Sweet Silver Bells Read online

  What-ifs nagged at her like exposed, inflamed nerves. If her mother hadn’t had a meltdown delaying her arrival, she would’ve spent the night with her cousins instead of the Beaumont House. If Algernon hadn’t had a family emergency, she would have shared a table with him instead of Joseph. Now she was exacerbating the situation by inviting him to meet her cousins.

  Crystal didn’t get the overt vibe that Joseph was coming onto her, but even if he was, she knew his efforts would be fruitless, and not because she had qualms about establishing a friendship with a man.

  Her sole focus was the exclusive commission to decorate the historical structures with exquisite antiques and reproductions. She’d spent months in furniture warehouses and at estate sales looking for pieces with which to decorate a nineteenth-century Lowcountry residence. It wasn’t just furniture she’d sought but also accessories, including candlesticks, vases, rugs, apothecary jars, clocks, linens, teapots and other collectibles.

  She’d recommended Algernon rent a storage unit. Several pieces she had purchased at an estate sale were carefully wrapped, crated and shipped to him at the Beaumont House, where he arranged for them to be stored in the unit that was quickly filling up with sets of china and silver. Once she inspected the restored buildings, Crystal would be faced with what to put into each room. And in keeping with the time period, she’d planned for the walls to be covered with wallpaper, tapestries or even fabric.

  She was anxious to begin her first significant commission.

  “A dollar for your thoughts.”

  Joseph’s soft, drawling voice shattered her reverie. Smiling, she turned to face him. “I thought it was a penny.”

  “That was before inflation,” he countered. Slipping out of his jacket, he placed it over Crystal’s shoulders. “You look cold.”

  Tugging on the lapels, she inhaled the cologne clinging to the cashmere fibers. “Thank you, but aren’t you going to be cold?” She had on a suit, while he was in his shirtsleeves.

  “No. After spending so many winters in upstate New York with lake-effect snow, I rarely feel cold.”

  “When I was here last January it was much warmer than it is now.”

  “Last year was unusually warm.” Joseph stared at Crystal’s distinctive delicate profile. “Did you bring winter clothes with you?”

  Crystal nodded. “Yes. However, I didn’t expect to stand outside when I got dressed this morning.” Her wool gabardine pantsuit wasn’t adequate for the low-forties temperature. As someone who lived in Florida year-round, anything below fifty degrees was cool to her.

  A Lincoln Town Car maneuvered up to the curb, and Joseph, resting his hand at Crystal’s waist, led her to the rear of the limo as the driver alighted. “I’ll get the door, Mr. Wilson,” the chauffeur called out.

  Joseph stepped back, permitting the driver to open the rear door. Crystal got in first, and he followed, sitting beside her on the leather seat. Waiting until the man was seated behind the wheel once again, she gave him the address to her cousin’s house.

  Sitting close to Crystal, feeling her feminine heat and inhaling the hypnotic scent of her perfume was a bonus Joseph hadn’t anticipated when he suggested they share a table.

  The ride was much too short when the driver stopped in front of a classic example of a Charleston single house. The wrought-iron and stone pinecones atop ornate brick gates guarded the three-story structure with tall, narrow black-shuttered windows and first-and second-story white porches. The street address and 1800, the year the house was erected, were engraved into a brass plate affixed to one of the brick gate columns.

  “Nice,” Joseph crooned sotto voce. The house was surrounded by palmetto trees and several ancient oaks draped in Spanish moss.

  Crystal smiled. His reaction was similar to her own when she first saw Xavier’s house. “Wait until you see inside.” Selena had decorated the interiors in an iconic Lowcountry style.

  The driver came around to open the door and Joseph stepped out, extended his hand and assisted Crystal until she stood beside him. Reaching into the pocket of his jeans, he removed a money clip, peeling off a bill and handing it to the man. “I’ll need you to take us back to the Beaumont House later this afternoon.”

  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 o
f 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?”

  “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.