Free from Guilt

by Pat Simmons

  “That’s good because it means you’ll be concerned about her soul, as well as her mind and body.”

  While he crunched on a mouthful of lettuce, she could tell he was thinking. Maybe about what she just said. Gabrielle was beginning to warm to Cameron. She appreciated his candor. She thought he would lose interest like some of the other men when she mentioned she didn’t indulge in one-night stands. It unnerved her that one-nights were considered to be commonplace. Gabrielle was a card-carrying member of God’s Virgin Club—and proud of it.

  They finished the rest of their meal in silence. She would tease him about rewriting a romance book later. “What time is your flight?” she asked, as they wandered back to the gates.

  “Six twenty. They should start boarding in a few minutes.”

  “So you’re going to Baltimore. Flight 1273.” Gabrielle could run down the daily flight schedule with her eyes closed.

  “You know your stuff. I’m attending a two-day engineering conference there.”

  As she ambled her way around travelers, she didn’t realize Cameron had stopped in his tracks. Glancing over her shoulder, Gabrielle wondered what was wrong.

  He didn’t move from his spot. Curious, she walked back to his towering figure. His piercing eyes captured hers right away.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, concerned.

  “I’m just thinking …” Taking her hand, he squeezed it. “When I return, I hope you will change your ‘if’ to a dinner date. I don’t know what type of man you think I am, but Jamiesons are programmed never to fail a test—never.”

  Bringing her hand to his lips, he placed a soft kiss inside her palm. Then, as if everything was all right in the world, Cameron linked his fingers through hers and tugged her along with him to his gate.

  Chapter Ten

  Gabrielle. Cameron couldn’t figure her out. He doubted she was playing games with him, but she was surely testing him. It had been two weeks since they had returned from St. Louis. Not a day had gone by without him imagining her smile, laugh, or the brightness in her eyes when she seemed to be up to mischief.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he had watched her snoop inside his briefcase and scan through that dumb paperback. It was an embarrassing find, but he didn’t mind her knowing a secret. After all, he purchased the book to get more insight about why she read so intensely what she did.

  Settling in his seat on the plane, Cameron stared out the window. She defined making love as sex. Whatever term Miss Dupree wanted to use didn’t matter to him. The act itself was a two-way street.

  Women slept with men to possess them. She didn’t come right out and say it, but he suspected she had kept herself from a man. Was that supposed to scare him away or challenge him?

  Whatever happened between them, so be it. He wasn’t going after her for a conquest—okay, maybe initially, but now he was genuinely attracted to her.

  Arriving in Baltimore at the conference, his mind continued to stray to Gabrielle. During the day-long seminars, Cameron couldn’t recall half of what the speakers were saying, so he gave up on trying to concentrate. When the sessions ended, he would purchase the recordings, go back to his suite, and listen to them. That way he would know if he had questions for the speakers before the final day of the conference.

  His first order of business was to make a call to Talise when he returned to his hotel room. Unfortunately, Cameron had to endure five minutes of conversing with Ace. After that, he questioned Talise for as long as Ace let him.

  “What can you tell me about Gabrielle?”

  “It depends. What would you like to know?”

  “Anything: favorite color, flowers, more about her education, background …”

  “Socioeconomic status?” Talise asked in monotone. Cameron couldn’t tell if she was teasing or chastising him.

  “I’ll take that hit, but I’m beyond that. Gabrielle and I have called a truce about my clumsy introduction. What is she looking for?”

  Talise took her time answering, “Be yourself. Show her the Cameron who befriended me when I was pregnant. She’s a romantic. I’m not just talking about in the relationship department. Gabrielle is the type of person who sees hope in impossible situations.

  “She taught me a Scripture about how man looks on the outside, but God looks on the inside. She strives to be an ‘inside person.’ The bottom line is she won’t make a move without an okay from the Lord. The payoff being that she expects God to deliver on happy endings.”

  That’s why she reads those fake romance novels, he thought.

