Jackie sent e-mail to Simon Ngunjiri, late Wednesday just before she went to meet Robbie at a downtown pub as greed the night before.

When she did meet Robbie, she had all kinds of thoughts flying in her head. Robbie as usual had a way of getting her to calm down and collect her thoughts.

In the end, she chose to trust him and told him about her visit to Dr. Shah.

Robbie was a little surprised, but not completely shocked, “You think your father did write a will?”

“I’m sure of it. But I need to know why he never married my mother. He loved her deeply, so it had to be something huge.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, Robbie. There are many possibilities. I just need to find out the truth.”

“Can I help?”

“There isn’t much you can do at the moment. But we can go through what we know. You might see something I haven’t spotted.”

Robbie allowed sometime to pass before testing the waters, “Jackie, about Larry -”

She interrupted him with a quick nod, “You were right, Robbie, caution won’t hurt. It’s just that of all the cousins he was really the nicest.

“Maybe he still is. But time, ambitions, life can change people. Greed is an acquired trait, remember?”

“Yes, I remember. Talking of change, remember my other cousin Angelie? I had tea with her today.”

Robbie tried to reign his thoughts, but Jackie read him anyway, “I was cautious, Robbie. But I couldn’t help notice. She’s changed. She used to be really mean. Now she’s so unbelievably sweet, I spent the whole time waiting for her to strike out.”

Robbie laughed. He could just picture the scene. He wondered if any of them would get through life with the ability to trust still in place. There was so much to be suspicious of in this world.

Where was the world headed with so much dishonesty, disloyalty and outright greed on one side, and skeptism, cynism and outright mistrust on the other side?

His only hope was that the children could remain safe, and that the love, trust and loyalty between him and Jackie would remain strong and sacred. That would be all he would need to get through the jungle of life. He hoped it was what Jackie would find at the end of her search for the truth.

 ***** 

“I really appreciate your offer for a job at Simba Media. But I thing I might have to pass it up for now, Larry”.

 Larry’s disappointment was written all over his face. “Robbie doesn’t approve?”

 ”Robbie? Why wouldn’t he want me to work at Simba?” It occurred to her that it was very important for Larry to believe that she and Robbie trusted him 100%. If in any case he turned out to be on his father’s side, Jackie knew she would need Larry’s ‘trust’ to get through the situation, at least for the time being.

 ”Robbie is crazy in love with you, Jackie. He wants to keep you.”

 Now this was an approach Jackie had not expected. “What does that have to do with the job?”

 Larry let out a nervous laugh, “Jackie, men are men. A lot of us like to feel that a girl is dependent on us. A job, a really good job can take away some of that.”

 ”Larry, what are you getting at? Are you trying to say that Robbie would mind my getting a job because it would make me less dependent on him?”

 ”I am your cousin, Jackie. I care about you. I have talked to Robbie”

 ”No! Don’t. Just don’t, Larry. I’ve known Robbie all my life. He’s never been anything but supportive to me. And one other thing, I am not financially dependent on Robbie.”

 ”He’s never given you money?”

 ”A loan, maybe. But I pay him back. I always do.”

 ” You don’t think that the fact that you do ask him for money, even as a loan, gives him a measure of power over you?”

 ”No, I don’t. Robbie and I love each other. Our relationship is not about manipulation or domination. It is based on trust, loyalty and love. It always has been.”

 ”Alright, I’m sorry, then. I didn’t mean to upset you, Jackie. I just feel that caution wouldn’t hurt.

 Jackie was almost dumbfounded. Larry was throwing back at her pretty much everything Robbie had told her about Larry.

 ”Let’s just talk about something else, Larry.”

 ***** 

Robbie knew something was up as soon as he saw her. He’d arrived at the farm before she did. He’d spent more than an hour helping Alex with his school project before she got home. That had been the first sign, before he saw her face, to tell him something big was coming up.

 It wasn’t until after the kids retired to bed, that they could talk. Jackie was obviously tense and anxious.

 ”I talked to Officer Matano. He is investigating our case.”

 ”And?”

 ”Things don’t sound so good.”

 ”How bad are they?”

 ”There doesn’t seem to be any evidence that I didn’t take out that loan. In fact, it’s quite the other way around. The loans officer has positively identified me.”

 ”He must see hundreds of loan applicants. How can he positively identify you?”

 ”He says my case was unique because I was so young. And the bank photo card -.” Jackie cut herself off, shaking her head in confusion, “I just don’t get it, Robbie. I feel like I did take out that loan, only I can’t remember. Think about it, a bank account registered in my name, with my photo, fingerprints and National ID number. A loan taken out with my land as security, complete with an identical land title deed and my signature. A post office box in my name. I mean, I could be charged with attempted fraud.”

