Storms Over Africa (24 page)

‘Are you so determined to hate me, David?' she asked sadly.

His resolve nearly cracked at that point. The trouble was he liked her, really liked her. He pushed it away. ‘I just want you to disappear.'

‘I will. After the hunt. Your father has his heart set on it. I'll tell him after the hunt. Can you give me that much time, David?'

‘I don't know.'

‘Please try, if not for me then for your father.' It was the wrong thing to say.

‘I don't give a shit about my father! He can disappear as well for all I care.'

Steve went to the door. ‘I don't think you mean that.' She looked back at him. ‘You must do what you must do, I respect that. I will tell your father after the hunt. If you want to tell him before, it's up to you.' She left the room, closing the door softly behind her.

David stared at the door as if it held the answers.

The next week was a nightmare for both of them. Richard, totally unaware of the real reason for the tensions between them, was puzzled by his son's obvious dislike of Steve. It was not like the boy to be so rude. He could only put it down to David's disapproval of his father wanting to remarry. As for Steve, she appeared distracted to the point of disinterest in Richard. She had even moved into the guest room saying it was for David's sake. When he
tried to visit her she turned him away. He knew she was working but sometimes it seemed she used her work to avoid him.

Thoroughly disgruntled, he made the final preparations for the safari, wishing he could call the whole thing off.

On the morning of the 2nd he told Steve she would have to move back into his room. When she opened her mouth to disagree he said, ‘There's no choice. Penny and Joseph Tshuma arrive this afternoon and so does Greg. I don't have enough space as it is.' She nodded reluctantly, wanting to be with him but wanting to spare David any more pain. Richard tried to reach her. ‘What's wrong, Steve? We were so close, where have you gone?'

She nearly blurted it out then but, at the last minute said, ‘It's David. He resents me, he needs more time.'

He caught her to him and held her, stroking her hair and kissing the top of her head. ‘Thank God. I thought there was something wrong between us.'

He felt a tremor run through her. When she spoke her voice was muffled against his chest. ‘I love you, Richard. Always remember that.'

‘And I love you, beautiful one. Always remember
that
.'

Her heart nearly broke.
You won't. You couldn't possibly once you knew.

Greg Yeomans arrived just after three in the afternoon. ‘He here yet?' he asked as Richard greeted him.

‘Not yet. They'll probably get here around six. They only finish work at four.'

Steve greeted Greg warmly. It would be a relief to have him here, diffusing the David situation. David was nowhere around. He and Thomas had started going back into the game reserve every day, returning just on dusk.

‘All set for the big trip?' Greg asked her.

‘Can't wait,' Steve replied, knowing that the end of the trip was the end of her happiness.

Greg looked at her closely. She looked different. Not the carefree young woman, happy and in love, he had seen last. He wondered what Richard had been doing to make her unhappy. He knew that Richard's restlessness made him appear irritable and impatient and that he seemed incapable of showing affection. But Kathy, a woman he had liked and respected, had loved Richard to distraction, so he knew there had to be more to the man than he was prepared to show. He looked across to Richard to see if he too wore the same sadness. But Richard looked as he had on Greg's previous visit, guiltless and in love.

Maxwell bounded up, eyeing Greg's boots hopefully but Greg tickled the puppy under the chin and carefully placed his boots on an old table outside the kitchen door. Two small
strips of leather, chewed to a pulp, were all that remained of his old boots. Judging by the condition of the table's wooden legs, the puppy was trying to eat his way to where all the boots and shoes were now kept.

With Steve there Richard had to curb his impatience and wait to hear what Greg had found out. The three of them sat on the verandah, sipping beers, talking and joking. Steve relaxed and began to look and behave like her old self. It was so good to have something else on her mind. They spent several happy hours, just the three of them, waiting for David to return and for Penny and Tshuma to arrive.

They saw the Land Rover bumping along the flatland. The vehicle was making slow progress and, even from a distance, appeared to have seen better days. Steve left them, saying she would see them shortly. David's imminent arrival had ruined her lighter mood.

‘What have you been up to?' Greg asked as soon as she had gone.

‘Not me, David,' Richard growled. ‘The boy's giving her a really hard time.'

