by Rula Sinara
He tossed the coin and slapped it on his arm.
“If it’s heads, you have to answer the question, ‘Do you love Mac Walker? For richer or for poorer?’ and if it’s tails, I tell you how much I love you and always have.”
He uncovered the coin. Tails. He seemed nervous. He picked up the coin and put it in her palm, then held her face in his hands.
“I confess that I love you and always have, Tessa. Be with me. I know a Serengeti camp probably isn’t your idea of a nice life, but I love you and can only hope you’d give it a chance. Give me a chance. We can make it work for us and for Nick. I want nothing more than for us to be together forever.” He kissed her and it was powerful and breathtaking and full of promise. A kiss that wiped away all the years they’d lost and the heartache they’d endured. A kiss that cleared away the storm.
She caught her breath, then moved the coin to her arm with the heads facing up. Mac grinned.
“I confess that I love Mac and always have, for richer or poorer, for all he stands for, for who he is...as he is...wild life and all.” This time she kissed him to seal her truth.
“You love me? Huh?” Mac said, his cocky edge back.
“Yeah, I do. And I have another confession.”
“What’s that?”
“Living here with you is my idea of the perfect life.”
“Does that mean after you’re a free woman, you’d be willing to risk giving up that freedom again?”
“Mac, spending forever with you would be freedom. Freedom of the heart.”
“I want nothing more than forever with you too, Tess.” And with that, he kissed her. The kind of kiss she’d only ever experienced in her dreams. The kind only soul mates could share.
And all that mattered now was that they would finally be sharing the rest of their lives together, in Kenya, with love.
EPILOGUE
Five months later...
TESSA LEANED BACK against Mac’s knees as he sat on the wooden steps of Anna and Jack’s house at Busara watching Nick, Pippa and Haki, along with Ben and Hope’s children, Maddie, who was quite the talker, Chad and Ryan. Ryan, still a toddler, was safely perched on top of Ben’s shoulders. Hope was standing in the courtyard area closer to the elephant pens, keeping an eye on all the kids. Tessa had also had the chance to meet more of their friends. Dr. David Alwanga, a colleague of Jack’s who worked in research at the university in Nairobi—who also happened to be Hope’s brother—had come to visit with Hope’s best friend, Chuki, his new fiancée. Everyone who knew him called him Alwanga, except for Hope, who’d been calling him Simba since they were kids. According to Hope, Chuki had been the last person on earth that her brother would have imagined falling for, but there was no arguing with love.
Tessa let Mac weave his fingers between hers and tilted her head back to smile at him. He kissed her on the nose and rubbed his thumbs against her skin. She loved visiting Busara almost as much as she loved calling Camp Jamba Walker home. It wasn’t that she didn’t love South Africa or miss the postcard views of beaches or rocky shores and waters that stretched to the horizon. It was a beautiful country and it would always be a part of her, much like her new friends, Jack and Anna, felt about America. But Kenya was home now and she had no doubt in her mind that it was where she wanted to be and where she was always destined stay. Just like she wholeheartedly believed that she and Mac had always been destined for each other. They’d taken a rough path getting there, but the journey made what they had that much sweeter.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had this many people at Busara all at once,” Anna said, swinging past the screen door carrying a bowl of fresh figs and mangos for anyone who still had room in their stomachs.
Jack sat cross-legged on the porch across from Sue, waiting for Noah to take his first steps. Sue slowly let go of Noah’s chubby hands and they waited to see if this time he’d make his way to Daddy or teeter and fall on his butt again.
“That’s true,” Jack said. “We’re usually outnumbered by elephants. They’re probably wondering why the humans are multiplying so rapidly.” He snatched a fig and held it out to Noah as bait. Noah’s eyes widened and he gurgled, reaching and leaning forward at a precarious angle without moving his feet.
Kamau laughed.
“I’m not so sure. If you don’t watch that Pippa of yours, she’s going to have them thinking they’re human,” he said.
Pippa was trying to demonstrate that she could teach a baby elephant to use a spoon to scoop food from her hand.
Nick just stood there shaking his head.
“Kam, you’d better go rescue that poor elephant before he grows up thinking spoons grow on trees in the wild,” Niara said as she sat in a chair with a pillow behind her to rest the ache in her lower back. Her hand lay on her growing belly. Kamau lifted her fingers to his mouth with an exaggerated bow, gave them a kiss and lumbered off, leaving Niara glowing even more.
