David cursed under his breath as he saw the time. He would need to be getting dressed soon, if he wanted to be on time. Slowly, dragging out the eventual time of departure, he finished up the work on his desk.
At 40, David was the epitome of the successful businessman. He was the youngest vice president at the largest bank in the city. He had been frugal with his money over the years and he could retire and live quite comfortably for the next 40 years. But he enjoyed working too much. He often worked 10 and 12-hour days. It wasn't at all unusual that if one of the evening tellers called in sick, he would volunteer to cover the window instead of making one of the other tellers work over. So it wasn't at all surprising that he was also the most popular vice president as well.
A tap on his office door drew his attention. He looked up as his assistant poked her head around the door. David smiled at the attractive young woman.
"What's up, Eve?" David asked her easily.
Eve smiled. At 30, she was the luckiest secretary, or assistant as some preferred to be called, at the bank. She worked for the handsomest and the nicest of all the bank's officers. He was always generous and considerate to her. Not only did she get the same bonus check for Christmas as everyone else, but David always gave her a generous cash gift as well. And the real reason she was the envy of all the other women who worked in the large bank was that David had the nicest wife. A lot of the officers wives considered themselves too good to deign to speak to their underlings, but Anne never failed to speak to every person she passed whenever she visited the bank. Earlier today, Anne had appeared at her desk and presented her with a huge gift basket filled with tasty treats (most homemade) and an expensive gift package of perfume, powder and lotion.
Eve had gotten up to open her boss' door for his wife, but Anne shook her head saying she didn't want to disturb him. But she did ask Eve to please remind him to get dressed in time so he wouldn't be late for the party. After Anne left, Eve had seen that she had left small baskets for everyone working the teller windows, secretaries and a larger one for Mr. Harris, their security guard.
"It's time to get ready, Mr. Jackson. It wouldn't do for our best Santa ever to be late for our Christmas party." She saw his grimace. He kept his feelings well hidden from everyone else, but she knew that he didn't really enjoy dressing up in the red suit, donning the beard and everything else each year. But like everyone else, he had been unable to say "no" to his wife.
"Thanks, Eve. You can go ahead and take off if you want. I only have a few more things to finish here. Are you bringing anyone to the party?"
Eve grinned. "Tom and I are borrowing my brother's two kids for the evening. It just isn't Christmas without the joy one sees on a child's face. Goodnight then, and I'll see you later."
David watched the door close behind his beautiful secretary. She was the stuff that men lusted after, especially if they'd been married for 20 years like he had. But Eve was happily engaged to Tom, who was working his way up steadily through the bank's loan department. It was hearing her comment about the joy on a child's face that had gotten to him. After 20 years, he and Anne were still childless. They had done all the usual things, all the embarrassing things and even a few humiliating ones. But nothing had worked for them. And now, they never even mentioned children. As he thought back, it was around 3 years earlier that Anne had stopped talking about it.
There had been a big party thrown for Anne by the people at the bank, which had really knocked David for a loop. He had actually forgotten her birthday and had felt more than a little foolish when Eve had told him to hurry downstairs to the large staff lounge at 5 that day. When he had questioned why, Eve had reminded him it was Anne's birthday, and one of the other wives was bringing her in on some ruse or other, for the surprise party.
He had hung back and watched his quiet, shy wife become the center of everyone's attention. It had been impossible not to notice the changes the last 17 years had made on Anne as he watched her chat with people, and open presents. She now wore her hair in a very sedate bun at the nape of her neck. Her hair, while still a lovely, deep shade of brown, had just a few gray hairs peaking in. Her body had rounded a little and she had begun wearing quiet clothes. David had enjoyed seeing her laughing and smiling so much that evening, more than he had seen her do in years in fact. And it was nearly time to leave when he overheard Anne speaking with a friend of her's and Eve.
"No," he had heard Anne answer. "I'm giving up trying. I've decided I'm too old to be having a first baby anyway. And it's been a terrible strain on David." Her voice had broken just then. "God must have decided he had other plans for me than motherhood, and it's high time I get busy and figure out just what those plans are."
David had never wanted to acknowledge how much it had hurt him to hear Anne giving up. He had given up mentally, a few years earlier, and taken to joking about all the money he had saved over the years on birth control. He always said that is why he'd be retiring at 55 and moving to the beach while his buddies still had kids to put through college and grad school. David stood and moved over to the closet, which held his freshly dry cleaned outfit. Shaking his head, he began changing his clothes into the custom made costume. Anne had surprised him two years earlier, which had made his sixth year of doing this, with a custom made red velvet suit, trimmed with faux white fur, black patent leather belt (not plastic as the bank's suit had been) and shiny black boots. She had even contacted a makeup artist to have a lifelike beard and wig made that would be comfortable for him to wear. And the suit had the padding built in, disguising his very fit and muscular body quite successfully. If David didn't have a meeting over his lunch hour, he went to the gym the bank had installed in the basement and worked out.
He dressed slowly, taking his time. The party was across town at a very swank hotel and his arrival should come about an hour into the party. As usual, David knew he would find his bag full of toys, all carefully marked, and waiting for him at the reception desk. Anne had never forgotten a single detail yet.
Anne looked up as she heard her husband's voice saying "ho-ho-ho" and the merry Christmas part was buried under the children's screams of joy. Many of the employees borrowed children, if they didn't have any. But she had never done that, or even considered it because her time was always filled with making sure the party was a success for everyone else. The only employees who ever missed this party were those who had to start for out of town destinations to be with family. She and David had always been too tired to do anything else on Christmas Eve, but always made the rounds to both parents' houses on the following day. But this year, she had called her folks and her in-laws and told them they wouldn't make it.
Anne stood from where she had been kneeling and playing with several small children. She shook out her ankle length dress, and started over to help Santa dole out the packages that were all marked for each special child. Her dress was new this year. It was made of the softest white velvet, and trimmed with white marabou feathers. She had a white feathery concoction of hat, which covered most of her hair.
