Samantha Ford - The Zanzibar Affair: A High Society Love Story Out of Africa

A High Society Love Story Out of Africa

Samantha Ford

All Rights Reserved

Samantha Ford

Samantha Ford 2012

Published by Samantha Ford on Smashwords

(ISBN 979-10-90730-19-9)

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A LOW SCREAM coming from somewhere deep inside woke her. Kate sat up and fumbled under the mosquito net to turn on the lamp, knocking over a glass of water in her haste. She stared at the shards of broken glass and the water pooling under the bedside table, and breathed deeply, her heart shuddering uncomfortably in her chest. The memories of that terrible day still haunted her. She had watched people jump to their deaths from hundreds of floors up and wondered how she would have coped with making such a terrifying decision. For months afterwards, the whine of a jet engine had made her look up in fear. An aircraft glimpsed between the great skyscrapers of New York City, an aircraft that seemed as though it could hit the side of a building, brought her out in a cold sweat. The images were impossible to bury. She had not been unhappy to leave Manhattan and return to East Africa.

The room was hot and stuffy; her back and belly slick with the sweat of fear and memory. Kate got out of bed, anxious to leave the room. She turned on a small lamp in the living room. The three-roomed cottage was set back amongst the palm trees in the large walled compound. Normally light and airy, it now huddled in the shadows of the approaching storm. The table with her laptop, completely useless with the erratic power cuts, stood in the corner.

His letter lay open next to it.

She walked out onto the veranda and stared into the night, her mind racing. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Lightning split the sky above, briefly illuminating the dark empty villa at the end of the path. The rain arrived with spiteful intent, drumming on the tin roof of the cottage. Wind tore through the wet palm trees, pulling off branches, the debris flying across the veranda, driven by the storm. A lone plastic chair lifted up, banged against the wall, and, ricocheting back, caught Kate on the shin; she yelped in surprise more than pain. Glancing up, she saw that the normally placid Mombasa sea had become violent and ugly. Crashing onto the beach it pulled and sucked at everything in its path, before hurling it all back again onto the shore.

Driven inside, Kate lit some candles. The electricity would certainly go off with such a powerful storm. She smacked her leg viciously as she felt another mosquito biting her. She picked it off with her nail, the blood-infused body leaving a brief red streak on her skin.

Suddenly the cottage was plunged into darkness. She sat watching the flickering candles and rubbed her bruised shin. Maybe it wasnt too late to go back to the house in Zanzibar? She put that thought aside, knowing that there was no going back. She picked up his letter but didnt need to read it. Like a nursery rhyme learned as a child, she had memorised every word.

Kate stood up and walked to the window, seeing a softer younger image of herself reflected in the glass. Her large amber eyes stared back. Thats how I used to look, she thought; the years have passed quickly. How did I end up in this remote place? She knew the answer. She had been here before, but for a different reason.

A crack of thunder overhead unnerved her. Shakily she sat down and reached for the framed photograph of Molly. She stared at her daughters smiling face, seeing only a whisper of her own features nothing else, nothing more. She tipped her head back, banking up the tears flooding her eyes, attempting to stem their flow.

She stroked the silver frame with her thumb and sighed. How would her daughter react when she read the letter she had left for her in Zanzibar? The truth of what had happened, so carefully guarded over the years. Kate wondered whether she would ever be forgiven for what she had done. The slender silver bracelet she wore on her left wrist glinted in the flickering candlelight; she glanced down, her fingers moving protectively over it, remembering with perfect clarity when he had given it to her, and where.

Kate shivered and pulled a shawl around her shoulders. Her body ached, and the headache she had tried to ignore was intensifying like the storm outside. Holding the photograph close to her chest, she lay back exhausted and gave in to her memories.

She had loved him in a way she could not have imagined possible. He had evoked a passion in her she hadnt known existed. She had not wanted to sleep at night, only wanting the next day to arrive so she could be with him, knowing that each day would bring him into hers.

Running the lodge in Kenya had been the challenge needed to distance herself from what had happened. Afterwards, New York City had been an irresistible adventure, a fresh start. But what happened there had changed all that.

She remembered when the impossible news had come. The frantic search in Nairobi had ended in a way she couldnt think about, even now. Rousing herself, she returned to the window.

Raindrops formed perfect tears on her reflected face. She traced one with her fingertip. As you lay there, so far away from Africa, did you think of me at all? she whispered.

She felt heat surge through her aching body. Pulling off the shawl and her shirt she walked outside to stand naked in the rain. She lifted her long hair from her neck, feeling the wetness running down her back. Another flash of lightning illuminated her thin body; she closed her eyes with relief. The heavy rain gave some respite to the burning, itching bites and cooled her down. Within a minute she began shivering. Feeling dizzy and nauseous, she went back into the bedroom and, stepping gingerly over the broken glass, lay down. The pain tightened like a band of steel around her head.

Malaria.

The area was well known for it and she recognised the symptoms. Throughout the remainder of the night she tossed and turned, her body wet and burning. The fever took hold and the heat raged through her as she tried to sweat it out, the noise of the storm adding to her torment.

In the morning, she woke up disoriented and thirsty. Disentangling herself from the wet sheets she walked through to the kitchen. It was light outside and the storm had passed. She drank long and deeply from a glass of water. I need to be in the sea, she thought. I need to stop this unbearable heat in my body. I need to stop the pain in my head. I dont want to think about anything anymore.

With shaking hands, she reached for a cotton dressing-gown lying on the chair and tied it loosely around her. Carefully she picked up his letter and held it briefly to her lips, before putting it into her pocket and stepping off the veranda. The wooden gates leading to the beach looked far away today, but even in her feverish state she knew that could not be possible. She sat down heavily on the grass lawn as another wave of dizziness engulfed her. Then, with what little strength she could muster, Kate stood up and walked slowly down the path and out on to the deserted beach.