to him in droves.

What was she saying? If he gave them no gift except his time and body, women would come to Jude in droves.