Vain (31 page)

Knock. Knock.

I climbed off the bed and answered it. It was Simon.

“Ready when you are, princess,” he teased, tugging once on my braid. He nodded at his brother before leaving.

Ian stood and grabbed my bag for me. I supposed lunch with his parents was out of the question.
              When we reached the front door, we noticed both Ian’s parents were standing at the bottom of the walkway, talking to Simon. They seemed to be in deep discussion but eased up when we neared.
              “It was such a pleasure meeting you,” Henrik told me, hugging me and kissing my cheek. “I hope it’s not our last.”
              “I hope not either,” I told him, smiling. I kissed his cheek in return and turned to Abri.
              “Thank you for having me, Abri.”
She waved my comment away as if it were a gnat circling her head and avoided eye contact. I was willing to bet that’s what she equated me with. I wasn’t going to bust my ass to prove anything to her. I’d just let time do that.
              Ian placed our bags in the back of Simon’s little sports car. I lingered by them when Ian went back to say goodbye to his parents. He’d hugged his father but not his mother. He opened the passenger door and attempted to get in the small back seat but I stopped him and pushed my way through.
              “Not about to make your tall ass shimmy in there. I got this,” I told him but was swung back playfully instead and pushed aside.
              “Not about to make your bony ass shimmy in there. I got this,” he teased, squeezing his impossibly large frame in the tiniest little back seat I’d ever seen.
              “You are crazy,” I goaded, settling in beside Simon.

We went to lunch with Simon before our flight and
Imogen met us there. She was impossibly adorable and we exchanged emails before we’d said goodbye. We’d also solidified that they wanted Ribbon Caye on January twenty-sixth so they could have more time to prepare and give their guests at least a month to make arrangements. I’d called Pemmy, that time at not such a decent hour,
oops
, and he’d confirmed they could have an entire week there and that my father, surprisingly, didn’t care, probably because of who Simon’s parents were.
 

CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE
 

Masego
was at we’d left it yet completely different to me then, at that moment. Its gates represented something I couldn’t quite put my finger on...

“It’s good to be home,” Ian told Charles, sighing.

...And like a lightbulb, Ian had flipped a switch. Masego felt like home to me. Everyone I had grown to love so dearly resided there. Ian, Mandisa, Karina, Charles, Kate, Mercy, the children, and the rest of the staff. I suddenly knew I would do anything to protect them, anything to keep them safe.
              When Pembrook arrived with the construction crew, I knew I’d get him to arrange for protection, for some type of security. That was instantly my number one priority.
              When the gates opened, they revealed a smiling Karina and the Baobab tree, as stalwart as always. I remembered once Karina explained that as long as the tree was at Masego that she would always be and that made me warm inside.

We’d arrived too late for the children to greet us but Kate and Mercy had stayed up with Karina to see us home. Once we’d parked, I jumped from the jeep and tackled Karina in the biggest hug.

              She giggled out loud. “Stop, you silly girl,” she said, but hung on to me just as tightly.
              “I missed you, K,” I said, smacking her cheek with a kiss.
              “I missed you, too, Sophie.”
She pulled me from her hold and inspected me over.
              “What?” I asked, breathless from laughing.
              “You look...I’m not sure,” she said, cocking her head to the side. “You look ecstatically happy.”
              “So what if I am?” I teased, bumping my hip with hers.
              Her eyes blew bright, reflecting the stars above. “It’s a very good look on you, my love.”
              She grabbed me by the waist and we made our way toward Ian, Charles, Kate and Mercy so she could say hi to Ian as well. He grabbed her and spun her around and she squealed.
              “What in the world has gotten into you two?” she asked, bewildered.
              “Nothing,” we both answered simultaneously.
              “If you think this is bad,” Charles said, “you should have seen how they acted when they saw me.”
My cheeks flushed red and I was never more grateful for the night sky.

“Come to the kitchens,” Karina said, smiling and waving us her direction. “I’ve made you
a homecoming bread.”

“What kind?” Ian asked, wrapping his large arm around her tiny little shoulders.

“Banana, of course. What other fruit do we get around here?” she laughed.

We entered the small kitchen together and all pitched in, getting plates, cups, etc. for our miniature party. Karina uncovered a pan of nice, thick banana bread and my mouth began to water.

We all sat and began eating in silence.

Homecoming, yes. But
also
a discussion.

“What are we going to do?” Ian asked Charles.

Charles swallowed. “Honestly?” His face was
devoid color. “I don’t know where to start. They’ve never come this far south before. They’ve undoubtedly been scouting us for several months. There’s no mistake about it, it’s a ticking time bomb now.”

Kate burst into tears, getting up and retreating to her rooms. “Kate!” Karina called, standing to chase after her but Kate shook her head and Karina sat back down.

“We need action then,” Ian said, taking charge and making me incredibly proud of him. “We arm ourselves. Get the locals to help us take shifts.” The table got quiet. “
What
?” he asked, tension rolling off of him in waves..

