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Short filmTranscript
00:00I was 24 years old when I wrote a letter to Santa Claus, and honestly, I blamed the wine.
00:05Christmas Eve in Portland, Oregon had arrived with its usual mix of rain and false cheer,
00:09and I was spending it alone in my studio apartment above the vintage bookstore where I worked.
00:14The radiator clanked like it was personally offended by winter,
00:17my bank account had $17 until Friday,
00:20and I'd just watched my Instagram feed fill up with everyone else's perfect holiday photos.
00:25So yeah, wine and poor life choices.
00:27And poor life.
00:29Dear Santa, I wrote on the back of an overdue electric bill,
00:32my handwriting getting progressively messier,
00:35I know I'm way too old for this, but here's the thing,
00:39I could really use some magic right now.
00:41Not the lottery-winning kind, though that would be nice.
00:44Just someone who sees me.
00:46Someone who makes me feel less alone.
00:48Someone who doesn't think I'm too much or not enough.
00:52Also, if you could help with my student loans, that would be amazing.
00:56But mostly the first thing.
00:57Love, Olivia.
00:59P.S.
01:00I've been mostly good this year.
01:02The incident with my ex's car was justified.
01:04I laughed at my own patheticness, folded the letter, and,
01:08because drunk me has never met a bad idea she didn't love,
01:12walked it down to the corner mailbox in my pajamas and winter coat.
01:15The rain had turned to that magical Portland snow that happens maybe twice a year,
01:20fat flakes catching in my hair as I shoved the letter through the slot.
01:24A black Mercedes idled at the red light, all tinted windows and money,
01:29completely out of place in this neighborhood of food carts and dive bars.
01:33I didn't think anything of it then.
01:35I should have.
01:37Christmas morning arrived with a knock on my door at 7 a.m., which was offensive on multiple levels.
01:42I stumbled out of bed, wearing an oversized Nirvana t-shirt and yesterday's mascara,
01:47and yanked open the door ready to fight.
01:49Instead, I froze.
01:51Santa Claus stood in my hallway.
01:53Not mall Santa.
01:55Not costume party Santa.
01:58This was 6 feet 2 inches of expensive red velvet,
02:01custom-tailored with actual fur trim,
02:03boots that probably cost more than my car,
02:06and a beard that looked disturbingly real.
02:09The whole effect was,
02:11well, it was extremely well done and extremely confusing.
02:15Olivia Chen?
02:16His voice was deep, warm, and definitely not jolly.
02:21It was the kind of voice that made decisions worth millions and didn't repeat itself.
02:26I'm either still drunk or having a stroke, I said.
02:29Possibly both.
02:31Neither.
02:32May I come in?
02:33That's exactly what I'd expect hallucination Santa to say.
02:36I crossed my arms.
02:39Who are you really, and how do you know my name?
02:42He pulled something from his coat.
02:44My letter.
02:45My drunk, embarrassing, soul-bearing letter to Santa.
02:48Oh, no.
02:50You wrote to Santa, he said,
02:53and I could hear the smile in his voice even under that ridiculous beard.
02:58Santa answered.
03:00Okay.
03:01This is officially the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me,
03:03and I once accidentally joined a flash mob at the airport.
03:07I stepped back.
03:08How did you get that?
03:10That's...
03:11That's mail fraud or something.
03:13May I explain inside?
03:15Your neighbors are starting to stare.
03:17He wasn't wrong.
03:18Mrs. Kim from 3B had her head poking out, eyes wide.
03:22Against every instinct and true crime podcast warning, I let him in.
03:25He filled my tiny apartment immediately,
03:28making my thrifted furniture look even more pathetic.
03:31He removed his hat, and that's when I realized the beard was fake.
03:35Thank God.
03:36Attached to someone who was definitely not a jolly old elf.
03:39He was probably mid-forties, with dark hair silvering at the temples,
03:44sharp cheekbones, and eyes the color of expensive whiskey.
03:47The kind of handsome that comes with power and problems in equal measure.
03:52I'm Nicholas Winters, he said, peeling off the beard.
03:55And I need to tell you a very strange story.
