by Kiru Taye
“Of course, you’re invited.”
Their relationship changed from that moment. When Joshua came to her party, she made him promise to wait for her return.
He did.
While she was in London, they kept in touch almost on a daily basis. During her long vacations, she travelled back to Nigeria. He became an integral part of her life, one person she couldn’t do without. Once she graduated and returned home to set up her own fashion house, they got engaged and eventually married. Naturally.
All the while she’d assumed he loved her. Until—
Her phone buzzed and distracted her from her melancholic thoughts, pulling her back into the present and her living room. She recognized the caller ID. Her mother.
Had Joshua already called her parents to tell them about the divorce? Her temper rose even before she picked the call.
“Mum, if you’ve called to give me a hard time, I don’t want to hear it.”
“Christy! Is that any way to greet your mother?”
She exhaled a soothing breath. “I’m sorry, Mum. I’m just a little wound up. I didn’t mean to be rude.”
“You should be. These days, everyone has to walk on eggshells around you. What is the matter with you? I wish you’d talk to me.”
Christy slumped her shoulders and leaned back into the sofa. Most of the time, her mother was the gentler parent, choosing a softer approach to dealing with problems, unlike her father who could be unrelenting. But when her mum got upset, the woman turned into a harridan.
That the deterioration of Christy’s marriage made her feel under siege didn’t help matters. She took it out on those around her, always on the offensive, expecting her parents to interpret her actions as rebellious, like they always did.
“Christy, talk to me.”
“Mum, have you spoken to Joshua lately?”
“No. It’s been over a week since I spoke to him. It seems he’s avoiding me as well these days. This thing between the two of you is really affecting everyone. You both need to settle it, so we can all get on with our lives.”
“Well…. We are going to settle it. I’ve spoken to my lawyer and asked Joshua for a divorce.”
“You did what?” Strained silence fell on the line, the tension thick. When her mother spoke again, her tone was surprisingly calm. Too calm. “Christy, I don’t think I heard you right. Did you say you asked Joshua for a divorce?”
“Yes, Mum.”
“Are you out of your mind? Why?”
Christy reined in her frustration as she took another deep breath. She’d known what reaction to expect, which was why she hadn’t told her parents of her plans.
“Mum, I’ve tried to explain this before. Joshua doesn’t love me. He only married me to please Dad, to strengthen our family ties or something.”
“Rubbish. Who told you such nonsense?”
“I overheard Dad speaking to Joshua a few months ago. I heard Dad say it.”
“I don’t believe that,” her mother said. “Joshua cares about you. Your father couldn’t have persuaded him to marry you if this wasn’t what he already wanted to do.”
“Yes, but marrying the daughter of Chief Julius Godson would help him build his career and business,” Christy said, sadness crawling over her. “That’s all I’ve ever been to Joshua. A means to an end.”
“Hmmm…. This is unbelievable. Have you spoken to Joshua about this?”
“Yes, he left here not so long ago. As seems to be the norm these days, we just argued when I confronted him.”
“I still can’t believe it. You both need to come down to Lagos for Christmas so that we can sort this out once and for all.”
“Erm…. Joshua and I are going to Brass Island for the festivities. I tried to disagree but he insisted.”
“Oh, that’s even better.”
The hope in her mother’s voice softened her tone. She sounded more like the easy-going parent Christy loved.
“The two of you can have time away from work and everything to really work out your problems. I won’t lie to you. I hope you’re wrong because Joshua has become a part of this family, a son. We love you, but we love him, too.”
Her heart clenched with a tinge of sorrow. Her parents had taken to Joshua like he was their blood, especially her mum. Her mother had struggled to conceive another child. But to no avail. Joshua was the son she’d yearned for. Christy hoped she was wrong about Joshua if only to save her mother the pain their divorce would bring. But no matter how much her heart wanted it to be so, the cold hard facts about her husband were irrefutable.
“I’ll let you know once he confirms arrangements,” she said. “Give my love to Dad.”
“Okay. I will. Take care of yourself. And the break will be good for you. You’ll see.”
How unlikely that would be. A relieved sigh rushed out of her as her mother cut the line, glad to let go of the strain of their conversation. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling of impending stress. Spending two weeks with the man she loved, and who didn’t love her back, couldn’t be a good thing. Especially when she’d agreed to cede control to him.
Not good at all.
However, she wasn’t going to let Joshua get the better of her again. Once bitten, twice shy. If he expected her to roll over and play dead, he had another think coming.
Chapter Three
Joshua knew that playing the family card would work with Christy. Within his soul lived a necessity to preserve his family. He recognized the same need in her.
Behind her rebellion and anger, she loved her family with immense passion.
So mentioning how her irrational behavior had upset her parents would prick her conscience. She wouldn’t want anything to hurt them.
Standing outside her apartment building, he watched as she walked into the bright afternoon light. He’d purposely not gone inside when he arrived and chosen to wait for her by the car. As they were catching a flight, he’d chosen a chauffeur from the company fleet instead of driving himself.
