This is a Valentine's Day contest story. Please vote.
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A black man falls for a white woman and reveals himself on Valentine's Day.
Jefferson Jackson had always hated his name. It was bad enough being named after one, white, dead, American president, but to be named after two, white, dead, American presidents, was too much for him to bear, especially when he was younger. When the neighborhood kids weren't calling him Mr. President, they were calling him a black slave. Before bullying laws, a rite of passage for us all, he was mercilessly teased by his friends. Nonetheless, he grew to be proud of his name, especially after his father named his ancestors and showed him his family heritage.
His family tree claimed both President's Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson as his ancestors, ergo the reason why his parents named him Jefferson, in honor of that claim. At least he didn't have to share his name with a celebrity, such as Michael, Randy, and Jesse. Most people didn't know his first name was Jefferson. Since he went by Jeff, they figured his name was Jeffrey. Too many white people didn't like a pretentious black man claiming two American presidents in their ancestral history.
Yet, none of that mattered when Jeff fell in love with Christine. Love, as well as it should be is blind, when it comes to race, religion, and color. Unfortunately, he knew that getting past the race issue would take a bit of romancing. To complicate things, at the time of this one-sided budding romance, Jefferson and Christine worked for the same employer and in the same office. Because of all the newly emerging sexual harassment laws, at the time, office romances were prohibited. What people did outside of work was their business, so long as it wasn't public knowledge, gossiped about in the office, and something that interfered with their daily job performances.
As black as she was white, accustomed to being invisible or abundantly obvious because of his skin color, realistic in his view of himself in a white world, he knew this was a romance that would never blossom. Just once, he wished Caucasian people would see him as just a man and not as a black man. Always wanting to approach her, but afraid she may reject him and then report him to management, which would cost him his job, he loved her from afar.
After working with her for a few years, he had met her ex-husband and heard about several of her the men she had dated, all of them were white. Happy that he was born a black man, the only time he wished he was white was so that he could to be with her. By her obvious preference for Caucasian men, with his chances not looking good, he didn't think he'd could win her heart. Yet, he wouldn't want her, if he thought she was prejudiced. What may work for an overnight fling, would never work long-term and he didn't want her just for a night. He wanted her forever.
He needed a plan. With Valentine's Day quickly approaching, the season of love and romance, shaking his fist at fate and hoping to control his own damn destiny, he gave love a chance with a bit of creativity. Who knows, he'd never know if there was a spark there, unless he lit the match and stoked the fire?
Tired of waiting in the background for the right moment that may never come, with so many white men hanging around her and vying for her attention, he feared losing her to someone else. Now that she was divorced and dating, he needed to make his move. No longer able to hide his feelings for her and not wanting to have an unrequited love affair, cautiously, with sexual harassment laws in mind, he decided to slowly make his feelings known to her.
As much as he tried, unable to shake Christine from his mind, even after dating several black women, one day, Jeff came into the office before anyone else. That Monday morning, a week before Valentine's Day, he put a single red rose in a vase on Christine's desk and, so as not to be suspected, he left to return later with all the other employees coming into work.
"Oh," said Sheila, the woman who sat in the cubicle in front of Christine. "Who gave you the rose?"
"I don't know," said Christine with a blush, while picking up the rose to smell. "It was here, along with the vase, when I came into work."
"Well, don't let the boss see it. You know how he feels about office romances," she Sheila with a jealous look.
"There's no romance here, Sheila, just a rose. For all that I know, with all the cubicles looking alike, it may have been left on the wrong desk. Maybe the office cleaner found it and left it behind. Besides, unless you say something, for all the boss knows, I may have put the rose there myself, which is what I'd say if asked."
The next day, Tuesday, even though Valentine's Day was still several days off, there was a card left on her desk that was addressed to her with just her first name, Christine. It was a funny card, a card that a school child would give another. The card made her laugh more than anything else. Of course, with the prohibitive policy of office romances strictly enforced, the card was unsigned. Nonetheless between the single rose and the Valentine's card, Jefferson had accomplished what he needed to do. He had inserted himself, a mystery man, in her mind.
Wednesday, a dozen long stemmed, red roses were delivered to her in the office. There was no card attached. Thursday, a red satin heart filled with chocolates made its way to her desk from another courier, still with no card. Jefferson could see her from his office and watching her reaction was worth the trouble and expense he had gone through to pique her interest, before winning her heart. He had tossed out his line and was reeling her in, he hoped.
That Friday a CD was on her desk, along with a ticket to the symphony. When she opened the CD it was filled with romantic songs from the best singers the world has ever known, Steve Perry, Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Bing Crosby, Paul McCartney, Sam Cooke, Elton John, Billy Joel, Jim Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Roy Orbison, Tom Jones, Luther Vandross, Andrea Bocelli, and Barry White. Taking a lesson from the movie, Pretty Woman with Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, inside the CD was a note.
'Tell your boss you won't be in on Valentine's Day. Be ready at 11am. A limousine will pick you up at your house and take you to a spa for a massage, before having your hair, nails, and makeup done. Then, the limousine will return at 3pm to take you to a dress shop to have you outfitted with a dress, a purse, and shoes, before taking you to dinner. Finally, the driver will drive you to the concert.'
Even though the flowers and candy were delivered to her at work, there was still no breach of harassment policy. Flowers were routinely delivered to women for birthdays and anniversaries. No one but her and a few of her closest co-workers knew about the CD and the ticket to the symphony. No one knew that a mystery man even existed. They, no doubt, all figured the flowers, card, and candy was from someone she was dating. Nonetheless, the flowers created quite a stir with most of the women in the office and even some of the men. It gave people something to talk about, just as it gave Christine something to wonder about. She had a secret admirer and he was, no doubt, on her mind 24/7.