03:58Does it explain why a billionaire, because you're obviously a billionaire,
04:02is breaking into mailboxes and dressing like Santa?
04:05I was trying for sarcasm to cover the fact that my heart was racing.
04:09His mouth twitched.
04:11Actually, yes.
04:12I own Winters Global Properties.
04:14Last night, I was driving through this neighborhood looking at a building I'm considering purchasing.
04:18I stopped at a red light by that corner mailbox.
04:20My daughter, she's eight, was in the car.
04:22She saw you.
04:24Creepy.
04:25Continue.
04:26She said,
04:27Daddy, that lady is mailing a letter to Santa.
04:30And then she started crying because she'd forgotten to mail hers.
04:33He sat down on my couch without invitation, which should have annoyed me, but somehow didn't.
04:40She's been having a hard year.
04:42Her mother, my ex-wife, moved to Singapore with her new husband.
04:46Emma's in therapy, and Christmas has been... difficult.
04:50Something in my chest cracked open.
04:53So you broke into a mailbox for your daughter?
04:56I own the building the post office rents.
04:59I made a call.
05:00I thought, I don't know what I thought.
05:02That maybe if I could deliver Santa's response to whoever wrote that letter, I could show Emma that magic still exists.
05:09He looked at me then.
05:11Really looked.
05:12And I felt it everywhere.
05:14Then I read what you wrote.
05:16Heat flooded my face.
05:18Oh, God.
05:19Please tell me you didn't read the part about...
05:21Your ex's car?
05:22I did.
05:24He smiled.
05:24And it transformed his entire face.
05:27What did you do to it?
05:29I may have filled it with glitter.
05:32Professionally.
05:33It cost me $200 I didn't have.
05:35And it was worth every penny.
05:37I sat down in my armchair, pulling my knees to my chest.
05:42He cheated on me with my roommate, kicked me out, and kept my cat.
05:46The glitter was measured and appropriate.
05:49I like you, Nicholas said simply, and the way he said it made my stomach flip.
05:54Here's my problem, Olivia.
05:56I read your letter, and I realized, I have everything you asked for except the student loans part.
06:02I see you.
06:03You feel alone because you're brave enough to be honest about what you want, and you're definitely too much and not enough in all the right ways.
06:11That's...
06:11I couldn't breathe properly.
06:14You can't just say things like that to strangers.
06:17I know.
06:18It's insane.
06:19I haven't slept.
06:21I've been sitting in my car outside since 5 a.m. trying to talk myself out of this.
06:26Out of what, exactly?
06:28He stood up, crossed the small space between us, and I was suddenly very aware that I wasn't wearing pants, and my hair was a disaster, and none of it seemed to matter.
06:36I came here dressed as Santa because I promised Emma we'd deliver magic together today.
06:42But the truth is...
06:44He stopped, jaw-tightening like he was fighting himself.
06:48The truth is, I read your letter, and for the first time in three years, I felt something other than numb.
06:56Nicholas.
06:57I'm 46 years old.
07:00I've been divorced for two years.
07:02I work 80-hour weeks because going home to an empty house makes me want to put my fist through walls.
07:06I'm in therapy twice a week trying to figure out how to be a good father when I don't know how to be a good person anymore.
07:12His voice went rough.
07:14And then you wrote a letter to Santa, and somehow I'm standing in your apartment on Christmas morning, feeling like maybe I'm the one who needed magic.
07:23The radiator clanked.
07:25Snow fell past the window.
07:28My heart was doing something dangerous and stupid.
07:32So, what happens now?
07:34I whispered.
07:35Now I ask if you'd consider spending Christmas with me and Emma.
07:39Meeting her, letting me show her that I found the person who wrote to Santa, and that sometimes wishes do come true.
07:46He paused.
07:47And then I ask if you'd let me take you to dinner tomorrow, and the next day.
07:52And every day after that until you either fall in love with me or file a restraining order.
07:57That's the most romantic and slightly concerning thing anyone's ever said to me.
08:01Is that a yes?