“Pippa knows better.” Anna sighed, watching her vivacious little girl. “She’s just showing off, especially to Nick. Have you all noticed? She loves to challenge anyone older than her. Remember how she used to give Haki a hard time?” she asked Niara.
“Yes. Nick’s presence here is giving Haki a break from her bossiness.” Niara chuckled. “But have you noticed how Maddie keeps looking at Nick, too? I wonder if he realizes just how enamored they are of him.”
“A few years from now, if he’s still lucky enough to have their attention, he won’t be so clueless,” Mac said.
Tessa loved that blood didn’t define family. Nor did species or race or history. Nothing but love did. All the children were considered cousins, not just friends, whether blood-related or not. Everyone was family here. Nick had gotten to know Ben and Hope’s kids well because of a class he was taking a few times a week in Nairobi in the same school Maddie attended. He was actually adapting really well to virtual school online, with a few extracurricular activities with kids his age in the area thrown in. So far, so good. The internet really did open up possibilities. Rustic life with modern conveniences. But she and Mac were making sure he was living...experiencing things...and not just hiding behind a computer screen.
“Next time, we’ll all have to gather at our place,” Mugi said.
“Absolutely. We’ll have a bonfire and Mugi can tell the children stories all night,” Kesi added. “There’s room for everyone to use a tent, so plan on an all-night gathering.”
“We could time it with Pippa’s birthday. Isn’t it Valentine’s Day? That’s less than a month away,” Mac said.
“Sounds good to us,” Alwanga said, putting his arm around Chuki.
“Sounds great, if that doesn’t make it too chaotic for you,” Jack said. “When’s the wedding, Chuki? Mugi and Kesi won’t allow tent sharing unless we get invited to one,” Jack teased.
“Well, if they’re the only couple still unmarried by the time we have a bonfire, then they’ll automatically have to take on babysitting duties. We’ll divide the children up into girl and boy tents and see which of these two come out alive in the morning,” Kesi said. “Kind of like being thrown in a lion’s pit during Roman times.”
Everyone laughed.
“Trust me, I’ll be the one to win this challenge,” Chuki said. “This man and a herd of children? Not a chance.”
“That’s probably true, but I won you,” Alwanga said with a cocky grin. “I think I got the better deal.”
“I think I won you, too,” Chuki countered.
“Okay, you two. Enough mushiness. Set a date and get a tent,” Anna
said.
“Young love...” Kesi sighed.
Mac bent over and wrapped his arms around Tessa, pressing his lips against her hair. Heaven help her, she wanted to get a tent with him right now.
“I’m really happy you’re here,” he whispered.
“Me, too. I’ve never been so crazy happy in my life,” Tessa said. Happy didn’t come close to describing how she felt. She’d found the perfect ending to her story and the perfect beginning for the next one.
“I heard the word wedding.” Hope walked up to them holding her stepson Chad’s hand to keep him from escaping like Bakhari once had. Chad was like a mini marine on caffeine. “I keep telling Simba and Chuki to set a date. Ben and I are proof that when it’s right, it’s right, no matter how long it has been since you’ve met. Days or years.”
“Yeah, we have a saying in America. ‘In a New York minute.’ That’s all the time it takes to know you’ve found ‘the one,’ so I think given how long it took to find each other again, we couldn’t have gotten married soon enough.” Jack shared a tender look with Anna.
“Well, there’s also an African saying that goes, ‘Wood already touched by fire isn’t hard to set alight,’” Hope said.
Jack had mentioned that she and her brother loved seeing who could slip the best proverb into any given situation. Since Jack and Alwanga worked together, he’d been sucked into their wisdom challenges. Tessa had heard so many old chestnuts in the past day, it was amusing to say the least. She related to that last one, though. Love rekindled. It fit, even if she and Mac hadn’t realized the tension between them had stemmed from a deep-seated caring for each other. Love in its strongest form.
“Why else do you think Tessa and Mac here already tied the knot?” Anna grinned. “Kind of like with Jack and me. We came full circle from being best friends back in school. I suppose sometimes it takes losing what you have to see just how important it is to you.”
“Only we weren’t exactly best friends,” Mac said. “But I’m glad we are now.”
“Definitely,” Tessa said, though he had been a good friend all along in an outside-the-box sort of way. But that’s what she loved about Mac. He’d never fit between the lines and never tried to, but he did fit perfectly with her.
