Marie and I made love every night for the remaining days and on the final night we cried like babies.

I was attending a World Bank sponsored two-week worldwide annual conference for young business executives; CEO’s to be exact. I had never been to Washington and therefore asked the organizers to have someone meet me at the airport.

The visit to Washington was in many ways, an opportunity to get away from things at the office and think over my life and see where I was going. It was also a well-deserved break from the office.

I was not planning to go to the conference, the time was not right I thought.Business at the Agency was good and growing and the future was looking bright. But I needed to get away to step back and see things from a distance. The last time I was away from the company was almost two years ago for three weeks in 1998. I had taken some time off and went to Barbados for two weeks and spent a week in Trinidad.

The morning, Karen Blake came into my office with her familiar mug of black coffee and sat down in the lazy boy chair in the corner I knew something was up. She told me it was a perfect opportunity to see some Advertising people in Washington who wanted to buy into our company and fund our regional growth.

I figured that forces were forming against me and I would have to go.

September of 2000 was defiantly not the best time. We were in the process of preparing a major bid for an international account out of the US, with local offices in Jamaica and three other Caribbean islands.

The presentation was scheduled for September 11th and getting this account would really put the company on the map. I wanted to be there and ensure that everything was going right.

Karen Blake was my business partner and together we ran the Advertising Agency. Ice Advertising was formed after we both decided that what we were doing for our former employer was not in our best long-term interest and that we should set up our own shop.

Karen was the Creative Director at Ice Advertising and was largely responsible for landing some of our major accounts. To say that Karen was in demand by the other agencies was an understatement. She could walk into any ad shop and pick up the top creative position.

I was the President and director of Client Services, the one who kept the accounts spending and bring revenues into the agency.

“Can I offer you a drink sir” the Air Hostess was by my seat.
“Do you have fruit juice”?
“Apple and orange”
Orange would be fine “I said. We were about 30 minutes out of JFK and the long flight was coming to end. I started to look for my immigration forms and began to fill them out.

Seeing my name on the white sheet of paper in the hands of the white girl waiting among the throng of people looking out for arriving passengers, was kind of strange. It told everybody present that I was new to the city and did not know where I was going. I didn’t like that, but what the hell nobody knew me anyway.
“That’s me, how are you,” I said to the white girl waiting for me, she was no more than 24 or 25.
“Mr. Patterson, how are you, had a nice flight. My name is Debbie Mills and I am in charge of the delegates coming in from the Caribbean and South America.”
“Ok, that’s great, where do we go”
“Just one more stop, we have to go over to terminal 4 to meet a delegate who came in late from South Africa and missed her contact. I followed Debbie through the various lounges to terminal 4.
I did not see her at first and would not have noticed her if Debbie had not called me and introduced me.
“Howard Patterson this is Marie Nassali from South Africa, Marie this is Howard from Kingston, Jamaica.”

“Hi, how are you Marie” I dared not try call her last name.
“Hello, how are you” Marie replied.
The words coming out of Marie mouth sounded like music; maybe it was a combination of how she spoke and her accent. Whatever it was, I was hooked on the South African language, the English anyway.

Marie was sitting on a stool, dressed in a soft pink sweat suit, which I thought at the time was kind of out of place. Marie jumped down of the stool and looked up at me. She was short but not too short.

“I’m fine thank you,” I said looking down at her. She had a very clean and clear complexion, suggesting that there was some intermingling with the white man somewhere back in her family tree. Her skin was flawless, on her face and hands anyway. Other than her height she was very attractive and likely the most beautiful woman I had seen in a long time from Africa.

“I’m going to put both of you in a taxi, to the hotel and I will check with you and the rest of the group this evening.” Debbie said, moving towards the exist. Marie and I followed, lugging our bags.

On the way to the taxi stand Debbie gave each of us a package which contained all the information we required to settle in, itinerary, maps, restaurant locations, transport guide, tourist points, and information about the hotel we would be staying.

“Here we are” Debbie said as we moved towards the taxi she had chartered. She told the driver where we were going and paid him.

I helped Marie put her bags into the back of the taxi and the driver placed my bags. Maria and I said goodbye to Debbie, confirmed meeting later and got into the taxi.

