The doctor looked up at James and gave an obvious fake grin when he asked, “So how are you doing today”?
“Well,” James choked out, “I’m doing better knowing that you have found a diagnosis. Please, don’t linger on with a conversation, just tell me.”
The doctor announced the horrid news that James had a rare but deadly disease. The only way to treat it would be months of ultraviolet therapy. There was no cure for his illness but the doctor recommended a therapy specialist. James took a deep breath and a few minutes to soak up the information he had just received. He shook the doc’s hand and headed out of the office and toward that little coffee shop on the corner. He saw Danielle through the window and his eyes filled with tears. He pulled out his phone and sent her a text message saying that he had a meeting after work that night so she could just head to bed and he’d wake her up when he got in. He headed back to their apartment and packed a suitcase full of necessities and clothes.

So Danielle did just what he had asked. When she woke up the next morning he wasn’t lying beside her. His side of the bed was completely untouched. She tried calling his cell phone, and it had been shut off. She rang the secretary at his work and she said there was no meeting the night before. Danielle’s body shook, heading into panic mode. She called all of the hospitals in the area; yet none of them had seen him. She called the police station and got the same results from them. She fought for hours with the police station but they continued to refuse to file a missing persons report. The officer at the front desk told her that since James was a grown man, over the age of eighteen, he could pick up and leave whenever he felt like it and that he didn’t need to notify anyone. Being that there was absolutely no evidence leading on that he was murdered, or that he was in an accident of some sort. So therefore, they could not file a missing persons report because in their eyes, there was no real cause for one.
For days Danielle waited by the phone, butterflies filled her body and a painful numbness came over her as she wept. She refused to eat and didn’t want to leave her apartment; she was convinced that James would be home at any moment. That he would be unlocking the door and resting on the couch. Her mail was brought up to her by her sister, Izzy. Somewhere in that pile of mail was her rent bill. It was due, and Danielle broke down in tears. James left her with nothing, no money, and no job, absolutely nothing for her to fall back on! Izzy lent Danielle two months worth of money to pay rent and feed herself with. A month had passed by since Izzy began staying with Danielle, but she couldn’t stay any longer, it was time for her to head home, back to her family. Izzy encouraged Danielle to get out of the apartment and look for work. Day after day she returned jobless, which only made her eyes fill up with tears that burned and made her long for someone to curl up beside in bed.

It had been almost two months since Danielle had visited her favorite little coffee shop on the corner down the street. The smell of freshly brewed coffee and the whispers of people discussing their jobs, their drama, and the chaos that filled their lives made Danielle feel somewhat alive. The walls were a deep burgundy color, and the floors were dark hard wood. Everything in the coffee joint was warming and comforting, but nothing could have taken away her feeling of loneliness and heartache, and then startled from her concentration, a man had tapped her on the shoulder. She thought it was odd that he just assumed she would want to talk with him, but she sat with him and listened anyway.
This man looked cruel; with piercing blue eyes and jet black hair. He had approached her to offer her a job. Now and any other given occasion she would have immediately turned down the offer, being a Call Girl wasn’t exactly the job title that she had in mind, but given her circumstances she took him up on the job. Russ Jenkins, that’s what the man had called himself. Danielle followed him to a place called Russ’s Place. Inside the doorway, just before the living room stood quite a few girls. There were tall blondes, short red heads, and heavy set brunettes. The girls were of all shapes, sizes and colors. Russ had labeled them “Russ’s Girls”. Any other person would have called these girls prostitutes, but the correct term for a high class prostitute of their level is a Call Girl, or a Female Escort. The idea of working in this line of work made Danielle uncomfortable, but at this stage in her life, the feeling uncomfortable was the last thing on her mind. She was determined to keep herself living, and if that meant working as a high class hoe, she was going to do it.
