Damsel in Distress
“Run away with me,” he begged. “If you say yes then we can leave tonight. Please, my love, say yes.”
After her horse riding session, he had cornered her behind the water fountain. Samira could feel his breath on her lips. She couldn’t wait until their lips touched, to feel as if she was floating on clouds. But it was neither the time nor the place.
She opened her mouth to object, some rationality floating somewhere in her mind, but he stopped her.
“Don’t think. Really, don’t... just accept this as our fate.” He insisted through gritted teeth. “Accept it.”
She took a deep breath, examining his face- the deep green confusing her. They were so close she could smell all of him- the sweat trickling off his chest, the stench of manure from the cowshed he had been cleaning. Oh, she loved him. He was an enigma and although they had gotten closer, she could never quite reach him. He was like a gorgeous ghost.
“Ma’am!” Maria screamed. Samira stepped away from him. She took off her riding gloves and spun, looking at the woman who raised her. “The boss wants to speak to Mr Jelani.”
Unable to look her way because of the shame of being caught again, Jelani wiped the sweat from his face. “I’ll be right there.”
Samira could see the judgment in her nanny’s eyes. She dreaded her piercing dark eyes warning her of her mistakes but she couldn’t help herself. Jelani was the love of her life. Would they have had a problem with him if he was more than a man shoving cow dung in their stables? Would they accept him if he was Mahfud, the wealthy investment banker interested in her hand?
Maria gave her a long perusal before leaving. Samira took a second to breathe, battling the tears in her eyes.
“What do you say?”
She wiped the sweat from her face and gazed up at him. “Go see my father, you shouldn’t keep him waiting.”
His heart broke yet again as she refused to give him an answer. It was in his eyes. Samira couldn’t endure it so she turned her back to him. He moved closer until she could sense his breath on her neck.
“I love you...” He whispered seductively. “My heart.”
He moved walked toward the main house leaving her gasping for air. Jelani was perfect. In height, age and appearance. Which left her body craving for his love and affection. Eyes as beautiful as the sea, hair like the waves. She was unfathomably in love with him. But he was forbidden.
The first time she saw him in their home, his face so handsome, it made her heart swoon. She wondered why someone so devastatingly handsome could waste his face working on a farm. For two years, she admired him from afar because nothing would amount to her confession. Until one night, she found him stumbling to the servant’s quarters drunk and decided to help him.
They say a drunk man’s talk is a sober man’s thoughts. So when he fell back into bed and professed the way he had been pining for her, loving her from a distance as she did him - it gave her love wings.
In the three months since the confession, he tried to get her to run away with him. He couldn’t promise her anything more than his love and a home. He had no money and no name where he came from, but did that matter? His love for her was as potent as sin. If she agreed to go with him, it would mean leaving everyone that she loved behind. Her family, as horrible as they could get sometimes, was her life. She couldn’t do it.
Samira made it back to the house just as Jelani walked out of her father’s office. Her heart thumped at the sight of him. Wasn’t it absurd? She had just seen him minutes ago.
Her father smiled at the sight of her. “Sweetheart, please walk Jelani out of the door and then bring some water to my office.”
“Yes, dad.”
She escorted Jelani to the door. They stepped outside and walked into the garden.
“My love, please.” He caught her arm. “Your father has brought up the land he wants me to take care of out of the city. If we don’t run away tonight, we won’t see each other again and they will make you marry Mahfud.”
“No.” She shook her head vigorously. “Be a man. If you want me to be your wife then you’ll have to face my father and ask him for my hand right this minute.”
“They'll never accept me. I’m of mixed blood with no information on his parents, therefore, no trace of his heritage while you’re... perfect.”
“My father is a good man. All he wants is for me to be happy, he’ll never care about your blood.”
Jelani held her face. “You’re being naive.”
“As long as we get ahead of my mother, we’ll be alright. She’s the one who’ll have a problem and if she finds out about us before he does, she’ll fill his head with lies. Talk to him, ask for my hand in marriage.”
“My angel, let’s just leave. Let’s go. There is no use in talking to your father because he’ll say no. Where I lived before, they wouldn’t care about who we are or how we look. Our heritage will not matter. Come away with me.”
He had a way of getting her high. Higher than any inebriation ever could. She loved him, not just physically, mentally, spiritually, but on an emotionally dependent level. Eyes in hues of green and gold, mesmerizing flecks which her gaze was stubbornly fixated on glowed with hope. She sought them and then whispered, “Sometimes it seems as though you want to leave for some other reasons.”