Marie was sitting on the other side of the back seat next to me; there was enough space between us to fit at least two other adults. I looked over and noticed that she had on a wedding band. She was married. I tried to make small talk.

“Is this your first time in Washington” I enquired.
“Yes, it is” she replied in that musical voice without looking at me.
“It’s my first time too”.

There was silence for a while. It was there and then that I vowed to have her before the conference in Washington was over.

We made small talk on the way to the hotel, even engaging the taxi driver as a tour guide, with him pointing out various important landmarks and buildings. So this was the seat of world power. One would have thought that there was more to it than this.

On the way over I learned that Marie was the Executive Director for a non-profit organization, specializing in constitutional development and Alternative Resources in Johannesburg, South Africa. Her job and responsibilities was extensive and covered quite a bit of the countries in Southern Africa. My job as the head of an advertising agency seemed insignificant in comparison to the impact she made in people’s lives.

“This is it,” said the taxi driver as he pulled into the hotel drive way. The Embassy Square Hotel was not grand, but comfortable. It was located on the corner of New Hampshire Avenue and 20th Street and was about 30 to 45 minutes walk from the White House.

We checked in, Marie was sharing a suite with another delegate from Mexico who had already checked.
I was alone in my suite, I smiled.

We boarded the elevator, Marie was on the third floor and I was on the fifth floor. At the third floor I said goodbye to Marie and we reminded each other of the get together later that evening for all the delegates.
My suite was more like a one bedroom apartment, complete with kitchen, living room and bedroom. I was very happy with how it looked.

After scouting out the rooms I turned the TV on and started to unpack. I took a hot shower and fell across the bed and slept like a baby.

The phone was ringing and it woke me up.
“Hello” I said still sleepy
“Howard, this is Debbie, are you coming down?”
“What time is it?” I said jumping of the bed.
“Its 7:00 pm” she said
We were to meet at 6:30 in the main meeting room on the ground floor.
“I’ll be down in five minutes,” I said.
“Ok” Debbie said and hung up.

There were about fifteen people in the room, sitting around a long table. Debbie and another white girl were sitting at the top of the table speaking to the group.

“Howard, welcome, glad you could join us.” This was not the way I wanted to be introduced to the group.
“Sorry I’m late I overslept”
“And here comes Ngozi Ezi-Ashi from Nigeria” Debbie Said.
It appears I was not the only one who was late. As a matter of fact three other persons came after Ngozi. I sat down at the end of the table and looked around for Marie. She was sitting on the other side of the table not far from the top.

Marie did not even look my way.

We were introduced to the other delegates and had to say a few things about who we were, where we worked and all that stuff.

We had quite a group. There were delegates from all over the world, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Mexico, Colombia Puerto Rico, Nigeria, South Africa, Malaysia, Singapore the US and of course Jamaica. The other white girl beside Debbie was Samantha Richardson, and she was going over the programme of activities for the next few days and what would be required of us each day.

For the first six days I sought to engage Marie in friendly discussions but it was never allowed to get too far. She was always very friendly and courteous to me but never once did she give an indication that she was holding some kind of affection for me. We had breakfast most mornings along with other members of the group and that was due to my ensuring that I was in the breakfast area at the same time she was. The first three days I came down after her, but on the fourth day she came down after me, collected her breakfast and sat at my table. We had breakfast every day until the end of the programme. With each passing day I felt as if the wall was coming down.

I made contact with the advertising people Karen said I should link up with. I called and they said they were expecting my call. Karen had emailed them to expect me. The Vice President of the company was coming to pick me up on the eighth-day, a Saturday and take me back to the Presidents house in Virginia, which I later found out to be a mansion on a ten-acre property overlooking the Potomac River.

We went to the Presidents house, where some other company executives were waiting and talked for a while. The President, Billy O’Connor was the founder and head of one of the largest Advertising Agencies in the US with offices around the US and Europe. He had heard about our Agency and wanted to see if we could work out some arrangement to represent them in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. They were prepared to fund the expansion for a piece of the equity in the enlarged company. What was driving the deal was that two of their major clients were setting up operations in the Caribbean and they needed local representation.