‘He'll get used to the idea.'

‘He's going to have to,' Richard said darkly. ‘And the sooner the bloody better.'

They could hear the Land Rover grinding up the road to the escarpment. ‘Did you learn anything?' Richard asked quickly.

Greg looked towards the noise of the
labouring vehicle then said, ‘It's starting up all over again. We have to talk, I need your help. Tshuma's in it up to his ears.' He had no time to say more. The Land Rover chugged along the drive and shuddered to a stop. David hopped out and joined them on the verandah. Thomas went to the back of the house. In the complicated way of things in Africa, it was one matter to be good friends with the son of the house, quite another to sit socially with his family.

‘What's wrong with the vehicle?' Richard asked as David sat down.

‘Don't know.'

‘When did it start making that noise?'

‘Today.'

‘Have you checked it?'

‘Yes.'

‘Do you have any ideas?' Richard asked irritably.

‘Nope.'

‘I'll get the mechanic to have a look at it,' Richard said, defeated by his son yet again.

Greg was looking at the vehicle in disbelief. ‘We're not going all the way to Tuli in
that
, are we?'

‘Nothing wrong with it, it's an old friend.'

‘So's my sainted aunt but I wouldn't ask her to run a marathon.'

Richard laughed. ‘Relax, I have a long-wheel base Landie in the garage. It's fairly new.'

‘Oh, thank Christ.' Greg winked at David. ‘That old girl couldn't pull your foreskin back.'

David nearly choked on his beer.

‘Or the skin off a rice pudding for that matter.' Greg's humour diffused the sourness between father and son.

David had met Greg at Kathy's funeral but did not remember until Greg called him Goliath. He and Greg talked a while about Scotland and school and David's plans for the future. Listening to his son's voice, Richard hoped the safari would help him get over his surliness. Being forced to live closely with each other for a week must surely show David how good Steve was for him. He really wanted his son's approval but, if the boy persisted with his rudeness, Richard intended to ask Steve to marry him anyway.

‘And here comes more trouble,' he thought. Joseph Tshuma's sleek Jaguar swept up the drive. Richard had insisted that Penny and Joseph make the drive up to Pentland, rather than be collected in Harare as they all made their way south. The reason he gave was he needed to pack the vehicles the night before they set off. This was true enough. But the real reason was that when he went hunting he liked to shuck his country squire image from the outset. Some inner instinct turned him into a hairy-chested bwana, wild of spirit, free of
manner, brave and fearless. He was aware of this transformation and, although he did not fully understand it, enjoyed it so much he never tried to suppress it. Having to drive through leafy suburban streets in Harare to collect his daughter and her boyfriend simply did not work, it would have spoiled the mood.

He waited for Penny to leap out and greet him in her usual flamboyant manner but she got out of the car sedately, waited while Tshuma collected their luggage from the boot, and walked with him to the house. Richard went inside to meet them. When she came into the light in the lounge he was shocked. She was pale and drawn and had dark circles under her eyes.

‘Have you been ill?' he asked, stricken because he had blamed her for her long silence, never thinking she might not have been well.

‘I'm just tired, Daddy.'

He hugged her, ‘Then this hunt is just the thing for you.'

He shook Tshuma's hand and forced himself to be hospitable. ‘You can park your car in the garage while we're away.' Then, as an afterthought, ‘Welcome back to Pentland.'

‘Thank you, it's nice of you to ask me to join you. I've never hunted before.'

‘It's an experience no-one in Africa should go without,' he replied, digging mildly at the
man's lack of experience. A black man who had never hunted was, to Richard, a bit like a nun—a complete waste of what he was put on earth to do.

Tshuma simply smiled and said, ‘So I'm told.'

Greg and David joined them in the lounge and Richard introduced Greg to Tshuma saying, ‘An old friend. He's adjusted his schedule so he can join us.' Joseph Tshuma showed no sign that he knew Greg's name.

Penny remembered Greg quite well from her mother's funeral. ‘You called me Shilling and made me giggle.' She turned to Joseph, ‘It was nice to have something to laugh about at that terrible time.' Her recollection unwittingly gave credence to Greg's cover. She looked over at her father, ‘Where is she? I'm dying to meet her,' but, while the words were the old Penny, the eyes lacked their usual sparkle.