08:03I looked at this impossible man in his ridiculous Santa suit, standing in my apartment like he belonged there, offering me magic when I'd stopped believing in anything.
08:12On one condition, I said, you have to wear the beard when you introduce me to your daughter.
08:19Commit to the bit.
08:20Nicholas Winters laughed, really laughed, and I felt it in my bones.
08:26Deal, he said, and held out his hand.
08:29I took it.
08:31I had no idea that I was shaking hands with my future, or that this Christmas morning would change absolutely everything.
08:39Or that in 24 hours his past would catch up with both of us, and I'd have to decide if magic was worth fighting for.
08:46Emma Winters had her father's whiskey-colored eyes and a gap-toothed smile that could melt glaciers.
08:51You're really the one who wrote to Santa.
08:54She sat next to me in the back of Nicholas's Mercedes, clutching her own letter like it contained state secrets.
09:00The Santa beard was back on Nicholas, and he kept catching my eye in the rearview mirror with this look that made me forget how to function.
09:07I really am, I said, though I wasn't expecting Santa to actually answer.
09:14Daddy says you're magic.
09:16She leaned closer, whispering loud enough that Nicholas definitely heard.
09:20Are you going to be my daddy's girlfriend?
09:23I choked on air.
09:26Nicholas's hands tightened on the steering wheel.
09:30Emma, he said, voice strained.
09:32We discussed boundaries.
09:33You said she was special.
09:36I also said we don't ambush people with...
09:39It's okay, I interrupted, grinning at Emma.
09:41I think your dad is pretty special, too.
09:44But we just met, so we're starting with friends.
09:47Deal?
09:48She considered this with the seriousness of an eight-year-old negotiating world peace.
09:53Okay.
09:54But you should know he's a really good dad, and he makes pancakes shaped like animals,
09:58and he's very lonely even though he pretends he's not.
10:02Emma.
10:03Nicholas sounded pained.
10:05What?
10:06You are.
10:07You cry in your office sometimes when you think I can't hear.
10:10The car went very quiet.
10:12I watched Nicholas's jaw work, watched him blink rapidly, and something inside me cracked wide open.
10:18My dad left when I was seven, I said softly.
10:22I used to cry in my closet so my mom wouldn't hear.
10:24It's okay to be sad, Emma.
10:26It means you love big.
10:27She grabbed my hand, just like that, like we'd known each other forever.
10:33Nicholas met my eyes in the mirror again, and this time, the look burned.
10:37We spent Christmas Day in a whirlwind of magic that felt increasingly surreal.
10:43Nicholas owned a penthouse downtown with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the snow-dusted city.
10:49We made the promised animal pancakes.
10:52Nicholas created a giraffe that looked more like a dinosaur, and I made an octopus that Emma declared was perfect and also very weird.
10:58His house was beautiful, but cold, decorated by someone who'd been paid to care.
11:03Except for Emma's room, which exploded with color and life and proof that Nicholas loved his daughter more than anything.
11:10You're different than the ladies Daddy usually has here, Emma announced while we were frosting cookies shaped like snowmen.
11:17Emma?
11:18What ladies?
11:19I asked, shooting Nicholas a look.
11:22He had the grace to look embarrassed.
11:24My mother has been aggressively matchmaking for two years.
11:27There have been dinners.
11:30Five dinners!
11:32Emma held up her hand, covered in green frosting.
11:35Miss Caroline talked about horses the whole time.
11:38Miss Jennifer kept touching Daddy's arm and laughing at things that weren't funny.
11:42Miss, we don't need a complete list, Nicholas cut in, but he was smiling.
11:47They were all boring, Emma concluded.
11:50You're not boring.
11:52You put glitter in someone's car.
11:53That's not exactly the best character reference, I said, but I was laughing.
11:59Nicholas leaned against the counter, watching us with this expression I couldn't quite read.
12:04Soft.
12:05Almost painful.
12:07Like he was looking at something he wanted but didn't think he deserved.
12:10Later, after Emma fell asleep watching Elf, Nicholas and I stood by those massive windows,
12:17Portland glittering below us like someone had scattered diamonds on black velvet.
12:21Thank you, he said quietly.
