Notelet VI: In The Beginning

"I choose you", Mindy Swift heard whispered once, twice, thrice, four times up to the seventh time. She could scarcely believe that Daunte Craddock would choose her, her! At first when he started muttering into her left ear she thought it was all pure jokes so she laughed then tears trickled down her rosy cheeks as she took in for possibly what could have been the very first time the opposite sex said anything of honesty to her without needing anything in return. She knew by looking into his emerald eyes that he meant it with every fibre of his being.
Mindy had suffered a lot. At 18 months she had lost the one person who would affirm her as perfect - her father. He'd done a runner with the local librarian. All those "Mr. Swift, you lookin' mighty fine today "had a hidden meaning or was it just that men couldn't resist the alluring bossoms of women. She would never know why her father had abandoned her and her two brothers and of course her mother. "Who would give up pure love in the arms of Helen Swift for Ms.Breakup", she wondered. Her father did. He had cost her all her failing relationships with men. She just couldn't trust them although she wanted to give and receive love. Every man she had met reminded her of her father. What if he (Craddock) abandoned her when she gave of herself fully she thought. Would he run away just like her daddy. Her last relationship was the most sour. She didn't understand this man cave thing with men. Why did they always want to run into their cave? She felt lost when Tony Dupree did that to her. More than that she felt all the feelings about her father over and over again. She knew Tony would leave. It was only a matter of time - and he did leave the day after Val Day. "My mantra is keep a piece of your heart in case those bastards knock you down and you never get up", she coyly recalled to herself. Inwardly she knew a chasm was forming between her and men that was wider than the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea combined. Each time she got close to a guy she saw abandonment, rejection and felt unlovable as a result. Nothing may have happened on the surface but as sure as the day it became a self-fulfilling prophecy in her life.
She'd seen Daunte Craddock at her local grocery from time to time." He must love the morning shopping like I do ", she thought. She didn't think anything of it. Then as if catapulted into his sight she began to see him more frequently even when she deliberately changed her shopping pattern. For Craddock, she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. Not for her physical beauty per se but there was a mystique about her he couldn't get enough of. Her vulnerability and childish yet cute ways shone through. She came across easy to love. Having 'bumped' into her for some weeks now he was sure she was unattached but why he thought.
Daunte was different. He didn't want to rush her. He was patient with her. He listened to her, focused on her like there were no other women in the world. At first it was too good to be true. She was looking out for the worst but patient Daunte just loved on her despite her excuses. Like nursing a wounded sheep he loved her back to wholeness, back to...


You are quintessentially special,
Love Abba