The Emmanuel Sisters

Chapter 5 Introducing Faith Emmanuel

Faith was the youngest of the Emmanuel sisters. It had been so long since she had seen her sisters and she was so young when they separated that they seemed like a dream to her at times. Faith could barely remember what they looked like. She held on to an old photograph her sister Love had given her of the three of them in Church, it was a poor picture, too dark to see the girl's faces in it clearly, but it helped Faith to not forget. However much time had passed by, Faith always felt that one day she would find her sisters again, but there were times when she did feel like she held on to her wishes in vain.
There was a fire long ago at the foster care agency in Queens that held the three girls' records. The fire happened before the city offices had decided to switch over to a computer records system. As a result of the fire there were no records of where the sisters had been placed, and no way to find out what happened to them after they reached adulthood. Faith was the youngest of the girls, her sisters were already young teenagers when Nana died, and Faith was only six years old at the time. Shortly after the girls were placed into foster care it became obvious to the agency that the girls had no next of kin to care for them. The three girls were then placed into foster care and sent to separate homes, but Faith was the only one of the sisters who got adopted.
Faith's adopted parents were a couple who couldn't have children of their own. They were also an interracial couple. In those days being interracial made it more difficult for them to convince an adoption agency to give them a baby. So they decided to become foster parents. Faith was the first and last foster child her adopted parents had cared for. They fell in love with Faith at first sight. As soon as they were told she was qualified to be put up for adoption, they petitioned to have Faith become their adopted child. Faith's adopted parents lived in the suburbs of Long Island, New York, but they also traveled frequently out of the country, and they took Faith with them on all their travels after they adopted her.
Since Faith's adopted parents were also her original foster care parents after Nana died, Faith never spent any time with another foster family, unlike her older sisters. Faith's biological parents had abandoned their children several times and each time their Nana would care for them. After Faith was born they left the girls with their grandmother permanently, leaving her to raise the girls without any interruption for six consecutive years before she died. Faith couldn't even recall what her biological parents looked like anymore. Strangely she was never even curious about finding her biological parents, but she was very concerned about finding her sisters. She didn't know if her sisters were dead or alive, but her heart told her they were alive and out there waiting for her to find them, somewhere.
Faith adopted parents had always encouraged her to keep looking for her sisters and her biological parents. They were very loving and encouraging parents to Faith. They were also very unconventional. Unlike Nana, they were not Christians. In fact, her parents were not religious at all. They believed in many different things, but they would tell Faith that most of all they believed in the power of love. They taught Faith to love all her sisters and brothers in the world, regardless of their race or religion. They were good people with good hearts, and they were even spiritual people. However some religious people may say they were also spiritually confused.
Faith's parents were always open with her and anyone else who asked about Faith being adopted. They even allowed Faith to keep her last name Emmanuel and hyphenate it with their last name. After they returned back home from their first extended two year stay in Africa with their newly adopted daughter, they encouraged Faith's desire to try and find her sisters. They helped Faith write letters to her two sisters while they were in Africa but the letters would come back unopened and no addressee. So her parents contacted the agency to inquire on the whereabouts of Faith's older sisters and that was when they were informed about the fire. The agency explained to them that they had lost the girls records due to the fire and had had no contact with the two sisters since the fire. They also said that there was evidence that Hope Emmanuel may have been a victim of the fire. Faith was seven years old by the time she got the news, and even then she realized it would take a miracle to find her sisters, but she never believed they were dead. So they placed ads in the newspapers back in the States, and when they returned to the U.S. they placed the one picture of the girls Faith had up all around the city, but to no avail.
Through it all, Faith's parents gave her plenty of love and emotional support. She had experienced so much loss, and at such a young age. Despite this, she always felt the void of her sisters not being in her life, and it was exasperated by the fact that she was now an only child in her new family. Even though Faith was adopted at a relatively young age, her unstable past made her extra shy and she had a very difficult time making new friends in Long Island, New York. Her parents interracial marriage was always a topic of gossip, her mother was African and her father was German. Her parents were also eccentric, and the small community in the suburbs of Long Island didn't seem to be very welcoming to them. Both of her parents had spent many years serving in the peace-corps before deciding to settle down. They both had deep accents from their native countries, and their house was definitely the most creative house in the neighborhood. They did not belong to any particular church group, and they believed that institutional religion was a major factor in societal strife. Instead they took a little from each religion, and they practiced what they liked and ignored what they didn't like. And Faith's extended adopted family were also a very un-conservative bunch. For instance, Faith's aunt was a lesbian and her and her lover were raising their sons to have a gender neutral view of life. Faith's aunt and cousins lived in the city and came over every other weekend to visit. Faith's other aunt on her mother's side had left Africa with them and came to live in the states. She had since married and lived in Brooklyn with her husband. She was considered a voodoo high priestess and her husband was a famous Haitian fortune teller. The two of them owned and operated a very well known herbal healing and psychic center in Harlem. Faith's mother got her fortune read by her sister before she made any decision she considered important.