‘She'll be down in a minute. She's getting changed.' Richard frowned, wondering what was wrong with his usually effervescent daughter. She did not look at all well.

David was watching Penny closely, too. He moved over to her. ‘Are you okay, sis?' he asked, concerned.

‘Of course. I've just been working too hard.'

‘Your sister is fine,' Joseph said, putting his arm around Penny. ‘Some fresh air and exercise will do the trick, won't it, darling.'

Penny nodded, not daring to look at her father who had stiffened noticeably at the endearment.

Steve's arrival diverted Richard's attention from mentally murdering the man. She looked fresh and beautiful as she entered the room. She wore a simple white cotton dress with a square neckline and short sleeves. It showed off her tan to perfection. She had a fine gold chain around her neck and a dusting of lipstick on her lips. Open-toed white sandals and a wide gold belt completed the outfit. He felt a surge of pride when he saw her.

Penny greeted Steve warmly, surprising him completely. Of his two children he had expected more trouble from his daughter than David. After all, it had always been Penny who jealously demanded her father's attention. She made a point of calling her Stephanie, however, which amused and encouraged him somewhat. His daughter might not look well and might be overworked but she had not lost all her spirit.

David made an effort during the evening, spoke civilly to his father and was almost his normal self. Steve he ignored as if she did not exist. He and Joseph had a spirited discussion about the effectiveness of Game Department's methods for reducing poaching in Zimbabwe. Greg joined in and kept David's youthful zeal from making the conversation too heated,
much to Joseph's relief. He found the boy heavy going.

Penny was unusually silent, toying with her food and making half-hearted attempts to join the conversation. She excused herself immediately after dinner and was gone for perhaps twenty minutes. When she returned she seemed more like her old self, although she still looked unwell and her conversation swung from wildly exaggerated statements to moody mumbled monosyllabic responses.

As for the first visit, Richard had put Tshuma in the guest room downstairs. Greg slept on a day bed in Richard's study. Going into his room behind Steve, Richard saw David coming out of the bathroom and said, ‘Good night son.'

‘Good night,' David replied curtly, his face closed. He had caught a glimpse of Steve's white dress.

Lying in bed, he said to Steve, ‘I don't know what's come over David. I thought he might be a bit upset about you but he seems to be going out of his way to be unpleasant. It's not like him.'

Steve had almost reached the end of her endurance. The strain of the past week had made her jumpy and edgy. To go on safari with David hurting so much and hating her as he did was something she was starting to dread. She did not want to come between a
father and his son. ‘I have to talk to you,' she said, steeling herself.

But Richard leaned over her and kissed her deeply and she felt desire stir and she thought,
Just one more week, then I'll tell him
, and gave herself up to the pleasure of being with the man she loved.
Just one more week of happiness, then I'll go away
, she told herself, hurting and loving at the same time. She did not want to face it just yet.

Richard chased everyone out of bed at five the next morning. They had over 600 kilometres of driving ahead of them and he wanted to make the most distance on the first day. On the way, he planned to stop at the Great Zimbabwe National Monument, or, as they had been called before independence, the Zimbabwe ruins and, as one cynic put it after independence, the Rhodesian ruins. These beautiful and mystical stone remnants of the past, the main part of which was spread across some 700 hectares just south of the town of Masvingo, had once been the royal centre of the Shonas. Massive fortresses of stone, held together without mortar, their true history remained uncertain. Richard wanted to show them to Steve.

One hundred and fifty kilometres beyond the ruins was the small rural town of Mwenezi. Richard had friends just south of the town, Tony and Elaine Saunders. They owned a large farm and, like a lot of other
farmers, were dabbling in selected tourism. They had built six self-catering cabins but they also opened their large home to occasional visitors. Richard had telephoned them from Pentland Park, wanting to book several of their cabins. However, Elaine Saunders would not hear of it, insisting the party stay at the house. From there, they had approximately another 150 kilometres along the A4 to Beitbridge on the South African border where they would buy the last of their provisions before turning west to the hunting block and setting up camp.