She dragged a medium-sized blue suitcase, which his driver took and placed in the boot of the vehicle. She wasn’t altogether happy to be coming with him on this trip. Yet, as she approached him, her features showed none of the vexation he expected. With the regal tilt of her head and her elegant strides, only one word came to mind to describe her appearance—stunning.
She wore high-waist, blue and brown Ankara bell-bottoms, and a short, navy linen jacket with a white tank top. One of her designs from Christy’s House of Fashion, classy and stylish—he’d seen the original sketches when he’d arrived home unannounced one lunchtime. They’d spent the rest of the day making love and working together; he on his laptop, and she with her sketch pad. That had been before she’d opened her boutique and before the phenomenal growth of his business. Their cares had been simple then, mainly each other and their dreams. Now, their individual successes had driven them apart.
Mentally, he shook his head, wiping the past and focusing on the present—Christy striding toward him, boldly and confidently, in leather high heels, with her auburn hair shining in the sunlight.
Perhaps if she hadn’t become a designer, she would’ve had a great modeling career. But her body wasn’t skinny like some of the girls on the magazine covers. Christy had the full body and grace of a woman, an African woman.
For a moment, his gut tingled. Not from desire, but remorse. All the time he’d spent away from her, working hard to build a future for them—she’d been neglected.
Then he thought of all the things she’d had in her life. The wealth. The privileges. Joshua had worked hard so she could keep having those.
Did that make him the enemy?
“I see you’re eager to spend time with me,” he said when she reached his side.
The line on her jaw tightened. “Where exactly are we going to be staying in Brass?”
“Godson Villa.”
“What? My dad told you to stay there?”
“No.”
“What then?”
“When was the last time you went there? To the island?” Joshua asked.
Christy kept her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized Joshua’s hard but handsome face. The harsh lines of his dark eyebrows, the neatly trimmed moustache, and the piercing black eyes were almost flawless. Except, Joshua wasn’t some perfect choir boy. He had restless energy beneath the suave exterior, a wild masculinity that wouldn’t be tamed, waiting to be unleashed.
“I don’t know,” she said. “A few years. Not since I came back from London.”
“Hmmm.”
His non-answer flared her temper. All her life, her parents had owned Godson Villa. An old white colonial building, it had been part of the former British consulate on the island. All her childhood family Christmas holidays had been spent in that house.
Joshua held the car door open. “Perhaps you should have enquired about the place before now?”
“What is that supposed to mean?” She gave him her most scathing glance before getting into the car.
Joshua got in after her, and shut the door. “It means it’s now mine.”
The car slid forward, toward the airport.
Scrunching her forehead in a baffled frown, Christy twisted her body to face Joshua who sat only inches away from her in the back seat of the Mercedes GL. “I don’t get you.”
“I bought the villa.”
His aloof, dismissive tone could only mean one thing: he didn’t care.
He neither cared about the house that had been a part of her life for as long as she could remember, nor did he care about how she’d feel about losing a place that held so many fond memories for her.
Christy reared back into her seat as a shot of pain speared through her body. She tightened her grip on her shoulder bag handle as her throat clogged up.
Joshua touched her shoulder. “Are you okay? You look pale.”
His hand on her skin held warmth, firmness, and an enveloping intimacy even through her blazer. It took her back to that youthful summer when he’d first held her closely. When all she’d yearned for was the feel of his hands on her skin and the brush of his lips on hers.
Self-loathing swept through her body. All these years, why hadn’t she seen through Joshua? Why had she allowed his charming exterior to lure her into falling for him? His sensual caresses had been impossible to resist.
Forcing air into her lungs with huge gulps, she lifted and rolled her shoulder to shake his hand off.
“Don’t touch me.”
Joshua arched his eyebrows and removed his hand. “Why?”
Christy fought the revulsion that threatened to make her heave, horrified that she was so easily persuaded, so easily deceived. With what she knew, she should never have agreed to do this. Never agreed to put herself in Joshua’s care for the next two weeks. So he could have more opportunities to tempt her with seductive words and erotic dexterity. How was she going to survive without losing her mind?
“Because you’re a liar. My father would never have sold you that place.”
“Don’t be so certain.”
The coldness of Joshua’s voice made her turn to face him.
“So tell me why he would sell the place that’s been in the family for years?”
“Perhaps you should ask him that question yourself.”
“Oh, don’t worry.” She paused, trying to stay calm, but her simmering anger went on the boil and got the better of her. “You don’t know how much I hate you right now.”
“Hate?”
She laughed, the noise as raw in her chest as it sounded. Her insides heated with emotion, bubbling with corrosive pain that ate chunks of her by the second.
“Yes.” She stared straight into his eyes, letting him see the rage burning within her. “I don’t know what kind of trickery you used to acquire our house.”
“You hate me because I bought Godson Villa?”
“No. I hate you because it wasn’t enough for you to deceive me. You had to deceive my parents, too.”
