The Sun Sister

by Lucinda Riley

  ‘Goodness!’ she said as she saw houses that would not have been out of place in the English villages she had passed through on the way to the airfield in Southampton. Ditto the impeccably kept gardens, which were blooming with roses, trumpet lilies and jasmine, filling the air with their rich, sweet fragrance.

  Two hours after they had left, the Bugatti pulled into the drive of a U-shaped single-storey house, featuring similar oversized roofs to the others she had noticed on her way. She presumed it must be to keep the sun out of the rooms, but as she stepped out of the car, Cecily gave a small shiver in the biting wind. Dark green bushes bordered the lawn and Cecily saw an antelope was nibbling the grass; it glanced up at her with its large brown eyes, then calmly returned to its grazing.

  ‘Hello, darling, you made it!’

  Cecily turned to see Alice approaching her, wearing an oversized cotton shirt and a pair of khaki culottes.

  ‘Oh yes, hi, I mean, hello, Alice. Forgive me, I was transfixed by the view. It’s . . . spectacular,’ said Cecily as she gazed down across the verdant valley, at the bottom of which ran a river.

  ‘It is quite extraordinary, isn’t it? When one sees it every day, one tends to ignore it.’

  ‘Last time I was in Europe with my parents, we travelled from London up to the Scottish Highlands for a few days. It reminds me a little of there,’ Cecily said as she realised that her hostess had a strange-looking creature nestled contentedly in her neck. It was small and furry with a long pointed nose and round ears, and reminded Cecily of a misshapen kitten.

  ‘What is that?’ she asked Alice as she followed her towards the house, trailing a number of dogs in her wake.

  ‘It’s a mongoose, only a few days old. I found it abandoned under a bush in the garden. I haven’t named it, of course, because if I do, I’ll just have to adopt it, then I’ll become fond of it and it’ll have to sleep with me every night. Which would make the dogs jealous, and . . . Maybe you would like it?’

  Alice grabbed the mongoose from her shoulder and placed it wriggling into Cecily’s hands. ‘They make very good pets and are awfully good at killing vermin.’

  ‘I’ve never had a pet, Alice, and as I’m only staying for a short time, it wouldn’t be right to take it on.’

  ‘Pity. Then I’ll just have to release it back into the wild and it’ll surely get eaten. They’re great protectors, because they’re impervious to snake venom. I found a cobra in my bedroom once and dear little Bertie, whom I’d had for years, jumped off the bed and killed it for me. Keep him for a bit and see how you bond before deciding,’ she said as she led Cecily onto a wide terrace where a number of people were already sitting drinking tea at a long table.

  ‘I . . . okay,’ said Cecily, trying to control the creature, which seemed to be desperate to climb over her shoulder and out of her grasp. ‘I forgot to say that my godmother couldn’t make it today. She sends her apologies. She was feeling unwell.’

  ‘Aleeki called me earlier,’ Alice said breezily. ‘All the more champagne for us, eh? Let’s break it open,’ she announced to the assembled group as she indicated the baskets Makena was carrying behind them. ‘This is . . .’ She gestured airily towards Cecily.

  ‘Cecily Huntley-Morgan.’

  As Cecily struggled to keep hold of the mongoose and greet the assembled party, she was at least relieved to see a couple of young faces sitting at the table.

  ‘Give me that pesky creature.’ Alice plucked it from her and tucked it into her shoulder, where it curled up contentedly and closed its tiny pink eyes. ‘Go sit over there by Katherine.’

  Cecily sat down, feeling slightly breathless and extremely dishevelled. She was also desperate to ask where the bathroom was after her long journey, but felt too shy to do so.

  ‘Hello there, I’m Katherine Stewart,’ said the young woman next to her, with looks that her mother would have called ‘homely’. She was on the plump side, but no less attractive for it in Cecily’s opinion, with her striking titian-coloured hair curled prettily round a pale-skinned face and a pair of bright eyes as blue as the sapphire sky above them.

  ‘And I’m Cecily Huntley-Morgan. Pleased to make your acquaintance.’

