by E. A. West
****
The silver frame hanging on the wall in Kayla’s living room caught her eye for the millionth time since she’d arrived home from Colombia and hung it there. A single black feather rested behind the glass, a gift from the little girl she longed to see again. A constant reminder of the man who had stolen her heart but lived twenty-five hundred miles from Indiana.
Sighing heavily, she turned toward Angie, who waited by the front door. “I want to be in Bogotá right now.”
“Seeing Carlos and Maria is as close as you’re going to get, so let’s go.” Angie pulled open the door. “You know they can tell you all about Mateo and Claudia.”
“I wish I could see them for myself, but it will be good to see Carlos and Maria again,” Kayla said as they stepped outside.
It had been six months since they returned from their trip to Colombia. Six months since she received the first email from Mateo, asking her to forgive him for not seeing her one more time before she left Colombia. She’d forgiven him without hesitation, and the daily emails, weekly phone calls, and occasional card or photograph had strengthened her relationship with Mateo and made her miss him more each day. Her worry about whether she would ever see him again came and went like the flow of the tide. Just last week, she’d felt optimistic about their future, but then during their phone call she’d mentioned wishing he was coming with the Ramírezes to the U.S. and Mateo had grown quiet, not adding his desire to come see her. Instead, he’d changed the subject to a new school the city was building near the mission.
Hopefully the couple he viewed as parents could shed some light on how he truly felt about her. Otherwise, she’d have to make a fast trip to Colombia and ask him in person. She already knew he wouldn’t tell her over the phone. If she could see him, however, his body language and expression would tell her just as much as, if not more than, his words.
She shook off the thoughts threatening to drag her down and focused on the reception she and Angie were going to at the church. The Ramírezes had arrived in the United States this morning with a handful of orphans and a couple of chaperones. For the next month, they would travel the nation, visiting churches that supported them and speaking about the mission everywhere they went in hope of gaining more support for their work. Kayla was thrilled they’d made her church their first stop. They planned to spend several days in the area before going to the next destination, and she wanted to spend as much time with them as she could before they left.
She drew in a deep breath of the warm late afternoon air as they walked toward the church a few blocks away. Anticipation built as they drew closer, and she couldn’t wait to see who had come from the mission. Her father had volunteered to house some of them, but he hadn’t told her who, and she had been too busy with work to drop by and find out for herself.
Several cars sat in the parking lot, and Kayla hurried toward the church’s front door. Angie followed, laughing as she barely managed to keep pace.
“Slow down, Kayla! It’s not like they’re leaving in the next ten minutes.”
“Sorry.” She slowed a bit and glanced at her friend. “I’m just excited to see Maria and Carlos again, and whoever they brought with them.”
Angie reached around her and pulled open the door. “I take it your heart is still in Colombia?”
“Yes, with two people in particular that I wish were here.” Kayla stepped inside and followed the sound of voices toward the fellowship hall.
She stepped through the open double doors into the large room. People stood talking in clusters, and children played around the edges. Carlos and Maria stood near the middle of the room, but before she could go over and greet them, she spotted a pair of Hispanic girls playing some kind of hopscotch-like game with a pair of blonde girls she recognized from church. One of the Hispanic girls gasped and ran over, her dark pigtails streaming behind her.
“Kayla!” Claudia threw her arms around Kayla, giving her a bear hug.
“Hi, Claudia!” She leaned down and hugged the girl, her heart soaring at the sight of the child’s familiar smile. Claudia had gotten taller since Kayla last saw her, and she’d put on a little weight as well, making her look like the happy, healthy girl she’d shown signs of becoming six months ago.
“I missed you,” Claudia said, looking up at her. “Do you still have the feather?”
“Of course. It’s in a frame hanging on my living room wall. I see it every day and think of you.”
“Do you think of Mateo, too?” Such hope shone in Claudia’s gaze that it was difficult not to smile.
“All the time.” She took the girl’s hand and led her toward the Ramírezes. “Has he been teaching you English?”
“Yes, and he says I am a fast learner.”
“I think he’s right. Your English is very good.”
Claudia beamed and ran off to play. Kayla greeted Maria and Carlos with hugs, but before she could ask about the man who occupied so many of her thoughts, young male voices from the direction of the restrooms caught her attention. A quick glance revealed three orphans joking around as they preceded a male chaperone—a very familiar male chaperone with an equally familiar faint limp.
“Mateo,” Kayla gasped, unable to believe what her eyes told her.
Maria gave her a gentle push in his direction. “Go on. He came to see you.”
She walked toward him, still struggling to grasp that he was really here, in her church. When he smiled and opened his arms, her heart leaped with thanksgiving and she rushed into his embrace.
“I’ve missed you so much,” she said, fighting tears of joy as he cradled her against his chest. “How are you here?”
“By the grace of God, and with a little help from your father’s political friends, my visa application was approved.” Mateo met her gaze and lifted one hand to stroke her cheek. “It is so good to see you, Kayla. You are more beautiful than I remembered.”
