The Dividing Line: ABSOLUTION #COMPLETED (Book 3)

31 ѱ EFFECTUATION (BWWM)

REALIZATION

Cole was sure his mind was playing tricks on him as the soft silky tone lovingly caressed his ears. The comfort that only came from his Angel washed over his heart, beckoning him to open his eyes after so many nights spent agonizing in disappointed despair crippling his every waking moment.

At first, he opted to ignore the phantasm. Cole lost track of the number of times his mind played tricks on him. How many nights had he dreamt his woman was near him? Hugging, kissing, even making love to him were the fantasies he allowed his mind to be deceived with as he spent his every waking moment praying for the day when she would forgive the mess he had created in their lives. When he realized that suffering might become his perpetual reality, the heartbroken man began to feel his sanity slip.

Cole spent an unhealthy amount of time delighting in his distress. Memories of her haunted him taking on a life of their own as they persecuted him for the life he lived before he met her.

Seconds, minutes, and hours gave him time to hope that one day he and Angel would reinvest themselves back into the pursuit of loving one another. But, not willing to wrestle with the unchangeable issues of his past and how they wrought havoc in his current life, Cole firmly pressed his eyelids together, hoping that his refusal to acknowledge the specter would somehow drive it away.

It wasn't until a gentle touch promptly stirred open those eyelids. They fluttered closed and opened once again, batting rapidly until forced to acknowledge who it was.

"Oh, my sweet Lord!" He yelled out.

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LONGING

When she thought back to the relationship she had with her family, Angel acknowledged the truth. She wasn't crazy when she found Cole on death's door, but she knew he would die without any help. Because she had lived in that area for five years, she already knew how brutal and isolated it was out in the middle of nowhere during the winter whiteout. She lived up in the hills where the weather got really bad and cold. If a person didn't properly prepare, it was pretty inevitable that they would die snowed in their home, most likely all alone.

After losing those she held so dear to her heart, living in the middle of nowhere soothed her soul . There was no running to the store when it was nearly twenty miles from your home. Most people didn't have the right kind of vehicles to make it out in the boondocks when there was nothing but ice, snow, impassable muddy roads, and silence.

When Cole was found so close to death, the situation reminded her of a promise she made to God, her grandma, KB, and herself. Angel refused to ignore another person who was truly in need.

In her brokenness, she was one hundred percent sure her loved ones visited her from the grave to help her pull herself back together. What if no one ever extended assistance to her? Angel knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she wouldn't be alive.

Before she found Cole, she maintained her residence out in the seclusion of rural Arkansas. She was all by herself, but that didn't stop her from trying to reach out to her family members and help quite a few people pull their lives together as soon as she came out of her drunken stupor.

Angel forgave people who had once offended her because of her relationship with KB. She understood how some people found it hard to trust white people, but she made sure she shared that it was her deceased fiance who made sure she would be okay even though he was no longer around. Always emphasizing how important it was for them to realize everyone wasn't the same, she helped people in her community, including making her peace with those who couldn't accept her life's choices.