  ‘Have you just arrived?’ Katherine asked her in a soft British accent.

  ‘Not just, no – I arrived a couple of days ago by air. It sure was a long journey and I’m still suffering from it.’

  ‘Tea or champagne?’ Katherine smiled at her, as Alice’s equivalent of Aleeki offered the choice of both. Unlike the ever-pristine Aleeki, the man wore a crumpled white robe sporting several obvious stains, and a battered red fez.

  ‘Most definitely tea, thank you.’

  ‘Good choice. Even though I was originally brought up in the Valley, I can still hardly believe the way everyone drinks in the afternoon. And the morning,’ Katherine said, lowering her voice.

  Cecily didn’t know the woman well enough to comment, but she gave Katherine a quiet nod. ‘Tea is certainly enough for me at this time of the day.’

  ‘So, Cecily, where are you staying?’

  ‘With my godmother, who has a house by Lake Naivasha. It’s beautiful, but far hotter than here.’

  ‘Well, we’re another thousand feet above sea level and we often have to light a fire in the evening. Perhaps that’s why so many of the original settlers chose this area – its climate reminded them of England and home.’

  ‘I said to Alice that it reminded me of the Scottish Highlands, especially with those purple mountains in the background.’

  ‘Gosh, my father is Scottish and I went to boarding school just outside a place called Aberdeen,’ Katherine smiled, ‘which is where the Highlands begin.’

  ‘So you’re just back here visiting family?’ Cecily took a bite of a cucumber sandwich from the silver stand she was offered by the houseboy.

  ‘Actually, I’m back for good. My father originally came over as a missionary with my mother before I was born; sadly my mother died a few years back, but Daddy is still very much alive and my fiancé, Bobby Sinclair, lives here. After we’re married, I’ll move to Bobby’s parents’ farm – they moved back to Blighty some years ago – and together we intend to build the cattle herd back up, as well as renovate their archaic house.’ Katherine smiled fondly across the table at a stout man with a sun-weathered face and dark hair that had the odd thread of grey running through it.

  ‘How did you meet?’

  ‘I knew Bobby as a child when I lived out here. He’s ten years older than me, but I always adored him from afar. You could never get rid of me when I was home from school for the holidays, could you, darling?’ she called to him.

  ‘Aye, and isn’t that the truth.’ Bobby smiled back at his fiancée. ‘She was like a wee limpet, she was, always calling round to see if I’d take her swimming in the river. Who’da thought we’d end up getting wed one day?’

  The affection between the two of them was obvious, and the fact they had known each other since childhood and were to marry soon brought back an image of Jack. Cecily forced herself to remember the vow she had made to herself as she’d looked down at the plains of Africa while the aircraft carried her further away from the two men who had destroyed her faith in romance; love, with all the joy and pain it could hold, was something she was in no hurry to experience again.

  ‘How long are you here for?’ she heard Katherine asking her.

  ‘Oh, I . . . I’m not sure. A few weeks, I should think.’

  ‘Well, if you’re still in the country, you must come to our wedding. We’re desperate for anyone under the age of fifty, aren’t we, Bobby?’

  ‘Oh aye, and I hope you’re including me in that category, despite my grey hairs.’

  ‘I’d be delighted to come if I’m able, thank you.’ Cecily lowered her voice. ‘Do you by any chance know where the, uh . . .?’

  ‘Oh, the lavatory, you mean? Of course I do. Come on, I’ll take you.’

  Cecily followed Katherine towards the house, hearing
laughter from the table as Kiki’s champagne began to flow. The interior was beautifully cool, if chaotic, what with dogs running between their legs, and books and papers strewn on top of what looked like some fine but dusty antique furniture.

  Once she’d relieved herself and made an effort to tidy herself up, Cecily wandered along the corridor and outside into the courtyard. She could hear raised voices coming from a building to the side of the main house and walked towards it to find it was a kitchen. Katherine was speaking very firmly (and fluently) in a foreign language to a slovenly-looking Negro woman, who, from the fact she was wearing an apron, was obviously a cook or a maid. Even though Cecily couldn’t understand a word of what was going on, it was clear they were disagreeing about something. The woman was gesticulating, but Katherine seemed as though she was having none of it.

