A midnight discussion

Chapter 5

“Who are you? Guests are not allowed to wander into this area of the farmhouse.” Sergio positioned himself between Ralph and Leah.

“No, wrong question, big man. And not the one yóú should ask. Mỳ question then, who are you and what are you doing in my house and in my wife’s bedroom?”

“Don’t call me your wife anymore…”

“Wait Leah. Not tonight.” Leah’s father was also wakened by the commotion. “Ralph, this is doctor Sergio Martinez who is working on the African lion relocation programme. For the moment he is residing in my late father in law’s quarters. I told you about him when you got in last night. He was the one who took care of Leah’s foot yesterday.”

“So, this is the lion man… Well thank you for what you did for Leah. You can go back to your quarters now.”

That done it for Leah. About one million stars exploded in front of her eyes. The audacity. Humiliating a legal tenant and friend of her dad in front of them all. She leaped from her bed. “Oh my word, your house Ralph. Since when? And may I remind you that the two of us is no longer married. Not even on paper anymore. Your choice. Which actually was a very good choice. The day when I walked out of that courtroom was the one of the happiest days, since childhood.”

Her dad stepped in. “Leah, calm down my girl. You are going to hurt your foot again.”

“Dad, why is this … man also back on the farm? Did you tell him that I was on my way?”

Ralph laughed. But the sound of it was not pleasant. “Please don’t flatter yourself Leah. It is purely coincidence. I was just ready to continue with the work I started here. And seeing that you sold your grandma house in Pretoria, I thought, why not combine what we have and make the farm the greatest tourist destination in Africa.”

“You sold my Oumie’s house in Pretoria? The place where I grew up. The house that was supposed to be your pension for one day? Why haven’t you discus that with me first?”

Midnight family affairs in public.

“I was going to tell you daddy…”

“When?”

“When the time was right.” At that moment she hated her ex even more. If someone had put a rifle in her hand at that moment, she would have turned the barrel in his direction and pulled the trigger. “How did you find about it, Ralph?”

“I have friends … everywhere.”

“So you are… still spying in my affairs.”

“Your affairs was once mine as well.”

“And yours were yours alone.”

“Can we please talk about everything tomorrow?” John suddenly looked exhausted. He also looked like a stranger in his own house.

And probably felt like one as well Leah thought as she watched him walk away.

“Well, now you don’t have to page through that magazine of your’s Leah in order to get sleepy again. It is clear that the two of you have so much to say to each other, you can talk until daybreak.” For just a moment Sergio was looking from Leah to Ralph and then back to her again. He was probably trying to analyse the information at his disposal to see if he had to interfere in whatever happened there tonight. His conclusion probably, that it had nothing to do with him. “I have a day’s work ahead of me tomorrow. Good night.”

He turned around.

“No wait for me Serg. Does your offer still stands. You know, me and you and the hot…”

His face lit up. A good understanding only needs half a word. “The hot… Always, my dear. Shall we go.” He stepped forward and picked her up in his arms, but instead of taking her to the communal kitchen of the house for that hot chocolate, he headed straight to his flat. He walked through the open door, with her in his arms and once inside, turned around and kicked the door close between them and Ralph.

The smaller man was still standing in the same spot as if he was brazed to the floor.

On the double bed in front of them Gato the cat suddenly got up and pulled her back in a circle. Her dad just entered their safe place with the enemy in his arms.

“It’s okay Gato, I will never try to choke you again,” Leah promised.

Sergio gently dropped Leah onto the coach before he walked over to the cat and stroked her gently. Then he told her that she was still lady number one in his life, although they had to take care of a poor refugee, for just a few hours.

“No Sergio, let me leave right away. I don’t want to intrude.”

“You don’t intrude. Besides, that ex of yours is probably still outside, pacing the passage like a bear, waiting for his pray to come out of its hole.” When the cat calmed down enough, Sergio walked over to the kitchenette and poured milk in a pot before putting it on the flame of the gas stove.

“No, you don’t have to make me anything. I just wanted to get away from Ralph,” Leah tried to stop him.

“It is not just for you. I also want to drink hot chocolate. Besides am not going to let you out of that door before I am absolutely sure that, that man is gone. I gather you were not too happy to see him tonight.”

“That is putting it lightly.”

“Then sit and try to relax. You can even sleep on that coach if that will make you feel safer.” He suddenly grinned. “That is if you are able to trust me.”

An interesting statement. Can she trust him? Can she trust anybody. What is really going on between Ralph and her dad? It is clear that her ex got some sort of hold on the old man. So, what exactly is it?

“Sergio, after tonight a lot of trust in this house is broken anyway. I promised my dad that I would never sell his parent’s house in Pretoria. I wanted to tell him in the near future. And now Ralph …”

“Sounds like what he did was not exactly ethical.”

“No it was not.” At that moment leah got a glimpse of herself in the big mirror on the opposite wall. She bent forward. “Oh no, not that as well.”

One big step and Sergio was next to her. “What? Are you okay?”

“No Sergio, I am not.”

“Why not? Is there something I can do to help?”

“No, absolutely not. It is too late anyway. He saw me like that?” Her voice sounded raw.

“Like how?” By then poor Serio was more confused than the chocolate powder and sugar he stirred into the hot milk.

“My hair. It is all over the place. I didn’t use a hot brush to straighten it.”

He stretched out a hand and touched her hair. “And aren’t they beautiful. Fair with a reddish tint in it. I just love your curls. I wanted to touch it, from the moment you got out of that shower. No, even before that. The moment I looked up into those baby blues of yours when you realised you stepped into a telephone pole. Leah, you are one of the most beautiful women I ever had the privilege to set eyes on.”

He stepped back and poured the hot chocolate into two mugs.

He put her mug on the coffee table between them and took place in an easy chair opposite her with his hot chocolate in his one hand.

“And besides,” he said after sipping from his mug. “It is good to meet a woman with more hair on their head, than me.”

“If we grow it a little bit more, together we can donate enough hair for a descent wig for cansa.”

“No, I will have to cut mine before next week. My bosses are coming through from South Africa. If they don’t recognise me from my ID or passport, I will probably not get paid for my work ever again.”

“I would be more worried about the male lions seeing you as competing for their ladies. Isn’t it so that the bigger the mane, the more attractive he is for the lionesses?”

“Are you telling me that I look like a beast of a lion?”

“Yes,” she joked. “And if I as a lioness I’d probably have cold shivers and hot flushes by now.”

“Is that another way to describe a female lion in oestrus?” he asked as if she was a student in the biology class and he was her professor.

“I have to go…” she said, putting her empty mug back on the coffee table.   

“No, you are going nowhere. Lie down, I am getting a comforter from my closet. And don’t worry, I wont walk in my sleep.”