“That you appreciate me.”

“Well, that’s a shame,” I told him sincerely, “because I do. I always have. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, Sophie. Thank you,” he said but I could tell his heart was the tinsiest bit lighter.

“Okay, I’ll ring you when we figure out a date. Thanks again, Pemmy.”

And with that, we hung up.

“Simon and Imogen have their pick of dates.”

“Thank you for that,” he said, kissing my temple and starting his engine.

Ian dropped me off at the guest suite door with a gentleman's kiss. Okay, maybe not a gentleman's kiss but I did eventually shut the door with him on the other side. It counts!

I hung my dress up and hopped in the shower, desperate to get the smell of smoke and outside off my skin and out of my hair. Humming Drivin’ Me Wild under my breath, I rinsed the conditioner and turned off the water. My hand shot out for the towel rack to grab my towel but it wasn’t there. I felt around the metal for it but figured it must have fallen to the ground.

I rolled the door back a few inches and stuck my head out to find it but was met with a hand holding it instead.

“Agh! Oh my God!” I panted. “Abri, what are you doing in here?”

My hand whipped out for the towel, wrapping it around myself before stepping out of the shower.

“I’m here for a chat,” she said, weirding me out.

“This couldn’t wait?” I asked, gesturing toward the room.

“No,” she said, exiting the door and settling herself casually across my bed.

I thanked God I had the sense to lay out my pajamas before I’d showered. I gathered them and went back into the bathroom to dress.

When I came back out, Abri was still there, proving it wasn’t a bad dream. I awkwardly rested against the guest wardrobe and towel dried my hair.

“I talked to Pembrook, my father’s lawyer, and he let me know your family could have any day this month on Ribbon Caye.” I thought this would help the clumsy silence that lay between us but it didn’t. “Dinner was nice,” I added, so desperate at that point I was reaching.

“When do you leave back to America?” she asked, stunning me.

“Excuse me?” I asked, confused.

“When do you return? To America? When is your sentence over?”

I was taken off guard. “Um, January thirtieth, a month after Christmas. I leave February first.”

“Another six weeks then,” she said, studying her feet briefly before making eye contact again.

“Yes,” I said, drawing out the word.

Without another word, she left the room, shutting the door behind her.

“What was that?” I asked no one.

I stood there, waiting, for something but Abri never returned.

I settled into my covers and laid my head down before getting up and locking the door.

I woke to Ian yelling in Afrikaans.

“Fine! Miskien sal ek kom nie terug ooit weer hier!” Fine! Maybe I won’t be coming back here ever again!

“Sê nie dat,” Henrik pleaded. Don’t say that.

“Ek is jammer, pa, maar sy is buite onredelik!” I’m sorry, dad, but she’s beyond unreasonable!

Loud footsteps resounded through the living.

“Simon?” Ian said. There was no response. His cell phone. “Can you come pick up Sophie and I in half an hour? Yes. Thanks, bro.”

The footsteps inched nearer my door. I threw off my covers and ran to open it.

On the other side, Ian was in mid-knock and out of breath from frustration.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Can you be ready to leave in half an hour?”

“Of course,” I said.

He came into the room and sat at the edge of the bed, in the exact same spot his mother did earlier that morning. I decided that information would only anger him more and I would keep it to myself. I knew Abri had pissed him off, I just didn’t know why.

I opened the wardrobe up and removed my bag, settling it on the bed. I set aside what I wanted to wear on the plane ride that evening and put the rest inside. I was packed in less than five minutes. Ian laid across the bed next to my case not saying a word and buried his head in my pillow.

I brushed my teeth, dressed and put on my makeup before plaiting my hair in a messy fishtail, laying it across my shoulder. I came out, put the traveling stragglers back in the case and zipped it shut.

“This pillow smells like you,” Ian said absentmindedly.

He flipped over, tucking a hand behind his head, straining his shirt against the muscles in his bicep.

“You all right?” I asked him again.

“I will be,” he said when I crawled next to him, my head laying on his shoulder. He brought his arm around and held me close. “I called Charles back this morning,” he continued.

“Oh yeah?” I asked. “What did he need?”

“They’ve confirmed the presence of Resistance soldiers at the swimming hole and this time it seems a bit more dangerous.”

My heart thundered in my chest. “What do you mean?”

“They found several bullets left by accident near their footprints.”

“What do we do?”

“Get home.”

My hand followed a messy trail of bedspread and met his fingers. They inched their way up my palm until they met my forearm and held there, his thumb rubbing the skin there back and forth, back and forth.

“I’m torn between wanting to keep you here with Simon and taking you with me so I can protect you.”

I shook my head at him.

“If you think for one second that I’m going to abandon you or Masego now, when they need as much help as possible, you are out of your mind,” I told him.

