Don't Want to Lose You

After Donavon was buried, it took Keisha a long time to recover, thus Angel stuck around a little longer to help her cope.

            A month after his death, Angel gave birth to a baby girl, whom she named Paris. When Paris was nine months old, Angel began, once again, to make plans to find Khiry. Keisha finally began getting over her lost. Although neither of them wanted to say goodbye, Keisha told Angel to it was time for her to go out and find her true love. I was like de ja vu as Angel scraped up every dime she had and got on the bus in search of him.

            It took her two days to arrive there. When they checked into the hotel, the first thing she did was lie down for a little rest., but she was too anxious. After only ten minutes she jumped from the bed, grabbed her kids and caught a cab to the army base. She asked around until she located his office.

            Khiry was at his desk, hard at work, when he heard a soft knock on the door.

            “Come in,” he said without looking up from his work.

            “Private Garcia reporting for duty, Sir.”

            He looked up to see the love of his life standing there, with his three beautiful children, saluting him with a smile.

            “At ease soldier,” he said softly returning her smile. He walked up to her and gave her a warm hug. He looked down at his boys. “Marques, Kevin, you both have gotten so big. And who is this beautiful little angel?” he asked taking the baby out of Angel’s arms.

            “This is you daughter, Paris,” Angel responded.

            “Hello, Paris. I’m your daddy,” he whispered softly to her. He kissed her softly on the forehead, and for that moment nothing else in world existed except Angel and the kids.

            “Hi sweetie,” a lady said, walking in, and snapping him back into reality. She kissed him on the lips and Angel’s heart dropped to her stomach. “What’s going on? Who’s this?” the lady asked.

            “This is Angel,” he said nervously.

            “Oh, and this must be your kids,” the lady said with excitement. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

            It’s nice to meet you too,” said Angel, “and you are…”

            “Angel, this is Stephanie, my fiancé,” he said with hesitation.

            Angel could feel her heart shatter into a thousand pieces. She couldn’t breathe. She wanted to run out crying, but her feet would not move.

“Congratulations,” she managed to force out.

“And this must be Marques and Kevin,” she said, pointing to each of them.

“Yes, that’s them,” said Khiry, “and this is Paris, our daughter.”

“you told me you only had two kids together,” said Stephanie.

“I never told him that I was pregnant,” Angel quickly answered.

“Although, I did go back to the restaurant a few months ago looking for you, Angel, but your boss wouldn’t even speak to me,” said Khiry.

“You never told me that,” said Stephanie.

“It wasn’t a big deal. I was in the area and wanted to visit the kids. No one knew what had happened to Angel. Everyone just kept saying she didn’t work there anymore.”

“Yeah, my decision to leave was sort of last minute,” said Angel.

“I also called your mom, but she said she hadn’t heard from you in months. Where were you?” Khiry asked.

“Los Angeles,” Angel answered.

“You sure can do some traveling,” Khiry said, with a nervous chuckle.

Angel could feel the lump in her throat growing bigger each time she spoke. The entire situation was extremely uncomfortable.

“Well, I’ve got to go,” she announced suddenly. She wanted to get out there immediately.

“Already! You just got here,” Khiry said surprised.

“Yeah, but I was just passing through on my way back to Louisiana. I’ve got to get some rest. I have a bust to catch in the morning,” she lied.

“I was hoping you’d stick around. I would like to have more time with the kids,” Khiry said.

“Yeah, me too,” said Stephanie. “I am gonna be there step-mother and all. I think it’s a good idea for me to get to know them. As a matter of fact, why don’t you bring them by the house tomorrow?”

“I don’t know about that. Like I said, I was just passing through.”

“Oh, you can stay a few more days. Louisiana isn’t going anywhere,” Stephanie continued to push.

She seemed so nice and genuine. It was hard for Angel to say no. Giving in Angel said, “Okay, I can do that.”

“Awesome,” Khiry said with a smile. Write down where you’re staying, and I’ll come and pick you up tomorrow. Write the phone number down too, so I can call you when I’m on the way,” he said handing her a pen and paper.

“Alright,” Angel said.

After giving Khiry her contact information, she left his office. She concentrated hard on her feet, trying to keep from running out of there. She was also fighting an almost losing battle with the tears that were ready to come pouring out as soon as she gave in.

She hailed a cab, made a stop, to get the kids some lunch, and took them back to the room. She fed them and bathe them. She kept herself busy doing anything she could do to occupy her mind until the kids fell asleep. Once they were in the bed, she sat on the pull-out sofa and released the tears that were eating her up inside.

She was in the middle of her second sob fest, when the phone rang.

“Hello,” she said answering it.

“Hey, I was just calling to see if you were okay,” Khiry said, on the other end.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she lied.

“I know you were kind of blind sighted today,” he went on.

“I’m a big girl Khiry. You don’t have to check up on me.”

Khiry could tell from the quiver in her voice that he had been crying.

“I thought we were over, Angel,” Khiry tried to explain. “You have no idea how it gutted me to see you with another man. I just started the process of moving on.”

“You don’t owe me any explanations,” Angel assured him. “I never expected you to wait for me forever, or at all for that matter.”