She laid her hand along his jaw and smiled, too full of emotion to speak. He drew her close and gave her another hug. Drawing in a deep breath of his familiar scent, she relaxed against him. For the first time in months, all was right with the world. Her future looked brighter than ever, wrapped in the arms of the man she loved.
“Is there someplace we can talk without an audience?” Mateo said softly, his warm breath tickling her ear.
Her hope for the future dimmed a bit, but she refused to let negative thoughts take hold as she stepped back. “We could go to the sanctuary, but Claudia or one of the other children is likely to follow us. Or we could walk to my house. It’s just a few blocks from here.”
His eyes lit up and he grasped her hand. “I would love to see where you live.”
“My house it is, then.”
After a quick word with Maria and Carlos to let them know they were leaving for a while, Kayla spotted her father watching with an approving smile as she led Mateo toward the exit. The walk to her house wasn’t nearly short enough as Mateo asked about the neighborhood and what she had been doing since they last spoke. She managed to carry on the mundane conversation, but her heart thundered with a mix of anticipation and anxiety. She had a feeling whatever he wanted to talk about would change her life, but she couldn’t figure out if it would be for better or for worse.
She let them into her house and watched Mateo scan the living room before he finally turned toward her, his expression impossible to decipher.
“You live in a neighborhood that is very different from where I live.” He glanced at the goldfish swimming in their tank by the wall. “It is much nicer here.”
Kayla took a deep breath as she joined him by the coffee table. “I know, but I don’t care. I’ve already told you where I live isn’t important to me.”
“Yes, but—” His struggle showed in his eyes. Finally, he sighed and took her hands in his. “I want the best for you, Kayla. You deserve it.”
“What’s best for me is you.” Although it scared her to admit it so bluntly, he had to hear the truth to h
elp him past whatever was holding him back. “I love you, Mateo, and I would follow you to the ends of the earth if that’s where God leads you.”
He searched her face for what felt like an eternity. Then he pulled her into an embrace, holding her tightly. “I have missed you so much. You stole my heart in Bogotá, and not a day goes by that I don’t wish you were by my side.”
“I feel the same way.” She leaned back and met his gaze, surprised to see the film of moisture in his eyes. “It took coming back here for me to finally hear God’s answer to our prayers. I belong with you, whether that’s in Bogotá or anywhere else in the world.”
“I have heard the same answer, day after day since you left.” He kissed her tenderly, stealing her breath. Then he released her and stepped back. “I have something for you.”
He pulled a white envelope from his back pocket and handed it to her. Kayla lifted the flap and pulled out a single white feather. She looked into Mateo’s smiling face and knew.
“This is Claudia’s other feather from that day in the park, isn’t it?”
“Yes, she gave it me so I wouldn’t forget you.” He walked over and lifted the silver frame from her wall. “Just as she gave you the black one so you wouldn’t forget us.”
“I love that little girl,” Kayla said, her heart overflowing. “I wish I could adopt her.”
Mateo didn’t respond as he removed the back from the frame. “I brought you the white feather because it belongs with the black feather. They never should have been separated.”
He took it from her and placed it in the frame, nestling it against the black feather. After he returned the frame to the wall, he took Kayla’s hands once more, his intensity sending a shiver down her spine.
“We are like those feathers,” he said, his gaze never leaving hers. “We never should have been apart. I was wrong to tell you I wouldn’t ask you to move to Colombia. I love you, Kayla, and I can’t live without you. Will you marry me?”
“Yes.” Her whisper seemed impossibly loud, even drowning out the pounding of her heart.
The joy and love shining in Mateo’s gaze mirrored her own as he drew her close and kissed her. A knock on the front door made her jump, and she reluctantly stepped back.
“I should see who that is.” She moved toward the door, and he followed, keeping her hand trapped in his grasp. She wouldn’t have it any other way.
Opening the door, she found Angie on the doorstep with a tearful Claudia. “She’s afraid you’ve abandoned her,” Angie said, ushering the girl inside.
Kayla knelt and drew the girl into a hug. “We will never abandon you, Claudia. I love you, and so does Mateo.”
He braced a hand on Kayla’s shoulder and knelt beside her, then he wrapped his arms around her and Claudia. “I love both of you. You are my family, and I will never abandon either of you.”
The little girl looked from Kayla to Mateo and back. “You will be mi mamá y papá?”
Kayla met Mateo’s gaze. He already knew she’d adopt the girl in a heartbeat. But would he?
He smiled and turned to Claudia. “After we marry, we will do our best to adopt you so we will be your padres.”
Claudia let out an excited squeal and hugged them both. Kayla glanced up to find out her friend’s reaction to the news. Angie’s eyes were wide and a slow smile spread across her face.
“You guys are getting married?”
“That’s right,” Kayla said, joy at the admission bursting forth.
“Well, it’s about time!” Angie dropped to her knees and joined the group hug. Then she jumped up and waved a hand toward the door. “Let’s get back to the church. We have to tell everyone the great news.”
As they headed down the sidewalk, Kayla glanced at her husband-to-be holding her right hand and her daughter-to-be holding the left. Peace rose within her as she thanked God for placing them both in her life and blessing her with a bright future in Bogotá.
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