This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 12; the twelfth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.
They met while on a cruise over the Bahamas, fell in love head over heels at first sight and he lost no time in proposing to her. They had the most celebrated wedding soon thereafter, again, on a cruise ship followed by their first honeymoon, of course on the cruise ship!
Clarisse and Armand in their mid-thirties were on a holiday independently from a busy corporate life when they first met on the ship. Clarisse is a corporate accountant in an IT company and Armand, a corporate chef in a five-star hotel, both in Macau. Till they met for what turned out to be a fairy tale-whirlwind romance, they were wedded to their profession with vaulting ambitions to grow in their careers and had no time even for romance let alone a marriage.
Strangely after their cruise wedding, they were in a hurry to have an angel to complete their perfect married life. They wished to have a baby soon as she was already in mid thirties but were not blessed with a child despite the many outings on romantic cruises.
“Honey, this will be the last time we're gonna go on a cruise,” Clarisse told Armand emphatically while they were packing. “I have failed you in giving you a child even after two years”, she added, almost teary-eyed. But Armand hugging her pacified her as he said “No honey, don’t lose heart. Let us be positive and hope for the best. Maybe, we're just stressed and pressured from anxiety and our official work; I think God will bless us with a child very soon.”
This time the trip on cruise did not excite her any more as the first few ones did. When she saw young women with babies in their arms or in the strollers, she became depressed. She preferred to stay inside the cabin and demurred when Armand called her to come out to the attractive events and places in the ship. The days moved on slowly for her. It was on the fourth day, the ship had a port call at Cozumel, Mexico. Armand encouraged Clarisse to take island hopping and she accepted the offer with alacrity wanting to get out of the cloistered feeling.
Passing through the lanes dotted with various souvenir shops, they bought pieces of souvenirs that caught Clarisse' fancy. There was a fortune teller's stall on the curve promising accurate predictions. Unable to resist the temptation to know their future, Armand pulled Clarisse inside the small booth. Bedecked in multi-colored clothes and various strands of beads on her neck, there was a dignified aura around the fortune teller. Her eyes were sharp and inquisitive as if she could read their minds. They sat before her deferentially and listened intently to the fortune-teller’s prophecy.
“I know your burden and what weighs in your mind”, the fortune teller spoke as she looked at Clarisse. “You both have good hearts and would be wonderful parents to a child needing a home. It would soon come your way, pray do not refuse her, take her and she will give you the joy and happiness you were longing for”, she continued.
The young couple was wonderstruck how the clairvoyant could read their minds with such precision and provide an answer to the question tormenting their minds. Perhaps they were not destined to have a baby of their own and the woman opened their eyes to the chance awaiting them. They both suddenly looked at each other in a quizzical way even as Armand squeezed Clarisse' hand and the latter acknowledged it.
After embarkation with three days more on cruise, the PA system announced that there was a lost child aged more than a year old and nobody has claimed her since she was found crying at the pool deck. Armand and Clarisse ran to the HR and saw a cute little girl looking at them eagerly. They lost no time to offer themselves to be the child’s foster parents till the real parents claimed her. When no one came claiming the child, the cruise director took their details and readily agreed after satisfying himself at their credentials as the child needed immediately somebody’s care and attention.
As Clarisse lifted the child in her arms, the little angel smiled at her innocently welling up in Clarisse’ heart the unknown but thrilling feelings of a mother’s love. The tiny girl found instant comfort in her arms and giggled as if Clarisse was her mom. She looked angelic, curly brown hair and with big round Mexican blue eyes.
They both rushed to the various shops in the ship’s Promenade, buying frantically clothes and toys for the child.
But Clarisse always had a nagging fear that someone would come later and claim the child back, and this fear did not leave her so easily. She had grown so much attached to the angel and she shuddered at the possibility. Luckily there was no such claim and they lived happily with the baby. She employed a help to take care of the child when she was away at work.
As Clarisse and Armand were watching the CNN news with the baby in her lap one late evening, they saw a woman who claimed that she had intentionally abandoned her baby at the pool deck due to extreme poverty, psychological incapacity, and her single parent status. She felt that the child would find a safe haven from among some rich passengers in the ship and expressed her thanks for anyone who found her baby and gave her a good home. She also assured that she harbored no intention to claim back the child from its comfortable environs.
Clarisse was in tears as she gratefully remembered the fortune teller and God for His blessing. They christened the girl Angela, an angel from heaven who made their wish come true.
“I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much”, muttered Clarisse silently with sheer joy in her heart.
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