So, Faith grew up with a very open-minded view to most everything under the sun. This type of worldview did not make it easy for Faith to blend in at her Conservative Catholic school. But it was the school Faith's parents insisted on her attending because it was the best academically in the city. Although Faith was a straight A student she always found a way to push her teachers patience and limits. At one time Faith considered herself a Budhist and she insisted that during the school's morning-prayer and pledge of allegiance she needed to meditate while chanting a mantra. But she had little patience for the daily meditations other than for shock value and that didn't last for long. She decided to keep the concepts she learned and blend them into her life for really stressful days. At one time Faith said she was Muslim and she insisted on writing her name on every assignment as Aslam Mohammed, her new Muslim name. She also used being Muslim as a reason to leave out of class because she had to go to face Mecca for prayer. But then she realized she loved ham and bacon too much to give it up, and she definitely could not see herself continuing to wear the traditional Muslim women wardrobe when summer came around. So before end of winter she gave up Islam. Faith dabbled in many religions and occults. Her parents always supported her. When the school's Principal called them up to school to discuss Faith's eccentric behavior they told him they didn't find anything wrong with their daughter's behavior. They felt she was on her own path of self-discovery. Faith could barely remember anything of what Nana had taught her and her sisters about the bible.
Faith remembered how Nana had her and her sisters pray every night before bedtime. Nana had her girls praying from the time they were babies. So even now the prayer they all said at night was still stuck in Faith's head.
Faith also had the opportunity to be exposed to Christianity through other sources. Her most significant exposure to the Christian faith was through her friend and next door neighbor, Darryl and his family.
For a few years, every Sunday morning, Faith would spend the mornings with Darryl and his parents at their church. Faith's parents strongly encouraged her to go. They would use those Sunday mornings without their precocious, energetic child around to sleep in and make love all morning. Sunday's were their "days without Faith in the house". Her parents were still as much in love as the first day they had met back in Africa. Sunday mornings worked out wonderfully for both Faith and her parents. Faith got to spend time with her favorite friend, Darryl, who she idolized and adored. He was like the older brother she never had. Faith's parents got a little "couple" time in, while feeling like their daughter was learning things that would benefit her, because they felt as if religion most times divided human beings, they had nothing specifically against the Christian religion. In fact they told Faith many times they really thought Christian beliefs were very good beliefs to live by, especially the, "no fornication before marriage belief". But no matter how many times little Faith asked them her parents refused to come to church with her. So as the years passed by, eventually Faith followed the path of her parents, the people she most admired, even more so than her friend Darryl. Once Faith was old enough to venture out unsupervised she decided church wasn't for her, just like it wasn't for her parents. It was then that she started spending her Sunday mornings doing things she felt were more productive, like seeing a matinee by herself, or going to the book stores and thrift shops in the Village, or hanging out with the few girlfriends she had in the neighborhood.
When people asked Faith, she would say she considered herself to be Agnostic; believing in a higher being, but not in any particular religion, or even that this higher being was anything more to people than just their creator. Faith believed that all men and women were truly captains of their own destinies, and that everyone had the choice to do either good or evil in the world. Faith decided to make the choice early on in life that she would be a person who did good in the world, and made changes, just like her parents. Thus and activist was born.
Faith was always involved in some humanitarian cause. She was involved in the homeless movement, green movement, Aids movement, and any other cause she could find because she had a real passion for helping others. So it was no surprise when Faith's first job after college graduation was going to work for a non-profit organization. Being an adopted child was partly the reason why Faith had dedicated her adult life to SACAA (Save
Faith did a internship with SACAA when she was still in college and after that she was hooked. She became hands down SACAA's most dedicated International Social Worker. Her job entailed working with Social Services, and adoption agencies to help place orphaned children all around the world into permanent, safe, loving homes. She was assigned to the SACAA main office located in New York. Faith traveled extensively, but she always came back to SACAA's home base in New York. Her job involved going to various continents and countries where civil unrest, war and other atrocities had occurred. Once she arrived at her assigned country her duties were to locate all children who had become displaced and orphaned and facilitate their rescue, get them to a SACAA safe house and then initiate the process to attempt to place them in safe, loving homes internationally. She follow the leads she received from various sources that helped them find children who lives were in jeopardy, and who parents had abandoned them or had died. Once the children were found she had to get them to one of SACAA's safe houses until the international laws were complied with or dealt with in the most expeditious way. Faith would sometimes need to stay in the host country for months at a time before returning back to New York. Her unofficial job description sometimes included the making of bribes, the falsifying of paperwork and the collection of friends in good and bad places. Not until these various tasks were completed, then last but not least, the final task of finding adoptive homes was finally initiated for the children by Faith. In the process of doing her job, she had most likely broken many different laws in many different countries. It was something she wasn't proud of, but something she also considered a necessary evil in saving the children she considered to be her sole responsibility. But no one at SACAA really wanted to know how Faith got her job done. All anyone really cared about was that she did always get the job done. And Faith was well known in the organization for getting the job done well and quick. SACAA never once questioned her actions, they only applauded her results. Faith loved her job, it was her passion and she had always felt compelled to do something with her life where she was saving or helping orphaned children, orphans like she and her missing sisters were.
