Sweet Silver Bells

by Rochelle Alers

  Joseph noticed her first, coming to his feet and closing the distance between them. “How’s your dad?”

  Tilting her head, Crystal studied Joseph’s face, trying to catch a glimpse of the man with whom she’d spent the most marvelous two months of her life. She’d gone to bed and woken up in his strong embrace. She enjoyed cooking with him, occasionally teasing him as to who could concoct the best dessert. With Joseph there were few surprises. He was even-tempered, quick to smile—attributes he’d unknowingly passed on to his daughter.

  Once it was confirmed that she was carrying a girl, Crystal had come up with a number of names before settling on three. It would be Merry, Hope or Joy. But when she saw her daughter for the first time, she knew which name to choose.

  Upon closer inspection, Crystal noticed the hot Florida sun had darkened Joseph’s face to a deep mahogany. “He’s resting. He’s scheduled for surgery tomorrow, and once he’s out of recovery he’ll be in ICU for a few days.”

  “I told your mother that I’m going to take a couple of weeks off and hang out down here. I’ll help look after Merry while you visit your father. A hospital is no place for a baby.”

  “Thanks for the offer, but my mother and I will take turns visiting Daddy.”

  “Jasmine and I have already talked about it.”

  Crystal’s eyebrows shot up. “So now it’s Jasmine instead of Mrs. Eaton?”

  He smiled. “You betcha. We’re now Jasmine and Joseph.”

  She tried not to smile but failed. “Thank you for driving us down.”

  Without warning, Joseph’s face suddenly went grim. “I don’t need your thanks, Crystal. If I’d known you had my baby, you and Merry would’ve come down on the company jet, because there’s a Cole family mandate that has been in effect for almost fifty years that anyone with Cole blood is forbidden to fly on a commercial carrier.”

  Crystal suddenly felt as if she’d been threatened. “There’s no way you can enforce that.”

  “Do you want to challenge me?”

  “I thought we’d decided not to challenge or compete with each other?”

  “That was then, and this is now,” he countered. The lines bracketing Joseph’s mouth eased. “I don’t want to fight with you, Crystal. We share a child and what we want no longer matters. We have to keep in mind that anything and everything we say or do will affect our daughter. You admit to growing up with dueling parents, while if my parents argued, which I’m certain they did, they didn’t do it around their children.”

  Crystal didn’t drop her eyes. “You have to understand that I haven’t had to share Merry with anyone. It’s always been the two of us from the moment she was born.”

  Moving closer, Joseph cradled her face between his palms. “That’s because you believed you didn’t have a choice. That has to change, because there’s no way I’m not going to be a part of my daughter’s life.”

  “Do you think that’s possible with you living here in Florida and me in New York?”

  “Any-and everything is possible. If your father didn’t have a heart attack, or if I hadn’t offered to pick up a friend from the airport, who knows when we would’ve met again?”

  Crystal placed her hands over his. “So you believed we would meet again.”

  Joseph nodded. “We were destined to meet again.”

  “You believe in destiny.” Her question was a statement.

  “Yes.”

  Crystal had no comeback. Her connection with Joseph was something she wouldn’t be able to explain if her life depended upon it. When talking to Selena at the family reunion, the pastry chef had updated her as to her enterprise with ColeDiz, but not once did she divulge that Joseph had asked about her.

  “I have to go. Merry needs to eat dinner and get her hair washed, and we always have a knock-down, drag-out battle royal when that occurs.”

  Joseph lowered his hands. “Why don’t you let me wash her hair?”

  “You don’t know what you’re in for.”

  He lifted his shoulders. “Well, there’s only one way to find out.”

  They left the hospital, Crystal riding back to the house where she’d grown up with Jasmine driving, and Joseph following closely behind with Merry in her car seat.

  During the ride, she scrolled through her smart phone directory, sending an email to family members about Raleigh’s upcoming surgery. “I just sent every Eaton an email blast about Daddy.”

