Replayed

He realized he was packing and walking out again, he dropped to his knees crying big tears, real tears, “Oh no, no, no, not again, God please I love this woman. There is no way I would be leaving her on Christmas Eve. She made me the happiest man by announcing her pregnancy. Why would I leave her? Please, please, please, I beg you to stop this. I would do anything to make this stop.”

God had nothing to do with this situation Delon found himself in. Four years ago, he walked out on his pregnant wife on Christmas Eve. He was cursed. Every Christmas Eve, he lost his love interest. He spent Christmas day alone.

He had been cheating on her with a co-worker who demanded that they go partying that night. He planned to fight with Cherise, his wife, and march out. This would give him an alibi for his Christmas party with Danica, his workmate. The argument became much more heated, and his wife decided to forgive him for his continued unkindness to her. That was not what he wanted. How could he leave the house for a party if she forgave him? So, he told her he was leaving her. He went to his room to pack an overnight bag for his tryst with Danica.

He planned that he would return on Christmas Day, in the afternoon. He would claim he thought things over, and he would stay. This was not the first time he had done this. He was confident that on his return, Cherise would hug him and make peace for the sake of Christmas.

  Things blew up in his face. This time, she turned off the stove, grabbed her keys, and followed him in the rental car she had been using since he had crashed her Buick Encore three days ago. It must be that he forgot the kind of car she was now driving because he did not hesitate to drive up to Danica’s house. He had no clue she was following him.

He spent forty-seven minutes in that house. He appeared well-dressed in an outfit she had never seen. He was escorting Danica to a black car waiting for them. It sped away. Cherise was so stunned she sat there for a minute motionless. Then she jerked into motion to follow that black car. Nothing good came of that. She observed her husband having the time of his life at a Christmas Eve party. She even overheard a couple outside the party arguing about the husband’s friendship with Delon.

The wife of the couple knew both Cherise and Delon and she knew he was cheating on Cherise with Danica. She was overheard telling her husband, “If you remain his friend then I would conclude you admire his behavior and are just like him. You will spoil your Christmas.” The husband of the couple got quiet immediately. He was not messing up his Christmas for no cheating fool. The wife wanted him to have nothing to do with the 'cheating sleazeball' that was Delon. 

Cherise sat there feeling numb, and dumb and she had a headache and pain on one side of her face as if she had been slapped. She did not know that she was having a stroke. She sat there for a long time, and eventually, when she tried to drive, she could not manage well. Her entire left side was useless.

She was just thirty-eight years old /with a first-time pregnancy. Thirty weeks of carrying the baby and now this. She attempted to crawl out of the car but fell between the curb and the driver’s door. A postal worker on his way home from work saw her fall. That saved her life.  She got immediate help.

The ambulance driver tried to call her husband using her phone. That was a mistake because Delon was only annoyed when he saw his wife’s number calling him. The Christmas Eve party was in full swing. He had no time for his phone vibrating phone. 

Cherise’s parents were notified because Cherise had an ICE list (In Case of Emergency) on her phone. Everyone on the list turned up except her “loving” husband. Her dad called him. The EMT guys used their phones to call. Two of her friends tried calling him. No response. He felt the vibrations but never looked at the phone. He assumed it was Cherise. He got angrier and angrier until, without even looking, he shut off the phone.

Her friends and family were stunned when their attempts to call him went straight to voicemail. Did he turn off his phone?  They wondered if his behavior was the cause of Cherise’s condition. The EMT guys and the postal worker, Cesar, related that she was found outside a nightclub with a reputation for drugs and gun fights. They knew that was not a place she would visit. They guessed the correct scenario. Especially when Cesar described the car she fell out of.

He took the key from her limp hand. Then he locked the car. He handed the keys to Cherise’s brother-in-law Brentnall.

Cherise slowly recovered from her stroke, but she sadly lost the baby and nearly died. Her doctors were amazed at her ability to bounce back from a harrowing trauma to her body and brain.

Cherise had just one older sister, Chantal. Chantal belonged to a church choir and a prayer group. While these two groups were praying for Cherise’s recovery, Chantal had a discussion with God. She wanted Delon to pay for his crimes. Her requests were vicious. Not Christian.

She wanted him to love and lose continually. To want something with all his heart and to lose it without explanation. She saw her sister crying for her husband and baby each day. The family decided not to tell Delon what happened to his wife.

He returned home the next afternoon and found her gone. He saw many calls on his phone. He called her mother for help asking if she knew where Cherise was. Mrs. Hall said, “If you wanted to know about your wife, you would have been with her on Christmas Eve, not with another woman. You don’t deserve my precious daughter, and you don’t deserve happiness. May all your Christmas days be cursed.”

You see, she was grieving the loss of her vibrant, happy daughter. She was now just a shell of her former self. Mama Hall was also grieving the loss of her first grandchild. Delon was also drunk when he called. This just added to his crimes.

Unfortunately, he called the postal worker Cesar’s number next. Cesar knew he was not at liberty to tell this man anything. Therefore, he told him to call her family.  Delon did not dare call her father or older sister, so he called his brother-in-law.

Milton, the sister's husband, was a quiet man.

All Milton did was ask Delon, “Why did you do that to her? Who or what was more important than your wife and child? What kind of animal are you?  I can't talk to you. Talk to her mom or dad.”

Delon remained in an alcoholic fog until Christmas morning. Usually, when he arrived home drunk, Cherise would pamper him and help him with his hangovers. There was no Cherise, no breakfast, and no hangover care. Just a silent house.

As he knelt, he begged God to stop this. He remembered the first time he realized this was his karma. He had pled with the third girlfriend not to leave him as she drove away in a U-Haul. She left him with an empty house. He wanted to marry that girl and was confused about her departure on Christmas Eve.  He noticed the pattern. It was happening again.

He was the one leaving, and he did not want to, but something was compelling him to pack up and leave without explanation. This was the night he planned to propose to Alana. How could he be leaving her?  

On the other side of town, Cherise and her husband Cesar of 2 years were signing adoption papers for 8-year-old twin girls who badly needed parents, a home, and a good Christmas.