Faith often had reoccurring dreams that she was running from something while carrying small children in her arms. In her dreams one little child sat on her back and held on to her neck while she ran with him, and there were even more children following behind her and in front of her. She was always surrounded by more children than it seemed capable of her helping. In the dream she was the only one; the only one who could save all these children. She always felt like she was smothering, failing and drowning, and that she and the children were not going to survive without some help. No matter how much she screamed for help to come in her dreams, no one came to help her and the children. Then the children would suddenly start to just die, one by one. The reoccurring nightmare seemed so real while she was dreaming it. Over and over she would wake up in a cold sweat. After the dream was all over she could never remember, what it was that her and the children in her dreams were running from or towards.
Faith always woke up, before she smothered to death from all the little arms around her neck choking her, and hanging on to her for help so tightly. The dreams had started when she was still a child, after her first trip to Africa. Her parents had sent her to a therapist growing up to help her to understand why she always had these nightmares. All the therapist did was ask her more and more questions. Eventually the therapist diagnosed Faith with having post-traumatic stress disorder, separation anxiety, etc., etc." The therapist told her parents that Faith's nightmares were probably due to the fact that Faith lost her sisters, and then lost the friends she had made while in Africa.
Now that Faith was an adult, even after all the therapy sessions she had as a child she still never stopped having the reoccurring nightmares. Tonight was no different from most nights. Faith, awoken from her familiar dream drenched in sweat. For a second she had to regain her bearings because she forgot where she was at. It only took her a few seconds to realize she was back home, in her apartment in New York. Her once childhood friend and now boyfriend, Darryl was sleeping next to her, snoring, and oblivious to her nightmare. She thought to herself, "Darryl has been snoring ever since I can remember, back when we were kids and had backyard camp outs. I should really get him some breathing strips." Then she got out of the bed quietly to get a glass of water and she was very careful not to wake Darryl up. If he knew she had just had another nightmare, he would be up the rest of the night just staring at her; as if him staying awake would keep her from having bad dreams. Darryl was like that, so protective. He had been protective of her long before they had ever started dating each other, and that was only one of the many reasons she loved him. Faith wished she could fall back to sleep peacefully next to Darryl, but she knew she wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep. So she might as well go ahead and start quietly packing for the trip she had volunteered at the last minute to leave for the following day, for SACAA. Her extensive travels made it hard to be in a relationship with any man, but Darryl was not just any man.
The two of them had been best friends since they were kids. He never pressured her about anything, not even the lack of time she sometimes had to spend with him although once in a while he did complain. The only slight pressure he placed on her was the repeated reminders of wanting to marry her one day. Faith was scared to death about marriage. Although she couldn't really explain what it was about marriage that scared her so much, she was definitely afraid of tying the knot. Lately, she secretly dreaded Darryl was going to officially pop the question, instead of informally hinting around about it. So every time she saw him reaching into his pocket or kneeling down to pick something up, she panicked. She thought, "oh God this is it, what do I say". It wasn't that she didn't love Darryl; she just didn't love the idea of marriage.
Faith remembered the first day she met Darryl. She had just been brought home by her new parents and it had only been two days after Nana's death. All Faith could think of was that her Nana was dead and she was separated from her sisters. To Faith her whole world had been destroyed. Faith was walking up to her new home feeling so alone. Then suddenly a ball hit her
upside her head. It was a soft beach ball, and the hit didn't hurt Faith's head at all, but she still started crying. But she wasn't crying about the hit to her head, she was crying because she missed her sisters and her Nana so much that it was unbearable. Then a skinny boy came running up to her. He was very concerned. He said he was sorry, and he pleaded with her to stop crying. While he was asking her to stop crying, he asked her what her name was, but Faith was not paying him any attention at all. She was only thinking about her Nana. Through her sobs she whispered out in her baby voice "Nana, Nana".
Darryl found it hard to understand her and he thought Faith was answering his question and telling him her name was "Nene". Darryl was an only child and he had always wished he had a younger sibling. He instantly felt protective over little Nene and he wanted to take care of her like a little sister. Faith's parents assured Darryl not to worry that it was only an accident and that she wasn't hurt. Then they carried her inside, and Darryl ran after them saying, "I hope you feel better little "Nene". When you do you can come over and play with me."
