A SAINT IN SIN CITY

Saul Sallie

Chapter 2

IF ANYONE IS IN CHRIST THEY ARE A NEW CREATION, OLD THINGS HAVE PASSED AWAY, BEHOLD, ALL THINGS HAVE BECOME NEW. (2 CORINTHIANS 5:17)

I noticed right away that Destiny’s eyes were red rimmed when she answered the door. Yet she greeted me with her typical warm smile, so I simply said, “Hi Dee, I’m meeting Marcella here at two.”

“I’m afraid you’re not, Sweetie,” she replied with a sad countenance.

I gazed at Destiny dumbfounded, not realizing yet that I had been stood up. “Excuse me?”

“Saul,” Destiny began, her lower lip quivering. She tucked a strand of blond hair behind an ear, her fingers trembling slightly. “Marcella doesn’t want to see you anymore. She, um, I don’t know how…”

Destiny put her hands in her face and groaned. Now I started to worry. “Destiny, is Marcella alright?”

She lifted her face from her hands. “Yes and no.”

“I don’t understand, what’s going on?” I pleaded, as my pulse quickened.

“I know you two have only known each other a few weeks,” she said, and sighed. “But she told me today that there is, um, something going on between you two.”

“Mrs. Storm,” I stammered, reverting to Eddie Haskell politeness under duress. “I assure you we’ve done nothing inappropriate. After all we’re cousins, we’re just friends.”

“Mrs. Storm,” she giggled, then became serious. “You know you two aren’t actually blood cousins, right?”

“Huh?”

“For two people so smitten with each other, you haven’t probed too deeply about yourselves,” she almost seemed to scold.

“I’m not.. She’s not… What do you mean she’s not actually my cousin? She’s Brock’s daughter, that makes us some type of cousins.”

“Sweetie, she’s adopted.”

Destiny gave me a minute to corral my stampeding thoughts.  “I don’t get it. Why can’t she see me then?”

“It’s not you. It’s her.”

The classic break up line. But what was there to break up? We had only known each other three weeks, and we were simply friends. Or were we? And why did I feel a strange emptiness welling up in me. “Where is she?”

Destiny ignored my question. “She asked me to explain her situation too you.”

“Okay, I’m listening.”

“Brock and I adopted Macella when she was sixteen. She had been a victim of human trafficking.”

Destiny let her words sink in. When they did, I felt bile rise up to my throat. “So she was a prostitute?”

“Not willingly, but yes. She escaped with Oralee.”

“Please don’t tell me little Oralee was prostituted.”

Destiny shook her head emphatically. “No, Marcella escaped with her before the creeps could do any physical harm.”

“That’s good,” I murmured. Then Destiny proceeded to tell me the story of Sevenia’s dream about two girls on the run, Marcella and Oralee’s makeshift fort under an abandoned railroad bridge, and how she, Brock, and Sevenia rescued them.

Destiny told me how Marcella felt she was unworthy of me. She also worried that because of the extreme sexual abuse she experienced, she might never be able to have a normal relationship with a man. She told Destiny it wouldn’t be fair to pursue a relationship with me, and in the end turn frigid. That’s why she wanted to nip our new companionship in the bud.

“I need to see her, Dee.”

“I promised I wouldn’t tell you where she went.”

“Please Dee, I love her,” I said, my voice quivering and I couldn’t stop some tears from popping out of my eyes.

Destiny looked at me with wide, startled eyes. Then she turned her gaze over toward the shop. “Oh look. Her car’s here, and her bike.” Then she looked steadily toward the southwest. “I guess she must have walked somewhere.”

“Thanks, Dee,” I said before I took off in a jog.

“Saul,” she called. I stopped and turned toward her. “You know there is over a hundred acres of timber beyond that field?”

I nodded. “Thanks again.”

Marcella had taken me to these woods once. The deer trails we followed were wide enough to walk, but not quite wide enough for a bike. I had hunch where she might be. We came across a stream where there was a three foot waterfall. The fall, and section of rocks after, made a very soothing rippling  sound. I could tell by the way Marcella sat down, and the dreamy, tranquil look that came over face, that she had been there before.

We sat quiet for a long time before she asked. “Do you know what has three feet and no head?”

Her question took me of guard, and I frowned, but smiled at the absurdity. “I don’t know.”

“A yardstick,” she replied playfully. She had giggled, and I laughed, thinking the way she crinkled her nose was adorable.

As I ran my heart ached recalling that moment in time only a week ago. It hurt like nothing I had ever felt before to realize what a difficult life that sweet, wholesome young woman had before Destiny and Brock took her in.

I was actually a pessimist by nature, but I now optimistically envisioned seeing Marcella by the waterfall, our eyes meeting, and she springing to her feet and happily bellowing, “My love, I knew you’d come for me.”

The first part of this scenario happened. I discovered her right where I had hoped. The second part was just the opposite. Her eyes widened in surprise, she rose to her feet, but instead of running into my arms, she ran away from me.