Danielle started making business quick; it wasn’t too hard for her. She was five foot six, one hundred and twenty-six pounds, light green eyes, and dark brown, wavy hair. No man hesitated to choose her for a one night stand and Danielle worked six days a week and had Sundays off. She went to the coffee shop on the corner where she seemed to spend most of her free time, nowadays. There she would order her Irish Crème Latte and sit by the window, watch the people walking the streets, just waiting to see her husband walk by, hoping to make eye contact and him to come rushing into her arms. But every week she had the same ending, going home to her apartment, empty handed and alone. Every time she sat by that window, her chest felt heavy and her breathing slowed down, warm tears filled her eyes and she would begin to sniffle at the runny nose she was developing.

Danielle made enough money to pay rent, bills, and feed and clothe her. But she was nowhere near happy. She felt dirty, used, and just all around worthless. Six months had gone by since her husband left and it was becoming less of an importance to her. During her time spent at the coffee shop she began to notice a man with short shaggy brown hair, glowing green eyes, and a trimmed five o’clock shadow. The man turned and caught Danielle staring one day and it had embarrassed her. Week after week, she had seen this man here at the coffee shop. “He’s gorgeous,” was all she could think, but she’d always scold herself, feeling as if James could hear her thoughts, wherever he was. The gorgeous man continuously tried to approach her, but Danielle would always dash out of the coffee shop before he had the chance to reach her. One day, he caught her off guard, she hadn’t realized that he was there and she went over to her spot by the window and made herself comfortable. Mr. Gorgeous decided to take a chance, and he silently drifted over to where she was sitting. He walked over and sat in the chair that Danielle had her feet up on barely even two minutes before. He sat, staring at her with a sarcastic grin, while she attempted to avoid eye contact and hid her shy smile by pressing her coffee cup lightly to her lips. He gave her a teeth baring smile and introduced himself.
“Hello”, he said. “I’m Gabriel, Gabe for short. I figured I’d come over and introduce myself since I’m sure we’ve met before.”
“Oh no!” she thought to herself, “I didn’t…” She figured he’d gotten her as an escort and she just didn’t seem to remember.
“Are you sure? I think I’d remember that accent, it’s not so easy to cover up I’d bet,” she played off to see where the conversation led.
Gabriel chuckled, and took a swig of his coffee. He turned to glance out of the coffee shop window, “It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?”
Danielle looked, and nodded in agreement.
“And your name is..?” he asked her.
“Danielle,” she replied, and she took another sip of her coffee. “So how is it that we know each other?”
“Well, I see you in here every Sunday,” he paused, “sitting here staring out that window. I come in on my days off and I figured you did too. And really, I just wanted a reason to introduce myself.”
“Oh,” said Danielle, wondering what was wrong with this man, there was no way he could be this kind and be real.
Danielle found herself caught up talking with Gabe for hours at the shop. By the time she finally took a moment to glance at the clock it was a quarter to seven. She dismissed herself with a brief goodbye and headed home, making an agreement to show up at the same time next Sunday. She walked out of the coffee shop, leaving Gabe behind, blushing like a child still sitting in that chair.

The week went slow, and it was terrible. Danielle was called on Saturday night as an escort to this man’s brothers’ wedding. This man had a mean glare in his eye and bourbon on his breath. He was a mean drunk and was obviously looking for someone to relieve him of his needs. She went home with this man after the wedding and went into the bathroom to prepare for the “after party” portion of her job. Upon her arrival into the bedroom of that evil man’s apartment, she was hit from the back. The man had smacked the back of her head and slammed her to the ground. Now this wasn’t the first time she’d had a mean man for a client, but this is the first time they had actually taken it to a physical level. He climbed on top of her and she began to kick and scream. She was throwing fists and trying her best to get to her pager to reach Russ. The man slammed her back down to the floor by her neck and swung a powerful hit, nailing her in the left eye and knocking her out.
