My Dusk My Dawn

by Henrietta Georgia

  Shocked at her forwardness I turned to Daniel, who looked equally as shocked. “I’m happy to do whatever Daniel plans to do.”

  “Great,” she answered. “No point headin’ back home now when there’s a place for y’all to stay. I’ll make up the bed in the guest room for you both.”

  “Ma’ we live only 30 minutes away. Besides, we sleep in separate rooms.”

  “Separate rooms?” she asked.

  “Yes, mom. Separate beds, separate rooms.”

  “Well, I guess that ends tonight, then, yes?”

  I laughed in response, and Daniel shot me a stern look.

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, here Ma’. I know you want grandkids bad, but fixin’ to get us to stay here overnight for that purpose is no way, Ma’,” he stated.

  “Offer still stands!” she replied, waving off what Daniel had said.

  “Lord knows you’ll make some beautiful babies!”

  “Mom!” Daniel exclaimed, chiding her for carrying on after he’d asked her to stop.

  There was a lot of laughter and joy amongst us as we spent the remaining few hours before we’d planned to head home, together. Jolène spoke of the time they’d lived in Switzerland, and fondly recalled Daniel’s love of the lake, spring and summer in Geneva and his love of open air music festivals. He was 15 when they’d left to return to Texas. I had moved to Switzerland when he had left.

  As the evening drew to a close, Jolène busied herself about the kitchen, eventually sending Daniel off to fix a loose hinge in the bathroom. She used the time he was gone to talk to me as we put plates away and looked at storing the leftover food.

  “He’s absolutely and most positively in love with you, I’ve never seen him like this,” she said. “I hope for his sake, you’re as into him as he is into you.”

  “I’m so in love with him,” I told her. “I haven’t known him long, but he means the world to me.”

  “Good,” she replied. “He’s had his heart broken in the past, and I don’t want to see him unhappy like that again.”

  I nodded my head in response.

  “I can see the two of you getting married,” she said suddenly.

  “Mom!” Daniel exclaimed, entering the kitchen again. “Please stop with the not so subtle hints of where you want our relationship to be headed.”

  “Oh, baby, you know I only want what’s best for you,” she stated, embracing him fondly.

  “I know,” he replied. “I didn’t bring her here for you to scare her off though.”

  “Oh, I don’t think she’s goin’ anywhere anytime soon. Not without you anyway,” she replied.

  Seeing that she wouldn’t let up, Daniel stated, “Speaking of going somewhere, we need to head off soon.”

  The look of disappointment in Jolène’s eyes was evident.

  “Why don’t you come ‘round ours next week? I can cook you dinner this time?” I suggested.

  Jolène’s eyes lit up instantly. “That sounds like a great idea.” After a momentary pause, she asked, “There enough time for you to have some peach cobbler and more sweet tea?”

  “Of course there is, Ma’,” Daniel replied.

  The visit to his mother’s over, we parked the car by the pier downtown, and got out for a stroll along the esplanade. The stars were out, peppering the midnight blue sky, while the moon hung low, its reflection shimmering on the water.

  Daniel slid his hand around my waist as we walked. “I know right now I want to marry you,” he said suddenly. “A year from now, two years from now, heck, 20 years from now, my feeling would still be the same – I want you to be my wife.”

  It was hard to hide my surprise. Shock even. “Daniel, this is all so sudden…”

  “What we have here is real,” he said. “So real I feel there is no one else for me. There will be no one else for me.”

  “I’m honored you’d want me as your wife,” I told him. “But aren’t we moving just a tad too fast?”

  He left my side to jump a pace in front of me. I stopped in my tracks and he took my hand in his. “From the moment I laid eyes on you, I just knew you were the one. Something about you just had me wanting to hold you, protect you and be there for you for all times. So, no, I don’t believe we are moving too fast at all.”

  I was touched.