  “Gabrielle is very special to me. Like you, she was there for me when I needed her. She deserves the best, in my opinion. If you’re not willing to give her that, then please leave her alone. My husband is a recovering sinner, I would hate for him to have a relapse and jump you.”

  “Right, I’m scared. I love family. I don’t fight them.”

  “Good. Maybe you can learn to love Gabrielle because she’s close like family to me.”

  They talked a few more minutes about Talise’s favorite subject, the baby, before he reluctantly had to let her go.

  The next day, a few hours after the conference came to a close, Cameron boarded the plane. Hoping Gabrielle was at work reminded him that he didn’t have her number. But he planned to rectify that soon. Before the flight took off, another woman snagged the seat next to him. This time he did peep at her legs; her every movement was a seductive production.

  Looking the other way, Cameron really wasn’t in the mood for any pleasantries. Pulling out his iPhone, he fumbled in his jacket pocket for his miniature headphones. It was a time for concentration. He needed to identify his challenger—was it God, Gabrielle, or both.

  He had nothing against God. His family worshiped Him and he respected the Lord, but Cameron didn’t see a need to be overzealous. What separated him from his brothers and cousins was their passive thinking to wait on Jesus for everything. Even Gabrielle had said as much, but Cameron was proactive. He always had been.

  God gave men the ability to make things happen for themselves. It wouldn’t hurt to ask for His assistance with Gabrielle, however, but he planned to have an active role.

  Before leaving Boston, he had boasted about never failing a test. But there was one that he barely passed in college. It was a lesson learned the hard way: alcohol and studying don’t mix. Fortunately, he rebounded quickly. In school and life, Cameron valued a clear mind—at all times and at all costs. He could count on one hand the last time he even had a beer.

  As the music soothed him, his eyes closed, setting the scene to conjure up images of Gabrielle. At times, he could recognize the fire in her clear brown eyes, which were a shade lighter than her flawless brown skin. She seemed ready to do battle. Other times, there was a softness that would make any man want to please her.

  It seemed as if she yearned to believe in him, but withheld her trust. Time was running out. The countdown had begun for him to relocate permanently to St. Louis. He didn’t believe in long-distance relationships, but to win her over, he would try for a little while.

  When Cameron walked off the plane, he made a beeline toward the ticket counter where she was working when he had flown out. Getting in a short line, he approached a petite female ticket agent with an engaging smile.

  “Hi, I’m looking for Gabrielle Dupree. Is she working today?”

  The young lady shook her head. “She won’t be back for a week and a half.”

  Cameron frowned “Is she sick?”

  “Oh no, sir. She’s on vacation.” The agent cordially dismissed him and motioned for the next person.

  Vacation? Gabrielle never mentioned it to him. Her lack of trust to confide in him stung, although Cameron had no problem with earning it. Yet it still wounded his pride. He snatched his phone out of its case and tapped a name in his contacts.

  Ace answered, “Hey, cuz—”

  He didn’t have time for any pleasantries. “I need Talise … please.”

&n
bsp; Ace snorted. “Well, hello to you too. My wife is busy. Can I help you with something?” Judging from the exaggerated calmness of his voice, Cameron was certain Ace was just trying to irritate him.

  “Unless you can give me Gabrielle’s phone number, no.”

  “As a matter of fact, I probably could, but it wouldn’t matter.”

  His cousin was really beginning to irk him. “Why, Aaron?” Cameron asked, using his legal name.

  “She’s out of the country. Unless you have an international calling card, you’ll have to wait for her to return from Greece.”

  Stopping dead in his tracks, he had just made it to the baggage claim area. “Greece!” Cameron yelled, then looked around and mouthed his apology to the other passengers, “Sorry.”

  Returning to his phone conversation, he asked, “What’s she doing in Greece?”

  “She took a vacation.” Ace became quiet. “You know, if you step up your game, not only would you have Gabrielle’s number, but you’d know her whereabouts too.”