  Jasmine gave her a quick glance. “You know they’re going to descend on Florida like college kids on spring break.”

  “You should be able to put up some of them. Two of your bedrooms have king-size beds and the other two queen. All of the love seats in the sitting rooms convert into beds, and so do the sofa and love seats in the living and family rooms. Those you can’t accommodate can stay with Uncle Solomon and Aunt Holly.”

  “Why would they want to stay with me? I’m an Eaton in name only.”

  “Mother, stop it. You’re just as much an Eaton as Selena or the others who married into the family. Even though she married Xavier, Selena thinks of herself as an Eaton because of Lily.”

  “Is it the same with Merry being a Cole?”

  Crystal stared out the passenger-side window. Joseph had stated in no uncertain terms that Merry was a Cole, and subject to all of the edicts, mandates and decrees the name epitomized.

  “Yes, Mama. The same way Merry is a Cole.”

  Running her hand through her hair, Jasmine pushed it off her forehead. “It used to work my last nerve when you called me Mama. But now I kind of like the sound of it.”

  “That’s because you’re a grandmama.”

  “I love being a grandmama.”

  Jasmine signaled, turning off onto a private road with a Sands Point Residents Only sign pointing the way to the gated community. She activated the eight-foot wrought-iron gate and drove through, Joseph following closely behind her late-model Jaguar sedan.

  “I like Joseph,” Jasmine said softly as she touched another button on the remote, the door to a two-car garage rising smoothly, quietly.

  “So do I,” Crystal said, as she lowered her window and waved for Joseph to pull into the garage and park beside Jasmine’s car. “I told Daddy he could stay here with us once he’s discharged from the hospital.”

  Jasmine cut off the engine. “Now you tell me.”

  Shifting slightly, Crystal turned to meet her mother’s eyes. “Would you prefer I go to his house, Mother, where I’d run into his THOT?”

  “What the heck is a THOT?”

  “It’s slang for ho or That Ho Over There.”

  It took several seconds before Jasmine caught her meaning. “No. I don’t need you getting into it with your father’s lady friend. We’ll talk about this later. Let’s go inside where it’s cool.” She pressed the back of her hand to her forehead. “I don’t know why I’m so bothered by the heat.”

  “It’s called hot flashes, Mother.” Crystal gave her a saccharine smile when Jasmine rolled her eyes. “I’ll be in as soon as I get my bags out of Joseph’s truck.”

  She watched as Joseph unbuckled Merry from her car seat and gently picked her up as if she were fragile bone china. They shared a smile as Merry dropped her head to his shoulder. She knew her baby was hot and tired.

  * * *

  Joseph felt as if he’d entered a high-end furniture showroom with meticulously decorated spaces utilizing light, color and fabrics when walking into the living room. The result was an esthetic assault on his senses. “Who decorated the house?” he asked Crystal as held out her arms for their daughter.

  Joseph’s expression was similar to many who’d come to her mother’s home for the first time. “Mother.”

  “Don’t believe her,” Jasmine called out as she headed for the curving staircase. “My
daughter is very modest when it comes to taking credit for her incredible talent. Joseph, please come upstairs. I’ll show you where you can put Crystal’s luggage.”

  Picking up the bags off the carpeted floor, he followed Jasmine up the stark-white limestone stairs with mahogany banisters and newel posts.

  “And my mother can take credit for every piece of art,” Crystal said to his retreating back.

  It hadn’t really mattered to Joseph if the design of the interior was a singular or collaborative effort. The result was sophisticated elegance. He felt like a kid in a candy shop, not knowing where to look or what he wanted.

  Craning his neck, Joseph peered in through the open doors of bedrooms on the second story. “How many bedrooms do you have?”

  Jasmine smiled at him over her shoulder. “Four. Two with eastern exposure and the other two with southern to take advantage of light throughout the day. Crystal wants her father to convalesce here, which means we’re going to be kept busy entertaining Eatons.” She stopped at a bedroom on the east end of the hallway. “This is Crystal’s room. There’s a portable crib in one of the closets.”