She couldn’t believe that after all her parents had done for Joshua, loved him like their own, he would stoop to these levels.
“I’ll take the blame for the purchase of the house. But I can’t accept the blame for the rest of it.” He shrugged. “I can’t be held responsible for your father’s decisions.”
She closed her eyes, held the pain in, holding tight onto what remained of her control.
But her senses heightened with her eyes closed, making everything worse. She became more aware of Joshua; his warmth, his inflexible poise, and his superior pride.
He was terrible and wicked. She would do whatever it took to get him out of her life, her family’s life.
The car stopped. The driver held the door open for Christy. She walked to the back, picked her luggage, and strode into the airport terminal, ignoring Joshua who strode beside her.
The seasonal decorations in some of the shops reminded her of the irony of her situation. For her, the holidays were a happy period spent with family and friends. This year, there would be nothing merry about her Christmas.
They boarded the plane in rigid silence, sitting next to each other in business class for the one hour flight from Abuja to Port Harcourt. As they ascended, Joshua spread out in his seat, his posture relaxed. Christy sat with a stiff spine in her chair, keeping as far away as physically possible from Joshua in the confined space.
“Why did you buy the house?” she asked when the plane leveled out.
“I wanted it,” he said from behind the spread of the business newspaper he was reading.
“Why?” she persisted, turning to face him as she tried to understand him.
“Memories.”
She couldn’t imagine how he could have such memories of the place when her family had spent more time there than he had. The house had been part of the reason she’d agreed to come on this trip in the first place. She’d missed the place and was hoping she would get to spend time there while they were in Brass.
“Your father chose to sell it,” Joshua said, his tone rational. “I didn’t force him to sell.”
“I can’t believe that. I can’t believe he would sell it without coercion.” Her eyes stung from her fury but she didn’t care.
“It’s strange that you are suddenly concerned about a house you haven’t even bothered to visit all these years. Perhaps then, you would have known what was happening. But no, you were more interested in doing what you wanted and ignored your father and his business.”
Her rage bubbled but she had no comeback for his direct words. True, she had been focused on doing what she’d always dreamed off. That didn’t give Joshua the license to take advantage of her family.
Wearily, Christy rubbed her forehead, her head pounding. All the weeks of not enough sleep were finally catching up with her. Walking out on Joshua had been the most stressful thing she’d ever undertaken. Now the realization that the man she thought she’d known was a totally different person added to the pressure.
She needed to rest and regroup. She needed the energy to fight Joshua later.
For the remainder of the flight, she ignored him. When they arrived in Port Harcourt, they took a ferry service for the last leg to Brass Island.
The sun shone golden in the azure sky, the sea cerulean when they set off in a private yacht hired by Joshua. He sat on the stuffed lounger, his dark glasses shielding his eyes. Christy chose to sit on the opposite end, ignoring him.
They sped toward the island, the greenery coming into view in the distance. The landscape became clearer, the trees of the freshwater swamp forest of the Edumanom Forest Reserve thick and emerald against the blue horizon, home to some of the last chimpanzees in Nigeria and some other protected animal species.
“So what have you got planned for the next two weeks?” she asked, steeling herself for what was to come. She walked to the railing.
“Just some me and you time.”
“What does that mean, exactly?” She took her pho
ne out of her bag, hoping to receive a network signal now that they were approaching land.
“It means that, for starters, there’ll be no use of phone or computers.”
He took the phone from her, switched it off, and dropped it back in her handbag.
“What? I need my phone. I’ve got to have my phone on.” Now she was supposed to spend two weeks without it?
“Remember, it’s my rules.”
Joshua stood behind her, his hand on her back just above the dip of her spine.
Her skin prickled, a shudder running through her body. Despite her anger, she still responded to his closeness, to the stroke of his fingers.
“But—”
“No buts, Christy.”
His deep rumble whispered warm air across the delicate skin of her neck.
“You agreed to this, remember? Your precious divorce papers.”
His mocking words were like a splash of cold water on her. She stiffened her spine, standing taller.
She could do this. She wasn’t going to let Joshua win again.
Chapter Four
The yacht pulled up to the pier on the jetty closest to the house. Christy could see the white building nestled on a slope some distance inland. People waited on shore, and they helped carry their luggage. As she walked toward the house, the spikes of her shoe heels sank into the powdery white sand.
From the distance, the old house looked the same but, as she got within the walled compound, she noticed some differences. The façade looked newly refurbished; painted walls, the old weathered stones gone, the watermarks vanished from the block fencing, neatly manicured front lawn and new hibiscus shrubs recently planted in the front garden.
As she rounded the corner, she noticed a new, uncompleted building being erected at the back, piles of breeze blocks packed neatly and a cement mixer in the corner.
The house was barely recognizable. For a while, she couldn’t move, her feet stuck in the sand as she tried to take in the destructed view in front of her. Gone was the historic building she’d loved as a child. In its place was a modern, stylish holiday villa. So Godson Villa wasn’t the most famous building on the island, but the house preserved some of the glory of its past—her past.