  “I’ve been wanting to settle down for some time now,” he told me. “With the right woman. I never thought I’d find her. Until I met you.”

  Though I was taken aback by his forwardness, I simply smiled in response. “Daniel, you’re pretty full on.”

  “I’m a firm believer of go hard or go home,” he said, leaning forward as though he wanted to let me in on a secret. “This is where I go hard,” he said. “Figuratively speaking of course,” he added. “Though I’d be lying if I tried to deny the effect you have on me. Thank goodness for my Levi’s and button downs.”

  A mental image came up in my mind. Staring through me as though he could read my mind, he stated, “Get your mind out of the gutter, lady!”

  I laughed in jest.

  “So, what do you say, we make this official?” he asked.

  “Official as in let’s tell everyone we’re an item?” I asked, glad to finally see him wanting to move forward so quickly.

  “Official as in let’s not waste time here. Let’s get married,” he said plainly.

  “Daniel…”

  I gasped in surprise as he fell to bended knee. “Will you marry me Temwani?”

  Speechless, I struggled for words. “Daniel, we hardly know each other,” I started.

  “We’ll get to know each other,” he promised. “I’ll make you happy. I’ll give you the world, and you’ll be my world.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a ring.

  My heart soared. Rational thinking went out the window as I looked at him on bended knee, ring in hand, deep brown wavy hair windswept, his deep blue eyes staring into me and promising me the world.

  Marriage. To this man who was so much in love with me. I gushed at the thought. “Is this about sex?” I asked, barely over a whisper.

  He smirked in response. “No, my dear. This is about me wanting to have you to myself. Me wanting to love you to the exclusivity of all others.” Not moments later he added, “Okay. Sex has something to do with it, but not everything to do with it,” he confirmed, raising my hand to his lips for a kiss. “It could be the beginning of something beyond words. You as my wife, me as your husband, some babies – one big happy family…”

  “Wait, hold up. Babies?” I asked.

  “Yes. Babies,” he stated nonchalantly. “I’m sure they’ll be as beautiful as you are.”

  “Daniel…,” I started, then stopped midsentence as a jogger passed us by.

  “Give it some thought,” he said. “Say the word and I’ll whisk you away somewhere romantic, somewhere remote, to become my lawfully wedded wife.”

  I nodded in response, completely over the moon that he’d asked me to marry him, but worried there was an underlying reason driving the rush to get married all of a sudden. I voiced my concerns immediately. “Baby, please tell me you’re not rushing into marriage for some reason unbeknown to me? Are you afraid the mystery suitor will stake a claim on me?”

  He held my gaze for a moment before candidly stating, “Maybe I am a little afraid of someone else wanting to have you, but I know how I feel, sugarpie. I want to give myself to you wholly and fully, and I also want you for myself. Exclusively. Forever. So, please marry me, will you? Don’t leave me hanging here. Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife, please?” he asked. Before I had a chance to respond, he added, “I’ll stay here on bended knee until you say yes.”

  I stood there for a while in silence, taking in the beauty of the moment. I had known long ago our lives would be bound inextricably. That we would end up like this, so soon, shook me and woke me up inside. He would be mine, and I would be his, forever.

  “However you’ll have me Teme, however you’ll hav
e me. I’ll take as much or as little as you’re prepared to give,” he stated.

  “I hear you Daniel. I’ll give you everything. In time.”

  “Okay, baby, hear me out. How about this, we get married just after I ask your Dad for your hand. You want out, we file for an annulment after 30 days. 30 days for me to prove to you it’s all worth it. Invest in 30 days and I’ll give you 30 plus years. I can’t promise you a lot of things but I can promise you that I’ll love you and cherish you ‘til the day that I die.”

  I smiled in response and for a moment was lost in thought. I wanted nothing more than to believe him, but in my mind I replayed the possible scenarios. Of how this whirlwind romance might end up in tears. Of how promises could be broken.

