She stood at the edge of the harbor, the ocean air caressing her face, holding a single red rose and two ripe cherries.

The ship was waiting.

Beyond the sails and the gathering mist was a vast ocean-and somewhere beyond that ocean, a destination he might not return from.

She looked at the man she loved and placed the rose in his hand.

"Mon Cheri," she whispered. "Take this with you."

Then she gave him two red cherries, deep and glowing in the shadows, "These are a symbol of the bond we share."

He reached down and kissed her with the trembling passion that only the heart knows.

"Come back to me," she whispered.

He held the rose and cherries close.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

There are some goodbyes for which words are too small.

She did not know when-or if-she would see him again. But love does not always ask for certainty. Sometimes it asks only that we believe in what we have been given.

So she watched as he boarded the ship, carrying her rose and her two ripe cherries- symbols of their bond, connected, small offerings filled with the sweetness, passion, and promise of their love.

And as the ship disappeared beyond the horizon, she held one hope in her heart:

I am waiting for you Mon Cheri Amour.

The Story Behind the Painting:

This is the story that came to me while I was painting Mon Cheri Amour.

I imagined a woman giving her beloved a single red rose before he sailed away to a far away destination. The rose became a symbol of romantic love, passion, and devotion. And the two ripe cherries appeared almost as if they belonged there-rich red jewels resting in the darkness, another small offering from her to him.

I wanted the painting to hold that feeling of love that exists between light and shadow-the sweetness of tenderness, the depth of passion, and the uncertainty of saying goodbye.

Because romantic love is one of God's beautiful gifts to us. Because God doesn't just give love He is love. Agape love. Mon Cheri Amour love.

Love can be tender. It can be consuming. It can make us brave enough to wait, to hope, and to believe that what we hold in our hearts is worth protecting.

The title also came in an instant, Mon Cheri Amour, because French is the language of love.

As I painted, Mon Cheri Amour became more than a rose in a glass vase.

It became a moment suspended in time-a woman giving everything she could give before her beloved disappeared across the sea.

The rose.

The cherries.

The darkness.

The hope.

The love.

A gift from God.

That is what this painting is about.

Mon Cheri Amour.

A love deep enough to cross an ocean.

Mon Cheri Amour 14"x11" Oil Painting on Linen Panel

by Kristen Ulla Grunewald