  Joseph entered the bedroom suite, trying to imagine Crystal as a little girl growing up in the house with lush gardens and beautiful water views. “Do you know why she decided to live in New York?”

  “That’s something you’ll have to ask her because I’ve made it a practice not to interfere when it comes to Crystal’s relationships. I will tell her if she asks for my opinion, but that’s where it begins and ends.” Jasmine touched his arm. “I’ll see you downstairs.”

  Begins and ends. Joseph found the two words profound. His love affair had begun when he saw her checking into her penthouse apartment, and he hadn’t wanted to believe it would end when he placed the love bracelet on her wrist. He didn’t know if she planned to return to New York to live once her father received medical clearance to resume his former lifestyle.

  It no longer mattered if she lived in Florida or New York, because Joseph intended to be an integral part of his daughter’s life with or without Crystal’s consent. He hoped they would be able to resolve whatever differences they had before forcing a legal determination. Once a family court judge intervened, there would be no winners, but losers.

  He set the bags at the foot of the bed before crossing the bedroom suite and opening the closet. Most of the shelves and racks were empty. Joseph found the box with the crib on a shelf with plastic storage containers filled with crib sheets and blankets wrapped in tissue paper.

  Removing the crib from the box, he found the enclosed tools needed to assemble it, then slipped the fitted sheet over the mattress.

  “You look as if you’ve done this before.”

  Joseph glanced to find Crystal sitting on the tapestry-covered bench at the foot of the bed. Merry sat on the carpet floor. “This is my first time putting a crib together.” He stood up, watching his daughter pull herself up, using the bench for support before taking four wobbly steps. She fell on her bottom, rolled over and crawled back to the bench.

  “Don’t help her,” Crystal said quickly when Joseph took a step. “She can do it by herself.”

  He stared, mesmerized by the chubby legs and feet of his daughter, who squealed in delight as she managed to take at least ten steps before collapsing on the carpet. “When did she start walking?”

  Crystal saw the rapt expression on Joseph’s face as he stared at Merry. “She’s been walking around holding on for more than a month. It was only a couple of days ago that she decided to strike out on her own. Now that she’s walking I have to childproof the apartment.”

  “Your mother needs to put a gate at the top and bottom of the staircase.” Going to his knees, Joseph clapped his hands. “Merry. Come to Daddy.”

  Merry hesitated, then let go of her grip on the bench. Arms upraised in order to maintain her balance, she walked toward Joseph laughing hysterically. She ran into his arms, squealing uncontrollably when he tossed her in the air.

  Crystal pushed off the bench. “I’m going to run the water for her bath. And if you’re going to wash her hair, then I recommend you take off your shirt because you’re going to be drenched.”

  Joseph pulled Merry close to his chest, kissing her hair. “Why does her hair smell like applesauce?” he asked, walking into the bathroom.

  Sitting on the edge of the garden tub, Crystal tested the temperature of the water flowing into the tub. “She’s learning to feed herself and most times there’s more food in her hair or on her face than what goes into her mouth.”

  “Is she getting enough nutrition?”

  Crystal gave him a quick look and then turned off the water. “She’s not underweight.”

  “Just checking,” he said under his breath.

  “After I brush her teeth, you can put her in the tub. And please don’t take your eyes off her.” Crystal opened a drawer under the vanity and took out a cellophane-wrapped toothbrush. Picking up a sample tube of toothpaste, she squeezed out a minute drop and brushed the tiny white teeth, followed by holding the toothbrush under water, then running the wet bristles over Merry’s teeth. She undressed her, then handed her to Joseph. “She’s all yours.”

  Joseph knelt near the tub, his hand covering Merry’s back as she splashed water; droplets of water dotted the front of his shirt. Now he knew why Crystal had warned him to take it off. She returned with a towel, face cloth and plastic bottles filled with baby wash and shampoo.