Now I had just jogged around a mile. So when she took off at a sprint, even though I was technically the professional athlete, she was slowly pulling away. Plus, she was smaller, and could negotiate all of the timber with greater agility than myself. Another point against me was I was trying to talk to her. That didn’t help my wind even a little bit.

I can’t remember exactly what I said, but either it was winning her over, or she was getting tired, for I had gained on her. It was neither. She stopped suddenly and turned. A split second before I saw her tear streaked face and heard the word the two words, “You don’t…” we collided. Worst of all for me, which actually turned out to be best of all, my nose hit her forehead. Hard.

It didn’t break because I’ve got strong bones. But I’m a bleeder. And bleed I did. Blood poured from both nostrils as I sat on the ground and clutched my face. I panted, I groaned, and I panted some more. I had jogged what seemed like a mile, and sprinted for what seemed like ten.

“Oh Sweetie, I’m sorry,” she said as I felt her strong, yet feminine fingers stroking my hair.

Did she call me Sweetie? Of course Destiny had called me Sweetie before also. I was dazed, and didn’t really comprehend her placing some type of cloth over my wound. It was her light blue jacket. When the bleeding subsided, she asked, “Are you alright?”

“I think so,” I squeaked, as I rose to my feet. I looked at her with wide eyes, and a smile played at her lips. I am not a handsome man, I often have thought I look like a frog. But I have been called cute occasionally, and garnered some female attention. More so as my baseball career progressed.

“You poor baby,” she cooed, and kissed my cheek. We both looked startled, then her hands went to her hips. “Did my mom tell you where I went?”

“No, I knew you would be at the waterfall.”

“How?”

“Cause I know you.”

“No you don’t,” she said with angry shake of her head. “No one does. Except God. I don’t even know myself, so how could you possibly know me?”

“Who really knows anyone? But we can know enough to love.”

“Are you saying you love me?” she asked with a challenging glint in her eyes. “We’ve known each other three weeks.”

“Apparently you detected something, or you wouldn’t have run off, and left it to Dee to send me away.”

Her lips pursed, and she frowned, then spat. “Oh, please forgive me. You always looked at me like I’m some virginal princess, but the dark secret revealed shows me to be a whore.”

“No, you’re not!”

“Saul, I can’t change what I was.”

“You were a victim.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that I have had sex with grown men before I was even a teenager.”

“Was that your choice?”

“I didn’t run until Oralee motivated me.”

“So you wanted to be in that situation?”

“Of course not!”

“Then you are that virginal princess.”

She frowned some more, but there was an inquisitive, hopeful look in her eyes. “What do you mean?”

“You’re a Christian, right?”

“You know I am.”

“So, do you believe you are a new creation?”

“Yes,” she said meekly.

“Do you believe the past is past, and your present and future are new?”

“Yes, I do, but the past still leaves scars. Deep scars.”

“But you are a virgin in spirit,” I told her. “True, there’s nothing you can do about what was done to your physical body. But like you said, it wasn’t your choice. You were trapped.”

“I’m glad you understand,” she said with a sad smile.

“Good,” I grinned. “So we can quit this nonsense of ending our, um, friendship.”

Her smile quickly faded. “Is that all that has been going on?”

I suddenly felt awkward. “Ah, I, I really don’t know.”

“That’s the problem, I do. I hate to say this, but my dark experiences gave me the ability to read men pretty well. And you don’t behave like a guy that wants to be just friends.”

Remember I told you I get tongued tied around pretty women? Her insinuation made me just that. Then I managed. “Is that a bad thing?”

“Did my mom tell you about my feelings about relationships?”

I told her everything Destiny told me.

“She was vague about the most important part,” Marcella said and then sighed heavily. “Can you turn around? I can’t have you looking at me when I explain. It’s too embarrassing.”

“Um, sure,” I said, and turned my back on her.

“Saul, the last couple weeks you’ve ignited something in me that I’ve never experienced before. I’ve never felt, um, romantic desire, and it frightens me.”

“Why?” I asked turning, excited that I ignited some type of passion in her.

“Turn back around,” she demanded. I did, and she continued, beginning to cry as she did so. “For one thing, I was afraid of what you would think when you found out I was forced into prostitution. For another, I was afraid if our relationship proceeds, and gets to the point of, you know, marriage, that I would be uncomfortable, you know, having sex. So I think it is best to end this thing between us before it gets started.”

She was sobbing now. I turned and put my arm around her shoulder. “The thing is, it already has started, and I don’t want it to end.”

She looked at me and hiccupped. “You need to consider what I said.”

“I already have, and you’re well worth the risk.”

She kissed me feather light on the lips. It was tentative, and sweet. Then she softly wrapped her arms around my neck. In her actions I read her desire and longing for me, for love. I also read the fear and caution she warned me about. I would patiently win her trust.

“I will never leave nor forsake you,” I whispered into her ear.

The whimper she emitted after my words both broke my heart, and made me determined to protect her. I wondered if I should have remained silent. But her hug tightened, and then she kissed me gently on the cheek.