Her hands stroked the back of Allen's head as she fell vulnerably into his kiss. For a few minutes, they shared passionate exchanges of kissing and touching, each making sure not to cross any boundaries. Soon their embrace was broken and with it was the certainty of more than just a simple friendship. With it emerged a hope that love could actually conquer all of the wrong relationships that each had been involved in. Also, that the right love, a true love, could replace any hurt or pain that was embedded in the heart.
Allen and Gwen stood and held one another as Luther's song, Love
Won't Let Me Wait played in Allen's bedroom. They looked deeply into
each other's eyes searching for words until Allen broke the silence.
"Gwen," Allen said, "I can see that you have had a lot of losses from
what you have told me. I can't begin to know what it is like to lose my
parents because I still have them. I can't comprehend what it would be
like to lose my boy Charles. Nor can I comprehend what it would be like
to go through life alone. What I can comprehend and I know that this
may be too soon for me to be saying, but if I don't say it I may never get
this opportunity to say it again.
Gwen, I have been in relationships in
the past that lasted for a few weeks, a few months and the most recent, a
few years. I have sat back and waited for the last year to find a good
woman. To find a woman who loves herself before loving a man. To take
an interest in her future, rather than focus on only building her mans
future.
I guess what I am saying is that I am at a point in my life where I
too want to settle down and have a wife and someday children. I am not
asking you to marry me and I'm not asking you to be my lady. I think
I'm trying to let you know that I don't want to take a chance and let a
good woman go and end up like this again. Does that make sense to
you?"
"Yes it does," Gwen said smiling. "It is nice to hear a man say that.
To hear a man say that he is not afraid to settle down and be a husband
and a father. Allen, I have had one relationship in my life and I don't
think I knew all of what to do in it because it was my first. Even after
being in the relationship for seven years, I thought that I didn't know
what I was doing, because I couldn't keep him in love with me. What I
realized after I began to love myself again was that I wasn't the problem,
we were the problem. We just didn't work for one another.
I learned that just because you love someone, that doesn't make them good for you. I
learned that I was a good woman, I just needed to find a good man to
love and be loved by. Allen, I am not afraid to love or to be loved and if
you are willing to love me, I will love you."
"Gwen, that night you walked out of the store, I got home and
wondered if I would ever see you again. I truly believe GOD has given
me, us the opportunity to love one another. I want to love you like no
one has ever loved you."
The expressions shared between Allen and Gwen produced another
deep and passionate kiss, with both realizing the new possibility that
they had just created.