A Baby for Christmas (Love at The Crossroads) Read Free Page B

the woman announced as guests applauded.
    Hershel noted the whimsical expression on Solae’s face. When she shivered, he smirked, recalling the first time he had seen her do that.
    “Are you cold?” he had asked one night when they were out with his boys.
    Shaking her head, Solae had leaned in to brush her lips against his. “No, for some reason I can feel when you’re looking at me .”
    A group of firefighters approached the head table. A few slapped him on the back, one or two nodded at Solae.
    “Captain, we’re out of here. See you at the station tomorrow,” Felix Noble stated, Engine House Eight’s fire truck driver. He stood to bid them farewell.
    “Excuse me a moment,” Solae whispered while he was distracted. Hershel watched her as she sashayed to Candace, who had just shoved cake into his brother’s mouth. Solae whispered something that caused Candace to glance his way.
    Fed up, Hershel stood. He was about to go after Solae when Lindsay skipped up to him and gave him a hug.
    “Are you my real uncle now?”  Her eyes were filled with expectation.
    Squatting to her level, Hershel grinned as a camera flashed. “Yes, I am.” Royce was blessed to have such a cutie pie for a daughter.
    As Lindsay spun around, modeling the frills of her dress for him, his mind drifted. Hershel had hoped to have his own daughter one day to call “Daddy’s little girl”.  He wanted at least one more child, hoping for a daughter. That discussion had sparked several arguments with his ex-wife.
    “This body ain’t meant to birth a whole lot of babies. Considering I didn’t want any, be glad that you got those two,” she had tossed in his face.
    Tara’s revelation had shocked Hershel to the core. Then she proceeded to tell him she was attracted to his uniform first, then the man. “I’m not cut out for this type of life. You’re gone most of the time and when you are here, you’re asleep.”
    The woman had known his erratic work schedule when she married him. He later discovered why there was no pleasing his wife. While he and his crew were out trying to save lives, Tara had stepped outside their marriage with a newcomer at church. If it wasn’t for his brothers and sons, Hershel might have left the church and never returned.
    Devastation worked a number on Hershel’s psyche for years as he tried to come to grips that he had been played; and when it came to women, he no longer trusted them.
    His resolve betrayed him with one chance encounter when Solae showed up at his son’s birthday party unexpectedly. There had been an instant connection and attraction.   
    Hershel didn’t realize he had become distracted until Solae’s melodious voice at the microphone dragged him away from his past regrets.
    “I would like to propose a toast to my best friend, who is like a sister, and her new husband.” Beaming, Solae lifted her champagne glass filled with sparkling white grape juice and waited for others to follow. “Royce and Candace, I’m so happy you two found each other on the street corner…”
    She laughed as well as other guests, especially the remaining firefighters who knew the story of how the bride and groom met: While Candace was on crossing guard parole, Royce whistled at her from his fire truck en route to a house fire. The rest was history. “I pray that God will bless you with all the babies I can’t have,” then added, “on your honeymoon.”
    Cheers and laughs floated around him, only Hershel didn’t see anything funny by her veiled toast. Solae not being able to ever have children was nothing to joke about. He was still coming to grips with that realization himself. Hershel planned to tell Solae that, but a few minutes later when he went in search of her, she was nowhere in sight.

Chapter 3  
     
    The following morning, Solae had awakened to a headache that seemed to expand with each breath. No wonder, she had barely gotten any sleep between crying and praying.
    She almost jumped at her