Cross My Heart (A Contemporary Romance Novel)

as a teenager?”
    “Whatever was on the radio, I guess. I never paid much attention to music. I was always pretty focused on school.”
    Jenna blinked at him. She’d met people like this before, people who didn’t seem to have any natural passion for music, and she’d never understood it. Music was such an integral part of the adolescent experience that she couldn’t imagine getting through those years without it.
    Claire had moved to the other side of the room now, where Jenna’s instruments were laid out. Her guitars, of course. And some of the pieces she’d collected from around the world—flutes, bells, stringed instruments, drums.
    Claire had picked up one of the bells. “This is so beautiful. Where’s it from?”
    “Tibet. That’s a magic bell, by the way.”
    “Magic? How is it magic?”
    Jenna went over and took the bell from her. “I used it a lot when I was a student teacher. I thought I’d faced some rough crowds when I was in a band, but you’ve never seen a rough crowd until you’ve stood up in front of an elementary school class near the end of a school day when they’re already bored out of their minds.”
    She grinned. “Imagine you’re third graders. There are forty kids in your class and the noise level is unbelievable. If I try to shout over you, it’ll only help for a minute or two. So here’s what we’ll do instead.”
    She held up the bell. “I’m going to ring this, and I want you to listen. When the last sound, and I mean the very, very last sound, has completely faded away, I want you to raise your hand.” She picked up the stick that went with the bell and struck it.
    The sweet sound resonated through the room, pure and clear. She saw Claire and Michael listening, really listening, the way her students always did. Then the sound got softer, softer, softer…until it was so faint you could barely hear it.
    Still, neither Michael nor Claire raised their hands.
    There was a whisper of sound left…less than a whisper…then nothing.
    Two hands went up, slowly.
    Jenna let the spell last a moment longer before she put down the bell.
    “Can you feel the silence? It’s actually inside you, isn’t it? Real silence, deep in your bones. Now we’re ready to learn something.”
    “That was totally cool,” Claire said after a minute.
    “It really was,” Michael agreed. “Maybe you’ll let me borrow that bell the next time I need to give a lecture to a group of medical students.”
    “I didn’t realize medical students were as rowdy as grade school kids, but you can borrow it any time. Now, Claire, why don’t you play something for us?” she asked, and Claire looked over at the piano in the corner. She shrugged her shoulders and looked uncomfortable.
    “I’m not very good,” she said. “And I don’t know what to play. I don’t think I—”
    “Play something your dad and I can sing to.”
    “You mean like a show tune, or something?”
    Michael looked alarmed. “I don’t know any show tunes. And I don’t sing.”
    The anxiety in his eyes mirrored his daughter’s, and for the first time Jenna saw the resemblance between them.
    “How about a Christmas carol?” she suggested. “Everyone knows the words to those. Come on, Michael. If you tell me you don’t know the words to Jingle Bells I just won’t believe you.”
    That made him smile. “Okay, I admit it, I do know the words to Jingle Bells. But it’s July. You want us to sing Christmas songs in the middle of July?”
    “Sure, why not? Everyone loves Christmas music. Christmas carols are some of my favorite songs in the world.”
    “How come?” Claire asked, sounding interested. Jenna gestured for her to take a seat at the piano and fished a book of carols out of the box of sheet music beside her.
    “A lot of reasons, really. Memories of my family singing together on Christmas Eve. And the songs themselves are so beautiful. A lot of Christmas carols are like lullabies, have you ever noticed that? Away in a Manger , Silent Night .”
    She found the page for Silent Night and opened the book on the piano. Claire leaned forward, looking at the music. Michael came closer, too.
    “Something about that has always fascinated me. Jesus is supposed to be the son of God, right? Divine, all-knowing, all-powerful. But at Christmas time, we’re remembering that he was born into our world as a baby. Small and fragile, completely vulnerable. I always loved the idea that at Christmas the whole world is singing