12:24For today.
12:25For her.
12:26She hasn't smiled like that in months.
12:29She's incredible.
12:30You're doing a good job.
12:31I'm terrified every single day that I'm not.
12:35He turned to face me.
12:37My ex-wife left because I worked too much.
12:39Because I was building an empire and forgot I had a family.
12:42She wasn't wrong.
12:44But you're trying now, that counts.
12:46Does it?
12:47His voice went rough.
12:49I have sole custody because Victoria chose her new life over our daughter.
12:54Emma sees a therapist twice a week because she thinks her mother abandoned her because she
12:58wasn't good enough.
12:59And I can't fix it.
13:00I can build skyscrapers and close billion-dollar deals, but I can't fix what's broken in my
13:06own daughter.
13:07Without thinking, I reached for his hand.
13:10You can't fix it.
13:11You can just love her through it.
13:13That's all any of us can do.
13:15His fingers tightened around mine.
13:17How are you real?
13:19I'm not sure I am.
13:21This whole day feels like a dream.
13:23Olivia.
13:25He stepped closer and suddenly we were breathing the same air.
13:28I need to tell you something.
13:31The way he said it made my stomach drop.
13:34Okay.
13:35I didn't just randomly drive by your mailbox last night.
13:39I've been parked outside your building for three weeks.
13:41My blood went cold.
13:43What?
13:44Not like that.
13:46God.
13:46Not like that.
13:47He released my hand, running his through his hair.
13:51I own the building.
13:53I'm redeveloping this entire neighborhood.
13:55The bookstore where you work.
13:56The apartments.
13:57I bought it all six months ago.
14:00I've been trying to figure out how to relocate the tenants and businesses fairly.
14:04And I've been...
14:05He stopped.
14:06I've been watching you through the window of the bookstore.
14:09The way you talk to customers.
14:11The way you recommend books like you're sharing secrets.
14:13And I thought...
14:15You thought what?
14:16My voice came out sharp.
14:18That you'd develop a creepy obsession with your future tenant displacement?
14:22That you looked like someone who still believed in good things.
14:25And I couldn't remember what that felt like.
14:28He met my eyes.
14:30Last night wasn't fate, Olivia.
14:32I saw you mail that letter because I was already there.
14:35Because I've been there every night for weeks,
14:37trying to work up the courage to go into the bookstore and talk to you like a normal person,
14:42instead of a billionaire who ruins neighborhoods for profit.
14:45I stepped back.
14:47You're evicting me.
14:48No, I'm not.
14:49I'm trying to...
14:51You're demolishing the building where I live and work.
14:53Probably to build luxury condos that people like me will never afford.
14:56And you thought dressing up as Santa and granting my wish would make that okay?
15:01That's not...
15:02He looked stricken.
15:04Olivia, please...
15:06Does Emma know?
15:07I asked coldly.
15:08That you used your daughter's Christmas to manipulate someone you're about to make homeless?
15:13I didn't use Emma.
15:15This isn't manipulation.
15:17What I feel...
15:18Stop.
15:19I held up my hand.
15:21I need to go.
15:23It's 11 at night on Christmas.
15:25Let me at least drive you.
15:27I'll take an Uber.
15:29Olivia.
15:30I turned to face him one last time.
15:32You want to know why your wife left?
15:34Maybe it's because you think everything can be bought or fixed or controlled.
15:38Some of us can't be saved by billionaires playing Santa.
15:41Some of us just need to be left alone.
15:43It was cruel.
15:45I watched it land on him like a physical blow.
15:47But I grabbed my coat and left anyway, because staying would have meant falling in love with
15:52someone who'd already decided my neighborhood, my home, was worth less than his profit margin.
15:58The elevator doors closed on his face, and I told myself the burning in my chest was anger.
16:03It was a lie.
16:05I made it home through snow that had turned mean, wet, and cold, soaking through my clothes.
16:11Mrs. Kim was in the hallway, taping an eviction notice to her door with shaking hands.
16:16Sixty days, she said when she saw me.
16:19Sixty days to find somewhere else with rent we can afford, after thirty years.