As Darryl got to know Faith better he looked upon her as the little sister he never had, he would have preferred a brother, but he never told Faith that. He taught Faith how to play soccer, baseball, basketball, football, and even how to skate and play hockey.
He enjoyed sharing his four additional years of worldly wisdom about life with little Nene. Faith looked up to him the way younger sisters do with their big brothers. The two kids also shared a unique and almost eerie bond, because they were both, adopted. Darryl had been adopted as a baby, and he had never known his biological parents. His adopted family was the only family he had ever known, unlike Faith who at six years old still remembered her Nana and sisters and that always left a gaping hole in her heart.
Although Darryl was popular in school he still had compassion for everything Faith faced as the new girl that everyone knew was adopted. Darryl would tell the kids not to mess with his little sister and he referred to Faith with another name that he said no one else at school was allowed to call her, Nene. Darryl's nickname for Faith had never changed from what he thought she was saying her name was on the first day he met her. Eventually their parents became very close with one another, despite their religious differences. It was Darryl's parents that encouraged Faith's parents to consider adopting when they had experienced their fourth miscarriage. After Faith was adopted the two families shared something in common. So despite their vast differences in lifestyles and religious beliefs, they still became very close friends, so much so that Faith's parents asked Darryl's parents to become Faith's godparents. It was almost like the two of them were really sister and brother, until something unexpected happened one night.
They say the only thing you can expect out of life is the unexpected. One day Darryl was home from his senior year in college. He was planning on taking a long relaxing summer break from school work before starting his first semester of Medical School in September. He hadn't been home long enough to go say hello to his old friends, or to even unpack his bags, when his mother yelled for him to come downstairs.
Faith was getting ready for her senior prom. She was never the most popular girl in school. She had always been the strange, outcast girl. So she felt grateful to have found a date for the prom. It wasn't that she wasn't pretty, but boys rarely talked to her, and she rarely talked to them. So she was surprised when a very handsome boy from her biology class had asked her to the prom. They were lab partners, but they had never even had a conversation outside of class. She was so relieved to not have to break it to her mother that she didn't have a date for prom, and she was actually very happy to have gotten a date because she really did want to go to her prom.
On prom night she was waiting at the house for her date to show up and she was looking perfect and pretty in pink, just like a magazine ad in Seventeen. Then at the last minute her date had called and cancelled over the phone. He didn't even have the guts to do it personally. Her mother had picked the phone up and he just told her to tell Faith he had come down with the flu. Faith had seen him earlier that day at school and he had looked fine. So she didn't believe he was sick for one second. She tried to hide her disappointment from her mother, because she knew her mother would be even more hurt than she was if she saw her crying, but still she couldn't stop the tears from welling up in her eyes. So she just went running up the stairs to her room. She yelled behind her that she didn't want to talk about it, with anyone, "that it wasn't a big deal".
Her mother didn't know what to do, but she knew she had to do something. She ran over to the phone, and she called up the first person she thought could help, Darryl's mother. She told her how Faith had just been stood up on her senior prom night. Darryl's mother wasn't about to let her goddaughter miss her prom.
"Darryl!!!! Don't you hear me calling you? Get down here boy."
Darryl came rushing down the stairs thinking something was terribly wrong with his mother. When he reached the bottom of the stairs his mother explained the situation to him like it was the end of the world and she demanded he get himself fixed up, and go right next door to take Faith to her prom.
Darryl didn't even try to object to his mother's demands, he knew by the tone of her voice she wasn't taking "no" for an answer. Plus he could think of a thousand worse things to be doing on a Friday night than spending it with the little girl next door, who he always considered his little sister. At school he was usually studying most Friday nights anyways. He could hardly wait to start teasing Faith about how she was practically going to her prom with her brother. Yeah, this was going to be fun. When he thought about it he couldn't remember ever seeing little Nene ever wear a real dress before. While he headed back up the stairs to get ready, he said, "fine, I'll take her, but let me remind you Mother, I'm not a boy anymore I'm a grown man."
That night Darryl felt speechless when he watched Faith walk down the steps in her prom dress. It was like he was looking at a totally different person from the girl he had watched grow up next door to him all those years. He knew from that moment on he would never see Nene as his little sister anymore. His little Nene from next door, had grown into a beautiful, sexy young woman that he was definitely attracted to. For the first time he felt nervous in her presence, and drawn to her in a way he was never before. He realized he couldn't take his eyes off of her and that was when he started to feel a little self conscious. He hoped that neither of her parents noticed how he was looking at their daughter. He thought to himself, "I'm acting crazy, after all this is Nene." So he resigned himself to keep what he was feeling in check. Nene was barely eighteen years old. He decided he would keep his new found feelings for her to himself, at least until it seemed like it was the right moment to tell her how he felt.