  Katherine saw her standing there, said her last few words to the woman, then walked towards Cecily.

  ‘By golly, did you see the state of that kitchen? It’s disgusting! No wonder poor Alice has had pains in her stomach.’

  ‘She’s sick?’

  ‘Yes, and has been for some time. She saw Dr Boyle last week – only because I marched her there myself. He’s sending her to the hospital in Nairobi for further tests. But of course, while the cat’s away and all that . . .’

  ‘Excuse me?’

  ‘What I mean is, Alice hasn’t had her eye on the domestic ball for some time, and with her old housekeeper Noel abandoning ship a few weeks ago, the servants are simply not doing what they should. No matter.’ Katherine smiled at Cecily as they walked back towards the terrace. ‘Alice has asked me to stay here while she’s in Nairobi, so I’ll soon be knocking them into shape, that’s for sure.’

  ‘Have you known Alice a long time?’

  ‘Since I was tiny, yes. My mother was a friend of hers, which, now that I look back on it, was actually odd, given the fact they were so frightfully different.’

  ‘In what way?’

  ‘Well, Alice was a rich heiress and certainly played her part in the hedonistic lifestyle of the Valley, and my mother was a plain-speaking woman, married to a penniless Scottish missionary. I think it was their love of animals that bonded them – when Alice and her first husband were travelling abroad, my mother would come here with me to earn a little extra as a housekeeper and look after the menagerie. Well now,’ Katherine said as they reached the table and sat down, ‘perhaps you could come and visit me here when Alice is in hospital?’

  ‘I’d love to,’ Cecily said, as they sat back down at the table. She was liking Katherine more and more.

  ‘Look, little Minnie has taken a shine to you,’ Alice called to her as a small dachshund jumped up onto Cecily’s knee. ‘Animals always know who the good people are,’ she remarked as she poured herself more champagne. Once again, Cecily refused the offer of a glass of ‘bubbles’, as Alice called it, and turned her attention to the clouds that were settling more heavily on the tops of the mountain range behind the farm.

  ‘Whoops!’ Katherine stood up as the sapphire sky seemed to darken almost instantaneously and large drops of rain began to fall. ‘Under the veranda, everyone!’ she said as she gathered up as much as she could from the table into one of the baskets. Like a well-oiled machine, the guests moved as one to sit at another table under the overhanging roof as the rain gathered force and began to pelt down around them.

  ‘It’s only a short shower,’ said Katherine. ‘You wait until the real rainy season arrives in April and the road below us here becomes a sea of red mud that washes down from the hills.’

  ‘That sounds dramatic,’ said Cecily, ‘but I’m not sure I’ll still be here by then.’

  ‘Talking of leaving, lassie, we’d better be on our way,’ said Bobby, coming to put a protective arm around Katherine’s shoulders. He was a physical beast of a man, and towered over his wife-to-be.

  ‘Do you live close by?’ Cecily asked them.

  ‘Aye, it’s only ten miles or so west from here as the crow flies, but on the road it can take a long time. Do you ride, Cecily?’ Bobby asked.

  ‘Yes, I do.’ Cecily wondered why horses, which up until recently had made up only a small portion of her past, were suddenly featuring so heavily in her present.

  ‘It’s often the best way to get around these parts, to be honest. That’s how we’re getting home anyway,’ said Bobby.

  ‘It’s been truly lovely to meet you, Cecily,’ said Katherine with a warm smile. ‘I’ll be in touch about you coming over to keep me company while Alice is in hospital. You must stay overnight next time – it’s quite a journey from here back to Naivasha.’

  Cecily watched Bobby and Katherine mount their horses and trot off down the drive.

  An hour later the rain had stopped and the guests had ventured outside once more. Cecily hoped that it wouldn’t be considered rude to take her leave.

