Saints and Sinners.

"Hey, good looking, what you got cooking?" Ruby glanced up from her orders, eyeing the new customer in her coffee shop. He was a handsome man, all right. She smiled, this was a new line, an old song. "Good morning, welcome to My Coffee Pot. What coffee would you like?" "A latte, and your breakfast special, bacon and eggs, thanks."

Ruby smiled again, noticing the old book he was holding. "What are you reading?' She could not help appreciating a fine figure of a male when she saw one, such a charming grin. "It's an old song book I discovered at the market, full of musical fun. My name is Chase, by the way. Yummy, Yummy, Yummy, I want coffee in my tummy...."

Ruby giggled, she loved her nostalgia song list too. Soon, Chase was enjoying his bacon and eggs, cooked just so, with a lovely latte. Ruby could cook! She was a hardworking barista, really struggling to make ends meet, as she was managing her business venture. She was thirty years old, neat, sweet and petite. By the end of each working day, her feet were aching, but she kept on smiling. Times were tough for business owners, all part of the dwindling economy, the recession no one quite wanted to nominate.

Chase thanked Ruby for his breakfast, and said, "I'll definitely make this my one stop breakfast shop. Happy dance per day!" He smiled at her, appealing, admiration in his shining eyes. "Are you Irish or normal?' Ruby wondered, as Chase launched into song, jiving to the door, "When Irish eyes are smiling....' Soon, Chase and Ruby were daily enjoying their morning interlude, of chat and good fun, with a singalong from the old book which Chase had discovered.

"Have you had enough silly love songs?" He asked one day, sorting his bill for breakfast. "Never, what else can you sing?" Ruby never got tired of his smiling face, not yet anyway. "Hey, I think I love you..." Chase held her hand, and their first date was a sure deal. Done thing, really, that Ruby never got tired of being romantic, her heart full of Cupid and wedding gowns.

Chase appeared to be the man of her dreams, full of happy dancing and good fun. Ruby relented one night, his kissing was the best. Overall, he was her swoon-worthy guy, singing good old songs, and weaving a magic spell on her. Happy dancing in the dark, hot entangled bodies, sublimation of their sublime attraction. Ruby had found her soul mate, she started dreaming such dreams about her true love.

She knew she had to keep this a secret for a while, Chase insisted. That suited Ruby, she knew her own parents would regard her and Chase as such sinners. Or maybe they were hypocrites, her older brother was born so soon after holy wedlock.

One fateful evening, Ruby cast a clue at Chase, she could sing along too. "Are diamonds this girl's best friend?" After all, her good old biological time clock was ticking, she could imagine what cute, adorable babies they could create as a loving couple. After their wedding, of course.

Chase looked bemused. "Love is a drug..." He held her hands, and then confessed. He was still a married man. According to him, his wife had initiated a miserable divorce, over his failures to meet her expectations and social climbing. Chase was a Wellbeing Counselor, he had a great gift, and wanted to work for the greater good. "Guess I am not really ready for this relationship. It is not you, it is me." he told Ruby, whose heart was splitting in two.

Ruby did the dummy split, and sent him home to his own pad, slamming the door after him. "Rat, rat!" she yelled, back to the drawing board for all her own silly love songs. Her faith was her grace, so she prayed for some serenity, and kept on smiling at her daily customers in her coffee shop. Minus Chase, naturally.

But, unfortunately, three months later, there was a gal in trouble. No, her nausea was not gastro, as she hoped. Yep, the pregnancy test was positive, and Ruby's doctor was kind and supportive, as well as practical about her new status and her ongoing ability to maintain her coffee shop's working hours.

"Rat!' that was all her big brother had to say, as he made Ruby her hundredth cup of tea for the day. She had gone right off coffee, it was making her day job very difficult. Her nights were full of regrets, longing for her Lord to show her the right path, with the courage to tell her religious mother her secret.

Ruby kept on keeping on, not feeling too full of wellness, she was having a difficult time. She guessed her parents would say it was because she had been a sinner, instead of the saintly offspring they hoped they had produced. Her ankles had started swelling, her business was barely there.

But it was that time of the morning, when a few commuters straggled in for their coffee. A large bunch of roses appeared at Ruby's cash register at that hour of the day, amazing. Perfumed aroma filled her senses, no it couldn't be. "I brought some red roses, for a blue lady....." "Hey, I think I love you...." "Surprise, I've got my

D I V O R C E, and yes, Diamonds are your best friend..."

Chase knelt on bended knee, right in front of the customers, who cheered and took some selfies, saying, "Well, how can you say no?" "Come on, love will find a way, what is your answer?" How romantic! Ruby was overwhelmed, Chase was her one. but was he such a sinner?

"Ruby, don't take your love to town!" Chase still had that old song book. Yes, dear romantics, the loving couple did their happy dance down the aisle, not long after this epic reunion of their souls. And all their other bits. "It's a nice day for a white wedding!" Chase was still an impoverished Wellbeing Counselor, but he was looking forward to being a saint of a husband and aiming to be new father of the year.

Ruby kept on keeping on, now with a ring, weaving her own love story with Chase. Their newly born son became an integral part of their family tapestry, where love was grand, their wedding was beaut, and the happy dancing couple faced their future, full of fun. Sinners and saints, all at the same time, with faith as their grace and hope, "When Irish eyes are smiling....."