So when Faith got to the bottom of the stairs Darryl had composed himself and he simply said, "you clean up pretty good Nene."
"So do you, and by the way thanks for not teasing me about your Mom forcing you to take me to my prom at the last minute like this."
"Who says I wasn't going to tease you? You didn't give me a chance to get any in yet."
"That's why I'm thanking you in advance, for not teasing me, get it? I'm really not in the mood for any jokes about me getting stood up tonight."
"Got it, you can tell me in the limousine how you got stood up. Now let's get going, my mother says my pay doesn't start until I get you out the front door and you know I need all the money I can get, medical school is expensive."
Faith rolled her eyes and then gave Darryl a look that could kill.
"Okay I'm sorry. I couldn't resist. But I promise that's my first and last joke about you getting stood up and me getting paid to take you out on a date, okay."
Faith giggled and said, "well I have to admit it is sort of funny."
Then the two of them headed out to the limousine that Faith's father had rented for his little girl's special night and Faith's mother made them pause first to pose for pictures.
At the prom Darryl and Faith were enjoying themselves, almost as if it was a real date. Darryl was telling Faith all about what college life was like, and Faith loved it, she couldn't wait to leave High School behind and go off to college.
As each moment went by Darryl had to constantly remind himself that he was with, little Nene. But it was very difficult to convince his self of that when she was obviously all grown up. Every move she made was sensual without her even knowing it, from the way her lips moved when she spoke to the scent that came off of her every time she tossed her long hair back with her soft hands. He reminded himself constantly that he had to keep his hands from touching her soft skin or brushing her beautiful hair, or caressing the small of her perfectly smooth back that was bare in her backless gown. Then she asked him to dance with her because there was a fast song on that she liked. Darryl told her he wasn't a good dancer, and didn't really like to do it. But the truth was Darryl was nervous about being so close to her, the dance floor was really crowded and it was taking all his will power to keep his hands off of her as it was already. He really didn't need to add the temptation of a crowded dance floor to the equation. But Faith insisted she was going to dance at least one time at her prom. So she grabbed Darryl's hand and led him into the middle of the crowded dance floor. Darryl thought at least the song is a fast song.
They were having fun dancing until Faith saw the guy that cancelled on her walk into the auditorium with another girl. At first she panicked, she felt embarrassed. She was thinking she didn't want this guy to see her, but then she realized looking over at Darryl, how handsome Darryl was, and he was obviously older than the other high school boys there. So Faith waited for the young man who had stood her up that night to see her. As soon as she saw she had caught his attention she suddenly grabbed Darryl close to her, and kissed him on the lips. The way Faith looked that night, and the way she had planted that kiss on Darryl had definitely gotten the guy's attention. It got Darryl's attention too.
At first Darryl was in shock by Faith's sudden kiss. He kept his eyes open, as Faith kissed him right on the lips in the middle of the dance floor. But then Faith pulled her lips away and whispered, "please play along he's here, the guy who stood me up." And Darryl understood, the kiss was just for show. The song had changed and now it was a slow couples' only song. Darryl, saw his opportunity and he decided to take it.
"Well if you really want me to, I'll play along. Let us make this a really good show for him." Darryl held Faith's body closer to him, he placed his hands firmly on the small of her back, and he kissed her again on the lips, but this time he closed his eyes, and he allowed himself to let go when they kissed.
Faith felt something she really wasn't expecting. She had never felt like this before when she had kissed other boys. This time she felt passion. She had forgotten where the two of them were, and that they were in the middle of a dance floor surrounded by people. She vaguely overheard herself let out a low, soft moan. She felt like their bodies were about to burn up with the feel of the heat between them. She had kissed other boys before, but when she kissed Darryl she felt something she had never felt before, something she never even dreamed existed. She felt her heart feel like it was getting ready to burst, and when he kissed her she felt the rest of the world disappear. In a few moments she understood fully, all the romantic Shakespearian tragedies they made her read in English class.
After that kiss was over the two looked into each other's eyes, and Faith suddenly felt a little terrified. Faith was terrified about what she was feeling, and what these feelings would do to her longtime friendship with Darryl, and terrified that for the first time in her post puberty life she understood why girls wanted to have sex with their boyfriends all the time. Most of all she felt terrified because Darryl was staring into her eyes, and for the first time since the first day she had met him, she didn't know what to say.
Darryl, knowing Faith so well could already tell she was scared about what would happen next. He instinctively grabbed her and pulled her close to him and whispered in her ears. "Nene, no I mean, Faith, I guess you are not a little girl anymore, are you?"
"No I'm not."
"Did you feel that, I mean did you feel it too, because I felt something, something..."
"Yeah, I felt it too."
