…

Absence is supposed to make the heart grow stronger.

But…

This is no ordinary romance.  There’s a great big ocean between them, in more ways than one.  Getting off that ocean, getting to the port, and getting to the girl is proving a very hard task indeed.

Ships have a mind of their own.

Then the planets align…

This date starts out badly.  Henry is running behind time, and, the meeting place is, well, far from being private.  It’s like he’s in the middle of a spy novel, finding himself surveilling the crowded public square …. For what?

She’s there but hardly acknowledging his presence.

Then he feels the presence of another, hiding in plain sight.

Something is amiss.  Michelle is on edge, and from the, the date goes downhill.

They get some time ‘alone’, and words are spoken, but they’re not anywhere near what he had hoped to hear.  There’s fallout from the last date, and we learn a little more about who and what Michelle is, and why she is acting this way.

In a desperate attempt to win her over, Henry proposes marriage.

It doesn’t work.

They part, but not before that old adage ‘eavesdroppers never hear anything good about themselves’ which sends him into a deeper spiral of despair.

…

…

The course of love never runs smoothly. 

After the disappointment, Henry is on a plane heading to what he hopes will be a wonderful day.  That first meeting, she comes to the airport, appears as an exquisite vision.

A perfect morning, but when lunch beckons, her mood changes and they are suddenly in a whole different world, she has changed completely.

Questions but no substantive answers, she apologises, and they move on, but the mood does not return.  Henry now realizes something is terribly wrong.

The past always catches up with you eventually.

What Michelle could not tell him is that someone from her past, someone she had hoped never to see again, appears, and everything she had hoped for is ripped out from under her.

There is no hiding, and those who swore to protect her, have no choice but to give her up.

And, for them, there is no room for Henry, no possibility of love.

In order for them not to hurt him, she must tell him they can never be together.

…

…

The course of love never runs smoothly. 

After the disappointment, Henry is on a plane heading to what he hopes will be a wonderful day.  That first meeting, she comes to the airport, appears as an exquisite vision.

A perfect morning, but when lunch beckons, her mood changes and they are suddenly in a whole different world, she has changed completely.

Questions but no substantive answers, she apologises, and they move on, but the mood does not return.  Henry now realizes something is terribly wrong.

The past always catches up with you eventually.

What Michelle could not tell him is that someone from her past, someone she had hoped never to see again, appears, and everything she had hoped for is ripped out from under her.

There is no hiding, and those who swore to protect her, have no choice but to give her up.

And, for them, there is no room for Henry, no possibility of love.

In order for them not to hurt him, she must tell him they can never be together.

…

…

Henry writes a letter and sends it.   He’s disappointed when after a week there is no reply.  He resigns himself to the thought he might never see her again.

Michelle gets a message concerning a person from her past, one who was helpful even when she was at her worst.  But, it could be a trap because one of the people she was hiding from knew of his association with her.

Then a real letter arrives, one from Henry, but it is not fully of his undying love for her, removing him from the status of the knight in shining armour.  What was she expecting, and then remembered she had told him expectation ruined everything.

This was her reality, not what it had been with him.  She was hiding, she was alone, and she was afraid.  All the time.

She writes back, reassuring him, and admonishing his writing skill.

He in turn tries harder to improve, and then advises her it might be possible to meet again giving her a date and time.

Plans are made and plans are dashed, and more plans are made, and there springs a possibility.

…

…

Henry writes a letter and sends it.   He’s disappointed when after a week there is no reply.  He resigns himself to the thought he might never see her again.

Michelle gets a message concerning a person from her past, one who was helpful even when she was at her worst.  But, it could be a trap because one of the people she was hiding from knew of his association with her.

Then a real letter arrives, one from Henry, but it is not fully of his undying love for her, removing him from the status of the knight in shining armour.  What was she expecting, and then remembered she had told him expectation ruined everything.

This was her reality, not what it had been with him.  She was hiding, she was alone, and she was afraid.  All the time.

She writes back, reassuring him, and admonishing his writing skill.

He in turn tries harder to improve, and then advises her it might be possible to meet again giving her a date and time.

Plans are made and plans are dashed, and more plans are made, and there springs a possibility.

…

…

With the improved weather, they settle into a routine, she is getting comfortable with Henry being around, and he is finally getting out of the shipboard routine, and becoming more relaxed, though still wary of making a mistake.

They go for walks along the beach, and gradually, a form of intimacy takes place, holding hands, at first with gloves on.

Then in a totally unscripted moment from out of left field, they kiss. It just happens ‘in the moment’.  He apologises, and she just smiles.

Given what she has escaped from, it is a sublime moment that gives her the opportunity, against all odds, that it was possible, one day, she could be happy.

It leads to another unscripted moment, but this time a kiss with more meaning behind it.

Henry doesn’t know how to process this event but goes with the flow.  Out of the confines of the town, on a short road trip, they admit they like each other and to not have any expectations that it might go anywhere.

But the ugly truth of her background raises its head with the conversation turning to the future, and Henry puts his foot in it.

As an unexpected result of that feeling he had ruined everything; a hug that, for him, seemed to last a lifetime.

I remember that first kiss, and the moment that led to it, and it left me with butterflies and dread, that eventually it would all fall apart.  It was a passing moment in time, and it taught me one very valuable lesson, leave expectations out of it.  And that flush of first love, there is nothing like it.

…

…

With the improved weather, they settle into a routine, she is getting comfortable with Henry being around, and he is finally getting out of the shipboard routine, and becoming more relaxed, though still wary of making a mistake.

They go for walks along the beach, and gradually, a form of intimacy takes place, holding hands, at first with gloves on.

Then in a totally unscripted moment from out of left field, they kiss. It just happens ‘in the moment’.  He apologises, and she just smiles.

Given what she has escaped from, it is a sublime moment that gives her the opportunity, against all odds, that it was possible, one day, she could be happy.

It leads to another unscripted moment, but this time a kiss with more meaning behind it.

Henry doesn’t know how to process this event but goes with the flow.  Out of the confines of the town, on a short road trip, they admit they like each other and to not have any expectations that it might go anywhere.

But the ugly truth of her background raises its head with the conversation turning to the future, and Henry puts his foot in it.

As an unexpected result of that feeling he had ruined everything; a hug that, for him, seemed to last a lifetime.

I remember that first kiss, and the moment that led to it, and it left me with butterflies and dread, that eventually it would all fall apart.  It was a passing moment in time, and it taught me one very valuable lesson, leave expectations out of it.  And that flush of first love, there is nothing like it.

…