ENDLESS LOVE A TRUE LOVE STORY

Yvette and Antoine were both single but they wanted relationships free of abuse and false love. Two mutual friends set up a blind date for the two of them to meet, Antoine and Yvette were skeptical about meeting because of past toxic relationships. On June 3rd, 2008 that blind date took place. After talking and getting to know each other they discovered they had so much in common, it was unbelievable that two people could have so many similarities , especially being tired of abusive and loveless relationships. Yvette loved Antoine's sense of humor and vice versa. Antoine was a very humble man, not to mention extremely handsome. Immediately these two were inseparable. Antoine courted Yvette, something she didn't know anything about, they went bowling, to movies, family gatherings and religious conventions and he bonded with all six of her children and her three grandchildren. One may reason, what's so spectacular about this, well for Yvette it was a big deal because she didn't have to pay for anything and even after certain encounters he still stuck around. She began to feel that Antoine may be here for the long haul. She new that he would bring the much needed structure in her and her kids life. The couple began contemplating marriage, Yvette had been married before, Antoine , never. Yvette felt special because his first choice was her, he had to be sent from God. Now he had to let his family know, Antoine didn't get the response he expected. Some of his family members laughed and some of them urged him to rethink the situation because Yvette had six children and they had only known each other for a brief time. Antoine was convinced that Yvette was God sent as well and he stood up for her. Antoine was willing to take on this ready made family, this would definitely be a challenge for him. Yvette didn't tell many of her family members about the wedding because some of them would have an opinion or snide remark and Yvette didn't care either way because her personality was strong and she had always done what she wanted, she never wanted , required or cared about their approval and they new that.

Well the date was set, on February 2nd, 2009 Antoine and Yvette were married Antoine's family made up the majority of the guest which Yvette obliged because after all this was his first marriage. It was a good marriage for the most part but there were issues such as trust, verbal and physical abuse on Yvette's part and addictions. Yvette was in therapy working on some past issues that she finally found the courage to face and having Antoine by her side made it even easier because he use to be a behavioral therapist. Antoine and Yvette refused to give up on their marriage but no matter how hard they tried it continued to spiral out of control. After four years of marriage Yvette betrayed Antoine's trust by breeching the marriage for three years. After a long separation the two decided to save the marriage. It was going great, a few snags but nothing serious.

In 2017 the marriage would encounter simultaneous trauma. Yvette's son was killed, the kitchen burned down now they're homeless and Yvette defiled the marriage bed again. By November 2017 the divorce was final. From June to November 2017 Antoine and Yvette's communication was muted. Yvette was lost, confused and hurt because of the pain she caused Antoine and the loss of her son , home and marriage, after all he's the only man who never abused or disrespected her in any way. Yvette prayed and cried for him to come back. To her surprise he knocked on her door in December of 2017. Yvette was filled with many emotions, she didn't know if she should cry , laugh , scream. or squeeze him tight.

Antoine was very forgiving and supportive because Yvette was still grieving all the losses she suffered especially the loss of her eldest son. Antoine cooked, consoled, soothed and most importantly he did not bring up anything they had gone through.

They cleaned her new apartment, went on dates and reconnected, that reconnection was short lived, Antoine informed Yvette that he would be leaving to Alaska in June and he would be returning in July, he wanted Yvette to wait for him to return to make her decision to marry her fiancee, Her fiancee made that decision for her, Yvette drove Antoine to the airport and just like that he was gone.

Yvette felt like she had be stabbed in her heart, not a clean incision but a jagged cut. She felt empty and confused. Yvette had to make some life changing decisions. On the drive home from the airport Yvette was meditating about all the things she wanted and needed to do. Yvette decided to start these life changes by first working on her self and doing some of the things she always dreamed of, such as performing open mic poetry, stand - up comedy, celibacy, working on writing a book, becoming an entrepreneur and most importantly, rekindling her relationship with God. She did just that.

Although Yvette was now at peace with her new found self she still longed for the love she lost in Antoine. On the early morning of July 27th, 2018 Yvette received a phone call, it was Antoine, he needed a ride from the airport, coincidentally Yvette was in the city that Antoine arrived at. Antoine and Yvette hugged like they hadn't seen each other in decades. It was priceless. Tears of joy and past pains all rolled up in one but because of the love she realized she had in Antoine she was breathless with butterflies floating around in her stomach, it was like the first day they met. Hopefully this would be the start of something great that went wrong but now can be exceptional with a lot of prayer, hard work and unconditional love. Yvette was sure hoping this was also how Antoine was thinking. Antoine remembered that Yvette always wanted to travel to Lake Tahoe. He remembered she wanted to get married there too, so of course he took her. Shortly after their arrival they were remarried in a garden like setting, like how you would picture paradise, He made all her dreams come true that whole weekend, car shows, dinners, hugs, kisses and unconditional love. Yvette was walking on sunshine, silently thinking he was well worth the wait.

written by Angela Yvette Britton