Rochelle Alers - Sweet Silver Bells

The chauffeur pocketed the money, smiling, then handed Joseph a business card. “Thank you. Call me when you’re ready to go back.”

Joseph put the card and money clip in his pocket. He rested a hand at the small of Crystal’s back as they walked together to the front door. He stood off to the side. She’d just raised her hand to ring the doorbell when the door opened.

Ex-marine Major Xavier Eaton smiled at Crystal. He shifted the little girl he cradled on one hip. Extending his free arm, he pulled Crystal close and kissed her forehead. “Welcome back to Charleston.”

Crystal pulled back, staring at Xavier’s deeply tanned face. He wore a white tee, jeans and running shoes, and his ramrod-straight posture signified he’d had military training. “Thank you. You wear your vacation well.”

Xavier, Selena and their daughter, Lily, opted out of spending Christmas with the extended family when they’d flown down to Puerto Rico to stay with one of Xavier’s Marine Corps buddies who’d retired there once he was medically discharged. Xavier was also forced to resign his commission after a bullet had shattered his leg when he was deployed in Afghanistan. He’d been the quintessential bachelor whose dimples winked whenever he smiled until he stared through the plate glass of Sweet Persuasions to catch a glimpse of Selena Yates, the owner of the patisserie on King Street.

He laughed softly. “I’m still in vacation mode.”

Crystal rubbed noses with Lily Eaton, eliciting high-pitched giggles from the toddler. “Hi, sweet Lily.” Shifting slightly, she smiled at Joseph. “Xavier, I want you to meet a...a friend.” She didn’t know why she was stammering, but for an instant she didn’t know how to introduce him. “This is Joseph Wilson.” Reaching for Joseph’s hand, she eased him closer. “Joseph, this is my cousin Xavier Eaton. And the beautiful little girl is his daughter, Lily.”

The two men shook hands. “Nice meeting you, Xavier.”

“Same here, Joseph. Welcome and please come in.”

Xavier noticed Crystal was wearing Joseph’s jacket over her suit, wondering if the man was the reason his cousin had changed her mind, deciding instead to spend several nights at the hotel. He successfully hid a smile. It’d been a while since Crystal appeared remotely interested in a man, and if she’d decided to bring Joseph to meet her relatives, he suspected he was more than a friend.

He was deployed when his sister told him Crystal had relocated to New York to pursue her graduate studies, and Xavier found it hard to accept that she was living with a man, because it had been drilled into the heads of every Eaton, every generation whether male or female, if a man or woman was good enough to live with, then he or she was good enough to marry.

Crystal slipped out of Joseph’s jacket, handing it to him as they followed Xavier along the length of the porch and through another door leading into an entryway with a solid oak table cradling a collection of woven sweetgrass baskets. Selena’s decorating trademarks were everywhere in the carefully chosen furnishings in the expansive living and formal dining rooms. She’d teased her cousin’s wife that if Selena retired as a patissier, she would hire her as an assistant.

“Did Selena tell you we had to leave the hotel?”

Xavier glanced over his shoulder as he led them down a narrow hallway to the kitchen. “She mentioned something about a fire but didn’t go into detail. What happened?”

“Joseph and I overheard one of the guests complaining about someone smoking in their room.”

“If you guys can’t get back into your room, then you’re more than welcome to stay here.”

Crystal exchanged a glance with Joseph. She noticed Xavier said room instead of rooms. He assumed she and Joseph were sharing a hotel room. “I don’t think that’s going to be necessary—”

“What’s not necessary?” asked a familiar feminine voice. Selena stood at the cooking island in a bibbed apron, her hair concealed under a blue-and-white-checkered scarf as she sprinkled flour on a ball of dough. Her lips parted in a wide grin. “Wow!” she drawled. “Look at you. You cut your hair.”

Crystal smoothed down the short strands on the nape of her neck. “I decided I needed a new look.” She’d affected a hairstyle that was virtually maintenance free. She didn’t have to use a blow-dryer, curling iron or flatiron. It was what she thought of as wash and go. A trim every six weeks kept the style fresh.

Wiping her hands on a towel, Selena approached Crystal, arms outstretched. “Good seeing you again. He’s gorgeous,” she whispered under her breath, hugging her husband’s cousin tightly.

Crystal knew Selena was referring to Joseph, and she had to agree with her. He was gorgeous. “Selena, I would like you to meet Joseph Wilson. Joseph, this is Selena, who just happens to be the best pastry chef in the entire city.”

Smiling, he took Selena’s hand. “My pleasure. Your home is beautiful.”

Selena’s dark, almond-shaped eyes in a face the color of toasted hazelnuts crinkled attractively when she smiled. “Thank you. It’s going to be at least fifteen minutes before everything is ready, so if you’d like, Xavier can give you a tour of the house.” She cut her eyes at her husband. “Honey, please put that child down. Once you leave she’s going to wild out because I refuse to carry her around.”

Xavier tightened his hold on Lily as he gestured for Joseph to follow him, deliberately ignoring Selena. “If you don’t have any plans for Super Bowl Sunday and if you’re going to be in Charleston, then I’d like you to come over for a little get-together.”

Crystal waited until she was certain the men were out of earshot before turning to look at Selena, who’d opened the refrigerator/freezer, taken out a small dish filled with freshly cut fruit, set it and a fork in front of her and then gone back to rolling out dough for biscuits.

Sitting on a stool at the island in the ultramodern chef’s kitchen, she said, “It’s not what you’re thinking.”

Selena met her eyes. “What exactly is it I’m thinking, Crystal?”

Between bites of cantaloupe and honeydew, she carefully formed her thoughts. “There’s nothing going on between me and Joseph.” She told Selena how they met and what they’d discovered about each other while sitting in the hotel’s restaurant. “Belonging to a sorority or fraternity isn’t extraordinary, but knowing he’d clerked for my uncle is eerie.”

“It’s not as eerie as it is serendipitous. It’s as if you were destined to meet,” Selena drawled, trying not to laugh.

Slipping out of her suit jacket, Crystal draped it over the back of the stool. “I don’t believe in serendipity.”

“What do you believe in?”

It was a full minute before she said, “I believe everyone is born with certain gifts and it’s up to us or for others to recognize those gifts in order to make the world a better place.”

Selena picked up a pastry brush, dipping it into a bowl of melted butter, and then brushed the tops of the biscuits in a baking pan. “What about love, Criss?”

“What about it?”

“Don’t you believe in love?”

Crystal smiled. “Of course I believe in love. Look at you and Xavier. You guys are living proof of the adage ‘love at first sight.’”

Selena placed the baking sheet on the shelf of a heated eye-level oven. She wiped her hands on the towel tucked under the ties of the bibbed apron. Resting a hip against the countertop, she angled her head. “You’re talking about me and Xavier, but what about you, Criss? I heard about the man you lived with when you went to school in New York. Were you in love with him?”