Chapter 11
CHAPTER 11
A fter I ended the call with Drake, I turned back and watched Sophie coloring for a moment, wondering what I should do next. There was packing to finish, and I also had to finish a letter I was writing to my supervisor, thanking her for helping me during my time at Columbia, and letting her know how my new job at the paper was going.
While I was cruising the paper’s website, I came across Page One. Right there, in black and white, was me seated on a sofa with Carlton leaning over me. If you didn’t know better, it looked like we were a couple since Carlton was holding my hand. There was another couple in the image, and we were off to the side, but it was clearly me and Carlton.
I shook my head. It was either bad timing or someone thought we were a couple and snapped the pics thinking they were catching some cute images of the grad students who were celebrating the end of the term.
I rolled my eyes and closed the website, hoping that Carlton didn’t see them and get any ideas. I told him repeatedly that I was happily married but he didn’t seem to get the picture. What made him unable to understand when a woman wasn’t interested? Was it just his family’s power in the journalism world? Was it his job with Page One?
Whatever the case, I hoped no one I knew saw it and came to the wrong conclusion. I’d have to tell Drake about it, so he didn’t have the slightest doubt.
I hoped he would never have the slightest doubt about me…
After spending some more time fussing over what I should pack for the trip, I called out to Sophie, who was watching some show on her iPad.
“Time to go to the beach house and visit Grandad and Grandma.”
She brightened at the idea of the trip and soon, after I called down to the driver, we were leaving the apartment, two suitcases in tow. Sophie tried to pull hers but it was big and so I pulled them both.
“I want a suitcase with a skateboard like Liam,” she said when we got inside the elevator.
“I’ll make sure to get you one, when you learn how to skateboard, okay?”
She nodded and then peppered me with questions about the trip to the Island and the beach house. When the elevator doors opened in the basement parking garage, I saw that the driver was right on time and was waiting with the trunk open and the passenger doors as well.
We got our bags and suitcases in the limo and then drove off, starting our trip to the Island where we would stay overnight and say goodbye to Ethan and Elaine.
The trip took over two and a half hours, but luckily, Sophie was entranced by her iPad watching a video and so I could sit back and relax, reading over news headlines and thinking about what I’d do now that I was finished my Masters. It had taken me almost three times as many years to finish as a normal student, but I’d had a few delays, including almost dying in childbirth. I felt a bit saddened that it had taken me that long compared to other students but had to remind myself that I had good reasons and to be thankful that I had Drake, Sophie and Liam.
Life was good.
I would spend a few nights with my father and Elaine and then Sophie and I would fly to Nairobi the next day, to meet up with Drake. We’d spend however long it took for Drake and Michael to finish getting the hospital neurosurgery department back up to speed, and then we’d travel around Africa, and ultimately, meet up with Liam so he could come and visit the grave of his namesake, Drake’s father Liam.
It would be a fun, memorable summer.
My father was in his wheelchair, an oxygen mask on his face when Sophie and I arrived. He quickly removed the mask and gave us both a kiss, then put it back on.
“Not feeling well?” I asked, frowning as I bent down the help him put it back on, adjusting the straps around his ears.
“Just a bit tired after getting out of that damn hospital bed,” he said and waved a hand, trying to dismiss my concerns.
We went inside to the living room and sat on the sofa while my father got himself seated in his favorite recliner. Once he was all set, with help from Elaine and his nurse, he turned to me and smiled.
“There,” he said. “All ready. So, tell me about your trip. Give me details.”
While Elaine spoke with Sophie about her coloring, I spent the next half hour telling my father about Drake’s trip to Nairobi and what he and Michael Owiti were doing at the Aga Khan hospital.
“Terrible business,” my father said, when I mentioned the floods.
I nodded and we talked for a while about our plans to meet up and visit Liam’s grave.
“How I would love to be able to join you,” my father said, his voice sounding wistful. “If only this old body of mine wasn’t betraying me, I’d be there with you in a flash.”
“You could still go,” Elaine said. “We could hire a private jet and a medical team could come with us. Maybe by then, you’ll be over your setback.”