After the meeting I left with Billy and two other executives and went sailing in Billy Yacht on the Potomac River, it was his major passion and pastime and he could afford it.

Billy knew this was my first time in Washington and wanted to show me the sights from the river. We circled the Theodore Roosevelt Island and he pointed out the Memorial to this Great US president on the island. From the river we could also see the Reflecting Pool from where Martin Luther King gave his great speech. The Kennedy Center and the famous Watergate Hotel was also visible from the river.

We spent over two hours on the river looking over important landmarks; I however got the feeling that Billy was using the opportunity to find out more about me.

I came away from the experience with an increased desire to succeed and become financially secure. There were something’s you could do with money that I had not yet experienced and Billy had opened by eyes.

I came back to the hotel late that afternoon and went to my room. It was too early for bed and I did not know what to do.

I called Marie rooms

“Hello” Marie answered after four rings with her musical voice.
“Marie is that you” I said.
“Howard how are you”
“I’m fine, what you doing?”
“I’m not doing anything at the moment”
“Let’s go out for a walk”
“Where?”
“Let's go down to the White House and visit The Mall, we may find some interesting things.”
“Oh, ok then”
“Meet you in the lobby in ten minutes”
“Ok, see you then”.

I went down to the lobby five minutes later and waited for her.
Marie came down dressed in black slacks, white sweater and her black leather jacket. She looked good.
She smiled as she walked up to me, it was clear that she was happy to see me.
“You look great,” I told her
“Thank you”
“Let’s go” I said and led her outside the hotel and began to walk the one-mile or so to White House.

We decided against going up to DuPont Circle and taking the train down to Farragut Square which would have placed us ten minutes from the White House and opted to walk.
We talked about all kinds of things on the way and it was really good to be with her. I noticed that she was keeping very close to me, sometimes to the point of almost, falling over each other. I suspected that she wanted to stay close for security reasons. Not that there was any need for concern, as Washington and especially where we were staying, less than five miles from the White House, was very safe.

As we entered Lafayette Park she stopped and sat on a park bench, I turned back and sat down beside her. We had been walking for about forty minutes and I guessed she was tired.

“What’s up?” I said
“Nothing, I just want to sit and talk for a while.” Marie replied with a smile on her face.
She was looking at me now, but not saying anything, only smiling. We sat in silence for a while. I figured now was as good a time as any to put my cards on the table.

“You do know that I am extremely attracted to you,” I ventured
“Yes” Marie replied.

I started to tell her about my feelings for her and how for the past eight days I have been trying to get her to give me indication as to what she was thinking and feeling. I literally poured out everything that I had been storing up inside.

She just kept looking at me with a smile on her face. The more I talked the more she listened and smiled and the more I just wanted to hold her and kiss her. I stopped talking and turned around fully on the bench facing her. Without even thinking about it I leaned over and kissed her on the lips. She kissed me back. There were fireworks and explosions going off inside of me. The dam was burst open and everything was flooding out. She kissed me back with wild hot passion and I met her with my own fire. We did not care that were in a public place.

When we finally came up for air Marie said. “I thought you were going to talk for ever, you know how long I have been waiting for you to do that”. I smiled and kissed her again. We hugged each other on the bench. It was her turn to empty all that she had been holding back. Marie was surprised at how quickly she became attracted to me. It started the first morning we had breakfast together. From that morning she would get up each day and could not wait to come down to see me. Marie also confessed at how she would always try not to look at me during our sessions and workshops and she would ensure that she did not sit next to me. She said she could not take the intensity of been so close. But she would always sit so that I was in her sphere of vision.

We sat on the bench and talked, and talked and talked. Before we knew it was late in the evening. We hailed a taxi and went back to the hotel. We did not reach The Mall or The White House we would have to go another day.

From the time we left the park bench, got in the taxi and walked in the hotel lobby we did not let go of each other, for fear that it would all disappear. In the elevator we kissed passionately as soon as the door closed. On the third floor we finally parted and agreed that we would meet in my suite in twenty minutes.

Twenty minutes later there was a knock on my door, I jumped of the bed and peeped through the little hole in the door. It was Marie dressed in a large and colorful South African dress.