16:24I helped her inside, made her tea, and tried not to think about Nicholas's face when I'd walked away.
16:31Tried not to think about how, for one perfect day, I'd believed in magic again.
16:36My phone buzzed.
16:38A text from an unknown number.
16:41I'm sorry.
16:42I'm so sorry.
16:43Please let me explain.
16:44Please let me fix this.
16:47Nicholas.
16:49I turned off my phone.
16:51Some things couldn't be fixed, even by billionaires dressed as Santa,
16:55even by men whose eyes made you feel seen for the first time in your life.
16:59For three days, I ignored seventeen calls, forty-two texts, and one handwritten letter,
17:05delivered by a very apologetic courier.
17:07I threw myself into work at the bookstore, helping the owner start packing decades of
17:12memories into boxes, and pretended my heart wasn't breaking.
17:16On the fourth day, Emma Winters walked into the bookstore, alone.
17:21You're eight, I said, panic immediate.
17:23Where's your dad?
17:25In the car.
17:26He said he'd wait because you probably don't want to see him.
17:29She looked up at me with those devastating eyes.
17:32But I wanted to see you.
17:35Emma, you can't just...
17:37Did you know Daddy's not building condos?
17:39She pulled out a folder from her backpack, the kind kids use for school projects.
17:43He's building affordable housing.
17:46Look.
17:47With shaking hands, I opened it.
17:50Architectural plans, financial projections, letters from city housing advocates,
17:55a project called Powell Street Community Initiative,
17:58mixed income housing, subsidized rent for existing tenants,
18:02preserved ground floor retail space for current businesses.
18:05He's been working on it for a year, Emma continued,
18:09since before he even bought the building.
18:11He says making money is easy, but making things better is hard.
18:14So he wants to do hard things now.
18:17My throat closed.
18:19Emma.
18:21He cries at night now, like actual crying.
18:24I heard him tell Grandma that he finally met someone who made him want to be better,
18:28and he ruined it because he's bad at being a person.
18:31She grabbed my hand.
18:33Please don't hate him.
18:34He's trying really hard.
18:35He's just...
18:37sad.
18:38I don't hate him, I whispered.
18:40I'm scared.
18:42Of what?
18:43That this is too good to be true.
18:45That I'm going to fall in love with him and he's going to realize I'm just a broke girl
18:48who works in a bookstore and drinks too much wine and writes letters to Santa.
18:53Emma squeezed my hand.
18:55You know what I wrote in my letter to Santa?
18:58What?
18:59I asked for someone to make my daddy smile again.
19:02And then you happened.
19:04She smiled, gap-toothed and perfect.
19:07I think you're my Christmas wish too.
19:11Nicholas was leaning against his Mercedes when I walked out with Emma, looking like he
19:15hadn't slept in days.
19:17Dark circles, rumpled clothes, none of the polished billionaire left.
19:22Just a man who looked broken.
19:23I'm sorry, he said immediately.
19:27I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the building from the start.
19:30I'm sorry I've been watching you like some creeper.
19:33I'm sorry I have no idea how to be a normal person who meets someone without a net worth
19:38calculation getting in the way.
19:40Nicholas, I'm not building condos.
19:42I know you saw Emma's folder.
19:44She showed me her plan this morning.
19:46She's terrifyingly good at espionage.
19:48He stepped closer.
19:49I've spent my whole career building things that make money, and I'm good at it.
19:54But I realized I don't want to just make money anymore.
19:57I want to build things that matter.
19:59Things that help people like you, who make the world better just by existing in it.
20:04You can't save me, I said.
20:06Or this neighborhood.
20:08Or yourself through some redemption project.
20:11I know.
20:12I'm not trying to save anyone.
20:14I'm trying to do the right thing for the first time in my life because someone who wrote
20:17a letter to Santa made me remember what right feels like.
20:21His voice cracked.
20:23I'm trying to be worthy of the way you looked at me on Christmas morning, before you knew
20:27I was the villain in your story.
20:29You're not a villain.
20:31Then what am I?