  Throwing up his hands in frustration, Cameron didn’t even say goodbye before he disconnected the call. Spotting his bag, he grabbed it and stalked out of the airport, fuming.

  Trip or no trip, Gabrielle was running from him. She didn’t know that he would chase her to the corners of the earth—because something inside of him kept saying don’t let her get away.

  Chapter Eleven

  Aboard a Lufthansa jetliner, Gabrielle clicked her seat belt and prepared for her twelve-hour flight to Greece with a layover in Germany. Although she had downloaded plenty of books onto her eReader, she couldn’t resist packing some new Christian romance paperback novels.

  Gabrielle would never read another romance book without thinking of Cameron. It was endearing that he was reading alongside her instead of chatting up a storm with his fellow seatmate. Then too, it was how he had marked up the book with his opinions. If she gave it too much thought, she would laugh uncontrollably on the plane.

  That would make a good conversation piece if she decided to go out to dinner with him. Cameron was so intense when it came to pursuing her. She was almost certain that after one date she would want more to follow.

  One thing for certain, the man had been right. Instead of reading about it, she wanted to experience the intensity of love, minus the sex and lust, of course. She desired the pure love of a man for the woman he had chosen as his wife. Unsure if Cameron could be that man in her life, she dozed off dreaming about him.

  Sweet thoughts lulled Gabrielle into a deep sleep until the first part of her trip ended. She landed in Munich, where she changed planes. On the second leg of her journey, she returned to the enchanting dreams that Cameron seemed to orchestrate.

  In the wee hours of the morning, a flight attendant, who spoke with a proper English dialect, welcomed the passengers to Athens.

  Fluent in Russian, Spanish, and broken Creole, Gabrielle enjoyed listening to other languages around the world in hopes of learning and some day mastering them. Back home, there was the intriguing Gullah language, which was fiercely preserved, so not to sever its identity with Africa. Undoubtedly, she was a language junkie. If left up to her own devices, instead of her parents’ threat to cut off funding her education, she would have earned a double major in world languages and linguistic anthropology.

  After retrieving her carry-on, Gabrielle focused on the present. She followed the instructions for those who were part of the tourist group. Her excitement was mounting, and she couldn’t wait to begin their exploration.

  At the baggage section, a chauffeur held a sign marked “Starks Sunset Tours.” She joined a large group that was flocking around him. Minutes later, they boarded a bus for the six-hour ride to Thessalonica where their cruise would originate.

  Gabrielle was all smiles as she greeted several other passengers. Making her way through the bus, she claimed a seat next to a woman who reminded her of Grandma BB from Talise’s wedding. Unable to resist the temptation, she peered at the lady’s footwear—tan Naturalizer sandals—and exhaled.

  Turning around, she caught a few men ogling her, but she ignored them. Whenever Gabrielle was in a foreign country, it wasn’t unusual for natives to mistake her nationality for Egyptian, Syrian, Somali, or some other. In a sense, they were correct. Since mankind began in Africa, her heritage included a diverse ethnic makeup.

  Using her international calling card, she phoned her parents to let them know she had landed safely. They would then get the word to her brothers, who would worry until she was back on American soil. Upon her return home, her three big brothers would resume their usual concerns about American criminals. After watching the movie Taken, starring Liam Neeson, who played a former spy, her brothers acted as if Jesus wasn’t a Protector.

  However, Gabrielle was aware that she had to be smart traveling alone, so as not to become a victim like the teenage daughter character. In the movie, the girl was abducted for slave trade after going to a foreign country without a chaperone.

  But, not to worry, Gabrielle knew the Holy Ghost had her back. Relaxing, she admired the passing scenery. Her mind drifted. It had been a while since she stopped counting the number of times she had flown to Europe solo. She smiled, recalling the fabulous experience of remaining in college an extra semester. It was a clever way to complete her second minor as a cover to travel in the summer-abroad study program.

