Love begins with J

I'd like to tell you a story. One of the best kind of stories. A love story.

His name was James, born in puerto rico to an American father and an italian mother. He was a handsome buck born with many talents and ability to accomplish anything he set his mind to except wooing the hand of this beautiful young girl whose smile made men mush. He met her freshman year in high school in classes he couldn't remember years later because he set all his attention on her during this time. She always seemed to be in a genuinely good mood and had a glow that hovered around her. He let it be known how he felt but she didn't take him seriously. She called it puppy love and not anything that could hold water. Misguided emotions she called it. Emotions that could have been felt for any girl who came along. She just happen to come across cupid's line of fire. Right place at the right time or right place at the wrong time? Depends on who you ask. She couldn't understand how he felt having known her for such a little while. He told her "I can't explain it but I feel this whole different level of happy when I see you and I think to ignore it would be denying myself of something potentially great".

Unfortuntely his efforts and time with her would be cut short. The next school year she was gone. She had dropped out of high school and out of his life.

Time can heal most wounds and James seem to be healing his quite well until one day he entered a McDonald's only to re-opened a wound the moment he layed eyes on her. 15years had past since he last saw her and much had changed since then but by the look on his face one thing had not changed. To James it was like he was given a second chance to talk to her and tell her the things he hadn't been about to when he had the chance. They exchanged numbers that day and stayed in contact.

Through coversation they realized the comfort they brought each other. They help fill a void in each others lives that they craved so badly and for both parties it was a breath of fresh air. They found each other again when they needed to the most. James was dealing with a divorce while she was dealing with an unhappy marriage. She had gotten pregnant a couple years after he last saw her and wanted to do right by her unborn son so she married his father. Then they had a second child a few years after that. And now she was due to have a third child.

He wanted to be with her in those moments more then ever. He wanted to be her salvation but didn't want to break up a marriage that was doing well of that on its own. He wanted to tell her how he felt but she knew, she always knew.

James' career path led him to become a detective for the police department and in his conversations with her he would tell her about countless cases as they happened. One would ultimately stand out for a truely tragic reason. It goes as follows from what she was told: He and his partner had been steaking out a coke house for weeks when they final got the go ahead to raid it. Once inside James spotted at the corner of his eye an 8 year old boy run out the back of the home and slip into a swimming pool. He quickly ran out to the boy, pulled him out and tired to revive him by CPR but the boy only coughed up blood. What James didn't know was that he was already dead by the time he attempted CPR. The boy was in the process of taking a breath when he fell in and swallowed the chlorine filled water which cause his lungs to explode. The boy died instantly. This case haunted James and his health began to deteriorate because of it. He would get sour throats that would not go away and skin rashes that were unexplanable.

A short time after his health took a turn for the worst and calls didn't come in from James she finally got a call only it was from his mother. They had known each other prior to that call because James would rave to his mother about his love for her. His mother instintly feel in love with her as well for the way she made her son feel. He "speaks highly of you" she would say to the loved woman in question. This call however was not one she was ready to receive. James' mother asked if she could met her at the police station then and there. She said yes and went. She was met by James' mother and with his mother was a detective who with no hesitation began to ask her a series of questions that scared her as they went on. She was asked if she ever had sex with James and she answered truthfully. The answers were the same James gave but they had to be sure. They had to know. Then she was told that James had AIDS. He contracted the virus the day he tired to revive the boy in the pool. The boys blood had touched James' saliva.

James was at that station that day and they would see each other for the last time that day. She saw a broken down man that resembled James but not the one she remembered. Her nightmare was confirmed when he spoke. "I'm going to die Jenny and I don't want you to be around when I do. Remember that I always loved you and how there could never be anyone else for me." Little was known about AIDS during this time and by the time he could decide to do anything about it it was too late.

3 months had then past since that meeting and Jenny still hadn't heard anything about James. Then came the phone call. It was his mother. She told Jenny what she had fear the whole time she knew nothing. James had passed away. She told Jenny that before he passed on he wrote a letter. A letter for Jenny that she wanted her to come get personally. Only thing was she was in Italy, her home country where James chose to live the remander of his life. She didn't go to Italy however. She was married with two kids and a third on the way and no one knew about James so it would have been out of the question. The letter was read over the phone that day. Along with his last loving words he left Jenny his home in Bel-air, his lexus and $50,000.

Jenny didn't end up taking any of it that day. She past it on to his mother to do what she best saw fit to do with it.

This was one of those true stories you wish weren't true. There was a James, there is Jenny and the third child she ended up having was me.

In life we don't get that many chances to have true love so don't turn your back on it because of a doubt. Love and let be love. It the most precious thing we have to offer as human beings.