“But, I did wait for you. Angel baby, I’m still waiting for you. Do you know why I went to visit you in Vegas?” Angel waited for an answer. “Because Stephanie had been pressuring me to take our relationship to the next level. I was stalling because I was still waiting for you to come back to me. When you didn’t I went out there to get you. Then when you wouldn’t come home with me, I said that was that. So, I came home and proposed to her. Yet, I still felt that if I could see you just one more time, I could convince you to give our love a chance. That’s why I went back to Las Vegas looking for you, but you were gone. So, I came back to Virginia. I took my feelings for you and tucked them away in the closet of my mind. But, seeing you today made it all come tumbling out. All you have to do is say the word, and I’m all yours again.”

“I’m not gonna do that,” Angel replied. “ I didn’t come down here to ruin your life. You’re with Stephanie, now and I’m not gonna break that up.”

“I won’t accept that,” he said.

“I know you won’t. Goodbye Khiry,” she said, hanging up the phone.

“That is going to be our final goodbye,” she thought as she wiped away her final tear.

Khiry, however, had a different plan. He knew Angel all too well, and that she was going to try and take off again. The next day he got up early and went to her hotel room.

Angel had just finished packing and was walking out of the room. When she opened the door, Khiry was standing there.

“What are you doing here?” she asked surprised.

“I know what you were planning on doing. I’m not gonna let you leave, Angel. I’m not gonna lose you again,” he said.

“Khiry, please don’t do this,” she begged.

“Why do you keep running from me?” he asked.

“Because you keep trying to force something that will never be,” she answered.

“I’m not forcing anything. You just keep pushing me away.”

I didn’t push you away,” she shouted. “Your father’s job did that, and the army did it. Then there was Steve and now Stephanie. There is always gonna be something between us, because we are not meant to be, and frankly I am tired of fighting a losing battle.”

He cups her face in both hands and kisses her softly on the lips. He pressed his forehead against hers. Tears began falling from her eyes as he pleaded, “Please! Please don’t give up on us, please.”

“Khiry…”

“I’m begging, please.”

She shakes her face loose from his grasp and pushes him away. Wiping her tears, she says, “You need to leave.”

“Angel,” he said shocked.

“Go ahead, get out of her,” she said sternly.

“What about the kids?” he asked.

“I’m going back to Louisiana, to live with my mom. You can visit them there,” she said.

“Is there anything I can say or do to change your mind?” he asked.

“No, there isn’t,” she replied.

With one last glance, Khiry turned and walked out, closing the door behind him. As soon as he was gone part two of Angel’s sob fest began.

Khiry walked into his house, sat on the sofa, put his head in his hands and cried. Stephanie walked into the room to see him falling apart before her eyes. She immediately knew what was causing it. She had always known that Angel still held his heart. His ability to love was bolted shut, chained and locked in a room and only Angel had the key to it.

She grabbed his face and forced him to look at her. “Khiry, I think we should call off the engagement,” she said.

“What? Why?” he said surprised, but a little relieved.

“You know why. Angel.”

Tears began to flow harder at the sound of her name.

“I’m so sorry, Stephanie. I thought I was ready. I thought I could let her go,” he said.

“I understand. You love her. That doesn’t come around every day, so I am not going to stand its way. Besides, your love for each other is so strong, it’ll probably just run me over if I did,” she said with a chuckle.

He smiled at her and said, “Thank you so much. You are sweet, but it doesn’t matter. It’s too late. She’s leaving.”

“But she hasn’t left yet.” She pulled him off the couch and pushed him towards the door. “Go get her,” she commanded. “Go on. Get the hell out of her before you lose her forever.”

He gave her a warm hug, then bolted out the door like a rocket. He drove back to the hotel, but Angel was already gone. He asked about her at the front desk and was told that she checked out ten minutes ago. He drove to the bus station. He ran around that place like a mad man. Finally he spotted her outside getting ready to board the bus. He ran out the door and called out to her, “Angel!”

She turned to see Khiry running to her like a bat out of hell. When he reached her, he was out of breath and couldn’t speak.

“Khiry, what are you doing here?” she asked.

“I need to talk to you,” he said trying to catch his breath.

“I told you there’s nothing more you can say.”

“Yes, there is. Come here,” he said pulling her out of the line.

“What is it, now?”

“I love you.”

Angel rolled her eyes. “I don’t have time for this. I have a bus to catch.

“Stay here with me, please,” he pleaded.

“We’ve been over this already.”

“Yes, I know you didn’t want to come between me and Stephanie, but that’s irrelevant now. I’m a single man.

“You didn’t break up with her because of me? I told you…”

“I didn’t. She broke up with me. She called off the engagement, and she has no hard feeling towards either of us.”

“Why would she do that?”

“Because she saw how much I love you. Anyone with eyes can see that. So, will you stay?”

Angel didn’t answer.

“Come one. There’s nothing holding us back, nothing standing in our way this time. No more broke promises. You can’t give me anymore excuses. Let’s do what we promised each other eleven years ago, and be together forever. We could do this.”

Angel looked away for a moment. She really couldn’t think of any reasons not to. Finally, she shook her head, and said, “Yes, I’ll stay with you.”

“Let’s do this,” he said as he lifted her from the ground and kissed.

Joy exploded in their hearts as they had finally won their war on love.