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I hand her a cup of tea and we all sit in awkward silence.
‘I. HAVE. TO. GO,’ Nina says, quickly downing her tea. ‘THINGS. TO. DO. SEE. YOU. AGAIN. DOMINIC.’
‘YES,’ he says. ‘HASTA. LA. VISTA. BABY.’
My friend recoils in shock. She flicks her head, indicating that I should go to the door with her, which I do. In the living room, she grabs my arm tightly. ‘Have you lost your mind?’ she hisses.
‘Why?’
‘This is him? The love of your life?’
‘Yes.’
‘What do you think you’re playing at?’ My friend shakes her head, bewildered. ‘How can you love a man like that?’
‘Like what? He’s handsome, he’s funny, he’s interesting.’
‘Pah,’ Nina says.
‘Are you being racist?’
‘Racist? Don’t be ridiculous. I’m being sensible, whereas you seem to have lost your marbles. Take a look in the mirror, Janie. Have you seen how different you are? What have you got in common? You can’t create a relationship out of this.’
At this point, I could mention to her that I’d rather be with Dominic any day than a lecherous, smarmy man like her husband who hits on all my friends. Or, even worse, someone like Lewis The Moron who she was quite happy to fix me up with. But, of course, I don’t. I take all her venom about Dominic on the chin. I know she will come to love him in time.
‘This time you really have lost the plot, Janie.’ My friend wags a finger in my face. ‘When it all goes horribly wrong, don’t say that I didn’t warn you.’ With that she flounces out, leaving me open-mouthed and fuming.
Back in the kitchen, Dominic is sitting at the table, still grinning.
‘That went well,’ I say.
My proud Maasai warrior comes and puts his arms around me. ‘Some we will win and some we will lose, Just Janie,’ he says sagely. ‘I think we will count that as a lose.’
At that, we both burst out laughing and Dominic hugs me tighter. My heart overflows with love for him. He kisses me and as I melt all over again, I think that this is where I’m happiest. I don’t care whether my friends like or loathe my choice of man. Sod them, I think. Sod the lot of them.
Chapter Fifty-Five
In the bedroom, Dominic lays his case on the bed and opens it. Archie sticks his nose in for a quick examination. Suddenly this room seems a lot smaller with Dominic in it. I look at my standard double bed and wonder exactly how Dominic’s long frame will fit into it. There is very little in his case, but there is a very big machete.
‘How on earth did you get that through security?’ I ask.
‘Security?’ Dominic shrugs. ‘I do not know.’ He draws it from the case.
‘Wow.’ That looks like it could do a lot of damage. ‘We’re a bit funny about knives here,’ I explain. ‘You’d better leave that in the house.’
‘How will I kill our food? How will I cut through the bush?’
‘We don’t do a lot of that here either.’ I take the knife from him and slip it in the drawer I’ve cleared for him. ‘You’ll see. You’ll be able to manage just fine without it.’
He doesn’t look convinced but I think that if I take him to Asda tomorrow and show him that all our food comes already dead and in plastic packaging, he might understand. He’ll also soon realise that the worst he will come across in Nashley is a seriously overgrown clematis.
‘I have already left my spear behind,’ he says. ‘My shield, my spear and my knife are my Maasai badges of honour. We do not go anywhere without them.’
His shield is small, oval-shaped, and made of goatskin, I’d guess. He holds it proudly to him.
Can’t see him needing that here either, but I decide not to say anything.
Dominic puts a few other items of clothing in the drawer – it seems he has taken the art of travelling light to extremes. He lifts two strings of beads from his case. ‘One day I hope that we will be married, Just Janie,’ he says, ‘but until then, I have brought these.’
He holds up the necklaces. They’re both intricately worked with thousands of tiny glass beads.
‘Will you accept this gift from me?’
‘Yes,’ I say rather breathlessly.
Dominic places the circle of beads over my head. It sits on my jumper like a flat collar and the strings hang down to my feet. ‘It’s beautiful.’
‘It is the necklace of a married woman.’
‘And this is for you?’
He nods and hands me the other necklace which I place over his head. This is much shorter, but no less stunning.
‘Now we are engaged,’ I tell him.