He eased to a sitting position, his grip still on my forearm and leaned into my face. He kissed me softly. “I must be the most selfish person on this planet because I’m not going to fight you on that. I want you near me. Always.” He kissed me once more, this time much harder before pulling away.

Knock. Knock.

I climbed off the bed and answered it. It was Simon.

“Ready when you are, princess,” he teased, tugging once on my braid. He nodded at his brother before leaving.

Ian stood and grabbed my bag for me. I supposed lunch with his parents was out of the question.

When we reached the front door, we noticed both Ian’s parents were standing at the bottom of the walkway, talking to Simon. They seemed to be in deep discussion but eased up when we neared.

“It was such a pleasure meeting you,” Henrik told me, hugging me and kissing my cheek. “I hope it’s not our last.”

“I hope not either,” I told him, smiling. I kissed his cheek in return and turned to Abri.

“Thank you for having me, Abri.”

She waved my comment away as if it were a gnat circling her head and avoided eye contact. I was willing to bet that’s what she equated me with. I wasn’t going to bust my ass to prove anything to her. I’d just let time do that.

Ian placed our bags in the back of Simon’s little sports car. I lingered by them when Ian went back to say goodbye to his parents. He’d hugged his father but not his mother. He opened the passenger door and attempted to get in the small back seat but I stopped him and pushed my way through.

“Not about to make your tall ass shimmy in there. I got this,” I told him but was swung back playfully instead and pushed aside.

“Not about to make your bony ass shimmy in there. I got this,” he teased, squeezing his impossibly large frame in the tiniest little back seat I’d ever seen.

“You are crazy,” I goaded, settling in beside Simon.

We went to lunch with Simon before our flight and Imogen met us there. She was impossibly adorable and we exchanged emails before we’d said goodbye. We’d also solidified that they wanted Ribbon Caye on January twenty-sixth so they could have more time to prepare and give their guests at least a month to make arrangements. I’d called Pemmy, that time at not such a decent hour, oops, and he’d confirmed they could have an entire week there and that my father, surprisingly, didn’t care, probably because of who Simon’s parents were.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Masego was at we’d left it yet completely different to me then, at that moment. Its gates represented something I couldn’t quite put my finger on...

“It’s good to be home,” Ian told Charles, sighing.

...And like a lightbulb, Ian had flipped a switch. Masego felt like home to me. Everyone I had grown to love so dearly resided there. Ian, Mandisa, Karina, Charles, Kate, Mercy, the children, and the rest of the staff. I suddenly knew I would do anything to protect them, anything to keep them safe.

When Pembrook arrived with the construction crew, I knew I’d get him to arrange for protection, for some type of security. That was instantly my number one priority.

When the gates opened, they revealed a smiling Karina and the Baobab tree, as stalwart as always. I remembered once Karina explained that as long as the tree was at Masego that she would always be and that made me warm inside.

We’d arrived too late for the children to greet us but Kate and Mercy had stayed up with Karina to see us home. Once we’d parked, I jumped from the jeep and tackled Karina in the biggest hug.

She giggled out loud. “Stop, you silly girl,” she said, but hung on to me just as tightly.

“I missed you, K,” I said, smacking her cheek with a kiss.

“I missed you, too, Sophie.”

She pulled me from her hold and inspected me over.

“What?” I asked, breathless from laughing.

“You look...I’m not sure,” she said, cocking her head to the side. “You look ecstatically happy.”

“So what if I am?” I teased, bumping my hip with hers.

Her eyes blew bright, reflecting the stars above. “It’s a very good look on you, my love.”

She grabbed me by the waist and we made our way toward Ian, Charles, Kate and Mercy so she could say hi to Ian as well. He grabbed her and spun her around and she squealed.

“What in the world has gotten into you two?” she asked, bewildered.

“Nothing,” we both answered simultaneously.

“If you think this is bad,” Charles said, “you should have seen how they acted when they saw me.”

My cheeks flushed red and I was never more grateful for the night sky.

“Come to the kitchens,” Karina said, smiling and waving us her direction. “I’ve made you a homecoming bread.”

“What kind?” Ian asked, wrapping his large arm around her tiny little shoulders.

“Banana, of course. What other fruit do we get around here?” she laughed.

We entered the small kitchen together and all pitched in, getting plates, cups, etc. for our miniature party. Karina uncovered a pan of nice, thick banana bread and my mouth began to water.

We all sat and began eating in silence.

Homecoming, yes. But also a discussion.

“What are we going to do?” Ian asked Charles.

Charles swallowed. “Honestly?” His face was devoid color. “I don’t know where to start. They’ve never come this far south before. They’ve undoubtedly been scouting us for several months. There’s no mistake about it, it’s a ticking time bomb now.”