by Vered Ehsani
“I didn’t come all this way to see my only niece married off and then tossed out onto the streets,” she shrilled.
I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms. “We will hardly be tossed into the streets,” I said. “For a start, there’s only one street in Nairobi. And, although our finances are limited, we are not entirely without resources. For the time being, we can stay at the Stanley Hotel while we find a suitable replacement.”
“And what of your livestock?” Lady Sybil pressed. “The public stables aren’t sufficient enough to house your oxen and horses, not to mention your Nelly who will in all likelihood draw attention to herself with her odd shenanigans. Grace has little control over her shapeshifting. Then there’s the matter of your vampire father. People will talk, as you well know. While humans tend to lack the imagination required to fully comprehend reality, there are enough odd aspects about your household to cause tongues to waggle and trouble to follow.”
Heat flushed my face as I realized I hadn’t thought of that. The loss of the Hardinge Estate posed a number of complications. I exchanged worried looks with Lilly.
“And so you now appreciate why I had no choice but to purchase the estate,” Lady Sybil concluded and slid a package of papers across the table to me.
Koki chuckled while the flush in my face spread. “What do you mean by this?” I gasped.
“What I mean is what I said,” Lady Sybil replied as she lifted her chin and gazed out at the estate in question. “I consider it a worthwhile investment, given my dear Cilla’s new condition. Werewolves don’t tend to do well in towns and cities. They need a lot of space without the prying eyes of nosy neighbors.”
“So you bought the estate?” Lilly squeaked, clutching at my sleeve as she too stared at Lady Sybil.
Peering down her nose, Lady Sybil knocked a fist on the papers. “The Hardinge Estate officially belongs to the Hardinge Trust.”
“There’s a Hardinge Trust?” I asked, my voice faint. I reached for the teapot, the only thing at this table that made any sense at all.
“There is now,” she replied. “The Board of Trustees consists of Cilla White Anderson, Drew Anderson, Tiberius Elkhart, Simon Timmons, Lilly Elkhart and one Beatrice Knight Timmons.” Leaning forward, she added, “You can thank me later.”
“Can we thank you now?” Lilly asked and squealed as she jumped up, ran around the table and engulfed Lady Sybil in a Cilla-worthy hug.
Lady Sybil patted Lilly on the back. “Yes, yes, dear child, that will be all now. Truly, that is sufficient.”
“Oh, does Cilla know?” Lilly asked as she released the unimpressed Lady Sybil. “This is too grand a day to sleep, no matter how many bites one has received.” With that pronouncement, Lilly ran into the house, yelling for all and sundry to wake up. Doors slammed open as she continued to shout for everyone to come to the library.
Lady Sybil turned her long nose in my direction. “I do have one and only one request.”
“Anything,” I gushed.
“Forget about revenge.”
I gaped at Lady Sybil while Koki demanded, “Now where’s the fun in that?”
“I mean it, Mrs. Timmons,” Lady Sybil continued, placing both hands on the parasol’s handle. “There is nothing to be gained by hunting for Prof. Runal. Focus on your family and on your education. Look after this place and all its inhabitants. Kam once told you that Nairobi is your jurisdiction.”
“How did you know—”
She waved my question away. “You are needed here. Cilla needs you, and soon your precious Emma will arrive. Mr. Timmons is much weakened from his exertions from yesterday and will take time to recover. Mr. Elkhart has the estate to manage as well as some business Lord Hardinge left to him. Little Grace and Emma must both be hidden from the world until they’re old enough to manage their powers.”
I turned to Koki. She snickered at my distress.
Lady Sybil tapped her parasol to get my attention. “They all need you here, present, focused. Not galavanting after that old, venomous wolf.” She leaned back in her chair, her watery blue gaze glittering like twin icebergs. “So promise me you will leave revenge aside and enjoy life.”
Unable to meet those piercing eyes, I again turned to Koki. This time, the she-demon hesitated in her response. Gone was the dangerous, hardened glitter in her expression. Instead, there was another emotion, one I had never noticed in the she-demon. It was hope.
