by Cherry Kay
"I understand." Jason nodded with a wary conscience. Percy nodded back at him, and gestured that Jason could go. "Good luck." he said as Jason walked out of the office.
Chapter5
The last time that Amara had called her parents, it had been to tell them that she might be forced to come home, and now it was to tell them that she was staying put with a new husband at her side. She needed to beg their secrecy and support, so that she could stay with Jason in America and finish everything she had started here. This time, it was her mother who answered the phone.
"Amara, thank God!" she breathed when she heard her daughter's voice. "I was going crazy with worry! After what happened with your father, I didn't know what you would do!"
"Well you don't need to worry about that anymore, Ma,” Amara told her firmly. “It's all been taken care of."
"Oh, I am so relieved. Has your visa finally come through?"
"No." Amara told her, her nerves steeling for what she would say next. "Ma, I have some news. You should probably sit down."
"Sit down? What for? Are you alright?" Her mother was worried again.
"I'm fine, Ma, but I have to tell you something."
"What is it?" Her mother asked in a thin voice.
Amara drew a deep breath and decided that the best way to go through with it was just to say it to her. "I've married an American man and I am staying here in the United States as his wife."
There was an eternal second of silence on the line, and then her mother gasped loudly, sucking her breath in. "What? Amara, please tell me that you are joking!"
She had known it would be difficult for her mother and father to hear, and she knew that her mother would be far more understanding about it than her father. She had hoped against hope that it would go this way and that she could tell her mother, and that her mother would then tell her father.
That way, he would have a chance to cool down before he talked to her, and her mother could be there in between them as a sort of buffer for the anger she knew her choice would evoke in him. There would eventually be hell to pay for her marriage to Jason, at least as far as her father was concerned.
"I'm not joking. His name is Jason. He is my professor. We are married and I need you and Pa to tell anyone who asks that we have been engaged for some time."
She could hear the stress and anxiety in her mother's voice. "Why would you do that?" Her mother exclaimed, beginning to sob. "How could you marry a man without talking to us about it, first?"
Frustration built up in Amara and she felt that she had to speak her mind, at least in some small part. "You gave me no choice, Ma!" Amara retorted. "You are angry at me for marrying a man without your permission when you and Pa wanted me to marry a man without mine! Jason is a good, kind man who has done me a great mercy in asking for my hand. Now I can stay here and finish my studies and make something of my life as I always intended to do. This is more important to me than anything, Ma! Please! Try to understand!"
On the other end of the line, Amara could hear her father's voice in the background, as he asked why his wife was crying. Amara's mother must have told him the reason, because she heard a loud, “What?” Then there was momentary silence and her father came on the line with her.
"Amara, this is your father." He announced angrily. "What is this about a husband? You must be lying!"
"It's no lie." Amara said boldly. "I have done what I must do to live my own life. You shouldn't have done what you did, Pa. This is all your doing. Now I will never marry Matthieu and I will be living in the United States permanently. Learn to listen to your children and it will save you a lot of pain, Pa."
Amara hung up before her parents could say any more but there were tears in her eyes. She had always worked hard to make her parents proud, and even though she had often butted heads with them and had different ideas about life and her place in the world, she loved them dearly. To disappoint and hurt them was painful to her. Jason heard her crying in the bedroom and came to be at her side.
"What's wrong?"
"I just told my parents about us." She whispered, while sniffing and wiping tears from her cheeks.
"And? What did they say?" "My mother cried and my father shouted." She wiped away another tear and looked up at him sadly.
Jason put his arm around her shoulders gently. "It is done now. There is nothing more they can do to stop you from being happy. You've already crossed the hardest hurdle, and that was telling them, so now anything else that comes up will be easier. Focus on that."
Amara turned her face into his chest and wept for the family she had betrayed. He soothed her with gentle hands, stroking her hair and placing soft kisses on her forehead. "This is the start of the rest of your life." He told her. "Don't cry. Things will be so much better now."
"I have betrayed my family." She wept, agony twisting her heart and making her sick.
"No, Amara." Jason told he firmly, lifting her tear-stained face to look at him. "They betrayed you when they tried to make you bend to their will and their ways, rather than encouraging you to find your dreams and reach your true potential. You must never apologize for being exceptional. It's who you are, and who you are meant to be."
He shook his head as he looked into her sad eyes, her sorrow pulled at his heart, making him need to comfort her in some way. His eyes fell from hers to her lips, and he leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers softly, barely touching them, barely pressing, but holding them against his own.
They had not allowed themselves the comfort and pleasure of intimacy again after their first night together, though they had both thought about it often. Each of them at their own times would ache with need and desire for the other, but the reality of their situation and agreement held them both in place, and while they slept in the same bed together, their bodies had not united again since their wedding night.
Now Jason's kiss, which had been soft at first, deepened only slightly, and he held her face in his hands, making her feel as if she were worth more than anything in the world to him. The two had kissed many times in the last week when people were looking, but Jason's kiss in that moment was not a kiss for show.
