Rochelle Alers - Sweet Silver Bells

“I don’t think so. My relationship with Brian was more of convenience and companionship.”

“For whom?”

Crystal stared at the granite countertop. “Brian and I were like a two-headed coin. We were interchangeable.” A wry smile flitted over her lips. “He wasn’t looking for a serious relationship, and it was the same with me. I didn’t want to get married and neither did he. He also didn’t want children, because he’d grown up in an abusive home and he feared he would also abuse a child, while I definitely wasn’t and still am not looking to become a mother.”

“You don’t want to get married or have children?” Selena asked.

She wasn’t marriage-phobic, but she didn’t see it in her immediate future. “Right now I’m concentrating on growing my business. We didn’t have to go looking for a date, and whenever men tried coming onto me, I told them the truth. I was living with a man,” Crystal continued as if Selena hadn’t broached the subject of marriage and children. “We were museum junkies. When Brian wasn’t teaching and when I didn’t have classes, we spent all of our free time seeing how many museums we could visit. One summer we drove to Vermont and hit every museum as far south as D.C.”

Selena’s eyes grew wider. “It sounds as if you had the perfect relationship. Didn’t you ever argue?”

“Oh, we had our disagreements but nothing that monumental. He didn’t believe in sororities or fraternities and he invariably left the toilet seat up and dirty dishes in the sink.”

Scrunching up her nose, Selena drawled, “Thankfully Xavier is a neat freak. Now back to Joseph. It looks as if you two have a lot in common, so if he does ask you out, would you accept?”

“I think my busybody cousin already took care of that. Unless Joseph gives him the four-one-one about us, Xavier assumes we’re sharing a hotel suite. And I’m certain you heard your husband invite him here for the Super Bowl party.”

Selena sucked her teeth. “You didn’t see it the last time you were here, but we turned the top floor into a theater and media room. I told Xavier if any of his friends have too much to drink and can’t make it downstairs, then they’re going to stay up there until they’re mummified.”

Crystal laughed until her sides hurt and tears ran down her face. She and Selena were still laughing when Joseph and Xavier entered the kitchen, both holding Lily’s hands as she urged them to swing her higher.

She stared at him, marveling that he appeared so comfortable with her family. When Xavier released his daughter’s hand, Joseph swung Lily up as she emitted a high-pitch squeal of delight. Black curls had escaped the two elastic bands holding her hair in place, and in that instant Crystal wondered if Joseph would be a stern or indulgent father. Judging from his interaction with the toddler, she knew it would probably be the latter.

Lily, breathing heavily, her face flushed, screamed, “I have to do potty!” Joseph set her on her feet and she raced to the half bath off the kitchen.

“She goes by herself now?” Crystal asked. Selena had begun toilet training her daughter at fourteen months, but Lily refused to sit on her potty unless her mother sat in the bathroom alongside her, reading fairy tales and nursery rhymes.

Selena chuckled softly. “Miss Grown wants to do everything by herself now that she’s two. Every morning we bump heads because she wants to pick out her own clothes.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“She forgets we’re in Charleston and not Puerto Rico. She wants to wear sandals, shorts and bathing suits. I try to tell her we’re not in the Caribbean, but she doesn’t seem to understand.” Lily emerged from the bathroom, her hands dripping water, and Xavier handed her a paper towel. The toddler dried her hands and then ran over to Crystal, raising her arms for her to pick her up.

Selena shook her head in exasperation. “When it gets to the point where I’m not going to be able to do anything with her, I’m going to send her to Florida to spend time with you.”

Cradling the little girl to her chest, she dropped a kiss on her hair. “You know I’d take her in a heartbeat. Titi Criss will make certain she’ll have the most tricked-out dollhouse imaginable.”

Lily clapped her chubby hands. “I want a dollhouse.”

Joseph sat on the stool next Crystal. “You build dollhouses?”

Xavier cracked eggs into a mixing bowl, then whisked them until they were light and fluffy before turning them onto a heated stove-top griddle. “You didn’t know your girlfriend is an interior decorator?”

“I’m not his girlfriend,” Crystal countered quickly.

“My bad,” Xavier said with a sheepish grin.

Joseph stared at Crystal’s profile. He didn’t know why, but he wanted her to be his girlfriend only because he felt they were destined to connect. “I never would’ve thought you were a decorator.”

She shifted slightly to look at him. “Why not?”

He lifted a shoulder. “Somehow I got the impression you were in Charleston to audit some company’s books.” There was something about her demeanor that called to mind the no-nonsense accountants at ColeDiz.

“You’re not even close. I’m here to decorate the interior of an inn and B and B for the owner of Beaumont House,” Crystal said.

Now he knew why she was living in the penthouse. He stayed at the Beaumont House because it was rated as one of the best hotels in Charleston. And if the owner of the hotel had elected to have Crystal decorate his other establishments, then there was no doubt she was at the top in her field.

“Congratulations.”

She flashed a wide grin. “Thank you.”

Thoroughly exhausted, Lily pushed two fingers in her mouth and closed her eyes. Within seconds she was asleep as Crystal savored the warmth of the small body molded to her chest. She closed her eyes for several seconds and when she opened them she was shocked by the tender expression on Joseph’s face as he watched her rock the child. Seconds ticked as they continued to stare at each other.

Xavier shattered the spell as he gently extricated his sleeping daughter from Crystal’s arms. “Let me take her.”

“Does she usually take a nap this early?” Crystal asked him.

“Her sleep patterns have been haywire since we came back from vacation.”

Xavier placed Lily in a playpen in the corner of the kitchen while Selena removed the pan of golden-brown biscuits from the oven, setting them on a warm plate. Temporarily fortified by the dish of fruit, Crystal stood up, washed her hands and assisted Selena in setting a bowl of grits and a platter with crisp bacon, julienned ham and country links on the table in the breakfast nook in the large eat-in kitchen, while Xavier ladled fluffy scrambled eggs into a serving bowl. Crystal had to do something so as not to sit and stare at Joseph.

* * *

Joseph, seated next to Crystal, took surreptitious glances at her. Each time she asked him to pass her a dish, their shoulders brushed, making him more than aware of her feminine scent.

He was surprised at how comfortable he felt interacting with her and her cousins.

It had to be an Eaton thing because he had experienced the same thing when meeting Solomon for the first time. He’d been referred to the judge by one of his law professors who’d attended law school with Solomon.

Although passing the bar on his first attempt, Joseph found himself mildly intimidated working for the former celebrated U.S. prosecutor, who struck fear in defendants and the opposing counsel whenever he entered the courtroom. Solomon never went to trial unless he was certain of a victory. Joseph’s mentor jurist treated him as an equal, and he learned more about the law working with Solomon than he had in three years of law school.