He chuckled in pain, hurt she doubted him. “I can’t believe you’d think I’m not being honest.”
“You’re a coward. Speak to my dad and face things, instead of making me elope with you,” she said angrily, allowing her tears to slip.
“I’m neither a coward nor a liar.”
She grabbed him, sobbing. “Jelani, please...”
“The only reason I live is you. I love you so much but things won’t work this way.” He ran his thumb across her lips. “We can only be together if we ran.”
“I love you.”
Lowering his head, he took her mouth. Jelani kissed her gently, carefully, but it wasn’t gentleness she wanted, not now, not at this time when she was confused, and she knotted her fists in his shirt, pulling him harder against her. He groaned softly, low in his throat, and then his arms circled her, gathering her against him. He kissed her until she realized she would never have enough.
“Samira!” An austere voice she identified yelled.
She jumped out of Jelani's arms. Wiping her lips, she gazed into the ice-cold eyes of her... “Mummy.”
“Go inside, now!”
With confidence, Jelani turned to her mother. “Good evening, ma’am!”
She walked toward them, with her head held high and purse dangling from her left hand. She seized Samira's hand and dragged her along. “Inside, now.”
“Mummy...”
She raised a perfectly manicured finger to Jelani, eyes smouldering with hatred. “Don’t you dare come near my kid again or you’ll regret it.”
Pushing her inside, she ordered Samira to walk away. “How dare you act like that? Like some tramp, like I didn’t raise you with morals. Have you no shame?”
“I love him.”
She thumbed a finger on Samira's temple. “Stupid. How can you be so insolent? What life do you think you can have with him? What will people say? You need Jesus.”
“He’s a good man who works hard. He’s very capable of taking care of me and I don’t care about anyone else. I'm not a child, I am twenty-six and it's high time you started treating me so.”
Her mother grabbed her chin with the tip of her fake nails. “Your father gave me his word. You'll marry the man I chose for you, especially after I tell him all about what you’ve been up to.”
“I won’t marry Mahfud.”
“We’ll see.”
With black hair of wool and courage, she waltzed on with an effortless saunter leaving Samira to taste the pain of her words. She was a beautiful woman, her mother, but only on the outside. Her black skin was completely flawless. When she smiled, you couldn’t help but smile along, even if it was just on the inside. But she was the devil reincarnated, only worried about keeping her status as high as her heels.
Samira was very sure she married her father for his money. He owned a hundred-acre ranch in the west of Emerald city. On it sat an oil empire called the ‘Gebre-Egziabher’. From the stories he told her, he fell in love with her beauty at first sight. As a Tigrinya royalty, her mother couldn’t resist his charms, therefore, marrying him despite their fifteen year age difference. A match made in hell because while her mother was emotionally abusive and damaged, her father had the heart of gold.
“Why are you looking so sad?” He asked when she brought him the glass of water.
Samira smiled wearily. “Nothing, dad.”
He motioned her over, making space for her on the couch. “You can’t-fool me, come here. Go ahead and tell me what’s bothering you.”
“Dad, if I happen to fall in love with a man who was not of our social circle, someone simple, intelligent and hardworking, would you disown me?”
Samira studied his withered face as he contemplated her question, waiting with bated breath. “Where does that come from, Mira?”
“It’s just a question.”
“I don’t have anything against honest, hardworking people,” he said. “But you, my child, have been raised in a different way. You’re used to some indulgences. I’d like your future husband to provide for you the same lifestyle. I won’t approve of the marriage.”
Her heart shattered at her father’s revelation. She adored him the most and to hear his thoughts snuffed the only hope she had of coming forward. Jelani was right, they’d never approve.
“Where is all this coming from?”
“Nowhere. It was just a thought, forget about it. I’m going to head to bed okay? I love you.”
He planted a deep kiss on her forehead. “Goodnight.”
Locked behind the confine of her room, Samira grabbed a bag and threw clothes into it. Despite her love for her family, she had to leave. Her mother was vindictive and she knew she wouldn’t hesitate to punish Jelani.
She waited until it was quiet before sneaking out. Her heart was in her mouth as she tiptoed across the garden, trying to avoid security. She hid behind the shadows until she reached the servant’s quarters, knocking on his door.
Fully dressed, Jelani yanked her in. “Did anyone see you?”
“No.”
“Do you have everything?”
She nodded.
His tongue slipped inside her mouth, gentle but demanding, and it was nothing like she had ever experienced. Suddenly, Samira was at peace with her decision.
“Let’s go.”