It was a kiss meant for her to comfort her and show his care. Amara liked it when he kissed her that way. It made the loss of her family less biting and the long future ahead of her less daunting. She squeezed his hand tenderly and he lifted his mouth from hers, his heart beating a little faster, his breath a little shallow, and his heart a little more tender.
"Thank you, Jason." She whispered, opening her eyes and looking at him once again.
He smiled down at her and ran his fingers over her cheeks. "Anything for my wife."
*
That afternoon, Amara and Jason took a picnic in the park to practice being a couple. They laid out their blanket and set out the food. They were just pouring lemonade when Jason heard a familiar, "Hello!"
He looked up and saw his neighbor, Mr. Finchley walking to them with his little beagle, Teddy Boy.
"Mr. Finchley!" Jason said, standing up and helping Amara to her feet. "How nice to see you, and little Teddy Boy, too!" He reached down and rubbed the dog’s soft floppy ears.
"Mr. Finchley, this is my new bride, Amara." Jason said, knowing it would give the old man quite a surprise. He had been so busy with their plans and his classes that he hadn't been walking past Mr. Finchley's house during the hours when the old man was out. He'd missed seeing him. This was the first chance he'd gotten to actually talk with him since they had been married.
Mr. Finchley's eyes grew wide and a smile spread over his face. "Your wife! Well, what an honor and a pleasure to meet you, Miss Amara, and may I say what a beautiful bride you are."
She grinned and thanked him, shaking his hand and leaning down to pet Teddy Boy and play with him for a moment.
"I leave you alone for a few weeks and you get married? I didn't even know you had a lady friend!" Mr. Finchley said, looking slightly disturbed. "I must be slipping!"
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Jason laughed and shook his head. "No, Mr. Finchley, you aren't slipping, it was a fast marriage. We were seeing each other and her student visa has had some problems, so they were going to send her back to South Africa, but I just couldn't let them do it. I just couldn't let her go." He said, looking down at her as she played with Teddy Boy, and his heart flipped over in his chest.
Mr. Finchley's eyes narrowed and he looked from Jason down to the young woman with his dog, and then he looked back up at Jason. "Would this be the young lady who is your star student?" he asked keenly.
Jason felt his heart tighten as he nodded with a smile. Mr. Finchley never missed anything. Ever. "She sure is. I'm a lucky man."
Mr. Finchley was quiet for a long moment, watching Jason, and then watching Amara, who let Teddy Boy lay in the grass as she stood up beside her husband and looked back at him.
"Mmmhmmm." He hummed slowly, and Jason knew they were found out.
"Well, that certainly explains that old nosy fool." Mr. Finchley said with a grimace.
Jason's brow furrowed. "...old nosy fool?" he asked in confusion.
Mr. Finchley inclined his head toward a bench that was almost hidden by a tree a short distance away from them.
"That nosy old fool." he repeated. "and his young friend behind me. They think they're so slick. Mrs. Harrison's old 1973 Buick is less obvious going down the street on a cold day than those two are trying to hide out and be invisible."
As they looked, they saw that Harold was sitting on the bench trying to hide behind a newspaper and watch them all, simultaneously.
"I chased him out of both of our yards twice over the last couple of days. I wondered what he was doing poking around. Now I know." he coughed lightly. "Damn immigration agents."
Jason looked uncomfortable and he tried to think of something to say, but Mr. Finchley looked directly at him and said firmly, "As I always say, Jason, there's at least one in every class who could make a difference in the world if they only get the chance to do it. It takes a damn good teacher, and sometimes a good friend, to give that person the chance they need. I'm proud of you, Jason. You're a good man. You're a damn good man." He coughed lightly once more and looked at Amara.
"Well, it's been my pleasure to meet you, Miss Amara. I feel sure I'll be seeing you again sometime soon. I need to take Teddy Boy here for his treat." At the sound of the last word, the beagle who had been lying motionless in the grass in a pseudo sleep, was instantaneously up on all fours and ready to go, looking up at Mr. Finchley with an interested expression.
Mr. Finchley chuckled. "Yes, well, there you have it. Good day, you two." He meandered off with his dog, and Jason and Amara watched him go with smiles and a light laugh.
"He's so sweet! I adore him already!" Amara said.
Jason nodded. "He's a keeper, that's for certain." He bit his lip though, knowing that their secret was no secret to Mr. Finchley, but also knowing that nothing in the world could be safer than their secret with the incomparable Mr. Finchley.
*
They went back to their picnic and they tried not to be disturbed by the sight of Harold on the bench in the grass or Sam at the ice-cream stand watching them from the corner of his eye.
"They're relentless." Amara said. "That younger one has followed me to all my classes this week."
"The older one has followed me everywhere else." Jason half laughed. "I don't know what they think they're going to see. Maybe you slapping me for trying to kiss you or me sneaking lunch with my other woman."
Amara smiled at the thought. "Have there been many women before me?" She asked him with sudden curiosity and a small smile.
"No, not really. Nothing serious anyway." Jason confessed. "I've had brief romances and short affairs, but nothing has ever really stuck. I generally find it difficult to talk to women."