20:33I looked at this man, this impossible, complicated, deeply flawed man, and knew exactly what he
20:39was.
20:40You're human, I said.
20:42You're someone who makes mistakes and works too hard and doesn't know how to express feelings
20:47without a business plan.
20:49You're a dad who would dress up as Santa for his daughter.
20:52You're someone who read a stranger's letter and felt something.
20:56I felt everything, he corrected quietly.
20:59I read your letter and felt everything I'd spent three years trying not to feel.
21:03And it terrified me.
21:05You terrify me.
21:06Good.
21:07I stepped closer.
21:09Because you terrify me, too.
21:10This whole thing, it's insane.
21:13We barely know each other.
21:14You're 46 and I'm 24 and you have a daughter and a billion dollars and I have $17 and student
21:20debt.
21:21$16,342, he interrupted.
21:25That's how much student debt you have.
21:27I paid it off yesterday.
21:29My brain short-circuited.
21:31You what?
21:32I know.
21:33I know it's controlling and problematic and my therapist would have a field day.
21:37But you wrote in your letter that you wanted help with student loans.
21:40And I can't grant wishes for everyone.
21:42But I could grant yours.
21:44And I just...
21:45He stopped.
21:47I needed to do something while I was losing my mind thinking I'd never see you again.
21:52That's the most...
21:53I couldn't find words.
21:56Couldn't breathe.
21:58Nicholas, you can't just pay off someone's debt.
22:02I can.
22:03I did.
22:03The confirmation email should arrive today.
22:06He caught my hands.
22:08And before you argue, it's not a gift.
22:10It's payment.
22:12For what?
22:13For making me believe in magic again.
22:16For making Emma smile.
22:18For writing a letter that saved my life.
22:21His thumbs traced circles on my wrists.
22:24For being exactly who you are.
22:26Too much.
22:27And not enough.
22:28And absolutely perfect.
22:30I was crying.
22:32When did I start crying?
22:34This is crazy.
22:36I whispered.
22:37Completely insane.
22:39He agreed.
22:40We're going to crash and burn.
22:42Probably spectacularly.
22:44Your family is going to hate me.
22:47My mother will be obsessed with you.
22:49Fair warning.
22:50She's terrifying.
22:52I don't know how to date a billionaire.
22:54Good.
22:55I don't want to date a billionaire either.
22:57I want to date you.
22:58He pulled me closer.
23:00Olivia Chen, I know this is too fast and too much, and I'm probably doing everything wrong.
23:06But I'm 46 years old, and I've learned that life is too short to waste time pretending you don't feel things.
23:12So I'm asking, can we try?
23:14Can we figure this out together?
23:16Can you give me a chance to prove that sometimes magic is real, and sometimes wishes do come true?
23:21Even when the wishes are written drunk on the back of electric bills?
23:25Especially then.
23:27I looked up at this man who'd dressed as Santa for his daughter, who'd watched me through bookstore windows trying to remember how to feel human,
23:34who'd paid off my student loans like it was nothing and everything at once.
23:38One condition, I said.
23:40Anything.
23:42You have to stop trying to save me.
23:44I'm not a project or a tax write-off or a redemption arc.
23:47If we do this, if we try, it has to be equal.
23:51Messy and complicated and equal.
23:53Deal, he said immediately.
23:55What else?
23:57Therapy for both of us.
23:59Together and separate.
24:00Because this age gap thing, the power dynamic, we need help navigating it right.
24:05Already found us someone.
24:06Dr. Morrison comes highly recommended.
24:08You're very annoying, I said.
24:11But I was smiling.
24:13You have no idea.
24:14He cupped my face.
24:16Can I kiss you now?
24:18I've been thinking about it for four days and I'm losing my mind.
24:21Yeah, I whispered.
24:23Yeah, you can kiss.
24:25He kissed me in the parking lot of the bookstore while snow started falling again.
24:30Gentle and perfect.
24:32He kissed me like I was magic.
24:34Like I was the answer to wishes he'd forgotten he made.
24:37And I kissed him back like maybe, just maybe, believing in impossible things was exactly how miracles happened.
24:44Emma cheered from the car.