My father’s face looked brighter at that, and I wondered whether she was being overly optimistic. He looked frail, and I couldn’t image the amount of work it would take to get him loaded on a plane and then deplaned, put in a taxi and transported to a hotel, let alone driven out to a remote site in Ethiopia to visit Liam’s grave. But hope did a lot for people, and maybe the idea of going to see Liam’s grave would help him recover. If so, I would be more than happy to have him come.
It would probably be the last time he’d be able to see the grave of his old buddy. Two veterans of the war, who were almost polar opposites when it came to politics but shared a love of the country and a very traumatizing experience in combat.
“What do you think, Sweetheart? Would you mind if your old man came along in a wheelchair? Do you think they could hoist me up on a helicopter or something to get me there?”
“If you want to, we’ll make sure it happens,” I said and leaned over to kiss him. “I know Drake will be over the moon to see you there.”
“Then it’s settled,” my father said, setting his jaw the way he did when he made a firm decision. “You tell me when you plan on visiting the grave, we’ll make sure everything is covered on our end so we can meet up with you somewhere nearby. It will be the last time I’m able, so I want to make sure we do it.”
I smiled and squeezed his arm. “We’ll make it happen.”
We had a lovely supper on the patio, with my father at the head of the table in his wheelchair, the oxygen temporarily off his face. He ate heartily for a change and seemed really invigorated because of the decision to go to Ethiopia. Good.
It would help him recover and that was everything to me.
I couldn’t bear the thought of going away to Kenya if he was slowly slipping away here in New York.
We spent a quiet evening on the patio watching the sun set and the stars blink on one by one. Sophie had her game in hand and was sitting in my lap when I checked my watch and saw that it was time for her to go to bed.
“Say goodnight to Grandpa and Grandma,” I said to Sophie. She leaned her head back and yawned, then turned to my dad and Elaine.
“Good night,” she said, slipping off my lap and going to hug and kiss them both in turn.
“Good night, Sweetheart. Sleep tight. Don’t let the bedbugs bite. If they bite, squeeze them tight and they won’t bite another night.”
Sophie made a face of disgust and then laughed. “Ewww! You don’t have bedbugs!”
“No, we don’t,” Elaine said, poking my father in the arm playfully. “Your grandad just likes that silly little rhyme. He should know better than to put ideas into a child’s head at this time of night.”
“Sorry, Kiddo. No bedbugs in our house. Your Grandma is too good of a housekeeper for that.”
I rolled my eyes at my father and smiled as I left the patio with Sophie. He mouthed ’Sorry’ to me as I passed by.
I squeezed his shoulder, because it was something he used to say to me when I was a child, so it was something I remembered with affection.
After assuring Sophie that there were no bedbugs to bite her, and tucking her in, I went back to sit with my father and Elaine until it was our own time for bed.
It was peaceful at the beach house on the patio. The shore was a couple of dozen yards away — close enough that the house qualified as beach front property but far enough away so that it wasn’t too loud. The soft lap of waves on the shore was comforting, not threatening.
“I’ll speak with my physician tomorrow to make sure he thinks I’m healthy enough for the trip,” my father said as we watched the stars and drank some decaf coffee.
“That’s good, Daddy. I would love you to come, but if your doctor thinks it would be too much, maybe we have to postpone it until you are better.”
“I’m feeling much better these last few days, so hopefully I’m fully on the mend. I’d hate to miss out seeing Liam’s grave once before I kick off.”
When it was finally time for bed, I kissed him goodnight and then went to check on Sophie before going to my own room, which was next to hers.
After my nightly routine, I changed into my nightgown and stood at the window looking out at the dark ocean beyond. Tomorrow, we’d be on our way to Nairobi. I’d be back in Drake’s arms, and happy for it. We made a promise to never be separated again, but of course, real life ignores such arrogant promises.
We wouldn’t be separated for long. At least I could feel good about that.
I laid in bed and saw that it was almost six in the morning in Nairobi. Drake would be waking soon, so I took a photo of myself lying in bed on top of the sheets, my nightgown on and one hand behind my head on the pillow.
KATE: Wishing you were here, or I was there. Soon. Kisses and love. XOXOX
Then, I closed my phone and turned off the light. I had a leisurely day ahead of me and wanted to relax in the sun, so I’d be in shape when it came time to pack up and leave for the airport for our night flight to Nairobi on Monday.