"Really?" Amara asked with surprise. "I usually find it difficult to talk to men, but you're different. I could talk to you about anything!"
"I suppose it's because when we first began I was the professor and you were the student, and we were talking about something we both loved." Jason thought aloud. "If I had been looking at you as a girl that I wanted to date, I would have been a mess." He laughed out loud and Amara laughed with him.
"It's a good thing I'm so incredibly off-putting, then!" She teased him.
Jason smiled and reached out to squeeze her hand affectionately. "You're a very beautiful woman, Amara." He told her honestly. "I've just never looked at my students with romantic intention. Ironically, I happen to believe it's inappropriate."
She raised her eyebrows and smiled. "Doesn't this whole thing seem strange to you now?"
"Actually, it's a whole lot less strange than I imagined." Jason said. "I feel like I've known you for a very long time. I'm comfortable with you, more comfortable than I am with most of my friends and colleagues, to be honest."
"Me too." Amara smiled.
Jason dug around in their picnic basket. "Sandwich?" he asked, handing one to her.
The rest of the picnic passed without another mention of their sham of a marriage. It was enjoyed with easy conversation and genuine laughter, just as if they were on a real date, and the dates continued. Together, they went on bike rides, out to the movies, they shared meals at restaurants. Amara and Jason played their parts well, but as the days rolled by and Amara lay beside Jason in his bed night after night, the whole thing begin to feel less and less like a deception and more and more like love.
Still, Amara refused to confess those feelings to herself. This situation was already messy and complex enough without real emotions finding their way into the balance. Jason too, couldn't help but notice that his heart lifted every time that Amara looked at him, and that he felt butterflies every time she walked in the room.
He found it easy to confide in her and he appreciated all the qualities in her, which he sought so desperately to protect: her strength, independence, intelligence and her good heart. All these things found him genuinely falling for her, but he couldn't admit that. After all, he was the older American professor who had offered marriage to a young and vulnerable girl in a difficult situation. Jason did not want his noble intentions to be misconstrued because he'd started to feel very deeply for the girl.
So Amara and Jason went on, trying to make a true love that they were both pretending was false seem true again on the surface for the benefit of the agents who trailed them everywhere they went. Being Jason's wife came easily to Amara. She looked forward to opportunities to hold his hand and walk together with him or tell him about her day and their intellectual discussions had not ceased. She liked the way that he appreciated all of her, not just her beauty and her youth, but her mind as well, while Jason found it easy to be Amara's husband because she was an easy woman to love.
It would have been difficult for the agents watching to find any falseness in their romance, but things became much more complicated the day that Matthieu showed up at the house.
*
When Amara opened the door and saw Matthieu standing there, she first wondered what on earth he was doing there, and then how he had ever found her. She recognized him from the few times that she had met him at her father's company events. He had short black hair and dark skin. He was slim with arrogant eyes and an air about him that said he thought he was God's gift to women. He was more than annoyed.
"Amara!" he announced boldly. "You and I must speak!" There was no doubting his insistence.
"Matthieu! What are you doing here?!" she gasped, stunned to see him.
"You will not ask the questions!" he demanded haughtily, "I will ask the questions! What are you doing staying in America with an American man? We are engaged to be married! You are my woman! No one else's!"
Amara gaped at him in disbelief and stood firmly at the door to stop him from entering the house. "I am not your woman, and we are not engaged to be married,” she said emphatically. "You proposed and I declined. That means that there is nothing between
us! You are a stranger and I have no idea what you are doing in this country or on my doorstep!"
"Your father called us to tell us that you are not returning to South Africa. That is not your choice to make! You never should have left your home! Your family is not happy, my family is not happy and so I am here fix the mess you have made and to set things right!" he lifted his chin, lording himself and his opinions over her in a misogynistic manner.
"Things are already set right, Matthieu." Amara insisted. "I am married now to a kind man and I am very happy. You can tell my family and yours that there is no chance of marriage between us. Go home, Matthieu. We're done!"
Jason heard the commotion and came to the door. By the color of Mathieu’s skin and the sight of his angry expression, Jason could only assume that this was someone that Amara knew from her home in South Africa. Judging by the age of this man, which more or less matched his own, Jason assumed that he was either a brother or the irked fiancé that Amara had refused to marry.
"Is this the supposed husband?" Matthieu demanded, eyeing Jason up and down with contempt and jutting his chin out at him aggressively. "You have left me, your family, your commitments, and your country for this pathetic man?"
The professor put his arm around Amara protectively. "There is nothing for you here. Amara wants to be with me and to stay in America. This is her home now and I am her family."
"Go home, Matthieu." Amara repeated. "It was a waste of time for you to come after me at all."
"I will go for now, but I am not returning until we speak properly," he told her, and then he leaned in toward her and looked down his nose at her with a nasty glare. "and, I am not leaving to go back home without having you right behind me, where you belong." He turned to leave and it was when his body had moved from the doorframe that the couple noticed the agents lingering right beside the gate.