24:46I laughed against his mouth and Nicholas smiled.
24:49Really smiled.
24:49And I knew with absolute certainty that I was falling in love with him.
24:53Probably already had.
24:55Six months later, the Powell Street Community Initiative broke ground.
24:59Mrs. Kim got a guaranteed apartment at her current rent for life.
25:03The bookstore stayed, expanded even, with me as part owner and manager.
25:07A year later, Nicholas proposed on Christmas Eve, dressed as Santa again because he's ridiculous and I love him.
25:13Two years later, Emma was my maid of honor.
25:15And my wedding vows included a promise to never put glitter in his car.
25:18And every Christmas, we write letters to Santa together.
25:22Three wishes thrown into the universe because magic is real.
25:25I know.
25:25I wrote a letter and it gave me everything.
25:29Three years later, I woke up on Christmas morning to the sound of conspiratorial whispering and the smell of burnt pancakes.
25:35Shh, Emma.
25:36You're going to wake her up.
25:38You're the one making all the noise, Daddy.
25:40And you burned the elephant again.
25:42It's supposed to be a reindeer.
25:44It looks like a blob.
25:46I smiled into my pillow.
25:47My hand automatically going to the small bump under Nicholas's oversized Stanford sweatshirt I'd stolen.
25:54Four months along, and I still couldn't quite believe it.
25:58After everything.
25:59After the letter.
26:00The chaos.
26:01The building project.
26:03The wedding.
26:04Emma's adoption papers that made me officially her mom.
26:07We were adding another person to our impossible little family.
26:09I know you're awake, Nicholas called from the kitchen.
26:12You do this thing where you try not to laugh and end up snorting.
26:16I do not snort.
26:18I padded out to the kitchen of our home.
26:21Not the penthouse, but a renovated loft in the Powell Street building, right above the bookstore.
26:26We'd kept the exposed brick and added warmth, color, life.
26:29Emma's art covered the walls.
26:32My books overflowed every surface.
26:34Nicholas's expensive espresso machine sat next to my collection of chipped mugs from every thrift store in Portland.
26:40It was perfect.
26:41Emma launched herself at me, careful of my stomach.
26:44At 11, she was all long limbs and braces and attitude.
26:48Merry Christmas, Mom.
26:49Mom.
26:50I'd never get tired of hearing it.
26:52Merry Christmas, baby girl.
26:54I kissed her head, then looked at Nicholas.
26:58Three years, and he still made my heart stutter.
27:01Silver threading through his hair now, laugh lines deeper around his eyes, but somehow even more handsome.
27:07He wore the ridiculous Santa pajamas Emma had bought him, and he'd clearly been awake for hours judging by the disaster zone of the kitchen.
27:16Don't look at the pancakes, he said, pulling me in for a kiss that was entirely inappropriate for Christmas morning with his daughter present.
27:23You, gross!
27:25Emma threw a dish towel at us.
27:27Save it for when I'm at Grandma's.
27:29Your grandma is coming here in two hours with enough food to feed an army, I reminded her.
27:35Speaking of which, did you finish wrapping her present?
27:38Did you?
27:39Emma shot back, grinning.
27:41Touché.
27:42Nicholas's mother had been skeptical at first.
27:45A 24-year-old bookstore clerk was not what she'd envisioned for her son.
27:49But the first time she saw us together, really saw us.
27:53She'd pulled me aside and said,
27:54Thank you for giving him back to us.
27:57Now she called me twice a week and had already started knitting things for the baby in aggressive quantities.
28:02Present time?
28:03Emma announced, dragging us to the living tree we'd decorated together,
28:07complete with the lopsided ornaments she'd made in elementary school,
28:10and the expensive ones Nicholas's mother kept gifting us, that we dutifully displayed.
28:15We'd established traditions over three years.
28:18Pancakes first, even burnt ones.
28:20Then presents, youngest to oldest.
28:23Then Nicholas's mother would arrive with Victoria, yes, that Victoria, and her new husband.
28:29That had been my idea, actually.
28:31After a year of therapy and hard conversations,
28:34I'd asked Nicholas if Emma could have both her families for holidays.
