Never had his soul been touched in the way that Dela made him feel. She had made love to his mine, leaving his material substance thirsting for her like an animal cast upon the desert. Leonard wasn’t after her for s*x in the first place. He knew her worth. Dela had something much more valuable than superficial pleasures. She had life. Where there is life, there is growth and Leonard wasted no time trying to find his way to Dela’s corporeal being.
She sat quietly eyeing Leonard. Wondering what was going through his head. He had been through so much, endured so much. Secretly she admired the man he was but she’d die before she would have told him. Dela rejected the feeling of sympathy as it overwhelmed her. Sympathy had gotten her into all of her past predicaments, so it surely wasn’t her friend.
“Girl give the man a try” her conscience encouraged. “Hell no” she silently answered within herself.
“Is everything ok” Leonard asked, noticing the disturbing expression on her face.
Dela nodded as she struggled within her being.
“Dee?… Dee?… Come on girl, you know we want this man” her conscience screamed. “NO… you always get us into trouble. You and sympathy always leave me hurt in the end” Dela replied to herself.
Dela had declared her conscience and the feeling of sympathy her worst enemies. Whenever those two got together, it always eluded to a broken heart. She wasn’t going to let either of them win this time. The guard was up and it was going to stay there.
“Can’t get hit with your guard up” Dela whispered.
“I beg your pardon” Leonard interrupted.
Dela’s warm smile appeared, “Oh, nothing… nothing at all”.
Leonard sat opposite of her, thinking about how she had changed his life. It was her letters that got him through the sixteen year prison sentence he had served for murder. Dela had prayed for him every night. He’d never experienced anything as pure as her love before. He had grown up without anybody or anything. Everything he got he hustled for it, robbed for it and eventually even killed for it. A convict he was, but Dela had brought t him to a new place. The life of crime had been casted in the shadows, he was on a new mission to change his world… and Dela’s.
He fidgeted nervously with the four carat diamond ring he had slide into his coat pocket prior to dinner.
“I’m an ex-con, she’s a pastor of a lucrative church, what am I thinking?” he silently questioned to himself as doubt and fear took shelter within him.
Her soft voice interrupted his struggle. “Leonard?”
She had his attention.
“I think… I think I’m… in love with you” Dela’s trembling voice choked, as tears rolled down her cheeks.
Leonard watched as the tears gathered at her chin forming one big drip. Just as it fell from her angelic face he reached out catching it in his hand.
His eyes gazed into hers as his own tears formed, “Whenever you cry, I’ll be there to catch your tears” Leonard said, as Dela exhaled.
She had let go of everything… even her heart.
Posted By: Shakeim Edmonds
Sunday, March 11th 2012 at 8:01PM
You can also
click
here to view all posts by this author...
