Head Over Heels (19 page)

“T
hat last one looked real good. I'll be in touch.”

The real estate agent smiled, pumped his hand, gave him a business card and left, not a moment too soon for Russ.

He closed the hotel door behind him and walked to the glass patio door at the back of the room.

He just had a few things to finish up. He'd done it.

His house was up for sale, and here he was, looking over the skyline of the city that would be his new home. And he was about to make an offer on a new executive-style house, the kind he'd dreamed of all his life. A large double garage, hot tub, sauna and even a huge exercise room in the basement. It was everything a man could ask for.

God had truly blessed him. He was on the edge of a new beginning, about to have everything he'd ever worked and strived for.

All his friends were happy for him. His mother and his sister were ecstatic.

But yet, he felt no joy in his achievements.

Marielle wasn't here with him. Right now she would be sitting in her living room, sipping a cup of tea, winding down for the night.

He wondered if she was as miserable as he was.

Except that how he felt was his own fault.

He slid the patio door open and stepped out on the balcony. The brisk, fresh wind rippled his hair and cooled his skin.

It was beautiful here. The mountains rose in the distance, and the air was fresh and clean. On the flight in, just before they landed they'd gone over a large park with a lake in the center.

He couldn't get his mind off that park. When he was a young boy there had been a small pond in a vacant corner of the lot behind their apartment building. Actually, it had been more of a permanent puddle in the middle of a patch of wild bushes, fed by the ditch when it overflowed after a heavy rain. One wild duck had called it home for a while, and that was enough for Russ to have considered it a pond. It wasn't much, but he'd spent much time there as a boy. It became a place where he could hide to escape the pressures of the city and all the things that weighed him down, even temporarily.

He didn't know why, but as soon as he had picked up the rented car, instead of going to the office building Grant had told him to look at, Russ had driven the long way, to the park. As soon as he'd stepped out of the car,
he knew he'd found another special place to go when he needed some quiet time. The sky was bright and clear, and only a hint of a breeze rippled the water. It was peaceful and serene, and perfect, a place he could rest his weary soul.

The real estate agent had even found him a house close enough that Russ could walk there in just a few minutes. But…

He didn't have anyone to share it with.

Was this really what he wanted and what he'd worked so hard to become?

Russ rested his hands on the railing to lean on it, and stared over the expanse of the darkening sky. Lights of the city began to wink on below him. For the first time in his life he'd felt happy when working with Marielle and her ragtag group of underprivileged youths. He'd done his best to help the kids to avoid many of the struggles he'd had to go through, and it had felt good.

But more than missing being with the kids at the center, Russ missed Marielle.

He didn't just miss her. He loved her. He'd almost told her so last night, but he hadn't wanted to shout it at her in anger. Except now, in hindsight, he realized that meant he hadn't told her at all.

He leaned on the balcony railing, squeezed his eyes shut and lifted his face to the cool breeze.

In his mind's eye, he pictured the park and imagined it wasn't the updraft from the city street below, but the tangy air off the lake that was teasing his hair and cheeks.

Better than just being in the park would be being in the park with Marielle, experiencing it with her.

The picture of the two of them together formed in his mind, almost as real as if it were actually happening. He visualized her wearing the same dress she'd worn to church last Sunday, a loose pale thing that was both comfortable and practical, typical of Marielle. He imagined them together, laughing as they kicked off their shoes. He could almost hear Marielle's voice as she told him to roll up his pants so he wouldn't get them dirty, and then when his handiwork met her satisfaction, they would begin their journey around the calm lake. He could almost feel the wet sand between his toes as they would walk together, side by side. A lone bird would be singing in the tree, serenading them. They wouldn't have to speak, the beauty of the moment would eliminate the need for words. She would smile, not at anything in particular he'd said, but just from the joy of being together, uninterrupted, with nothing to pressure them to hurry or leave such a beautiful place.

His heart quickened at the thought.

Of course, he'd smile back, and then he'd reach out to hold her hand. He could imagine her looking up into his eyes, the breeze off the lake lifting her hair, teasing the red stripe, just as he'd done not long ago.

They would stop walking and look deeply into each others' eyes.

He would drop his shoes and hold her waist, and she would do the same to him.

Then he'd lower his head to kiss her, sweetly, the way he should have done before he went to the airport.

A siren echoed up from the street.

The picture in his mind faded to gray, as quickly as a scene changing in a movie.

Russ opened his eyes and stared blankly out into the cityscape, darker now.

The lights and movement below no longer held the same appeal. Instead of the activity of the city below offering promise, it only reminded him of where he was, which wasn't the place he'd been calling home.

He turned and walked back inside the hotel room, professionally decorated and full of fine furnishings, and turned around to shut the balcony door behind him. As he slid the door closed, he saw the reflection of a well-dressed man in a tailored suit, surrounded by all the trappings of success, looking back at him.

A man who was all alone.

Russ stared at his reflection. The victory was hollow.

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
Genesis 2:18

Marielle was more than just “suitable” for him. She was all he'd ever wanted, and all he'd ever need. She was perfect for him. He'd felt it from the first time he met her, even though he hadn't realized it at the time. First he'd fallen head first out his office window, and then he'd fallen head over heels in love with Marielle.

And now he was tossing her aside for a cold, sterile existence, looking down at the world instead of living in it, with Marielle at his side.

Russ walked to the desk at the far side of the room, hit the autodial on the phone and called for a cab. Wasting no time, he sat down on one end of the bed and, using the remote control, punched in all that was needed
to check out. Then he picked up his suitcase, still unopened, and left the room.

