Girl with the Golden Voice (27 page)

‘Luka and Eric polished it up ‘specially. And take your time.'

‘I can finish the washing, Mama.'

‘No, Rebecca, I … please … so sorry, I must tell Stephen. I must hurry.'

It was many months since Angela had been on that old machine. Her balance and steering were as erratic as ever and her yelps and screams could be heard until she passed out of earshot.

The workers of Londiani were enjoying the excitement that was coming into their lives on a daily basis. News travelled quickly from mouth to mouth down to the canopies, but today when they saw the wobbling cyclist, they expected something special. Angela's visits were a rarity and were frowned upon by Stephen who liked to keep a firm line between his work and family life. When they saw their foreman hurry out of his office without his white coat, a rush of knowing nods began. In seconds one quick thinker had worked it all out. ‘She's back! Did you see the look on his face? Yes, she's back. Now he's going to put her across his knee and beat her.' She laughed as she went back to her weeding.

Father and daughter did not meet at home. She waited for him on the seat under the trees close to the yacht club. She had walked down with Rafaella and the dogs. Rafaella had bolstered her confidence. ‘I'm so pleased with the news. Tom is a very lucky young man and soon I shall be a very happy grandmother-in-law.'

He was coming. ‘She's changed, Stephen.' Angela's words stuck fast in his mind as his eyes searched her out. Changed she might be, but she still had a duty to explain all those days away without a word. He paused in the hot afternoon sun and squinted to look under one pool of shade after another. He gave a start. There she was, squatting under an acacia just exactly in the way she used to before she ever went to school, waiting for him to come up the path from the fields. When he began to walk directly towards her she stood up and set off to meet him. Neither hurried to close the gap.

There was apprehension on both sides, each uncertain of how they would be received. Emotions were held in check. When contact was made, they embraced with a warmth that was studied rather than uninhibited.

‘I am happy to see you, Rebecca.'

‘And I am very happy to be home again. I have missed you.'

‘How was America?'

‘It was very different from Naivasha.'

‘Those are good clothes you are wearing. Expensive?'

‘More expensive than the ones you can buy in the matumba in town.'

He hesitated before continuing. ‘Why, Rebecca? Why?'

All the longing and pain pent up in those missing weeks showed in Stephen's bewildered, hurt expression.

‘Papa, it was wrong but … I'm glad it happened this way, except for the trouble I made for you and Mama.'

Stephen frowned. His eldest was changed. She was more confident, more self-assured. With a pang of deep sadness he understood that things between Rebecca and him would not be as they had been. The thought silenced him. Sensing his discomfort, she grasped his arm and turned them to walk in the direction of the rondavels.

‘The lawns in California are very green, Papa, and they use such a lot of water. They sprinkle it for hours and hours, but it doesn't have our special magic. When I was away I used to think about the stories you told us. Remember, the before times of long ago.'

‘Was it Mary Wajiru who persuaded you to go over there?'

‘You sound like you think she was doing something wrong. No, Papa, I wanted to … I was frightened, I was lost. When I was down at the coast, I went up onto the stage to sing. I began to feel strong again, that God had given me a gift that I must use.'

‘So, you did not forget God …' He regretted the words at once.

‘Papa, how could you? It was you that taught me that God is everywhere … I never stopped talking to Him. I never will.'

Stephen had become more uncomfortable. The words were not coming from his heart. At least that truth had dawned on him. He came to a halt. He clasped her hand and closed his eyes.

‘Rebecca, give me a little time. Some new thing is happening here. I'm not ready for it, yet. You've changed.'

‘I haven't changed. Not a single part of me. It's just that I'm beginning to discover who I really am. And I like me! I have to like me before I can like anyone else. “Love thy neighbour as thyself.” Jesus surely meant what He said. You'd be the first to say amen to that.'

‘All these ideas, where do they come from?'

‘From you, of course.'

‘You haven't become one of those liberated women I've read about!'

‘Papa! Papa, we're coming close to the village. Can I say one more thing?'

‘You mean I've got a really big shock coming?'

‘You think I'm going to have a child?'

‘Does your mother know about this?'

‘About what?'

‘About this baby.'

‘How could you, Papa? There is no baby!. But …'

‘But!' His bewilderment was rapidly mutating into horror.

She took a deep breath and grasped his large, muscular hand. ‘Someone's going to come to talk to you, about me. About me getting married.'

He stopped and turned to look into her face. ‘Young Wajiru, I suppose. Oh, please, no, not Julius Rubai!'

She had never seen her father so jittery. ‘No, Papa, it's Thomas.'

Stunned silence from her father and a few robotic steps. He had been hit with too many shocks in too short a time. His mind could barely cope. Down on the job he prided himself on being ready to listen to new ideas and try out those which might help his people in their work and benefited the farm. At work things changed slowly, but here was his own daughter, calm as you please, presenting him with a one woman revolution.

‘Thomas is a white man. He is a bwana.'

‘And I love him and he loves me!'

Stephen let out a long, slow breath. ‘I never could trust those nuns in Santa Maria, and their fancy ideas.'

‘Papa, you are a wonderful man, but right now you are in shock.'

‘And my daughter is my teacher now.'

‘No, but your little girl is growing up. For the first time in a long while I feel free. I want you and Mama to be happy with me.'

‘Your mother knows nothing about all this.'

‘No, I'm telling you first, like always.'