  One advantage of being single was that she could up and go at a moment’s notice. For instance, there was the time when her brother Philip, an evangelist, conducted a revival in Ethiopia. She had joined him for two days.

  Soon her excitement began to wane as the time difference began to overtake her body. Gabrielle hadn’t realized she had dozed off until the woman next to her nudged her.

  “Wake up, sweetie. We’re at our hotel.”

  A bit drowsy, Gabrielle followed the others off the bus. After she checked in, the bellhop secured her luggage. As soon as she reached her room, she took a shower and then laid down for a quick nap that turned into a night’s sleep.

  The next day, Gabrielle awoke refreshed, but starved. Dressing in light clothing for the warm weather, she met others in her party downstairs in the dining room. Within the hour, they boarded the bus for Philippi.

  For the next week, each day was an adventure. There were plenty of stops and picture taking at sites where the apostle Paul lived, preached, and wrote letters to the church at Corinth. Observing sites such as where Paul and Silas were confined in prison, Gabrielle marveled as her imagination mentally transported her back to biblical times.

  Fast-forwarding to the present, there she stood as a modern-day convert of the apostle’s ministry. She hoped to embrace whatever spiritual understanding God would reveal to her. Gabrielle was always in awe of the early church and the adversities early Christians faced. She praised God that she hadn’t lived during those times of persecution. She was thankful that God allowed her to be alive after the Comforter had come, as the Bible teaches in the books of Acts.

  Jesus, thank You for my salvation, she prayed silently.

  Her vacation sped by, which included a three-day cruise to the Greek islands. On the last day, Gabrielle silently said goodbye to the places she had personally witnessed from the New Testament.

  During her 4,600 mile trip back to the States, a somewhat weary, but happy traveler opened her Bible and re-read the passages that spoke of the places she had visited. As the words blurred and her lids fluttered, the clarity of a handsome face with dark brown eyes, silky brows, a goatee, and a clean-shaven head reappeared for the first time since she had arrived in Greece.

  It’s time to get back to reality, she thought, pinching herself.

  Bills, work, and decisions about job offers weren’t the only things waiting for her in Boston. So was Cameron Jamieson.

  Chapter Twelve

  Gabrielle had been back in the States for a few days, and her body was still struggling with the time-zone change. The next day she would return
to her nine-to-five job, which often seemed more like five in the morning to nine at night.

  She had been praying for the Lord’s confirmation about which path He wanted her to walk in her career and personal life. With no word from heaven as yet, she put those decisions off for a little while longer.

  A few evenings later, while in the middle of trying her hand at duplicating an authentic Greek salad like the ones she devoured in Macedonia, the phone rang and interrupted her. It was Denise calling.

  “Glad you made it back. I just got my postcard from Greece. Wow, I’m sure the pictures don’t do it justice. I know you had a good time.”

  Gabrielle closed her eyes and smiled, just thinking about it. “I did. God’s handiwork was breathtaking. I’m surprised you got it so fast. I wonder if my parents and brothers got theirs. Hold on.” She paused to bless her food. “So what else is going on, you wedding crasher?” Gabrielle teased and slipped a fork full of romaine lettuce into her mouth.

  “Girl, everything is moving so fast. My sisters and I would like for all of the siblings to meet. My knucklehead brothers say to leave well enough alone, but I’ve already set things in motion. I can’t repeat the term one of my brothers called Ace and Kidd, since their mother was single when she had them. I’m ashamed to say it was cruel.”

  Cringing, Gabrielle didn’t want to imagine. Clearly, her friend hadn’t thought about the fallout from meeting her other siblings.

  “I refuse to let them kill my joy. Anyway, my sisters and I have been finding information online for free. Besides that, Cameron’s oldest brother, Parke, really has been a big help. I’m suggesting a big family reunion …”

  The excitement in Denise’s voice was building; Gabrielle couldn’t help but believe God was going to work everything out.

  “I spoke with another family member while you were jet-setting across the globe. It seems Cameron’s having problems tracking you down.”