When she woke up she was in Russ’ Place, lying on the couch of the main floor. She wobbled her way to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Her whole eye was purple and black and swollen all the way around. She had bruised handprints on her arms, and fingerprints on her hips and neck. She went home, jumped in the shower, put on some clean clothes but still felt disgusting, and sluggishly headed off to the coffee shop. Danielle was extremely embarrassed to be in public. She had a sweatshirt on with the hood pulled way up, to cover as much of her face as possible. It only took her about twelve or thirteen minutes to get to the coffee shop, and when she went up to the counter, the barista faintly shook her head and pointed to the chairs by the window. Gabriel was already there with two coffees sitting on the table in front of him. Danielle walked over and tapped him on the shoulder.
“Jesus!” shuttered Gabe. “What happened? Who the hell did this to you?”
“If I could tell you, I would,” she whispered as she took a seat.
“No! You can! Tell me who did this..” Gabe said, frustrated.
“I honestly don’t know. I know the first name, but there isn’t anything I can do. It’s a part of my job,” Danielle muttered.
“Unless you are a Police Officer, that’s no excuse,” exclaimed Gabe. “Here, let’s get you home, you need to ice that.”
Danielle tried to crack a smile to show her appreciation, but instead her eyes filled with tears as Gabe wrapped his arm around her and led her out of the coffee shop. Danielle told him how to get to her apartment, and Gabe escorted her home. Before entering the building, she stopped and looked up into his eyes. She smiled, as she studied the look he was giving.
“You can trust me, I promise,” said Gabriel, “I won’t tell a soul”!
Danielle led him up the stairs, cautiously and nervously to her third floor apartment and jumbled the keys until she found the one to unlock her front door. He was the first man that was in her apartment since her husband had left. Gabriel locked the front door behind them and grabbed Danielle’s hand as he led her to the couch.
“Please, lie down. I’ll get you some ice. Where are your pillows?” Gabe asked.
“The ice is in the freezer, and there are pillows and a blanket on my bed, the bedroom is straight through the kitchen, passed the dining room,” said Danielle.
Gabe hurried through the house as quickly as he could without jogging. He first grabbed two pillows, the comforter off the bed, and then an ice pack out of the freezer. He propped Danielle’s head up on one pillow and covered her with the blanket. He dragged a chair from the dining table into the living room and over to the couch, he assured Danielle that she was perfectly safe now and could fall asleep. As Danielle got comfortable, she began to tell Gabriel about her and her husband, and how he left her with no warning. She started sobbing when she told him about how she tried getting in touch with him and there was absolutely no luck. Danielle couldn’t help but notice the most sympathetic look in Gabe’s eyes.

He walked over to Danielle lying on the couch, gave her a kiss on her forehead which gave her a feeling of being cared for, and told her to take a nap. Danielle dozed off as Gabe propped his feet up on the arm of the couch, put a pillow behind his neck, leaned back in the chair, and fell asleep.
He woke up at about a quarter to five and Danielle was still out cold. So Gabe made his way into the kitchen and began rummaging through the refrigerator in search for something to make for dinner. He pulled out a couple of thick red steaks, two large potatoes, and two corn cobs. He turned on the stove’s front burner and covered the burner with a pot of water, set the oven to 450 degrees, and began to prepare their meal. The seasoned steaks and buttered potatoes went into the oven, and Gabe put two corn cobs into the boiling pot of water. Twenty-five minutes passed by before Danielle woke up to the smell of the half-cooked meal being prepared in the kitchen.
Gabe spent the time he had not checking the food, wandering the apartment and studying where things were at. Danielle stumbled into the kitchen to find Gabe hunched over the oven, poking a knife into the steaks. She attempted to smile before she remembered her bloodshot black eye, which was radiating pain all over her face. Gabe closed the oven and turned to put the warm oven mitt on the counter when he caught a glimpse of the banged up woman standing at the end of the kitchen. He grabbed a cup out of the cupboard and held it under the faucet while cold water rapidly filled the cup. He carried the cup over to Danielle and handed it to her, then turned to the cabinet on his left and pulled out two ibuprofen tablets. Danielle was seated at her table, and watched as Gabe pulled the steaks and potatoes out of the oven, and placed the two corn cobs onto their plates. He somewhat decorated the plates with the food, quickly, yet organized. She chuckled when he set the plate down, feeling crowded with excitement and curiosity. Wondering how Gabriel, the man she met accidentally at the coffee shop, could possibly be this fantastic.