“Perhaps,” Koki said after a long pause, “perhaps it’s time to try something new.”
I wasn’t sure if she was talking to herself or to me but a weight lifted from my shoulders as I nodded, first to her and then to Lady Sybil. “Yes, perhaps it is.”
As I clutched the Hardinge papers over my swelling belly, a bubbling commotion caused me to stand. Wordlessly, I allowed the noise to lead me back to the library with Koki and Lady Sybil close behind.
Drew stood from where he sat next to Cilla and smiled shyly at me through long bangs. Propped up against pillows, Cilla smiled and cried as Lilly rushed from person to person, hugging them and recounting the news. Simon too was also sitting up, pale beneath his tan but his gray eyes alight with possibility.
Father embraced me, kissed my cheeks and guided me to the sofa where Simon waited. Tiberius caught Lilly and swung her into his arms, laughing as Grace in bat form flapped overhead. Jonas squatted by the fireplace, kettle by his side, a reluctant smile stretching across his wrinkled face. Koki sauntered over to Father and invited him to a game of cards.
As I observed the happy chaos, everyone talking and laughing at the same time, Yao and Wanjiru entered the library. Puffing out his naked chest, the African vampire asked, “Now can Yao and Wanjiru get married?”
“Bah,” Jonas spat but even he couldn’t stop smiling.
“I guess we have another wedding to plan,” Simon commented as we leaned against each other.
“It sounds exhausting,” I said, wondering who or what the invitation list would include.
Simon kissed my forehead and pulled me closer. I snuggled against him, pressed my face into his neck and breathed in his natural musk. “Surely the unflagging Miss Knight isn’t intimidated by the prospect of another wedding?” he asked.
I snorted as I watched my family celebrate in their home, free to be themselves without fear of public censure or homelessness. “Lady Sybil was right,” I said, ignoring Simon’s question. “It’s time to enjoy our lives.”
As if agreeing with that plan, Emma performed a somersault and kicked me. Simon gave me a funny look when I laughed at my unborn child’s antics. “Yes, indeed,” I said. “It’s time.”
Read on to find out what was Fact and what was Fiction. But before you do:
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Fact & Fiction
Allow me to clarify what parts of this story are based on some semblance of reality. Below are the facts as I understand them, and the fictional aspects pointed out.
Fact: “Charlie the Nell” was an early resident of Nairobi. He left his shirt open and never washed; he had a habit of combing his hairy chest with a fork. Really, I didn’t make that up.
Fact: Dr. Rosendo Ribeiro was a doctor from Goa—part of Portuguese India. One of his claims to fame is that he rode about Nairobi on a zebra in the early 1900s. He was the first—and for a while, the only—Western-educated doctor in the area. As far as I know, he is still the only doctor who ever did house calls on a zebra.
Fact: One of the customers of the Cozy Tea Shoppe is based on a real person. Mrs. Mayence Bent was the founder and owner of the Stanley Hotel, and was an impressive woman with a clever min
d for business.
Fact: Sir Arthur Henry Hardinge was the first Governor appointed to the British East African Protectorate.
Fiction: Governor Hardinge was appointed in July 1895, a few years before the Stewards and Miss Knight arrived in Nairobi, and he was based in Zanzibar. He did have a family but later on. And as far as I know, he was never the legal guardian of a Popobawa.
Fiction: Mrs. Bent invited Miss Knight to join the East African Ladies League. The League didn’t actually exist.
Fact: However, the East Africa Women’s League did and still does. Formed in 1917 at the New Stanley Hotel, a group of women banded together with the aim of working for the improvement of the conditions of life for women in the new country.
Fact: A big round of applause is owed to: Monica La Porta, a good friend and an awesome author (http://monicalaporta.com); Paula, best proofreader ever (https://paulaproofreader.wixsite.com/home); Starla Huchton, cover designer extraordinaire (http://www.designedbystarla.com); and Grace for finding her wings.
Fact: Subscribe to Vered’s blog at https://veredehsani.co.za and receive a Victorian Nairobi photo album, the prequel to this series, a beginner’s guide to African paranormals, and other gifts.