 Robbie placed his arm around her shoulders, “Well get through this. We’ll find a way. Just hold on.”

 She leant against him, wishing to close her eyes and wake up to find all her troubles gone. All she could do, however, was take as much comfort as she could from her friend’s proximity and support.

 ”I saw Larry today. I turned down his offer for a job. He reacted really strange.” She informed him, after debating with herself for a while about whether to inform him of Larry’s attempt to ‘warn’ her.

 ”How did he react?” Robbie asked, curiosity obvious in the tone of his voice.

 ”He wanted to know if I declined because of you. He feels that my having a good job would threaten your ego.”

 ”Excuse me?”

 ”According to him, men get a large amount of satisfaction from a woman’s dependency on them.”

 ”What? You hardly depend on me for anything let alone money.”

 ”Hey! I don’t ask for your money, but I do depend on your friendship.”

 ”And so how could our friendship be threatened by your getting a good job?”

 ”I think he was working on me.”

 ”Now you don’t trust him?”

 ”I want to. But you have to admit that his trying to come between me and you is pretty low.”

 ”Like I said, caution won’t hurt. But give him the benefit of doubt, Jackie. He could be under a lot of pressure from his family. That might explain some things.”

 ”Or maybe not. If I lose out at the hearing, I might actually have to take his money. At least for the sake of the kids. That really bothers me.”

 *****

 Her heart thumped hard in her chest as she shone the tiny pencil torch on the documents before her. When she’d stolen into the office, it had been under a suspicion. As she read the text and numbers before her, she discovered that all her suspicions were right on target.

 She didn’t think she would have left such documents just lying around, if she had been involved in this situation. It was a well-known fact, though, that every criminal has a weakness. This criminal’s weakness seemed to be a wayward ego; a desire to see evidence of the crime, to affirm ingenuity or whatever it was he considered it to be.

 Poor Jackie, wherever she was, had absolutely no idea just how much had been taken away from her. It wasn’t just a few stocks and bonds in the local stock market, the beautiful home in Karen, the three posh cars her father had owned, or the few thousands shilling in her father’s bank accounts. That was very petty compared to this. This was a whole wide world.

 Angelie wondered what it meant if Jackie had actually inherited her right. Then she would have known the truth about herself. And she would without doubt not be fretting about her siblings, how to meet their needs if she lost the only thing she owned that gave her the ability to feed, cloth and shelter them.

 How would she react to the knowledge that her parents had told her less than the truth about herself, her right, and her heritage? Would she be strong enough to deal with it? Or would she freak out and lose direction?

 Angelie decided that Jackie would be much better off knowing the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. As she raised the tiny digital camera to photograph the document, she saw a movement.

 Her last conscious thought was, ‘He’s been here all along.’

 ***** 

 Jackie was so shocked she could do nothing but sit down and hold her head in her hands.

 It hadn’t been an easy day. She had spent it trying to sort out things that had gotten mixed up in the last few weeks of confusion. There were things on the farm she needed to do, but wasn’t sure if they would be financially viable in view of her land crisis. Her whole business plan was falling apart as she watched.

 William’s problems had turned out to be more serious than he had let on. Apparently after bearing with the bullying at school for too long, far too much, he had exploded in a fit of rage. Jackie had been called to school to pick up a bloodied and suspended William, who had managed to get even with his bully and actually bust his lip.

 She’d come home hoping something would be right. But her farm help telling her that the chickens were dying had met her. Between surveying the situation and the veterinarian’s arrival at the farm, Jackie was overwhelmed with despair.

 The last thing she needed was Larry’s arrival with the ghastly shocking news.

 ”I’m sorry, Jackie. I know its sad,” Larry told her, touching her shoulder gently, “but you two were never really keen on each other any way.”

 ”Angelie is-, she was our cousin, Larry. Besides, no one should die like that.”

 ”She had problems, Jackie. It’s sad that she didn’t get help before it came to this.”

 ”Are they sure, Larry? She really killed herself?”

 ”The police are sure. She took an overdose of morphine. She was dead by the time her boss and colleagues arrived at the office.”

 Jackie closed her eyes in silent prayer. Why, Angelie?

 ***** 

“I think Jackie should take that job at Simba. It’s not just a job; she’ll get to learn what she needs to learn to launch her career in journalism. Besides, don’t you think an extra option will be good for her in case things don’t work out at the hearing?”

 Robbie looked at Larry trying to figure out where he was headed this time. Of late, he had been getting the distinct feeling that every comment, every question Larry voiced was aimed at getting Robbie’s deepest thoughts out in the open. While in a different situation he probably wouldn’t mind the probing so much, it very nearly rattled him in this situation.

 ”I thought you offered her the money to redeem her land if she loses the case.” Robbie reminded.