“Go ahead, eat. You need it,” insisted Gabe with a somewhat angelic tone.
“I am, I’m just curious…about you,” Danielle questioned timidly.
“What are you talkin’ about?” Gabe wondered.
“What makes you want to help me?” Danielle questioned timidly.
“I like you lassy,” Gabe told her. “And being around you just feels…right, or good, or something. I’m not quite sure what it is, but I intend to find out.”
The thick Irish accent that lingered on his every word gave Danielle shivers up and down her spine. She had a silent yet obvious look upon her face that Gabe caught almost immediately; she felt loved. She groaned at the many flavors that exploded in her mouth with every bite. Danielle had the feeling like she’d never eaten before.
“Where did you learn to cook like this?” asked Danielle, covering her food filled mouth with her hand.
“I’m a chef,” answered Gabriel. “I own a restaurant called Ireland’s Call. Pure Irish cuisine, with a mix of favorite American foods.”
Danielle was beyond impressed. She wasn’t used to having a man do the cooking. Or a man doing anything besides working and eating. Staring at Gabe, Danielle could feel herself loving him, it felt like love at first sight. He told her stories of when he was younger and he told her about how he wanted to return to Ireland, but only when he had a wife to present to his father. About how he had already had achieved one of his goals, to come to America and open an Irish restaurant, and that he had three more to knock off. He obviously already had that goal checked off. Danielle pondered about what the other three could possibly be, but she couldn’t read him enough to figure them out.
“What are your other goals?” asked Danielle.
“I have a feeling you’re going to find out,” Gabe said with a chuckle as a glistening smile stretched from cheek to cheek on his face.
Danielle frowned her eyebrows in confusion and continued to eat the magnificent meal. When both Gabriel and Danielle were finished eating, Gabe cleaned all of the dishes while Danielle headed into her bedroom and into the bath. She ran hot water in the tub and filled it with voluptuous bubbles. She was so far into relaxation that she didn’t hear Gabriel come in. He knocked on the door and she jumped in the water. She quickly pulled the shower curtain closed, by automatic reflex, enough to hide her bruised body behind it.
“Do you need anything?” Gabe asked.
“No, I’ll be out in just a minute,” replied Danielle.
Gabe closed the bathroom door behind him and went back into the living room. Danielle struggled to climb out of the tub, noticing her black and blue swollen hip on her way up. She bent down to pull the plug in the tub and the water began to swirl into the drain. She gently unfolded the towel that she left on the porcelain toilet seat. Danielle went out into her bedroom and pulled out a pair of pajama shorts and a tank top. She dressed and went to find Gabe.

As the weeks passed by, Gabe kept coming over to Danielle’s apartment. They spent every waking moment together, laughing and learning again what love could be. Gabe conned Danielle into quitting her “job”, and Gabe moved into the apartment with Danielle. She had gone through all of her things and packed boxes full of unneeded items from James, before Gabe moved in. All the boxes of things that weren’t hers or Gabe’s went to charity or a dumpster out behind the complex.
Danielle started cooking with Gabe, learning more and more about how to create delicious food. She learned Irish recipes along with how to keep the moisture in meats and how to bring out the strongest bit of flavor from vegetables. Not only was Danielle falling in love with Gabe, but she was falling in love with food. Three months into dating Gabe, he helped Danielle enroll into a Culinary Arts school. She begged Gabe to take her to Ireland, she wanted to meet his family and show off her kitchen skills by making them the dish Gabe had shown her, potato soup. Gabe would laugh and promise, “one day”, he would take her there, but he needed to cross off a few more of his goals. She would always sit, facing him, with a confused look on her face, after he’d tell her this.
