Murders & Romance: A Psychic Detective Romantic Mystery (Isaac Taylor Mysteries Book 5) by Lashell Collins (motivational books to read txt) 📕

She took the t-shirt from him and looked up into his eyes in the mirror.

“You really believe that?”

Isaac slowly turned her around to face him, and looked down into her eyes.

“Didn’t the doctor tell us there was likely no medical reason why you can’t conceive and carry a healthy baby in the future?”

Sidney nodded, but her eyes held so much hesitancy.

“Yes.”

“Okay, then.” Isaac caressed her face.

“So… we try again? Sometime?”

Her question was asked with a full load of uncertainty, almost as if she were afraid to hear his answer, and Isaac wondered why.

“If that’s what you want, yes.”

“But is that what you want?”

Was she for real? Did she actually need reassurance from him? Isaac gently took her face in both of his hands.

“Oh, Sidney. I want everything with you, darlin’. Don’t you know that by now?”

She smiled at him, and his heart constricted. It was the first genuine smile he’d seen from her in two whole days.

“Hey. Just imagine my blond hair with your crazy curls on top of a chubby little face. How cute and funny would that be?”

The smallest of giggles spilled out of her, and Isaac’s heart swelled with something akin to relief. He kissed her sweet lips.

“There’s my girl. I’ve missed that laughter.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Um mmm. Don’t be sorry, darlin’. You don’t ever have to apologize for your pain. Just don’t try to pretend it isn’t happening either, okay? You don’t have to hide it from me.”

“You’re sad too. I can see that.”

“I am. I admit that I’m terrified of parenthood. But I was actually looking forward to taking that adventure with you.”

He watched the tears well up in her eyes, then she leaned her head into his chest, and Isaac wrapped his arms around her again and kissed the top of her head.

“We will take that adventure together, Sid. We’ll get our shot eventually. Grandad told me so.”

“What?”

Sidney looked up at him, wiping silent tears, and Isaac caught one on his thumb.

“He wouldn’t give me any details. Just implied that there would be a little one.”

“Really? When did he tell you that?”

“When we met him in Tennessee. Remember the little blue teddy bear he gave me?”

“Yeah, the one that had been yours when you were little.”

“Yeah. Well, he said he thought I might want to pass it down to my child in the near future.”

“He saw something?” She sounded so hopeful. “With his superpowers?”

Isaac nodded, and Sidney’s tears fell anew. But he was fairly certain they were tears of a different sort this time. She smiled at him, and Isaac was so happy to have made her feel at least a little bit better. He kissed her forehead.

“Well, I have to get going, I’m afraid. I have a very gruesome new case to get back to this morning.” He stepped away and grabbed his gun, clipping the holster to his side. “You going to be okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “I’m going to go on into work too, so I also need to get moving.”

Isaac wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that.

“You sure you want to go back to work already?”

“I’m sure. I don’t want to keep moping around here. I want to work. I followed the doctor’s orders to get plenty of rest for the first 24 hours, and then some. Plus, I’m all cried out. Now, I just want to get back to my normal routine.”

Isaac heard the determination in her voice, but he also felt the turmoil in her heart. He understood it. You couldn’t simply turn off the sadness by flipping a switch, no matter how hard you might want to. Still, he wished he could change her mind about going back to work so soon.

“Well, you just take it easy on yourself today, okay Maybe just a half day?”

“I’m fine, Ike. Really.”

He smiled at her and then kissed her lips. “Call me if you need me.”

“Back at you.”

He grinned at her spark of sass and kissed her once more.

“Love you.”

“I love you back.”

3

At the station, Isaac stood by in the briefing room and listened while Lieutenant Gavin Hayes conducted the morning briefing. He glanced around and took note of the detectives present, and those that were absent.

Gerri Miller still hadn’t surfaced since her partner, Curt Dorn, had been shot during the apprehension of the Schiffer family in connection with the lullaby murders three weeks ago. Isaac silently swore, knowing that the mega-overtime hours were most likely going to continue for a while.

It wasn’t just the loss of the Miller and Dorn detective team at the heart of their manpower crisis. Detectives Barker and Wheeler were both out for medical reasons. So, Hayes had wisely put their partners together to form a new team. But on a shift with only four detective teams, they were down two, and unfortunately homicide didn’t take a vacation.

When the morning briefing was over, Isaac followed Gavin Hayes to his office and walked in uninvited.

“Still no Gerri?”

Gavin sighed very loudly, giving Isaac the impression that he really didn’t care to talk about it.

“Something I can do for you, Sergeant?”

His tone solidified that first impression. But Isaac pressed on.

“I’m sorry, sir. But I’m just curious. I know it’s only been two weeks since Dorn’s funeral, but with Gary Barker’s stomach troubles and Mark Wheeler’s hernia, we seem to have lost the equivalent of two detective teams in one fell swoop here. The homicide unit’s day shift is getting a little taxed. Pete and I were called out at quarter to four this morning.”

Gavin put his hands on his hips and stared at Isaac.

“You don’t think I know how shorthanded we are, Ike? It’s my job to know these things. Now, I can’t do much about Barker’s bleeding ulcer, or Wheeler’s recovery time from his hernia surgery. But I am diligently looking through the list of candidates to fill Dorn’s position on this team.”

“Yes, sir. I didn’t mean to imply that you weren’t.” Isaac stepped