Page 314 of When a Soul Cries

“And that's how I knew about Halo, baby. **Roman told me.** Not because he was spreading your business. He was trying to help me understand the woman he loved and why he needed to move carefully with you. He never gave me details that weren't mine to know.”

A tear slid down Sol's cheek.

I wiped it away.

“But the minute he told me, I knew something else too.”

“What?” Sol whispered.

“That little girl was gonna be my grandbaby.”

A shaky laugh escaped her.

“I didn't know how,” I admitted. “Didn't know if you and Roman would make it this far. Hell, I didn't even know if you liked my son enough to keep answering his calls.”

Sol laughed through her tears.

“But I'd already seen him with Halo. Then I knew where she came from, and all I could think was, *Lord, you done put my hardheaded son exactly where he needs to be.*”

Sol shook her head, smiling.

“I knew what that baby might need one day. I knew what **you** might need. Somebody who could look at both of you and never confuse what happened to you with who either one of you are.”

I squeezed her hand.

“Blood don't make every family. Sometimes love gets there first.”

Her face crumbled again.

I pulled her carefully into my arms.

Sol held onto me and cried. Not loudly. Just that deep, quiet crying that comes from somewhere old.

I rubbed her back.

“I see you, Soleia.”

She held me tighter.

“You hear me?”

She nodded against my shoulder.

“I see the woman you are. I see the mama you are. I see what you survived. And I don't look at that baby and see what happened to you.”

I pulled back enough to look into her eyes.

“I see Halo.”

Her bottom lip trembled.

“And I see my granddaughter.”

Sol covered her mouth.

I wiped my own face. “Now don't have me in here crying like this. I'm supposed to be the strong one.”

That made her laugh.