28:38Victoria had been hesitant, ashamed, but she'd shown up, and kept showing up.
28:43She'd never be Emma's primary parent.
28:46That ship had sailed.
28:48But she was trying.
28:49And Emma deserved everyone who loved her at the table.
28:52This one's for you, Mom, Emma said,
28:55handing me a poorly wrapped box with approximately half a roll of tape.
28:59Inside was a leather journal, my name embossed on the cover in gold.
29:02Below it, Olivia Winters, author.
29:06My throat closed.
29:08Emma.
29:08You're always saying you want to write a book, she said, suddenly shy.
29:13About the bookstore and the neighborhood and magic.
29:16So I thought, maybe this year, you actually do it.
29:20I pulled her into my arms.
29:22It's perfect.
29:23You're perfect.
29:25I know, she said.
29:26But her voice was thick.
29:29Nicholas handed me his gift next.
29:31A small velvet box that made my heart jump, even though I knew it wasn't jewelry.
29:35He'd learned his lesson after the first Christmas when he'd tried to buy me a $15,000 necklace,
29:39and I'd threatened to return it and donate the money to the community center.
29:43Inside was a key.
29:45What's this?
29:47The building next door just went up for sale, he said quietly.
29:51I know you've been talking about expanding the bookstore,
29:54maybe adding a coffee shop and event space.
29:56So I thought, maybe we buy it together?
30:0050-50 partnership?
30:01Build something that's ours?
30:02I stared at this man who'd learned to ask instead of fix,
30:06to partner instead of save,
30:08to love instead of control.
30:11Yes, I whispered.
30:13Yes, absolutely yes.
30:16He kissed me again, softer this time,
30:19his hand resting on my stomach where our daughter was growing.
30:22We'd found out two weeks ago.
30:24Another girl.
30:26Emma had cried happy tears and immediately started planning how to share her room.
30:31My turn.
30:32Emma grabbed a large envelope from under the tree.
30:35This is for all of us.
30:38Inside were three letters addressed to Santa in Emma's evolving handwriting,
30:42one from when she was eight, one from last year, and one from this morning.
30:45I thought we could read them, she said.
30:49See what we wished for and what came true.
30:51So we did.
30:53We sat on the floor of our home in the neighborhood that Nicholas had helped rebuild,
30:57in the building where I'd drunkenly mailed a letter three years ago,
31:00and we read about wishes and magic and family.
31:04Emma's first letter had asked for someone to make her daddy smile.
31:07Last year's had asked for a little sister, and for me to officially be her mom.
31:12This year's said,
31:13Dear Santa, I don't need anything.
31:15I have everything.
31:17But if you're taking requests, maybe help other kids find their magic too?
31:21Love, Emma Winters.
31:23P.S.
31:24I've been mostly good.
31:26The incident with Tyler Morrison's science project was justified.
31:30Nicholas and I looked at each other and burst out laughing.
31:33What incident?
31:34He asked.
31:35He said girls couldn't do engineering, so I may have improved his volcano to actually work,
31:40Emma said primly.
31:41It was very educational.
31:43The fire department agreed.
31:45We're going to talk about this, Nicholas said.
31:48But he was grinning.
31:50Later, I said, pulling them both close.
31:52Right now, let's just be here.
31:55So we sat together, me and my billionaire in Santa pajamas, our fierce daughter who'd
32:00brought us together, and the tiny girl growing inside me who'd never know a world without
32:05magic.
32:06Because three years ago, I'd written a letter to Santa, and Santa had given me everything
32:11I'd never knew I needed.
32:13Not just love, but home.
32:16This Christmas, if this story stayed with you, don't let it end here.
32:20Subscribe for more emotionally addictive, slow-burn romance stories to warm your heart this holiday
32:25season.
32:26Comment and tell me which moment touched you the most.
32:28I read every single one.
32:30Share this story with someone who believes love can heal, even after loss.
32:35Thank you for being part of this journey.
32:36May this Christmas bring you comfort, hope, and stories that stay with you long after the
32:41lights fade.
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