I opened the door to let her in. She looked and smelled good. I pulled her inside and we started to kiss as the door closed. She was absolutely naked beneath the dress and the thought of her naked body excited me even further.

She was even more beautiful naked, her skin was flawless; the mix of Negro and Caucasian had given her a perfect coffee brown like complexion.

We made love all night.

What I found surprising about the whole sexual episode was that I was able to keep going for much longer than my usual twenty to thirty minutes before cumin. Maybe it was how she would slow us down when she knew I was on the verge or when she would ask me to stop when she was on the verge. We did not want to climax we wanted to keep going and going and going.

Marie knew how to excite and take you to the edge, she was good at making love and she knew it. She would for example contract the muscles of her vagina, forming a kind of clamp around my penis. The sensation this created is hard to describe, only that it was highly erotic. Later while lying in bed, I asked her about it.
“You like it?” she enquired with a mischievous and teasing tone and look.
“Like it, dam girl that move makes the hair on my back stand up” I replied.
“But you don’t have any hair on your back”
“That what I’m talking about”
We both laughed and hugged.
“I found out I could do it my experimenting with myself and overtime and with practice I was able to control the movement at will.” She whispered in my ear.
“What else can you do?” I enquired, desperate to know what else was possible in store for me.
“You’ll just have to wait and see” she said.

We spent the better part of Sunday in my Suite making love, talking and watching TV. We eat the food I had brought not wanting to leave and go out. We did however go out in the evening for dinner. We went to the Japan Inn restaurant, regarded as one of the most elegant and complete Japanese restaurants in Georgetown. After dinner we went back to my suite and made love.

Marie and I had to keep this affair a secret, as we did not want the other delegates to know what we were up to. We both knew that we would have to be extra careful from now on when in their company.

I came down early Monday morning for breakfast and waited for Marie at our usual table. After our love making last night Marie returned to her room, even though I wanted her to stay.

“Can I join you” I looked up and Jennifer Rutledge was standing with her breakfast tray in hand.
“Sure, sure” I lied.
Jennifer was one of the delegates from Puerto Rico. She had moved there about three years ago from the US to take up a new assignment.
“So how are you finding the programme so far? I asked her.
“It’s not too bad, I find that most of the stuff we’re getting is good and I can already see how I’m going to apply it back in Puerto Rico. How are you finding it?”
“It all very new to me, but I’m learning to appreciate the information. For me, hearing of the other delegates experience in different countries and economies is an eye opener”. I said, looking if Marie was in yet.

I looked over at the door and saw Marie walk in the room, heading towards the buffet line. Jennifer was talking to me but I was not paying much attention, I was watching Marie. She picked up her breakfast and headed over to our table.

“Marie, how are you” Jennifer said as Marie came to the table and sat down beside her, directly across the table from me.

“I’m fine thank you” Marie replied with a smile on her face.

“Howard good morning, how are you?” Marie said to me as though we had not seen each other in the last twenty-four hours.

“I’m fine, I had a great night last night” I said looking her straight in the face. She had a faint smile on her lips, knowing the meaning of my response.

“Marie you look great this morning, your face looks so bright and radiant and your eyes are just sparkling. Seems you had a restful night” Jennifer said looking over at Marie.

Marie and I both started to laugh; Jennifer was looking at us with a quizzinly look on her face.

“What, what, what did I say” Jennifer said.
We could not answer, we were laughing so much.
“I had a great night last night” Marie said finally looking away from me.

The three of us talked for a while about the programme and our experience so far. During all the talking Marie and I were playing footsie under table.

“What time is it?” Jennifer said suddenly.
“Oh shit we have to go now, the morning session starts in ten minutes,” I said looking at my watch.

We got up and made our way over to the conference centre.

When we got into the room Marie and I went in separate directions, I wanted to sit beside her, but she told me not to as she would not be able to deal with me being so close to her. So I sat directly across from her in the horseshoe seating arrangement.

For the entire morning session Marie did not look at me once. She made an effort never to look in my direction. Even when I asked a question, while everybody was looking at me, she was looking at something in the papers in front of her. But there was a very brief moment when our eyes met and she began to smile and as quickly as it appeared she wiped it off. During the lunch break I asked her about it.

