Chapter 2: Haste
Paris, France
May 2005
She won't open the door, he thinks as he pounds his fists on the apartment door. Worse yet, she is out with Michel. Oh, God…maybe she is even home with Michel and he has interrupted their lover's liaison. A torrent of oppressive and unwelcome thoughts floods his brain, as he tries desperately to hold back the tears that threaten to drown his hopes and his heart.
He dips his head towards the floor and puts his hands resignedly on the either side of the door's frame. He is certain that he has lost her.
But a miracle happens, and light enters the hall as Kem opens the door. Her face is a mix of emotions – surprise, consternation, and exasperation.
He moves quickly across the door's threshold, enters the apartment's foyer, and before she can say anything he says, "I'm moving back to Africa and we can start over, and do everything we didn't do before. You can take as long as you need. You can take a month, you can take a year, you can take ten years. I don't care. And I'm not leaving without you, and I'm not living without you. I love you."
A smile lights up her face and she cannot help but giggle. John says it again, but this time slower and with more emphasis, "I love you".
She clasps her hands together and places them over her mouth and chin as her eyes begin to swell with tears. Her giggles have turned to quiet sobs and John reaches out to press her body into his.
Although she doesn't resist his efforts as he hugs her tightly to him, she turns her head to one side against his chest as she begins to think about what her mother told her earlier that afternoon.