The two of them were whispering and short of breath from their passionate kiss. Darryl couldn't help himself from rubbing his lips across Faith's earlobes as he whispered into her ear. Faith felt chills going up and down her spine. She knew she never wanted him to stop holding her, just like he was holding her right now.
"... I don't know how to explain it Faith, but I want you probably more than you want me right now I'm sure, but I'm willing to wait for as long as you want me to wait. We've known each other forever. We will always be friends; that will never change. So don't worry, no rush, no pressure, cause I'll always be here for you, I'm not going anywhere." Then Darryl felt Faith exhale, and he felt her body totally relax in his arms, and he kissed her again. This time, this kiss was mutual and initiated all for them, and not to make another boy jealous.
It seemed like that kiss lasted forever, and like they were the only two people in the room. And it actually must have lasted a pretty long time, because eventually, Ms. Fargo, the guidance counselor, tapped Darryl and Faith on the shoulder and said, "I think the two of you need to cool it off and maybe go get a drink of punch, or go run some cold water on your faces."
They looked at each other and started laughing. They had not only attracted the attention of the guy who stood Faith up, but they had attracted the attention of the whole dance floor. As they walked off the floor someone chuckled, "go get a room guys, what the heck it is prom night." They spent most of the rest of the night kissing each other, holding each other, and trying their best not to imagine making love to each other when they slow danced on the dance floor.
When the prom was over most of the kids went to after parties at the various hotels. Faith's parents trusted Faith completely and they did not expect her home until the wee morning hours. They knew their daughter had a good head on her shoulders, that she didn't drink or do drugs, and they also knew that Faith was not even barely interested in having sex with anyone. They were even less worried about Faith that night considering she ended up going out with the boy next door who they trusted as if he was their own son. However, they never counted on their daughter discovering she was in love that night, and in love with the same boy who had been her best friend next door for most of her childhood.
Darryl would have never betrayed Faith's parents trust in him. However, unlike Darryl, who had already decided he would take things slow, Faith had decided to do things quite differently. Faith had always been impulsive, spontaneous and a person of action and passion. This moment was no different for her, and something Faith had very little of was patience. She had her own plans. So she whispered to the limo driver something that Darryl didn't hear before she got into the car. Darryl really wasn't expecting much more out of the night, except for maybe a promise of a date the next night. He knew Faith was four years younger than he was, and he would have never tried to take advantage of her.
When the limousine came to a stop Darryl reluctantly pulled away from Faith. He thought they were in front of Faith's house and he didn't want her parents to see them kissing. After he caught his breath he began to say his goodbyes to Faith for the night. "Well this was some night, we better get ourselves together in case your folks are waiting up for you." Darryl started fixing his tie and shirt. Then when he looked out the window of the limousine he realized they were not parked in front of Faith's house, but the limo sat in front of the Marriot Hotel. Darryl looked at Faith a little confused. "Oh, you didn't say you planned on going to one of the after parties at the hotel."
Faith grinned at Darryl. "I'm planning on attending more of a private party, care to join me?"
Darryl thought to himself, "wow this is a whole other side I've never seen in Nene." He'd never pictured her being like this, fast. In fact he kind of thought she was still a virgin. He realized by the look on her face that he had been quiet a little too long. She'd looked a little like she was hurt that he had not agreed yet. He didn't want to hesitate a moment longer and he followed her into the hotel. She led him to the front desk where she checked in.
Once the two of them were in the hotel room, Faith said she wanted to just freshen up a little and she went into the bathroom. As Darryl was waiting for her he started feeling guilty about the age difference between him and Faith; and about betraying Faith's parents' trust in him.
Faith was also in the bathroom having second thoughts, not from guilt but just uncertainty about losing her virginity. She remembered how much she had wanted her first time to be on her wedding night, and all the talks her and her mother had about it. Her mother always told her that her virginity was a precious thing a gift to be given only to her true love. Darryl was the first boy Faith had ever found herself so attracted to, to want to give up her virginity. However, Faith always imagined saving herself for her husband, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to give up that dream yet. She couldn't see that far into her future, she couldn't say definitely if Darryl would indeed be, "her husband", one day. She just didn't know. She thought to herself, "but how do I come out of this bathroom after dragging him to a hotel room by surprise, and then tell him, well, I've changed my mind. What do I say, sorry for being such a tease. Still friends?" Then Faith heard Darryl knocking on the bathroom door.
"Nene, before you come out I have to tell you something."
"What's that?" She was hoping he would say he didn't have any condoms on him, but she thought he's a college student he probably never goes anywhere without one on him.