 ”I did. The offer still stands. It’s just that I feel that Jackie’s talents are best invested in journalism rather than in farming. Working at Simba, she’ll have the chance to learn on the job, and perhaps complete a college degree”.

 ”Maybe you should be talking to her about all that Robbie took a sip of his beer and glance across the bar to where a bunch of young collegiate women sat ogling Larry. Obviously they recognized him as the minister’s son.

 Larry, however, was oblivious to the attention he was attracting. “Robbie, I’ve discussed the job in detail with her. She turned it down.”

 ”Well, then, perhaps she really isn’t interested.”

 ”I don’t think that’s the case.” Larry looked right into Robbie’s eyes, “What do you have against Jackie working for a company my family part owns?”

 ”I didn’t stop her from accepting that offer, Larry. I guess you don’t know that my relationship with Jackie is past little jealousies and competitions. I want the very best for her,” he paused sizing up the man who was most definitely his opponent now, “but since we are talking, I want her to have what belongs to her, which I believe includes those shares your family owns at SMC.”

 Larry let out that nervous laugh Robbie was beginning to hate. “I knew it would come to this. I don’t condone what my father did. I definitely hate seeing Jackie suffer. But what I hate more than all that, is you trying to come between me and my cousin.”

 Robbie stood up, placing a five hundred shillings bill on the saucer, “Just so you know, Larry, I wont let anyone, I mean, anyone, try to hurt the woman I love.”

 As he walked out of the pub, Larry watched him with a smile. He raised his beer mug to the girls at the bar and though, “To a challenge.’

***** 

 

Jackie was still shaken by the news of Angelie’s death. Robbie saw no need to tell her about his encounter with her dear sweet cousin, Larry.

 It occurred to him that he had practically been living in Jackie’s home these last few weeks. He came from work and headed right to the farm. He had formed a little routine with the kids, too. After dinner, he’d head back to his flat in the village.

 On weekends, he was a part of the farm routine, helping with farm work and any projects Jackie was working on. Then he’d hang out with kids, help with homework and just fool around with the boys.

 Evenings had become his special time with Jackie. They could talk about anything and nothing. And on a night like this one, things could be said.

 ”I think we should look for a house to rent together.” Jackie was quiet for so long that Robbie almost decided that she wouldn’t respond to his suggestion.

 ”I won’t be taking Larry’s money to redeem the land, will I?” she asked finally.

 ”I don’t think you should. If we could raise the money any other way-.”

 ”We can’t. Unless, I beg Auntie Emily for help.”

 ”I think we should let it go. I don’t know why Jackie, but I have a strong feeling that whoever orchestrated this neat little scheme did not think you would just give it up.”

 ”I think so too. I wish I could figure this out, Robbie. We just can’t go around suspecting everyone. We have to focus on the real culprit. I just don’t know how to do that.”

 ”We’ll find a way. But we have to think about the children’s well being. Whether you lost out at the hearing or not, I think we should more them. If you lose the land, they will have already adjusted to a new home. If you don’t lose the land you can still run the farm for income.”

 ”Get Larry to think I still trust him.”

 ”Yes. And it wont hurt to launch your career while you are at it.”

 Silence stretched out for a while, and the sounds of a night in the country played like music in the air. Jackie listened to the symphony of crickets, birds, cows, dogs and all the other animals she couldn’t quite identify. She smiled a little smile, ‘Oh the mystery of life,’ she thought.

 ”I think we should get married.” She murmured softly almost to herself. He heard her and his heart responded in perfect synchrony, ” So do I.”

 They moved towards each other. His arms came around her and a sharp little sound escaped his lips when he felt her hands against his chest. Then their lips found each other and joined in a dance so well choreographed it might have been rehearsed a thousand times before.

 He pulled her closer and she moaned, lost in the exquisite delight of his love. He opened his mouth and covered hers in a voluptuous kiss. She welcomed him, teasing with her tongue and drawing out an even more passionate response from him.

 Finally he broke the kiss, planting parting pecks on her lips.

 ”Jackie, sweetie, you have no idea how long I’ve waited.” He whispered against her cheek.

 She smiled, “As long as I have?”

 He kissed her again, briefly this time, and then he pulled away.

 She grinned, her eyes twinkling mischievously, trying to hold on to him, “I haven’t forgotten the vow, Robbie.”

 ”I have to go.” He said simply, his eyes shining with love and the desire he burning in his blood.

 Jessie watched through the crack of the door she’d managed to open without being noticed. A wide grin now adorned her face.

 There was no one she loved and admired more than her big sister. Jessie had wished that her sister would find love and happiness amidst all the pain and confusion life had brought to their family. It seemed that her wish had come close to being fulfilled. There was no one better for Jackie than Robbie, she had decided.

© Juliet Maruru 2009 www.jmaruru.wordpress.com