Daddy by Christmas / Christmas Magic on the Mountain. Patricia Thayer

      That afternoon, with the help of his office staff, Jarrett had made several phone calls. He’d finally found someone to start on the repairs. A local furnace repairman was to come out. He’d also contacted the handyman who serviced some of his other properties to help out with some of the minor fixes.

      Flipping his phone shut, he decided to wait downstairs and get out of his depressing apartment for a while. In the hall, the door across from his opened and Mia walked out carrying a large trash bag. She stiffened the second she saw him.

      He smiled. “Hello, Mia.”

      She nodded stiffly. “Mr. McKane.”

      She was dressed in her standard black pants and oversize blouse, but with an added long sweater for warmth.

      “I don’t see why we can’t be on a first-name basis since we’re going to be neighbors.”

      “You’re the man who’s evicting us. Why would I get friendly with the enemy?”

      He took the bag from her. “It doesn’t seem to bother the others.” He gave her a sideways glance. “Someone must have really have done a number on you.”

      She glanced away. “Now you’re a psychiatrist?”

      “No, just observant.”

      “Well, observe somewhere else. Thanks to you, I have a lot on my mind.”

      He wasn’t crazy about having to move her in her condition. “I’m not your enemy, Mia. I’m trying to find all of you places to live.”

      “We can’t afford most of the other places.”

      Was that his fault? “The rent here is well below average for this area. Even if I kept the place and did all the repairs, I’d have to raise the rent.”

      “Well, you can’t yet. Some of us are barely getting any heat or hot water.”

      “I’m taking care of that.”

      “I can’t tell you how many times we heard that from the last owner.”

      “The last owner hadn’t been court-ordered,” Jarrett said. He slowed his pace so she could keep up. He knew little or nothing about pregnant women. Only that Kira had had a rough time with her pregnancy and had had to stay in bed the last few months.

      “That’s where I’m going now,” he continued, “to meet with a furnace guy.”

      She stopped. “You mean we could have some heat today?”

      He shrugged. “I’m paying him extra to start right away.”

      They continued their way down the stairs to the main lobby. “I would like to ask a favor,” he said.

      She paused with a glare.

      He hid a smile as he raised a hand. “Good Lord, woman, do you mistrust everyone? I only want you to help get everyone together so we see who has the worst problems and fix them first.”

      “Then come to the community room. It’s where a lot of the tenants hang out because it has a working heater.”

      They stepped outside into the frigid weather. He first tossed the sack into the Dumpster, and then they continued on to the center.

      “I hear your baby is due on Christmas day.”

      She gave him a sideways glance. “Who told you that?”

      “My sister-in-law, Kira McKane. You both go to the same church.”

      She seemed relieved. “How does she feel about you tossing us out of here?”

      “I haven’t tossed out anyone, and according to the judge, I won’t be able to until the spring.” Not with Barbara Gillard watching him anyway. If only he could come up with a way to convince everyone to leave a few months earlier.

      His only other chance was to get Fulton to hold off on the takeover date. They couldn’t begin construction until the ground thawed. But he wouldn’t get his money either.

      He’d put a lot into this project, buying up the surrounding land, including this place. He had too much to lose. And it would cost him even more every day Mountain View Apartments stayed open. And now he was being held prisoner here.

      While Jarrett went to the community room, Mia knocked on Joe’s door and asked him and Sylvia to gather the other tenants and bring them to the community room.

      Sending the others on ahead, Mia then went to Nola’s place and they walked over together. “We need to make sure you have enough heat, Mia,” Nola said. “For you and the baby.”

      They went through the door of the community room to see a dozen or so tenants already there. “I’m fine for now,” Mia answered. Her apartment wasn’t too bad. “I wouldn’t mind a new faucet for the sink, though. It came off last week.”

      “You should have told Joe.”

      “I wasn’t going to complain when there are apartments with bigger problems.”

      Nola gave her a tender look. “You and the baby are a priority.”

      Mia smiled. Everyone here had rallied around her like overprotective grandparents since they’d heard the tragic news. “He’s not even here yet.”

      “It’s a boy?” Joe said, walking over to them.

      “I don’t know,” she insisted. “So you haven’t won the baby pool yet.”

      The older man grinned. “It’s a boy all right. He’s going to be born at 12:05 on the twenty-fifth of December.”

      Mia looked up to see Jarrett walk in, followed by a middle-aged man with Nichols Heating and Air printed across his shirt pocket.

      “Good, most of you are here,” Jarrett began. “This is Harry Nichols. He’s here to look at the heating units.”

      Several of the tenants were already on their feet to greet the repairman. Once the niceties were over, the tenants commandeered Harry and went to start the work.

      With everyone gone, Jarrett walked over to where Mia sat at the table. “That seemed to please them.”

      She studied her new landlord. He was sure proud of himself. “Why not? It’s been a while since they’ve had reliable heat. You’ll probably be rewarded with some more baked goods.”

      Jarrett took a seat next to her, filling the space with his large frame. She inhaled a faint scent of his aftershave.

      “I had no idea the extent of the last owner’s neglect. I thought it was mostly cosmetic. Now, I’m paying a lot for the repairs.”

      Mia eyed his expensive clothes, leather jacket and cowboy boots. She’d seen his top-of-the-line Range Rover parked out front. “I doubt you’ll starve, Mr. McKane. Besides, this isn’t your only property in town.”

      He arched an eyebrow. “The last I heard, it’s not against the law to make a living.”

      “No. Not unless the properties have been neglected like this one.”

      He looked at her with those dark, piercing eyes. “In the first place, I wasn’t the one who allowed this property to fall apart. Secondly, most of my other holdings are commercial buildings. I’ve spent a lot of money renovating run-down properties. You can’t ask for top rent without a quality product.”

      Why couldn’t he do the same here? “Have you ever considered putting money into this place? You have a whole other section that’s vacant. That’s twenty-four units that are empty.” She shrugged. “Like you said yourself, this town doesn’t have enough rental properties. With some remodeling you could sell them as townhomes.”

      He studied her for a while. “Sounds like you’ve put some thought into this.”

      “When we heard that the owner was selling, the tenants