A Christian Romance II

Chapter 22 - Change of plans

(the picture above is Moses Smith)

Michael was too excited to sleep that night. Instead of lying in bed and relax, he grabbed a glass of an expensive rosé and walked to the balcony of his room. All the lights were off and the silk curtains flown out of the open windows.

A mighty full moon rose on the horizon, and he enjoyed that sight for an instant. He was an apatheist, meaning that he didn't care about the existence or non-existence of any deities. However, looking at that moon made him feel good and loved somehow. It wasn't the first time that thoughts of that nature invaded his mind, but it was the first time that he entertained one; he tended to shrug them off with mundane and empty topics.

"Maybe a deity is real and wants to relate to us, or maybe..." He lost his line of thought.

His phone rang, startling him. It was eleven in the night, who would call anyone this late? He turned around with his glass in his hand, and with a sigh he grabbed his phone and answered, ignoring that that was an unidentified caller.

"Hello!"

"Michael?" The male voice on the other end began his introduction. "What a relief!"

"A relief?"

There was a familiarity in the voice that spoke to Michael, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"It's Moses. Joel's father." Moses disclosed. "I asked my son for your number." He informed. "I hope this doesn't inconvenience you." He apologetically put.

"Not at all, Mr. Smith." Michael replied, treating him courteously.

"Please, just call me Moses." He insisted.

"Apologies, Moses." Michael tried to correct himself.

"No worries." The older man replied. "We're gonna have to cancel the meeting set for tomorrow."

Michael was perplexed at first, but he wasn't going to back down, and although he didn't know what to say, he knew this meeting was overdue. "Tell me another day and time of your convenience and we will make it work." He suggested, keeping his temper controlled.

"Joel, Miriam and Debora have no idea that I'm arriving tomorrow in Sydney. And let's keep it that way." Moses explained.

"Of course," Michael felt his integrity attacked. "You have my word." he confirmed.

"Perfect. I'll be in Sydney for the next two weeks, leaving on the 21st of October." He informed. "We can meet somewhere around that time?" He suggested.

"Works for me." Michael replied.

"Perfect." Moses was tired. "I still have a lot to prepare for my flight tomorrow. So... night-night!"

"Have a safe flight."

Michael hung up. The wind that blew into his room reminded him of the mighty night that awaited him outside. As he walked out, Miriam's smiling face came to his mind, and he felt embarrassed and slightly worried that this human invaded such a personal space. He leaned onto the wall with his rosé in hand, and savored it, enjoying the evening.

Simultaneously, in Sydney, near to the Opera House, where the Smiths lived, Miriam relished in the same peace and quiet that that night of Spring offered. She struggled to keep Michael off her head. There were so many dilemmas that came to her head after a vivid remembrance of his existence.

Miriam was never the type of woman to easily fall for a guy; at some point in her life, she even cogitated the possibility of being a lesbian or something else, until she met Adam, Joel's college Christian mate. The former swept her off her feet. She felt understood, loved and was loving someone - a guy -, which meant that she wasn't a lesbian at all, but maybe just picky, or cautious, or hard to impress, or all of the above.

Adam became the love of her life. The one. The man God had for her. Everything that she had ever dreamed of about marriage and family would be fulfilled in him, and also her plenitude. But the day came, when he decided to put their relationship on hold. The distance and stress of college were his reasons.

After twelve years, Miriam still held on to the hope that Adam and her would pick-up from what was left off, and move toward marriage. But that never happened. Not only had they not gotten back together, he had moved out from Sydney to New York, and they haven't spoken ever since.

She was heartbroken for months until she had an encounter with Jesus and found a way to deal with the pain, accepting that her failed relationship with Adam was fruit of disobedience through fornication. She assumed that this failure was God's way of pointing her toward a lifetime of celibacy. It took her weeks to accept that decision, and even after that, many questions and thoughts about Adam still came, robbing her of peace. Just when she had finally cleared her mind and seen the past in a more merciful light, Michael came in like a hurricane and destroyed everything she had worked for.

Miriam sighed, fiddling with a strand of her long and shiny hair, talking to herself about how wrong it would be to be unequally yoked if she said yes to Michael, because he wasn't really a Christian. She sighed in the end of her ranting; her head full of questions.

As if her interrogations weren't hard enough to answer, another variable would come to play. Her phone rang.

"This late?!" She complained, rolling her eyes to get the gadget that rested on her bed. "Who is it?" When Miriam looked at the screen and saw Adam's name displayed, her heart sank. "Hello!" She nervously answered the call, figuring that this could be an emergency or act of desperation, because he never called, and it had been so for two years.

"Tomboy?"

The way his voice called her nickname made her feel anxious and she felt her hands shaking uncontrollably.

"Yes?" She took a deep breath, trying to ease the sensation of lack of control.

"I'm relocating back to Sydney."

The news killed her. She had to sit down. "Really?" Her reply showed no hint of happiness.

"I thought you should know." Adam reasoned.

Miriam couldn't think of much. "Just a lot to take in right now." She expressed, calmly controlling her breathing.

"I thought you'd be happy." He had no idea she was struggling to control her nerves over those news.

"Shocked is the right word."

Adam smiled. "Yeah, I get it." He understood how it would shock her. "I'm arriving tomorrow at 8 p.m."

"Okay." Miriam confirmed the info. "I guess I'll see you around."

Without further ado, she hung up the call.