Fact: If you enjoyed this book, please recommend it to others. I rely on and deeply appreciate your support; plus, you’ll feel awesome from performing your good deed for the day.
Fact: Vered has other books you might want to read. Their descriptions are further on.
Read More
To find sales links for all my books, visit here: https://veredehsani.co.za/my-books/
THE COZY TEA SHOPPE MYSTERY SERIES: Tea isn’t the only thing that’s brewing in the delicious sequel to the “Society for Paranormals” series. Join semi-retired paranormal detective Miss Knight as she attempts to keep the kettle boiling and her customers satisfied (or at least alive) while dodging murder, mayhem and other inconveniences. Serving tea has never been more dangerous.
Murder for Tea
Murder is brewing: While Beatrice Knight Timmons is part witch, the only thing she’s interested in nowadays is tea, and copious amounts of it. But that’s not all that’s brewing. No sooner does she open her very own tearoom and shop in the small town of Nairobi, someone with a vendetta against young brides murders one and leaves the body in The Cozy Tea Shoppe. With her best friend’s wedding only weeks away, can Miss Knight stop the murderer while making sure her next order of tea leaves arrives in time?
Death in a Teacup
Death is on the menu: With the Wedding Killer behind bars, the witchy Beatrice Knight Timmons is able to focus on managing The Cozy Tea Shoppe. But when the African God of Death pays her a visit after losing his throne, danger is back on the menu. All decorum is thrown out with the tea leaves as the line between the living and the dead gets thinner with the passing of every full moon. Only Miss Knight can persuade the powers-that-be to reinstate Death and the circle of life. But everyone has their own agenda, and time is running out. While the small colonial town of Nairobi is used to all manner of monsters and mayhem, this latest debacle might need more than a pot of tea to endure it.
SOCIETY FOR PARANORMALS: A paranormal detective refuses to let danger, death and unwanted suitors inconvenience her in colonial Kenya.
Ghosts of Tsavo
Where African myth meets Victorian manners: Armed with Victorian etiquette, a fully loaded walking stick and a dead husband, Beatrice Knight arrives in colonial Kenya desperate for a pot of tea and a pinch of cinnamon. But she’ll need more than that if she’s to unravel the mystery of the ghost lions of Tsavo without being eaten in the process. All this while surviving the machinations of her best friend’s dashing godfather and the efforts of her safari guide to feed her to any lion willing to drag her away. What is a ghost-chasing widow to do?
The Automaton’s Wife
Jane Austen meets Lara Croft: Beatrice Knight has enough to contend with: a zebra is dead on her lawn, her horse is possessed and a gentleman has arrived with the temerity to propose to her. To top it off, her dead husband, Gideon, has absconded with an automaton, threatening to return for his wife. The wife in question however soon has other issues, for a killer has moved into town with a nasty habit of carving up the victims. As luck should dictate, who should be the next target but Mrs. Knight herself?
Revenge of the Mantis
Revenge is best served with tea: All is going as it should for Beatrice Knight, until the Lightning God lands in her barn and announces that her old nemesis, Koki, is about to pay an unsolicited visit. While powdered cinnamon works well on many insects, the giant praying mantis won’t be so easily dissuaded from exacting revenge against the intrepid paranormal investigator. And let’s not forget that Mrs. Knight’s cousin is engaged to a bat man while her brother has returned from the dead as a werewolf. As if that isn’t complicated enough, Mr. Timmons presents a possibility too terrible to consider, yet too tempting to refuse. Now, if only she could survive long enough to make a decision…
The Fourth Mandate
Occupational hazard has a new meaning: Having offered her firm and unequivocal resignation, Beatrice Knight is certain she is clear of her former employer, the Society for Paranormals, and is now free to proceed with her life and a wedding. It all seems quite simple, until the Society’s Director Prof. Runal shows up at the train station, her cousin announces horrifying news, and a ponytailed dwarf decides he needs her powers to eradicate all non-humanoid paranormals. At least one thing is certain: anything is manageable with a pot of tea and a fully loaded walking stick.
