Jahmal and Mellisa

3 Magical words finally spoken

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Photography by Studio Studio

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Reminiscing on a Jamaican beach with that "someone", out came the question: "Jahmal, who is your best friend?". The name Mellisa heard was not the one she expected. Her offence would turn to joy, when Jahmal, cupping her face between his hands replied: "You are more than my best friend, you are my soul mate. I love you".

The words Mellisa had longed to hear were finally being uttered.

Soon, they decided the long distance relationship had to end and Jahmal asked Mellisa to move to Barbados with him. Without hesitation, she followed him here, transferring to the Cave Hill Campus in her final semester. Jahmal had already completed his Bachelor's degree in Architecture.

It was a move that would prove one of the most painful periods of Melissa's life. She left Jamaica where she was often disparagingly referred to as "a browning", for Barbados where this "white woman" was ostracised and fingers sometimes pointed because she was dating a black Barbadian. Negative  emails also began to appear on her computer. Attempts were made to have her deported. Everywhere they went, eyes were on them, and criticisms were levelled.

This reaction placed pressure on the relationship. Looking back, Mellisa said: "It was not all laughs. I wanted to go home" and Jahmal acknowledged that "it created a lot of tension between us".
However, taking strength from each other, together they weathered the storm. Melissa finished school here and returned to Jamaica for a brief visit when she "began feeling sick and nauseous. I was on a workout programme, and still gaining weight."

A home pregnancy test confirmed her suspicions. She was pregnant. "I was very nervous. I called Jahmal."

They were both in a quandary about breaking the news to parents – to her Christian widowed mother in Jamaica, and to Jahmal's mother in Barbados, whose home the two now shared.

After several aborted attempts, Mellisa bit the bullet and made the call, finally breaking the news to her mother in Jamaica. In Barbados, a mother's intuition made it stale news to Jahmal's mum, while his sisters were already in on the "secret" and excited about it.

In some way the pregnancy derailed Jahmal's plans. Before this, he had purchased an engagement ring, intending to propose to Mellisa.

And he said: "I was upset, because I did not want anyone to think I was just proposing because Mellisa was now pregnant."

She, too, was against marriage just to legitimise the pregnancy.

Discovering that both were on "on the same page", Jahmal then sought to reassure Mellisa's mother, naturally concerned about the welfare of her only child. "Mum, everything is going to be alright," he told her.

Early pregnancy proved to be troublesome for Mellisa, with a skin outbreak. A daily evening seabath was the only soothing medicine. It also provided the alibi for which Jahmal was searching.

"I was trying to propose for nearly two weeks, but she was so cranky," Jahmal said.

So Mellisa was curious about the blanket and the non-alcoholic wine Jahmal was taking to the beach one particular evening. Still she left him on shore and waded into the water. She came out later, and there he was waiting to escort her across the sand to a blanket spread out with delicious strawberries, chocolate syrup, wine, candles and rose petals. Mellisa was dumbfounded.

Kneeling, Jahmal started "to babble something", all the while struggling to find the engagement ring which had slipped from the box hidden behind his back. He encouraged Mellisa to look up at the stars and the imaginary "eclipse", while frantically searching for the ring.

He found it, wedged between his toes.