“You do not know how hard it is to sit across the room from you and not look at you.” Marie confessed. “I know that the moment I look at you, everybody will be able to look at my face and know what is going on, and that’s why I’m trying not to look at you. But you make it so hard; you just keep looking at me.” Marie continued.

“So you can’t even look at me once” I begged.
“If I do, I will not be able to control the expression on my face.” Marie said.

After lunch we returned to the conference room, I diverted to the bathroom because I wanted to come in late to get Marie’s attention. When I came into the room I noticed that Marie had changed her position and was now to my right. I looked over at her and she had a smile on her face. She was taking this serious. I sat down and looked at the new person in front of me. Marie had exchanged place with Benedict Cheong from Singapore. I was going to make this hard for her. I turned to my right and looked directly at her; she looked at me and began to smile.

We both saw Jennifer looking at us with a smile on her face and a look that said “Caught you. I know what you did last night”.
Marie and I did not look directly at each other for the rest of the day.

The conference would be over in another two days. Marie and I never talked about it because we just could not face the fact that we would never see each other again. She would go back to South Africa and me to Jamaica, never to see each other again. When we finally decided to talk about it, we promised each other to meet back in Washington one year from now. We agreed and wrote it down September 11th 2001 and promised each other to be here, in this hotel. Somehow we both knew that we were playing with long odds of us ever meeting again but it kept us going.

We made love every night for the remaining days and on the final night we cried like babies.

Marie and I were scheduled to depart from JFK one hour apart. My flight was leaving for Miami at 11:00 am and hers leaving for New York at 12:30 for a connecting flight to Johannesburg.

On the way to the airport we did not talk much. In the two weeks that we were in Washington we had fallen deeply in love with each other and now were about to depart to far flung corners of the globe maybe never to see each other again. Life was unfair I thought.

“Do you know how much time has been wasted; when I think of all the time I spent fighting my feelings and trying to ignore you. Looking back now I wish I could have then again” Marie said finally.

I just kept silent. It was largely her fault that we had taken so long to connect, but now was not the time to lay blame. We had less than four hours left together; I wanted to make sure I used up every second of it.

I turned to Marie and kissed her, she began to kiss me back and we both started to cry again. We hugged all the way to the airport in silence.

I checked in first and then followed Marie to her check in counter, which was next to mine. Our departure lounges were also next to each other.

“You know the more I think about this whole experience the more I’m convinced that this was all meant to be.” I said to Marie as we sat and waited for our flights.

“What do you mean?” Marie said looking at me.
“Well, think about it, your flight was delayed and so we met at the airport, we took the same taxi to the hotel, I was the only delegate who did not share a room, and we are leaving Washington at the same time from departure lounge next to each other. This all seems like a lot of coincidences, but to me it was all part of the master plan. We were supposed to meet and have this time together. We may never see each other again but we will always have this memory and experience for as long as we live.”

“Hearing you put it together like that it does seem like destiny” Marie said still looking at me.

Marie was looking at me as though she wanted to burn my face and image into her memory so that she would always remember what I looked like.

“Passengers boarding on AA flight 234 departing for Miami, please board at gate 24” the dreaded words came over the speaker system. As we heard it we knew that the moment had arrived. Marie looked up at me.
“I love you” she said and kissed me. I kissed her back and said, “I love you too” We did not know what else to say.

I got up reluctantly and picked up my carry on case, I thought of deliberately missing the flight and taking a later flight, but that was just delaying the inevitable. I had to go back to Jamaican and she had to go back to South Africa.

Marie turned away from me and told me that she did not want to see me go. I felt that now was the time; it was either now or never. I walked over to the line of departing passengers and stood in line. I was still looking at Marie; she was turned away from me. I could not take my eyes from her.

I was about one person from the boarding gate when Marie got up and ran towards me. I ran out of the line towards her leaving my bag on the ground.

We hugged, embraced, kissed, cried, laughed, but we mostly cried.
“See you September 11th 2001,” I said, “Make sure you’re here.”
“I‘ll be here,” she said with a smile on her face.

I turned and boarded the plane, I could not look back.