  “Should I give her a bath first?”

  Crystal knelt beside him. “I’ll bathe her and then you can wash her hair.” She took over, quickly washing the toddler, then using the retractable nozzle, rinsed the soap off the chubby body. She smiled at Joseph. “She’s all yours.”

  Picking up the bottle of shampoo, he poured a small amount on his palm, pausing when Merry stared at him with wide, dark eyes as if she knew what was coming next.

  Joseph disarmed her when he began singing a song in Spanish his grandmother had sung to him as a child. It was a nursery rhyme about the coquí, a tiny frog native to Puerto Rico, which spied a bug twice its size and had to figure out how to trap it for its dinner.

  Merry was so engrossed in the strange words coming from him that she didn’t react to his washing her hair. He repeated the ditty over and over while making the whistling sound of the coquí, as Merry sang along in her childish babble.

  He motioned for Crystal to give him the retractable nozzle. Leaning his daughter backward, he managed to rinse the shampoo from her hair without water going onto her face and into her eyes.

  Joseph lifted Merry out of the tub, handing her to her mother. “Mission accomplished.”

  Crystal narrowed her eyes at her daughter. “You little traitor. You give me grief every time I wash your hair.”

  “She wouldn’t give you grief if you sing to her in Spanish and make funny sounds.”

  “I can make funny sounds, but I can’t speak or sing in Spanish.”

  “Don’t worry about Merry learning Spanish. My mother and grandmother will definitely teach her.”

  Crystal concentrated on drying Merry. How could she forget that her daughter had another set of grandparents? “When do you plan to tell them about her?”

  Joseph shook his head. “I’ll tell them tomorrow.”

  “I know it’s going to be a little crazy around here after Daddy comes here to convalescence, but if they want to see Merry, then let them know they’re welcome to come.”

  Joseph met her eyes, nodding. “I’ll be certain to let them know.” A beat passed. “I’d like you to answer one question for me.”

  Crystal blinked. “What is it?”

  “Why didn’t you contact me when you found out you were pregnant?”

  Rocking Merry back and forth, Crystal closed her eyes. “Would you have believed I was car
rying your child three months after our separation? I’m certain your first thought would’ve been that I’d slept with another man and was attempting to pass it off as yours.” She opened her eyes, seeing an expression of indecision flit over Joseph’s features. “I got my period every month for the first six months, so I’d assumed I wasn’t pregnant. I’d gained a few pounds, but it wasn’t enough to make me believe I was carrying a child.

  “I knew something wasn’t quite right when certain foods I used to eat gave me heartburn, so I stopped eating spicy dishes. Then I knew something was wrong when I started throwing up. A doctor’s visit confirmed I didn’t have a stomach virus but that I was pregnant. The doctor didn’t know how far along I was until a sonogram indicated I was in my second trimester and I was having a girl. It took a while even before I told my parents and even longer to tell them who the baby’s father was.”

  “So you decided to have the baby and raise it by yourself.”

  “What other option did I have, Joseph?”

  Rubbing his thumb over her cheekbone, Joseph leaned in closer and kissed her. “You could’ve called me even if you were carrying another man’s baby. I would’ve claimed it as my own because I love you. I love you and anything that is a part of you.”

  A single tear found its way down Crystal’s cheek as she cried without making a sound. What had she done? She’d cheated Joseph out of the first year of his daughter’s life and Merry did not have her father in her life.

  “What are we going to do, Joseph?”

  He caught the tear on his tongue, tasting the saltiness. “We’re not going to do anything until your father is better. I don’t want to put any pressure on you about what I want for us and our daughter’s future.”

  Crystal looped her free arm around Joseph’s neck. She pressed her forehead to his. “Thank you.” She wanted to tell him that she loved him, had always loved him, yet the words were lodged in her throat. “I think it’s time we put our daughter to bed.”

  Joseph stared at Merry, blissfully asleep in her mother’s arms. “Do you give her a bottle before she goes to sleep?”