Curse of the Nandi
Marital bliss was never this complicated: Mrs. Beatrice Knight is preparing to start a life of marital bliss, or at least marital satisfaction, with her new husband who fortunately is very much alive and can’t float through walls. While she is no expert on honeymoons, she’s certain that they shouldn’t involve brainless heads, bloodsucking fireflies and Bubonic Plague. These, however, are mere inconveniences, for there’s another threat of greater significance: the Nandi are rising up against their colonial masters and are determined to rid the land of all things British. The intrepid Mrs. Knight faces all this with her usual aplomb, her hefty walking stick and, of course, a pot of tea. But will her marriage survive?
A Spider Comes Calling
Life after death just got deadlier: Mrs. Beatrice Timmons (aka Miss Knight) is thoroughly unimpressed by the troop of monkeys that have invaded her kitchen. Of course, that’s only the beginning of the influx of undesirable critters. When a giant spider appears in the garden, Mrs. Timmons knows there’s trouble brewing and it’s not served with tea. A choice must be made: agree to an unholy alliance or endanger an unborn child? To confound matters further, her husband disapproves of the whole venture. And that’s before Mrs. Timmons vanishes into the Underworld to pay an unsolicited visit to the God of Death. While it’s all for a good cause, the consequences could be dire.
Stones of Nairobi
Some stones should never be moved: Not easily befuddled, the intrepid supernatural sleuth Mrs. Beatrice Knight Timmons can’t fathom how the ancient tombstone of a legendary warrior-king ended up in Nairobi. All she knows is that her life is on the line once again as she embarks on her most dangerous mission yet: to retrieve a corpse and the soul it once housed. Mrs. Timmons may need more than a pot of tea if she wants to solve this case and stop a looming battle from enveloping all of British East Africa. To do so, she’ll have to work with the enemy and learn to read poetry. Then again, who has time for poems with a traitor plotting, an unborn child causing havoc and her husband sitting in prison?
THE GHOST POST MYSTERIES: An Urban Fantasy Series in which the humor is darker, the characters more deadly
Lethal Takeout
When Axe Cooper is murdered while picking up Chinese takeaway, he’s pretty irritated about the loss of a good dinner, not to mention being dead. Not prepared to move on just yet, Axe decides to stick around and haunt his best friend, Lily Chan,
while trying to figure out why anyone would kill a janitor. In the meantime, Axe is hired by The Ghost Post to track down recently deceased writers. As he learns more about his new phantom friends, Axe realises his murder is not an isolated event and that if he doesn’t learn to fly like Superman, Lily could be next.
Fatal Secrets
Just when Axe Cooper thinks he’s safe, guess again. His memory is fading and unless he wants to lose his mind, he has to figure out why he buried an old friend in a swamp. And let’s not forget the ghost-eating Deathmark that’s developed an unhealthy interest in Axe and his friends. Being dead is no protection from the secret that is about to crawl back into his life. But he’s not the only one with something to hide and some secrets are deadlier than others.
DRAGON & MYTH: A Sci-Fi Adventure Series
Dragon’s Mind
Ten years ago, a human brain was installed into a computer system. To most people, it is a non-living entity operating in the background of their lives. Only a girl named Myth knows better: his name is Dragon and he is very much alive. And after ten bodiless years, Dragon has a dream that will change everything. The dream will put his mind and Myth’s life in mortal danger. There are powerful forces that don’t want the truth revealed and they’re coming for Dragon. But where do you run to when you’re already everywhere?
Dragon’s War
How do you stop a war you started? And should you, if your species’ safety and wellbeing depend on winning at all costs? These are the thoughts that plague Myth as she paces the fortress where she is being kept “for her own protection.” Meanwhile, Dragon is in hiding, hunted by the albino assassin and the city’s very systems that he once ran. As his backup reserves are depleted and the clock ticks down to the launch of a global virus, Myth must escape to save Dragon and together stop the war that they launched. But time is running out and the albino is watching.