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.