AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"He's buried in Ethiopia?"
Drake nodded. "Before the accident, we talked about his final wishes, in case he was killed in the fighting. He said he wanted to be cremated and his ashes spread in Ethiopia, which was his favorite place. Told me to find a really big Baobab tree and spread his ashes beneath it so that his carbon would feed the tree. He was such a romantic at heart. I did that last year when I visited."
"Where was I?" Michael said. "I would have liked to go with you."
"You were at a conference in London."
Michael nodded and took a long sip of his beer. We were silent while the waiter took away our plates.
Then Claire spoke, breaking the silence.
"You wouldn’t think to meet Liam that he had such a soft heart, but he did," she said, turning to me, her expression wistful, a slight smile on her face. "He was so calm in an emergency, as if chaos made him feel in control. Many people panic when there's an emergency, but not Liam. He always thrived under those conditions."
"You knew him well?" I said, wanting to hear more about the legendary wild trauma surgeon.
"I met him through Doctors Without Borders," she said. "We invited Liam to stay with us when he was in Nairobi."
"Liam made sure Drake came to Africa with him one year. We hit it off right away," Michael said, turning to Drake. "I've been trying to get him to come to teach at the college for years. I sure miss Liam, though. He'd stop in whenever he was in Africa. Made a point of visiting even though we have no wars going on, other than on the streets."
We all nodded, somber about the recent violence in Nairobi.
"I tried to talk to Liam into working here in our trauma center, but he preferred the battlefield."
"His first medical experiences were on the battlefield in Vietnam," Drake said. "The streets of Baltimore were too tame for him. That's why he volunteered to come to Somalia. He went the way he would have wanted," Drake replied, a sad smile on his face. "Flying over Africa on his way to the battlefield. He was more afraid of dying an old man."
"Still, he had many good years left in him."
Drake nodded and we sat in silent contemplation of Liam, the man that played so heavily in Drake's life despite his benign neglect. I wished I had had the chance to meet him and wondered if I'd love him as much as everyone else seemed to.
Claire turned to me. "We see Drake as the son we never had," she said, looking at Drake with obvious affection on her face. "We had four girls, so Michael felt quite indulgent towards Drake."
I smiled. She felt a certain ownership of Drake. He was lucky to have a foster family like them. He had my father and Michael – he was a man who seemed to bring out the fatherly instinct in older men for some reason, perhaps because he missed his own father so much.
As we left the restaurant, past the line of patrons waiting to get inside, I felt really good about our trip to Africa. Other than the crazy traffic, the city felt like any other big metropolitan city I'd been in. There were many expatriate Americans in Nairobi and with Michael and Claire as friends, I relaxed a bit. Then, I glanced back once more and saw Sam and Camille leaning in close together as if sharing a secret, their eyes on Drake.
The drive back to the hotel was a bit less eventful as people seemed to have returned to their homes and there was less general noise on the streets and intersections. Michael and Claire said their goodbyes and invited us to their home on the weekend for a nice meal and swim in their pool. We waved as they drove off.
Now, we were alone, starting our new life in Nairobi. We stood in the entrance to the hotel and glanced up at the dark sky. The city lights blocked out some of the stars, but there were still quite a few blinking through the light pollution.
"And now, Ms. Bennet, let's go to our room. I want a swim in the pool and then you."
I smiled as he took my hand, leading me into the hotel and down the hallways to our suite in the far wing, which overlooked a wide expanse of green and a copse of trees in the distance. I went to stand on the balcony to see what stars were visible. I took out my iPhone and Googled the night sky in Nairobi so I could identify the brightest stars. I could make out Vega and Altair due to the light pollution. Out on safari, the sky would be amazing.
Drake came up behind me, slipping his arms around my waist, his cheek pressed against mine. He kissed my neck, his breath warm on my skin.
“I missed you all week.”
I turned and faced him, my arms threading around his neck. “I missed you all week.”
“I’ll be away a lot at first,” he said, pulling my hips against his. “I promise I’ll do my best to make it up to you when I’m home.”
"I can't wait to go on safari and see the sky in real darkness.” I leaned my head against his chest, enjoying his warmth, the feel of his strong body against me.
"Once we get settled, we'll go, but right now, I can’t wait to blindfold you and restrain you. I have all kinds of plans for you, Katherine.”
I smiled to myself, my body responding to his words, heat rising in me because I knew what would come next.
"You still want to swim first?" I said, when he kissed my neck again.