The cab was ready and waiting for him in the street. At the airport he had to wait for the second flight, but he caught the red-eye on standby, and was on his way home.

Home.

To Marielle.

It was three in the morning by the time he finally pulled up to his house, but he didn't go inside. He walked straight from the cab to the For Sale sign in the middle of his front yard, and not caring that he was wearing his most expensive suit, he pulled the sign up and threw it beside the house where no one could see it.

He didn't even bother to put his suitcase in the house. He tossed it in the back seat of his SUV, fired up the engine and roared off to Marielle's town house.

All the lights were out, as were her neighbors'. Russ rang the doorbell, then rang it again when she didn't come down within a minute. He waited another thirty seconds, then knocked on the door, trying hard not to pound in his urgency.

The door creaked open. Marielle appeared on the threshold, wrapped in a fuzzy housecoat that had seen better days and wearing big fat bunny slippers on her feet. Her hair was a disaster, sticking out at all angles, and the remains of the previous day's makeup was smudged down her cheeks.

She was a mess, but she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

“Russ? What are you doing here?”

“I was thinking. With all the technology available, I don't really have to move. I can do everything remotely from my desk, and travel when there's something that has to be handled in person.”

She blinked and stared up at him. “You came here in the middle of the night to tell me that? What time is it?”

Russ didn't have to check his watch. He knew what time it was because he'd looked only a few seconds before she opened the door. “It's 3:27 a.m.”

Her eyes widened and she looked past him, to his SUV parked on the street. “Why are you wearing your good suit? What's wrong?”

“What's wrong is my job. I don't need to move. If Grant really wants to have someone live out there and start up a new office, he can pick someone else. I'm staying here.”

She gulped. “Wh-why?” she stammered.

He stepped closer to her and lifted one hand slowly to rest his fingers on her cheek. “Because I love you,” he said softly, then smiled. “I came back because I should have said it before I left. I love you, Marielle, and I'm asking if you will do me the honor of becoming my wife.”

“Your wife? You came here in the middle of the night to propose to me?” She stared at his suit and tie, which he knew bore streaks of mud from pulling out the For Sale sign, but he didn't care. That's what dry cleaners were for.

“Yes, I did. Do you have an answer for me? It's a yes-or-no kind of question, and I'm hoping that you'll say yes.”

Marielle stepped back. “I look horrible. I'm a mess.”
She pressed both hands over her mouth. “I haven't brushed my teeth.”

“I can't tell if that's a yes or a no.”

“But I'm in my housecoat and slippers. I look awful.”

“You don't look awful. Even if you did, I'd love you anyway. But you look kinda cute in that big floppy housecoat, actually. Like you should be snuggling a baby in your arms right now.”

“C-cute…? B-baby…?”

“Do you want children? I'd like children. I promise you that I'm not going to take off at the first hint of trouble or if times get rough. I'm in for the long haul.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“I've never been more sure of anything in my life. Just to let you know, I don't expect you to pack up and move to be with me. I grew up without anyone besides my mother and my sister, no extended family, no roots. You've got roots here, and I'm not going to pull you away from this. I've been working hard all my life, but I just figured out that it wasn't money or a secure job that I wanted. It's the security a good job can bring. And all that security means nothing if I don't have you. I'm happy where I am, at my job in my office in that little old building, and helping out with your ‘kids,' and mostly, I'm happy when I'm with you. I'm staying, and if that's not good enough for Grant, I don't want to start from the bottom in a new job again, but I've done it before. I can do it again. By the way, I hope you don't mind a short engagement.”

“You're serious, aren't you?”

“Yup.” He reached out and clasped her delicate hands in his. “I love you, Marielle, but I haven't heard that you
love me, and you haven't answered my question. I'm starting to feel more than a little insecure right now.”

Her eyes grew bright, and he didn't think it was the reflection of the street lamp behind him.

“Of course I love you. How could I not love you? I love you so much that I'd marry you anywhere you wanted to go, whether it's here, or if you have to move to the ends of the earth.”

Russ felt like his heart was going to burst. He wanted to sing and dance and tell the world, except the world was sleeping. At least their part of the world was, except for him and Marielle.

“I should go. We both have to get up for work in the morning. We've both got to get to bed.”

“You think I'm going to be able to sleep now?”

“No. But you should try. I'll sneak off a bit early and see you at the youth center tomorrow.”

She backed up inside but didn't close the door. “Okay. I love you, Russ.”

He smiled. “I love you, too, and good night.”

Dear Reader,

In the poem
The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost, the speaker came to a crossroad in his life, and knowing he could never go back in time to this exact same place, he stopped to think on his choices, made a decision and then took the road “less traveled by.”

In Russ's life, falling out the window and landing on Marielle's car was definitely something that started a chain of life-changing events, but it didn't really change his life at that moment. After he healed, he simply went back to work, hopefully a better person, but nothing was different except for the bump on his nose. The change happened when, according to his hopes and dreams, and in the culmination of years of hard work, he reached the top, looked out to see his future and then decided that really wasn't what was best for him, God had something else in mind for him. He then took the more difficult path back home to Marielle.

Everyone at some point in their lives will have at least one monumental decision to make—something that will change the path of their lives forever. I hope that when we all come to that choice, we will stop, like Russ, think, lean on God for His help, trust—and then not be afraid to take the right path, even if it is the one “less traveled by.”

God bless you in your journeys!