Redemption

"I took it off, Young"

Just like that, eh? He thought.

But what he said was nothing. He should have told her he was proud of her. He should have congratulated her for her bravery and determination. But now she was free. Before, when she was married and scared and unhappy, she needed him. But now that she was strong and free and happy, would she leave him? Would she find someone to be free and loud and interesting with her? Would she remove her light from him and leave him to wither?

"Just like that?" A slow response with a heavy heart.

"Yes. Just like that I remembered who I was and where I am and that I'm not a slave and that Jesus bought my freedom from Hell, why shouldn't I be happy? And I took it off. And I feel... I feel again Young."

There she goes, he thought. There she goes, flitting away from me like a fairy on a midsummer night, there she goes like the sun behind a storm cloud, there she goes like a fish in a stream. Beautiful freedom, and so far away from him.

Then she leaned in and kissed him, soft and sweet. She kissed him more timidly than he ever thought her capable of.

And he put his arm around her and he was free with her.

With great joy, she was free.