“We’ve already asked them,” Karina said, her eyes never leaving her bread.

“And they’ve
refused
?” Ian asked in disbelief.

“You can’t really blame them,” Karina tried to explain.

“The hell I can’t!” Ian exclaimed. “We would do it for them. We
have
done it for them!”

“They have families,
Din. They can’t risk it.”

Ian’s neck and ears grew red with frustration. “Then we leave,” he said.

“Where?” Mercy asked.

“Anywhere,” he answered.

“We have no where to put the children, Din,” Karina said, looking as exasperated as her voice conveyed.

“What are you suggesting?”
Ian asked, his brows furrowed.

“That we stay right where we are and keep watch. Charles seems to think we can do it on our own.”

“Charles,” Ian said, turning toward him, “you know that is foolhardy. We can’t risk it.”

“Where would we go?” he asked in return.

“Somewhere. Anywhere but here.”

“How far south does the property line go?” I asked.

“Just south of Lake Nyaguo,” Charles answered, “but it’s of no importance because we have no way of building camps, no way of caring for the children once we’re there.”

I breathed deeply.
Here we go
. “I-I need to tell you all something,” I confessed.

“What is it?” Karina asked, tucking a loose strand of hair from my braid behind my ear.

“I had planned on surprising you all next week but I’ve arranged for a group in America to come here and build you a new kitchen house, install a new generator, do the odd repair and create a concrete court for the children to play on as well as a play area. It was supposed to be for Christmas but I can see it’s a blessing in disguise. What say you, if we have them build the new construction on the south side of Nyaguo instead? Nyaguo would be north of us and it would provide protection, we’d only have to worry about our East, West, and South borders.”

The table stayed quiet, too quiet, and I wondered if I’d overstepped my boundaries. My face burned in embarrassment and I was close to explaining it all away, apologizing and offering to call it off but Karina was first to break the silence instead.

“Our borders,” she said, her eyes glassy with unshed tears. “
Our
borders.”

“Our borders,” Ian said, repeating her and smiling my direction.

“Our borders,” Charles said, his hand landing on mine.

Realization dawned on me. “Yes,
our
borders.”

“Thank you so much, Sophie,” Karina said, covering my only uncovered hand with her own. “You’ve given our hopeless situation
hope
.”

“You’re thanking me?” I asked, flabbergasted. “No,” I told them all, choking back a sob. “
I
need to thank
you
. You saved me.” I smiled at each of them in return. “It was just my turn to return the favor.”

Ian kissed at my door that night sweetly. We all had a plan and there was hope. The next day, we all decided we would begin preparations to move the children. I’d called Pembrook and told him our new plan and he promised to get the men together earlier with new plans of creating an entirely new compound.

We all decided that when the unexpected came, sometimes new arrangements could become that much more extraordinary.
 

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

             
But with the new extraordinary you still had the unexpected...
              That morning, we all woke anew, with a mission. We informed the children of their Christmas present, a new place to live. Many felt uneasy about the potential move but we assuaged any fears, letting them know it would be safer and that they would have a playground and that seemed to liven them up enough to get them excited.
              With that, we went about packing rooms in preparation. Our plan was to set up temporary camps within the new territory. Pembrook had somehow arranged for military CHU’s or Container Housing Units to be dropped off within three days which would allow us to house and care for the children during the weeks of new construction. I didn’t want to know how much that was costing my father and I hoped he didn’t either.
              By the time the CHU’s had arrived, we were prepared to transport. Most of the children’s things were packed and ready to go as well. There had been no additional sign that the LRA was near or nearing. We were confident and happy.
              The night before we were set to transfer everyone and everything, Ian and I were making our way to the CHU’s, twenty minutes south of the then current Masego. We just needed to make a quick pit stop a mile outside the gates to gather one of the missing cattle and mend a broken fence.

“She’s a stubborn jerk,” I said, pushing the cow toward the damaged fence.

Finally, the old girl hopped it and moved as quickly as a heifer could move toward her meandering comrades.
              Ian and I dropped to the ground right next to the fence and laughed, out of breath from pushing the cantankerous bovine. The lights from our jeep lit us from behind, bathing us in an ethereal glow. He leaned into me, wrapping his hand around the nape of my neck and tugging me toward him, kissing me softly on the lips.
              “What a Christmas,” he told me, gazing at me and brushing his thumb across my lower lip.
              “Indeed,” I agreed.
              “I love you,” he professed, running his fingers through my hair before meeting my nape once more.
Earlier he had undone my braids for me and I never thought I had ever experienced anything as sexy as the way his eyes danced when it fell across my shoulders.
              “I love you,” I told him, my hand coming to rest on his forearm at my neck.
His face became serious and I searched his eyes, his furrowed brow.
              “Stay with me,” he whispered, the hand that had been resting on my hip moved to meet the other side of my neck.
              I swallowed, forcing my gaze downward. I’d had no idea how I was going to answer that because it was a forbidden topic, a forbidden thought. I was scared.