  ‘I’m afraid I should return home now,’ she said as she approached her hostess at the head of the table, the baby mongoose still settled on Alice’s shoulder. ‘My godmother is giving a dinner tonight.’ Cecily didn’t know this for certain, but the chances were very good that she was.

  ‘Of course, my dear, and I’m so happy that you and Katherine seem to be hitting it off. She’s a lovely girl, with far more sense than I’ll ever have. Send my regards to Kiki and come see me again soon, won’t you?’ Alice’s delicate white hand pressed onto Cecily’s. ‘It’s so refreshing to have some young company, rather than these worn-out old codgers living on their past glories.’

  ‘I’d love to come visit again. Thank you, Alice.’

  Cecily didn’t bother to say goodbye to the rest of the guests – they were obviously all settled in for the evening, downing champagne like water, their laughter echoing across the valley as she walked along the driveway towards the Bugatti. Makena opened the door for her and settled her into the back seat with a blanket over her knees to ward off the chill that the rain had left behind.

  Even though she’d had no champagne, she felt light-headed as they pulled onto the now muddy road. At such a height above sea level, the air was thinner so maybe that was why, she thought as she peered out of the window and saw the vast expanse of the Great Rift Valley emerge below her. It was a complete contrast to the luxuriant green vegetation above her, and utterly spectacular. She knew from studying her library books about Africa that the Rift extended for several thousand miles and had been formed millions of years ago by the primal forces of nature. But no amount of reading could prepare a person for the sheer awe-inspiring scale of it in reality, especially from this vantage point. The setting sun bathed the flat, largely treeless valley floor in a rich apricot glow, and if she strained her eyes, she could make out tiny dots that could be animals or people – or both – moving almost imperceptibly across the spectacular terrain.

  ‘What an incredible country this is,’ she murmured as she rested her head against the windowpane. ‘Too much to take in,’ she sighed, wishing her family were here to share it with her and make sense of it; the contrast between Manhattan and here was a rift as wide as the majestic valley itself – the two were just worlds apart. She wanted to get to grips with it, both the people and the place. It felt like trying to eat an elephant – simply overwhelming – but somehow, she vowed, she would manage to do it before she returned home.

  The next thing she knew, Aleeki was gently shaking her awake.

  ‘Welcome home, memsahib. Let me help you out of the car.’

  Cecily allowed him to do so, and they walked together across the terrace then inside the house.

  ‘What time is it?’ she asked.

  ‘It is half past eight.’

  ‘Oh.’ Cecily looked back at the deserted terrace and listened to the silence. ‘Is my godmother out tonight?’

  ‘No, memsahib, she is still feeling unwell and is in her room, sleeping. You must be hungry. I can set up the table on the terrace, or send a tray to your room, whichever you prefer.’

&n
bsp; ‘A glass of milk will do me just fine, thanks. May I take a bath? I feel so filthy from the journey.’

  ‘Of course, memsahib. I will send up Muratha with your milk and to fill the bathtub for you.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Cecily walked towards the stairs, then stopped. ‘I . . . is my godmother all right? I mean, how sick is she?’

  ‘She will be well soon. Do not worry. I will take care of her.’

  ‘Please tell her goodnight from me then.’

  ‘Of course,’ Aleeki said with a bow. ‘Goodnight, memsahib.’

  The following day, with Kiki still indisposed, Cecily felt grateful (guiltily so) for the peace that had descended on the house. For the first time since she’d arrived, she felt as though she had time to breathe and take in the beauty of her surroundings. Aleeki was on hand with suggestions to entertain her and that afternoon, she was taken out on the lake by Kagai, a young Kikuyu boy who told her in his halting English that he had been born here. As well as teaching her some basic native phrases, he showed her how to dip a rod off the side of the boat and hold it steady until she felt a tug and he then helped her pull out a wriggling fish, whose metallic skin shone rainbow-coloured in the sunlight. Sitting in the centre of the enormous silver lake, the water millpond-still, she watched the hippos sun themselves on land, then stand and slide their bulk into the water, gliding through it as gracefully as any swan.