He stood still and closed his eyes. His lips were moving. She was used to seeing her father praying like this, but she could not know what gospel story had come into his mind, seemingly out of the blue. Peter had seen his Master walking on the waters of the Sea of Galilee and being invited to do the same launched himself from his fishing boat. Stephen looked at his daughter and smiled calmly, even serenely. ‘Trust, trust when the deepest darkness surrounds you. For sure there is a whole lot of dark confusion around me just now.' He put his arm around Rebecca's shoulder and went on. ‘Right, let's go and find Mama and the girls. We've got news for them. Perhaps I'd better do the talking.'

Rebecca was beaming with joy. ‘Of course, Papa, like always!'

* * *

At the end of a very happy lunch at the Big House, Tom fished under the table and brought up a black plastic bag. ‘I want to show you something. Don't be alarmed. I'll explain everything.'

Very carefully he reached into the bag, took out the skull and set it down on the table in front of him. There was a stunned silence except for the involuntary ‘Bloody hell!' from Rollo which did not bring any reprimand from his grandmother.

‘May I introduce my companion in the hut in Kakmega Forest. He, or maybe she, helped save my life. And I made a promise that I would see to it that these mortal remains would be … laid to earth as soon as I possibly could. I want to do it this afternoon. I've picked a spot under an acacia in a corner of the garden. Later, I'll place a plaque, but for now with my left arm not at its best, I'm asking for some help with the digging.'

Alex stood up at once. ‘Bertie, Rollo, let's get the shovels. Ladies, we'll send for you when we're ready.'

Five men plus little Ewan trooped out silently, leaving Rafaella and Maura smiling through tears.

ddie and Rollo had no inkling that an engagement was in the offing. Until the flight when he brought Rebecca and Tom home, Alex had been vaguely aware that there seemed to be something going on between them. Maura had seen the possibility for years but hoped that the passing of time would bring about a ‘solution'. Blinded by love these young people did not think about the social consequences that would engulf them sooner or later.

Rafaella had been hoping for years and expecting it for three months, even after Rebecca's mysterious disappearance. She was out for her late afternoon walk with the dogs, just crossing the path which led from the flower fields to the village, when she met Stephen Kamau on his way home from work. They chatted pleasantly as they usually did when their paths crossed. Rafaella sensed an unease in the normally strong, placid Stephen.

‘You must be thrilled to have Rebecca back home.'

‘We all are, we all are.'

Why would he not look directly at her when he spoke? Why did his enthusiasm sound forced?

‘Is everything well at home?'

‘Memsahib …' He held back for a few seconds before plunging in. ‘When Bwana Don was with us, many a time he and I talked and if I had a problem, I would speak of it and afterwards I always felt better. He was a wise man.'

Dear, honest, open Stephen could not suspect that these simple words reopened the wound that would not heal, that for a few seconds her Don was with her again only to be snatched away just as quickly. She was too vulnerable, but the unexpected return of the anguish reinforced the tenderness of her heart. She smiled as she replied.

‘Thank you, Stephen. You know how much he loved and respected you … But there is a problem, isn't there? You know, I walk this way every evening with the dogs and this is the first time we've met at this little crossroads. Do you think that's a coincidence?'

Stephen smiled knowingly. ‘No, I see the Lord's hand at work here. I was praying a lot down in the fields this afternoon. And then you come along!' He frowned and looked pleadingly into Rafaella's eyes. ‘Rebecca and Bwana Tom, do you think it is a good thing?'

She smiled but said nothing. She wanted to wait.

‘Angela and me, we have been afraid this would come. This love business can be mighty confusing and we are good and proper confused.' He chuckled in his deep, melodious way.

‘So many things fall into my mind, all at the same time. Change comes too quickly. You are an educated lady. You have seen life in other places. What should we do?'

Rafaella felt an urge to reach out and hug this trusting, innocent giant of a man. That would have been a purer reply than any words she could say, but in his delicate state of mind it would only have added to the confusion! And a more practical answer was forming in her mind. He was surprised but pleased when she slipped her arm through his and turned them to walk in the direction of the rondavels which were still out of sight.

‘Stephen, you know that I'm a Catholic. A lot of people think that we're all hail Marys and rosaries and we're not much for reading the Bible. It's not true. But I don't know anyone who knows his way around the Bible better than you. You know where the help is. The two words in my head are ‘love' and ‘faith'. This new road, we can all travel it together. Alex and Maura are puzzled, too. Just before I came out we were talking. I was saying that we should be ashamed to be worried about this beautiful thing. Yes, words are cheap, I know, but … I'm sorry, Stephen. Please forgive an old woman for going on too much. I'm keeping you from the family.'

‘I can tell you this for sure, when I reach home, Angela and the girls will be seeing a much happier man than the one who started up from the fields a few minutes ago! You are so kind to us. You were right. This meeting was no coincidence. I thank you and I thank the Lord.'

Rafaella returned to Big House in time to say goodbye to Lucy and her family who were setting off for Nairobi and their flight to Heathrow. She was thrilled to see Lucy and Rebecca embrace like sisters.

Rebecca held out a plastic bag. ‘A going away present, to remember me by.'

Lucy squealed with delight when she opened the bag and took out a red dress. ‘I'll treasure this. I'm thrilled with the news. Please, invite me back for the wedding!'

‘Think of the dress as an invitation.'

When the visitors had left, Maura gave Rafaella two bits of news.

‘Don't blink in this place just now or you'll miss something! We are having two engagement parties, one before they leave and the other when they come back. Yes they're flying to New York the Sunday after the Sevens in Pembroke.'

‘That's in two weeks?'

‘Angela and Stephen are having the first one in the village a week on Thursday. So, my dear, the women around here are going to be busy for the next few days.'