Santa studied the sleeping woman as she was carried into the compound. The elves had chosen well. Tina was perfect, completely unsuitable as a companion to the upper class. Barely 19 years old, born to an unmarried woman, her bloodline a stew of Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Japanese ingredients. The scandal would be devastating.
Santa's bitch of a sister had once turned a commoner into a princess with a pumpkin, a glass shoe, and a box full of squeaking vermin. Losing that bet had cost Santa fifteen elves and some reindeer steaks. It was time to even the score.
They had chosen not to invite the girl. Tina was too timid and shy to agree to such a thing. This time, the elves had entered her small apartment by magic, sprinkled her with sand to prolong her sleep, and spirited her away into the night. Only the wicked family she worked for would miss her, when the coffee wasn't delivered on schedule. And if everything went according to schedule, she would be back in the family's house long before the coffee was ready anyway.
Santa watched as Tina was prepped. She was thoroughly bathed and perfumed. Her hair was cut and styled. She was dressed in special green and red lace lingerie, and a tight black dress with a bow in the back. Her makeup was expertly applied by elves with centuries of experience in painting on doll faces.
When she was ready, Santa had the sleeping woman brought to his study. He chose to wake her only partially. She needed to be awake and alert, but her memories would continue their slumber for now. It wasn't necessary that she know who she was just yet. Santa gifted her with a new identity, a temporary Christmas fantasy, a person she sometimes dreamed of but did not have the courage to be.
Her new name would be Tonia. She would be brave and adventurous. And many Christmas wishes would be fulfilled.
The sleigh had been packed for days. All was in readiness. Tonia was led to the sleigh while Santa fortified himself with ultra-rich hot chocolate, laced with cinnamon, and three walnut-pecan brownies.
And then, with a quick flip of the whip, they were off into the night. Tina would have been terrified at hurtling through the sky seated next to a strange man, but Tonia was thrilled. She was fuzzy on who she was, where they were going, and why this was happening, but the idea of an adventure excited her. The mystery of it all made it that much more thrilling.
Santa guided his sleigh to Long Island. The Atherton Manor sat on its own private beach, facing off against the Atlantic Ocean. The Atherton family had not one, but two private planes and a private runway. Santa circled twice around the house before using the runway to guide his sleigh to a landing.
The magic that was Santa meant that Time itself was slumbering as he made his Christmas rounds. The patrolling guard was motionless, frozen in a single moment, as Santa rushed Tonia out of the sleigh and into the house. Locked doors opened before them as they approached.
Tonia was left to wait in the Athertons' playroom, a large, comfortable setting filled with sofas and chairs, board games, televisions, video games, and DVDs. Santa went to fill stockings and put presents under the tree. But when he returned, he had the Atherton twins in tow, Edgar and Weston, thirty-five years old, identical in nearly every way, married to women so alike in looks and temperament, they could have passed as twins themselves.
Edgar wore a pair of pale blue boxers and a thin mustache. Weston was in pajama bottoms. As he'd done with shy Tina, Santa had left most of their memory in deep sleep, but their eyes were alert and curious. They were allowed to keep their names, and their characters, but their habitual careful discretion would not be getting in the way tonight. And they would not recognize the pretty features of their upstairs maid in the sexy concubine waiting for them in the theatre.
Tina had been fascinated by the Atherton family all her life. They were rich, and influential. They were the local version of royalty. On the first day she was legally old enough for full-time employment, she had applied to be a live-in domestic in this historic house. As the upstairs maid, she straightened their quarters, cleaned their restrooms, delivered their morning coffee, and took their lunch and breakfast orders to the housekeeper.
And she had fantasized about the twins. The Atherton family was very conservative, with a reputation for moral, strait-laced behaviour. But Tina had seen enough to know that both brothers were quietly cheating on their wives. Edgar had a pretty mistress in town, a sexy secretary who did a lot more than filing, and a discreet understanding with the cute blonde pilot who flew the Atherton family around the world. Weston, on the other hand, went for quantity. An impressive number of uninhibited beauties had come to the Atherton guest house to take their turns in Weston's bed.
Tina had imagined herself in those girls' places, another feminine toy for the Atherton boys to play with. She was disgusted by their behaviour, yet dreamed of that attention directed towards her.
Now Tonia would live out Tina's fantasies. Santa discreetly withdrew from the room. His part in this seduction would be forgotten by morning. All parties would remember acting of their own accord, even if their memories were a bit fuzzy and contradictory.
"I've been waiting for you," Tonia said to the twins. "I'm your very special Christmas present. But there's only one of me, so share nicely, boys."
Edgar looked at his brother, who was already moving forward. Faces floated through his head, women who would not approve of his dallying with this girl. But the faces wouldn't approve of each other, either, and he couldn't quite recall their names or positions in his life, so he dismissed their concerns and went to join his twin.
Weston reached the pretty brunette first. She was tiny, maybe 5 foot 2, dressed in a short black dress and incongruous bright red stockings. Tonia noticed the attention he was paying her legs and turned around to show off her ass. She lifted the hem of her skirt to show the white velvet trim at the top of her stockings.
With a sudden understanding, Weston realized that these were Christmas stockings. There were letters neatly printed on the velvet, Tonia's right leg bearing Edgar's name and her left marked with Weston's.
"One stocking for each of you," Tonia said. "I think you should both get to work finding out what's in them."