"Well Nene, I want you to know that I want to make love to you so bad tonight. But, I feel sort of guilty about it and I don't want you to think I don't want you, because I do. Also I sort of thought you were a virgin, and if you are I just want to make sure your first time is exactly the way you imagined it, and if you aren't a virgin well I would still want to make sure the first time that we made love it was perfect, and not something you may regret later on. Like I said to you back at the dance, I'm willing to wait as long as you want to wait, no rush. After all, what's happened between us is all so sudden and new."
Faith didn't answer Darryl she was too busy feeling relieved. He was scared too, for different reasons, but still he sounded as scared as she did, about the prospect of them having sex. She couldn't believe how wonderful Darryl was, and how she wasn't able to see how much she really loved him before this night. She knew any other boy would not have taken the time to think about how she really felt about having sex.
"Nene is everything okay in there? You haven't said anything. You haven't passed out in there or something, have you?"
Faith couldn't help but laugh at that, and she finally came out of the bathroom. "I'm fine. I was having second thoughts about it too. I just didn't know how to tell you." 
"Nene you've always been a little crazy but I'm crazy too because I know I'm in love with you. I knew it the moment I saw you come down those stairs tonight in that dress. I guess we've always loved each other, we just didn't realize that love could turn into something, well into this, but I swear to God I feel like I'm in love with you, like I was meant to spend the rest of my life with you." Then he grabbed her and kissed her once again.
She felt and aching and longing in places she had never felt before. But she was still scared and she caught her breath and pulled away from him. "Darryl, by the way, I am a virgin, and I've always imagined saving my virginity as a present for my future husband. Until now I tonight I never realized how hard that promise would be to keep."
"Do you want me to take you home?"
"No."
"OK then, I promise you where you are weak I'll be
strong. I will make sure you leave here with your virginity." Faith laughed at him, because he said it with such
conviction and it was so overly dramatic
The two of them spent the rest of the night and many
nights after that kissing and holding and loving each other, without letting their love for each other turn into sex. It was a wonderful, carefree, romantic summer of first love.
However, when it was time for Faith to go off to college and for Darryl to go to medical school the two eventually drifted apart after the middle of their first semesters. They both knew the distance that had grown between them emotionally was because of Faith. Faith could not imagine the two of them being in a long distance relationship with each other. Darryl tried to reassure her that he could wait, and that he wanted no one else, she couldn't believe him. So she started to distance herself from him. She stopped returning his phone calls and she made up excuses to avoid seeing him whenever he said he wanted to drive up and visit her at her college.
The two of them started laughing together. And then Faith blurted out, "you know Darryl I think I love you. I mean I've always loved you, but I think I'm in love with you, do you think I'm crazy?"
Darryl was heart-broken. He poured all his hurt into his school work. Medical school kept him busy enough with all its' demands. Also, deep down, Darryl knew Faith was really just afraid of how close they were getting. He had known Nene practically her entire life, and she couldn't fool him no matter how hard she tried. Whenever he saw her or spoke to her he could tell she was still in love with him. So he told himself he would be patient, it was just a matter of time. After all she was much younger than he was. He knew in his heart that one day they would end up together. They stayed friends as they had always promised each other they would and they continued to keep in contact with each other over the years. They saw each other every holiday as the years went by, whenever they both would visit their parents. Both had other people they had dated over the years, but neither of them ever fell in love with anyone else.
Once Faith graduated from college she got a job working with the SACAA organization and an apartment in the city. Darryl had conveniently rented an apartment very close to Faith's. They were practically neighbors, and Darryl took advantage of this opportunity by stopping by Faith's place unannounced to take her out for coffee, dinner, or just to take a walk around the city. They exchanged keys in case of emergencies, and Darryl always checked on Faith's place when she was out of town. It was all quite innocent at first being that they had always remained friends. So the close proximity made it easier to stay in touch with each other when Faith was in town. When Faith wasn't in town, and was across the world with her job at SACAA, they kept in touch by text messages, emails and phone calls. Eventually Faith's defenses broke down and she admitted to Darryl and to herself that she was in fact, still in love with him. The two of them embarked once again on a romantic relationship. Darryl wasn't surprised when Faith told him she was still after all those years, a virgin. He knew in his heart that Faith never stopped loving him. But he made sure he kept the promise he had made to Faith on her prom night. He continued to be patient, and he still didn't put any pressure on her about them having sex. He told himself he was fine with abstaining, because he still believed that one day Faith, his "Nene", would be his bride, despite her avoidance when he brought up the subject of marriage.
Faith made it clear that she wasn't in any rush to change things with marriage. It was the perfect relationship for someone like her. It was not so perfect for someone like Darryl, but Darryl loved Faith so much he was willing to accept whatever she gave him, versus not having her at all. Besides, being a doctor kept him distracted plenty. And with the death of his mother he had become obsessed with finding out who his biological mother was; something he had never cared about knowing in the past. Darryl's father refused to discuss the matter with him. Darryl did not press the issue with his father because he assumed it was his father's grief that was making him act so irrational whenever he brought up the subject of finding his biological mother. Darryl understood his father's grief, because he also felt like no one could ever replace his mother, so he had not pushed the subject with his father in years.
