Hidden in the Shadows | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Hidden in the Shadows | Previous Challenge Entry
By Loni Bowden-Horn
11/05/15
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The door flew open and Chase stormed into the bedroom. He glared at Roxy, his face scarlet. “Get out!”

“How dare you sneak behind my back and sleep with another man?”

“I want you to pack your bags and be gone by the time I bring the children home from church.”

His hope of Roxy escaping her past life of prostitution had just been shattered into a thousand pieces. Once word got out about Roxy’s betrayal, the gossip mongers from the tiny community would swoop down like vultures ready to pluck any salacious tidbits they could gain from their sources and destroy his family name.

Chase had kept his marriage vow to remain pure and faithful to Roxy. How cold winds blew over the tender recesses of his heart, leaving Chase feeling exposed and vulnerable. Roxy had connected with parts of his soul that no other had touched. His world was bleak without Roxy in it.

He and Roxy couldn’t keep their hands off each other when they first were married. Chase had given himself to her completely. He had meant to guard his heart. Pain seared in his soul for loving her so much.

Chase noticed a gradual cooling in his relationship with Roxy after the birth of their first child. Chase should have noticed the warning signs were all there: Roxy’s reluctance to look him in the eyes; the endless excuses to avoid making love; demanding her own cell phone and feigned headaches.

The rift in his marriage grew after the birth of each successive child. He had his doubts that he had fathered the last two.

“Roxy, when your lovers are finished with you and spit you out, who will be left behind to offer you comfort?”

How Chase longed to hold Roxy in his arms—to cradle her head against his chiseled chest. He yearned to nuzzle her neck with delicate kisses. Chase could feel her breath quickening when he pressed his tongue to the seam of her sensual lips. His body became one with hers in the heat of passion just as God had ordained.

This time he wouldn’t run after her. He would allow her to go with other lovers who chose to worship other gods. Chase would punish Roxy for the anguish she had inflicted on him and the children.

Chase’s jealousy of Roxy’s other lovers raged like a blazing inferno…a flaming torch that lit up the night sky. He wanted to claim her as his own.

His love for Roxy was too strong to be broken by her penchant for other lovers. Chase remembered God’s plan for his marriage. If Roxy kept flirting with other men, she would be left being unloved and disowned but if she would change her ways, he would take her back in a heartbeat.

A small still voice told Chase it was time to bring her back home. He had waited for almost a year for direction from God.

Hidden in the shadows, he watched as Roxy’s diamond studded stilettos clicked up the old wooden stairway that led up to the landing on the second floor of the motel.

The scent of her perfume lingered in the air.

The motel was one of those seedy places that any self-respecting woman should not be seen frequenting, especially alone at night. The neon sign out front blinked “vacancies”. There were weeds sprouting out of the cracked cement in the sidewalk and the courtyard was littered with trash.

The dim light silhouetted her curvy figure. He noticed how the silky fishnet stockings caressed her sleek long legs. He couldn’t take his eyes off the alluring short form-fitting black dress she was wearing.

Chase couldn’t bear it longer to remain hidden. He ran after Roxy and swept her into his arms.

He noticed salty tears spill down Roxy’s cheeks. Chase felt Roxy’s body shaking uncontrollably. She confided in Chase that the other men had regarded her as a sex slave; a piece of human flesh sold to the highest bidder. She was lead around on a tether to perform and fulfill a man’s lustful desires.

Her once unblemished skin had scars and bruises from the beatings she had sustained. Chase bound her wounds with his compassion and mercy.

A gradual thawing took place in the chilled relationship he had with Roxy before she left. Roxy has finally given her life over to Jesus, the true redeemer. Chase knew she was finally come home to stay.

*****
Fiction

Based on Hosea and Gomer in the Bible
Sources:
"What is Love" by Kevin Logan
"Israel My Beloved" by Kay Arthur
www.biblegateway.com (A devotional drawn from Women of the Bible: A One-Year Devotional Study of Women in Scripture by Ann Spangler and Jean Syswerda.

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