  Before he got the chance to complain that my response to his unconventional proposal was underwhelming, I replied, “Of course I’ll marry you Daniel.”

  He bolted up in joy, nearly toppling me over. Happiness swept across his face and he leaned forward to kiss me fervently.

  Pausing for a moment, he stated, “I’ll need to ask your father for your hand. How about we make plans for that sooner rather than later? How about we fly out to Switzerland in a few days?”

  “You’re something else, Daniel, you waste no time,” I observed, partly laughing.

  “I’m a man on a mission, sugarpie. I won’t rest until you’re all mine and only mine.”

  “About Switzerland, and my family. They don’t even know we’re an item,” I said.

  “True,” he stated. “No time like the present to let them know, right?”

  “I guess so,” I replied.

  He leant in and kissed me deeply and with growing intensity. I drew back from him the moment his lips on mine got too intense, and my head started to spin. “I can’t wait to make you Mrs. Daniel Brennan,” he said. “We’ll weather every storm together. Heck, we’ll be the storm.”

  I smiled in response, hugging him firmly. “You’ve made me so happy Daniel. I can’t wait to call you my husband.”

  5

  BEST LAID PLANS

  We sat on the end of the king-sized bed in the master bedroom, the room I stayed in. I’d been up early that morning browsing through wedding dress designs online, and considering who I wanted at the wedding. Daniel joined me after fixing up breakfast. We’d spent most of the night before chatting about the wedding, but I was now curious about the fact that he’d had his heart broken in the past.

  “So, your mom said you had your heart broken in the past?”

  He shrugged in response. “I sort of did it to myself, really. I shouldn’t have placed my heart in the hands of someone who could care less about me.”

  “What happened?” I asked, curious.

  “She was two timing me from the start. I was there just to fill a void, provide for her material needs and help her get through law school,” he stated.

  “I thought you didn’t date through law school?”

  “I didn’t. This was a full on, straight up serious relationship from the start, the whole two years it lasted,” he said. “She met my mom and all…” his voice trailed off. From his reaction, the pain still ran deep, and the wounds were still raw.

  “You’re with me now,” I reminded him, squeezing his hand. He squeezed back. Moments later, he bolted up, strolled over to the chest of drawers, opened a small box and took out a handwritten letter, the paper well-creased and worn. Shutting the dresser door, he walked back over to me, and handed it to me. It was a letter, presumably from his ex. The letter read:

  Don’t you dare accuse me of using you. You freely offered all you gave, and I had no hesitation in taking. Be grateful you even knew me. Someone like you should be happy you got to get the girl. You’re not known for your looks. You’re nothing to look at, nothing worth writing home about, you’re nothing. I’m glad I kept my options open with Mike. He’s everything to me. As for you, I’m going to act as though you don’t exist. Goodbye and good riddance. I never loved you, I never will.

  Steph.

  “What a piece of work!” I exclaimed, handing him back the letter. “This should be in the bin, where it belongs.”

  He nodded in response before scrunching it up and tossing it into the waste paper basket.

  “You’re with me now, and you’re everything to me,” I reminded him.

  The sadness in his eyes dissipated, and was replaced with pure joy.

  “I hit the jackpot with you,” he stated.

  “And I with you,” I replied.

  He smiled and nodded his head in response. “Well, up until I’d met you, I’d decided that love wasn’t for me, but something about you just woke me up inside and cheered me up. The moment I laid eyes on you, the moment I got to thinkin’ about you and hoping for a future with you…I got to believing in love again,” he said. “Let’s get married as soon as we can, so I won’t have to be without you.”

  “You mean, so we don’t have to be without each other?”

  “Yes,” he agreed. “You got it. Let’s do this.”

  “Let’s,” I replied, melting into his embrace, feeling like the luckiest woman alive.

  We were up late that night, plotting a guest list and looking at possible reception venues in the Austin area, before deciding on his church, which we would attend together for the first time on Sunday.