“Tomorrow I want you to come have lunch with me,” said Gabe.
“Lunch? Okay. What did you have in mind?” asked Danielle.
“My restaurant is closed tomorrow, so I am going to whip up something I haven’t made for you yet. Will you be there?”
“Sure honey,” Danielle laughed. “You’re so strange sometimes.”
Gabe laughed. They both went into the bedroom and Gabe kissed Danielle goodnight, and bid her good dreams.
Morning rolled around and Gabe rolled over to kiss Danielle good morning. He smiled as he brushed her hair away from her eyes. Gabe pulled himself out of bed and went into the bathroom. Danielle walked into the kitchen with a happy skip in her step. She filled the coffee pot with water, hit the on button, and listened as the machine steamed the water and dripped fresh coffee into the insolated pot. Gabe got out of the shower and walked to the end of the bed. He was drying his hair with his towel and Danielle could she his glistening bare skin lit up from the sunlight shining through the open bedroom window. Every muscle on his body was showing and was toned with perfection. She smiled and leaned back into the edge of the counter.
Danielle pulled a coffee cup from the cupboard and poured it almost full of coffee, and then turned and reached into the refrigerator and grabbed the bottle of Irish Crème creamer. She filled the rest of his cup with creamer; Gabe came out, kissed Danielle, and grabbed his coffee cup. He sat down at the table and sipped his coffee while he hummed an unfamiliar tune; Danielle smiled and swayed lightly along with his humming. Gabe put his shoes on and gave Danielle a kiss, and headed for the door.
“So I’ll see you later then, darling?” he assured.
“Yes. I will be there,” Danielle answered with a smile. Gabe headed out the door and towards the restaurant.

When Danielle arrived at the restaurant later that day, the lights were dimmed and there was soft Irish music playing. There was only one table set with a meal and a vase full of flowers. Gabe came out and seated Danielle.
“There is something that has been lingering in my heart to do for a while now,” Gabe told her steadily. “Danielle, will you do the honor of being my bride?” he asked angelically.
Danielle’s heart dropped and began to race a thousand miles per minute as her mind darted all over the place.
Her eyes grew wide, “YES! YES, yes, of course I will be your bride! I love you so much Gabe, Yes!” Danielle shouted.
Word spread through their families and a huge wave of excitement filled their hearts as wedding plans were made. Both Danielle and Gabe were ready for this and neither one had second thoughts. They were so in love and so eager to be married. The day before the wedding Danielle went to the salon down the street to book a stylist. While scheduling a time with the stylist she heard a familiar voice call her name.

“Danielle?”
Her heart began to pound wildly as she turned to see who was calling her name.
“James?!” Danielle managed to blurt out when she caught a glimpse of his face.
“I just got home,” he said. He noticed the blank look on her face, “I know…I have some explaining to do. Can we talk about it over lunch?”
“I..I…you’ve been gone…for over a year,” Danielle said, somewhat like she was confirming it.
“I know, I was here to get my hair cut and then I was going to come home,” James told her.
“No, you can’t just..” James cut her off. “Please, not here, can we go grab something to eat?” he asked.
They left the salon and walked down the street. Danielle led him to Gabe’s restaurant, where the hostess smiled at Danielle and said “He’s in the kitchen,” referring to Gabe.
“Who’s in the kitchen?” questioned James.
Danielle ignored him and asked the hostess to please seat James.
“I’ll be right back,” Danielle told him.
She went down the hallway, passed the restrooms and through the doors to the kitchen. Gabe greeted her with a kiss.
“A fantastic surprise my love, what are you doing here? Are..are you okay?” Gabe asked hesitantly.
“James,” she began, “he’s back.”
“Oh. So…what does that mean then?” he asked Danielle nervous to hear the answer.
“I don’t know. He’s here. I had Jenny seat him. He told me that he wanted to explain everything,” she explained.