Faith had finally finished packing and now she just stared at Darryl while he slept. She thought about crawling back into the bed with him and trying to fall back to sleep. But he had such an annoying snore she didn't know how he slept so peacefully through it, and then she wondered how she would deal with that snoring for the rest of her life. She giggled at the thought, and felt a sudden overwhelming love for him. She always felt like that when it was time to leave him again. She questioned why she was crazy enough to leave this fine man behind, without a ring on his finger. She didn't know why she didn't just marry him already. She loved everything about him and she had loved his parents too.
His mother's death had hit her almost as hard as it had hit him. Faith remembered what Darryl's mother told her before she died, she said, "you are destined to be my son's wife." Then she gave her, her wedding ring and she told Faith to, "always believe in her son's love for her." That was Faith's last memory of Darryl's mother, her beloved Godmother. Faith had never told Darryl about the ring his mother had gave her, it was all too much pressure she felt, on herself. So she decided she would hold on to it until the right time came around to give it to Darryl. Darryl was everything she could ever want. He was so patient with her, understanding, kind and loving. In fact, just that night he tried to surprise her with a vacation he was planning for the two of them in Hawaii. Faith had told him a while back that she would be off all week, because the agency was making her use some of her accumulated vacation time. But then she took on a last minute assignment, when her co-worker came down sick and couldn't go. She was so selfish she never thought twice about letting Darryl know about it. She didn't realize how much he planned his own life around her. She felt like a real jerk when she had to tell him she couldn't go to Hawaii with him. She could see how disappointed he was, although he tried to hide it. She wanted to make him happy and marry him, in her hearts of hearts, but something just kept holding her back. She didn't think it would be fair to marry him and still do what she did with SACAA, and be gone all the time. Sure she could take a job or make a lateral transfer within SACAA where she stayed based in New York and did not travel, but she felt compelled to keep doing what she did. She was afraid to tell Darryl the threatening positions she put herself in sometimes on her many assignments, because she did not want him to worry. She wondered sometimes how he put up with her, she knew she was self-absorbed, compulsive, obsessive about her job, and very anxious about everything, so much so, that she found it impossible most times to just do nothing and relax.
Darryl on the other hand was so laid back, especially considering he was a doctor. He always slept like a log, without interruption, and never seemed to worry much about anything. Sometimes she wondered how they could be so different but so much alike at the same time.
For instance she was never a good sleeper. She routinely went months with maybe four hours a sleep a night. When most women were peacefully cuddling up with their partners at night, Faith was sitting up watching Darryl sleep, while her mind raced with thoughts about what she had to do tomorrow or the next week.
It was very early in the morning when Darryl finally opened his eyes. Faith kissed him and said, "good morning sunshine." Faith was already showered, packed and dressed.
She had a habit of being meticulously early to everything. "I'm sorry I gotta go Darryl. You do know how much I love you and I'm so sorry about Hawaii, I'm really going to miss you. I promise you I will make it up to you. I promise."
"Don't worry Faith you don't need to make it up to me." Darryl's tone was short and sarcastic, especially when he said her given name, Faith. He usually called her Nene. Faith felt a deep sting in her heart. She thought, "I've finally pushed him too far."
Darryl saw the hurt look in her eyes he realized he shouldn't have pretended to be upset and that she had taken him seriously. "Yeah, what I mean is you don't have to make it up to me because I've decided I'm going with you. Just give me a minute to shower. I'm already packed anyway for Hawaii. I've got a passport in my wallet, plenty of credit and cash and I've already taken a week off for vacation, why not just go with you? I guess you are going to have company on this work assignment and I guess Hawaii will have to wait for another time. Good thing I thought ahead to get myself a passport when you first took this job with SACAA. I figured it would come in handy one day. So I guess this also means I'll finally find out what the heck it is you do for a living Nene?"
Faith thought to herself, "This man is truly amazing. I would be crazy to let him get away." "Well you better get moving, you know how crazy the airport customs are now a days, and I hate rushing and being late. Oh that's right you don't know how crazy it is, you've never flown before! Oh my God this is going to be your first time on an airplane. Who knows if you will even be able to get a ticket on the same plane as me last minute like this, there is so much to do..." Faith was so happy that Darryl was coming with her and so anxious thinking about all the details that needed to be attended to, but Darryl just felt happy and relaxed. He wasn't worried he knew everything would work out fine. Plus he figured he'd save his worrying for the plane ride because he never was a fan of flying. He had mentally prepared himself for his first flight to Hawaii, flying to Africa he was not prepared for, but he would go to the ends of the Earth for his Nene.