  There was so much to plan for in such little time. Apart from family, I knew I wanted Ernesto, Jude, Shania and a few others there, I just didn’t know how to break it to them that the man I’d just met and fallen in love with had proposed and we were getting married in a matter of weeks. Daniel seemed pretty laid back about it all. After all, all he had to do was turn up.

  Interrupting me in thought he stated, “Our big day just can’t come fast enough. I just can’t wait.” He planted himself on the end of the bed we would come to share after we tied the knot, and stared me down, undressing me with his eyes. I pulled my robe in closer.

  “Baby, come on now!” he complained.

  “Can’t stand the heat…”

  “I hear you,” he replied. “I can’t wait,” he said again.

  I took pity on him. “Sleep here tonight then?”

  “What?” he asked in disbelief.

  “How about you sleep here with me, tonight?” I asked. “As long as it’s just sleep we’ll be having.”

  “Right,” he said, eyeing me suspiciously.

  “Isn’t this what you wanted?”

  “I just want you,” he replied.

  “So?”

  “I’m not sure I trust myself to just lie in bed next to you. Not after I saw you nakid and all,” he confessed.

  “What makes you think I trust myself with you?”

  “What are you up to, sugarpie?” he asked.

  “Nothing, just tryin’ to keep you happy.”

  “Me here just talkin’ to you is keepin’ me happy,” he announced. “I won’t say no to spendin’ the night with you though. I’ll just have to dress appropriately, for the occasion.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Jocks, boxers, and PJs.”

  “You’re a trip, Daniel,” I laughed. “Wouldn’t it be easier if I wore something daggy?”

  “Darlin’ you could be wearing a trash bag and I’d still be turned on by you.”

  I smiled, and he winked at me. “I guess we’re at an impasse then.”

  “Hm…well, we could apply for our marriage license, and get married a few days later – 72 hours later, I believe it is?” he proposed.

  “I don’t think we can pull this all together in such a short time,” I told him, not keen on rushing things.

  “If it’s a matter of your family being here, we can let everyone know now. Get married overseas if we have to,” he suggested. “Or we can just elope now, and have the ceremony once we can get everyone together.”

  “And the purpose of getting eloped now as opposed to waiting?”

  Daniel stood up, walked over to me and knelt by the edge of th
e bed. “I love you and I respect you, but I want you and crave you. I’m not sure how much longer I’d last playing house with you.”

  “Marriage is more than just sex Daniel.”

  “This isn’t about just sex. You should know this by now. I’m into you. I want to be a part of everything you do, I want to be everywhere you are. I want to do life with you. Marriage is for life, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you,” he said.

  “Okay,” I replied.

  “Okay?” he asked.

  “Okay,” I repeated.

  “We apply for our marriage license then we get married as soon as we can?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I agreed. “I’m sure your mom would be happy to help.”

  His eyes narrowed in response. “I love my mom, but once she gets to planning, I’m afraid we may be lookin’ at a wedding a few months down the track. I want this to happen sooner rather than later. I want this to be about us, not about anyone else.”

  “I hear you,” I replied.

  We went to church that Sunday as planned. A man and woman from the church’s welcome committee stood at the door. The man shook Daniel’s hand, but cast me a strange look that was anything but welcoming. The woman at the door smiled disingenuously and said, “Welcome.”

  “Thank you,” I replied, and she handed me a Bible. Daniel accepted the church bulletin from the man at the door, slipped his hand around my waist and led me to a pew to the front of the church.

  Congregants were singing, so we stood, and sang too. Daniel turned to smile at me from time to time, mirroring the joy I felt in my heart from simply being with him.

  Daniel’s smile vanished when we sat down and he turned to the Bible verse referred to by the Minister. As he turned to the verse in the Bible, what initially looked like a twine bookmark slipped out and into his lap. As he raised it, the shape it formed was unmistakable. The twine “bookmark” formed the shape of a noose.