“Do you want me to come out?” Gabe asked.
“No, not yet, I mean. Let us order and talk a little. When the check comes I want you to come out,” she assured Gabe.
He gave her a constricting hug and kissed her lips softly before he watched her head back out to the restaurant. She looked around for a minute before finding where James had been seated. Danielle walked over, pulled out her seat and sat down. The waitress came and gave James and Danielle their menus and took their drink orders.
“So how have you been?” James began to ask.
“I’m great, actually. But that’s not the point. You said you wanted to explain, so start explaining,” forced Danielle.
“The morning before I left I went to the doctor. I got some devastating news that I had contracted a deadly illness,” he paused for a breath, and then he pressed on. “The doctor referred me to a specialist in Europe. I walked to the coffee shop, and when I saw you I sent you that text message, do you remember?”
“Yeah, I remember,” she bluntly stated as she sipped her Pepsi from the straw.
“Okay. Well after I sent that message I went straight home and packed some things. I emptied the bank account..” he was cut off.
“Oh yeah, I definitely recall that part, you left me with nothing,” she said rudely “Go ahead, continue.”
“After I emptied the account I jumped on a plane and headed for Britain. Danielle, I had no choice,” he said, trying to make excuses.
“No, you had a...” she was interrupted by the waitress.
“If you guys are ready I can get your order!” the peppy waitress offered.
“I’ll get a cheeseburger and fries,” James ordered.
“The potato soup for me, thank you,” Danielle politely told the waitress.
After the waitress left, Danielle continued with her sentence. “You did have a choice! You could have come to me! Talked to me, something! But you ran, like a coward. You had no trust, no faith in me! After everything that we had been through and you STILL would not come to me!?” she shouted in a whispered voice.
Their plates arrived and they began to eat. It took half way through with dinner before James noticed the ring on Danielle’s wedding finger.
“Y-you’re married?” he stuttered.
“No. I will be as of tomorrow evening though. James, you meant so much to me. I tried to give you a family. I trusted you to take care of me. You were, and always will be such a large part of my life. But that’s the past now. You left; you didn’t trust me to take care of you. And I fell deep when you left. I didn’t know what I was doing, or how to live. I went down a dark path to pick my feet back up, but all it did was drag them behind me. I found someone who trusts me like I trust him. He loves me, surprises me, and spends time with me. He doesn’t want me away from his side. He’s so different, so much different than you. And I love that. I did love you, James. But I’m passed that chapter. That book is closed. I am truly sorry, I shouldn’t be so please appreciate that I am,” Danielle stated.
The check was brought out by Gabe. “James,” said Danielle when she noticed Gabriel approaching the table, “this is my fiancé, Gabriel.”
James stuck out a shaky hand and attempted a grin as tears filled his eyes. “I have lost everything now, but through my loss, I am glad you gained Danielle,” James said to Gabe. Danielle bid James goodbye, and he caught a cab outside of the restaurant.
Gabe hugged Danielle, “I was worried that you would back out of marrying me,” he said as he released a sigh of relief.
“I love you, Gabe. I loved James once, but I love you now,” said Danielle. “Plus, how could I leave the father of my unborn child?” Gabe got shivers all over his body and was at a complete loss of words. “My unborn child…” he managed to let out with a heavy breath. “Are you serious”? Danielle just smiled at him and nodded in approval.

At that exact moment in time, Gabe was able to check off two out of three of his goals. Goal one was opening his own Irish based restaurant. Goal two, find and amazing woman and fall in love. Three, marry that amazing woman that he fell so hard in love with. Goal four, start a family, baby and all. Only one goal was left on his list.
After the wedding was over, Gabriel and Danielle left for the airport. Danielle finally got what she wanted. She met Gabe’s family, who also fell completely in love with the new addition to their family, and in love with the smallest addition that would soon join them. Danielle and Gabe were happy and couldn’t have asked for more. Life was finally going the way that they had always been searching for. And they were home, home in Ireland.