Predestined Hearts

The rumble of Gael’s laugh had me laughing harder. “I’d say that this defines a moment of passion. We’ll get you a new top. I couldn’t wait to get inside you.”

“I liked it.”

Stroking my back, Gael closed his eyes. “Well then, we’ll definitely be repeating this fuckfest.”

“Why Gael, you’ve turned crude during this little fuckfest as you called it.”

We both laughed. He looked down at me deviously. “I think it turned you on.”

“It did.” I kissed his jaw and turned serious. “Thank you for taking my mind off of it all. I love you, Gael.”

“You’re my life, Ashlin. I love you, too.”

The thought of fireworks still made me sick to my stomach, but if I was wrapped in Gael’s arms I think I could face them.

IT WAS TWO weeks until Christmas. The holidays were in full swing as wreaths hung from all the lampposts through the city. The trees dangled with twinkle lights. This year, Christmas had a new meaning to me. It was one of hopes, dreams, and beginnings.

The Christmas Ball, where Gael was to be the auctioneer, was supposed to be happening tonight. However, starting late last night, we had been under a hurricane warning which was unseasonable for this time of year. Hurricane Peggy had been on a path to hit higher north. It had shifted slightly and now we were supposed to get hit by the outskirts of the storm.

The town was abuzz with preparations. Stores were sold out of the essentials. Shelters were opening up across the city. Most of the businesses, including Gael’s restaurant, were closing early due to the potential storm.

Whether or not we were still going to the ball was a toss-up as it had not been cancelled yet. To be on the safe side, I was getting ready for tonight while Gael kept an eye on the weather. Having been through hurricanes as a child growing up here, I knew the drill.

Running the blush along my cheekbone, I saw Sophia’s journal in the corner of my eye. The ending of her story still had me baffled. Over the last couple of weeks, I had tried to find any additional information on Daniel, Sophia, Annabelle, or Devlin. Daniel had been reported among the dead in an old telegram I had found to the shipping company in North Carolina. That was all I could find.

There was no additional information in Aunt Leelyn’s research for the three generations prior to Sophia. I’d even spent hours going through all her old books. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

After going to the building that housed the Savannah historical records for research, I’d found there had been a fire between Sophia and Annabelle’s time, eliminating everything—including historical information from Daniel’s side of the family. I’d assumed the telegram from North Carolina had come after.

There were some sporadic records during that time, but all from other states. I’d racked my brain on how to figure out what happened to Sophia to no avail. Her story felt incomplete to me. I needed more.

I remembered back to a conversation that Gael and I had at dinner one night this week.

I huffed out a frustrated sigh from the bar. “Gael, I don’t get it. There has to be something else that happened with Daniel. Otherwise, how would you have come to exist?”

This was the question that had plagued me when I couldn’t get my mind off of the story.

Gael moved about the kitchen with ease. I’d offered to help, but Gael had wanted to wait on me. It always warmed my heart and I never took it for granted.

Plus, after our near disaster making oatmeal on the stove this week, I believed he was slowly realizing how inept my kitchen potential was. Before that, he’d taught me how to boil eggs. I was terrible at the shelling part. Absolutely terrible.

Putting a few more spices into the ravioli, Gael thought. “I don’t know. Back then, they didn’t have birth control. Think about how fast Sophia got pregnant from Daniel and Devlin. From the sounds of it, I don’t think Daniel was a virgin. There’s a chance a grandbaby no one knew about popped up after.”

“Could be, I guess. Why did that stupid building have to burn with all the records I need? Ugh!” I took another sip of my wine and willed an idea to form on how to find more information. Nothing came. A plate of homemade ravioli was placed before me. “Oh, that smells delicious. My taste buds are seriously thankful that I found a chef to date.”

Gael took a seat beside me. “This chef is thankful he found you. And you successfully made oatmeal in a pan this week.”

I laughed. “Um, no. You successfully caught it in time before I boiled oatmeal all over the place.”

Gael had been insistent that oatmeal was so easy to make, he could sit at the bar and instruct me. Needless to say, the exact opposite was true.

“We’ll find your specialty.” Gael winked at me as he ground parmesan cheese onto his food after I declined.

Taking a bite, I pointed to the microwave, insinuating what my specialty was. Gael shook his head and simply said, “No.”

I snickered and he gave me an amused look as we continued to talk about our day.

Daniel accidentally getting someone by the name of Colett pregnant and not knowing about it, prior to Sophia, was the only thing that made sense. It was the ending I was giving them. Hopefully, Daniel’s parents got