Her parents had even come up for the wedding. That had meant the world to Tessa. They kept the celebration simple, in the gardens at Hodari Lodge with everyone here today in attendance. She didn’t want Brice’s memory marring any part of her new life in Kenya. Avoiding the lodge just because of what happened there hadn’t seemed right. She wasn’t letting anyone control her life like that. And she wanted to set an example for Nick in terms of not letting the past tie you down. Thank goodness that given the situation, her divorce had been expedited.
Brice was currently in jail. He’d been given a two-year sentence and a fine. As Tessa learned, through the process, that was a pretty normal sentence. A slap on the wrist considering the pain and suffering he’d caused. But just like Ben had said, the information she had uncovered had led to arrests at the art gallery by an undercover buyer. At least it was something. Every arrest and every tusk confiscated made a difference.
“I saw your latest post,” Ben said. “Great job.”
She was still getting used to getting compliments from Ben. Since he and Hope worked in Nairobi, she’d only seen him a handful of times since his grand interrogation. The guy was a little rough around the edges, but had a great heart. And there was no mistaking that his wife and kids really did love him, and vice versa.
“Thanks,” Tessa said. “The website has been getting a lot of traffic lately. I love working on it. Oh, and Anna, I can’t thank you enough for putting me in touch with that environmental postdoc from your alma mater. She was happy to contribute an article, and I think it was responsible for an influx of readers. Apparently, Serena Myss has quite a following.”
“I’m glad it worked out. Serena got me a lot of fund-raising support back when Busara was at a critical point. I’d love to meet her in person someday,” Anna said.
“Well, since my parents came here last month for Christmas,” Jack suggested, “we can go visit them next time and let Serena know we’ll be in town. Maybe she’ll write you another post in the future.”
“That would be pretty awesome,” Tessa said.
Tessa had put together an online newspaper of sorts. A website that provided information and links to all the major conservation sites and campaigns against wildlife trafficking, poaching, trapping or any form of endangerment. She was using her journalism experience to report on current events as well as writing a weekly column about life in the Serengeti. In it she did just that—recounted her personal experiences and encounters with animals and even plants. Now that the site had gained momentum and a reputation for drawing in donations to wildlife and environmental organizations, she was getting some high-profile guest contributors, too. Anna included. As diverse as the site was, it placed an emphasis on raising public awareness of the blood ivory trade.
“Look, look, look! He’s doing it!” Jack crouched down and held his hands out.
“He’s on his own,” Sue said when Noah let go of her and took four steps toward his dad before tumbling down and bawling.
“That’s my boy. Come on, buddy. You can do it,” Jack said. Oh, the pride on his face.
“I remember Ryan’s first steps,” Ben said. “Give him a few days and you’ll be coming up with innovative ways to keep him corralled. You have my card.”
Hope had told Tessa some hilarious stories about Ben’s marine-influenced parenting tactics when she’d first met him.
Drops of rain pitter-pattered against the roof of the house and dappled the dry ground. The kids came running up the steps and into the house and everyone else followed. Tessa grabbed the fruit bowl for Anna and hurried in from the afternoon shower. She set it on the dining table and stopped to glance through the window and across the valley to the herds that passed in peace, moving on to their next grazing area, unfazed by the rain.
Sometimes it takes losing what you have to see just how important it is to you.
Mac joined her and put his arm around her. She leaned her head against his shoulder and looped her arm around his waist. Tonight, once they were alone, she’d be telling him that he’d always be a wonderful uncle, but that he was going to be a dad, too. They’d talked about it, so she knew he’d be thrilled. Their family was growing.
Busara and all its children, human and otherwise, was a special place, as was Camp Jamba Walker. Here, instead of the sands of her past, Tessa had the rich earth her future would grow on. Instead of vast stretches of waters so deep she couldn’t see what lay beneath, she had an endless view of the savanna, spotted with trees whose branches reached toward the horizon and mountains that welcomed clouds as they rolled in and rivers that wove their way through the landscape with their assurance that new life would come. It was all here—from snow to sun and desert to forests and death to life—and it was all intricately and, most of all, beautifully balanced.
This was their Serengeti.
This was where they were destined to live, love and protect.
This was their home.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from HOME FOR KEEPS by Lynn Patrick.
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ISBN-13: 9781488009044
Through the Storm
Copyright © 2016 by Rula Sinara
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