Ralph's promise to Leah

Chapter 7

Sometime in the early hours of the morning, Leah moved Gato, Sergio's tamed African Wildcat aside. She slipped out from under the comforter and sneaked out of the man's apartment. Somewhere out on the distant horizons, the sun poked its head out in a thousand shades of yellow, orange, purple and red.

The promise of a beautiful new day in the northwest of Mozambique near the Lebombo Mountains, bordering the Kruger National Park on the other side.

It could have been fantastic to see, but after last night Leah was muted.

Why is her ex-husband Ralph Jameson back here at Hurters Retreat? The past two years she stopped thinking about him. Thought he was now distant history, after he was the one who decided to divorce her.

Leah even took back her maiden name. On all her documents and bank statements, she is now Leah Hurter again. Which caused her to be alarmed by something he said. Words that kept her awake for much of the rest of last night.

How on earth did Ralph find out that she had sold her grandparents' house in Pretoria, South Africa? It's never good for someone like Ralph Jameson to just get half an idea that there's money somewhere in the world he might be able to put his dirty hands on.

Leah seated herself down on a chair in her own room to put on a thick stocking over her the bandages of her sore foot. One of the pair of sneakers over the stocking on the other foot. Dressed in a comfortable knee high pair of shorts and a loose T-shirt, she walked out into the hallway.

Voices sounded from the dining room.

Her first reaction is to slip out at a side door and limp off to where ever her feet may take her. Disappear off the face of the earth. She wanted to avoid having to look into Ralph's smug face again. But she didn’t have a chance yet to talk with her father yet. They still had a lot of catching up to do. And in order to drink the pain pills she'd shoved into the pocket of her short, she had to eat something.

So she walked to the dining room.

"Leah!" her father jumped up. "Come and sit my dear child."

"Do you eat your eggs still soft. Leah?" Maria called out from the kitchen next door.

"That would be nice, thank you Maria." She sat down, drew a cup closer, and poured herself some tea. She didn't even turn an eye in Ralph's direction. He might as well not be there. "Did you sleep well, daddy?"

"Now that you're safely back on the farm again, yes and thank you for asking. How is that foot?"

Leah spread butter on a slice of toast and bit into it. She chewed and swallowed, before answering. "Surprisingly good, thank you Dad. I'll always be grateful to Sergio for how he took care of it..."

Ralph interrupted hard. "And his aftercare later through the night. Mm I can only imagine how that sort of therapy will help with your healing..."

"Shut up, Ralph. What's going on in my life nowadays has got absolutely nothing to do with you," she snapped him.

"Oh, but it has. I promised your father at the time we got maddied the first time, that we would give him a grandson as soon as possible."

He was so blatant that even Leah's father gave him a warning look. "Don't taunt my daughter, Ralph. You stay away from her, if she does not want your attention."

"Oh, but it's not taunting. That's the truth."

Maria placed a plate in front of Leah. Bacon nice and crispy. Eggs soft, sunshine side up. Just as she liked her breakfast. It looked and smelled amazing, but after only two bites, Leah put down her knife and fork and stood up.

"Dad, excuse me. The two of us are still going to have a nice chat soon. Alone I hope. But for now my appetite is gone and I have to get out of here."

But no sooner was she in the hallway, or Ralph stood in front of her. He was all over her, pressing her with his body against the wall first.

"Leave me Ralph or I'll scream!" she hissed.

"And then what? If your dad rushes to try and save you, I will hit him so hard, he will never ever get up from where he fell again. So, who else will hear you scream? Let me see. Maria, her frail little man who is enjoying a bottle of brandy out there in his vegetable garden like always? Or maybe their pregnant daughter-in-law in the kitchen? Or Jesus? Maybe Jesus will come and help you…”

Not Jesus, son of that Mary… No Jesus Da Silva, Maria from the kitshen’s son. Who is also named Jesus.

“Or that big beast of a lion man, with whom you spend last night. But he is not here. Your dad and I watched him took off in one of those flimsy little man carrying flying mosquito’s. So now that he is gone, I can pick you up and drag you to my room. I can throw you down on my bed and strip this little knee pants from your sexy but and make you mine... But not now. Maybe I will wait for you to beg me for it.” He touched himself to show her exactly what it was she had to beg for and she turned her head in disgust.

“Noways. Never…”

“Well, you know what? At some point, I'm going to do it to you. I still intend to keep my promise to your dad of grandchildren."

He slammed her back in the wall again with his body and chest, squeezing the air from her lungs. She felt the hardness in his lower body and realised. He could do it anytime. He could rape her, without her being able to do anything about it.

Moreover, Ralph's next words give her chills: "Just another warning though, stay away from that lion’s lair, Leah. If I ever have to find out in my life that there's a baby growing in you that isn't mine, I'll beat it to death with a rifle butt on the day of its birth."

"What's going on here?" Her father was now rushing to see what was going on in the hallway.

"Not much," Ralph declared, letting her go. "My ex-wife and I were just making up!"

“Not in a million years of Sundays. Leave me alone!” Leah slipped from his grip and let herself out of the house at a side door. She struggled down the stairs and walked along the main road as fast as her hurting leftfoot could handle it.

After the rain the soil and grass smelled amazing.

Over the trees, a moper arrived. A moper that took on more and more the shape of a giant flying insect which was finally visible above her head. The noisy thing was a microlight. A light airplane carrying one passenger.

The rig made a sweeping turn over her head, took off and landed some distance away, where an air stocking fought against a little wind blowing in a south western direction.

Moments later, Leah heard the sound of a four by four vehicle approaching at quite a speed from behind. Her first reaction is to hit the bushes and make a dash to get away from the road. What if it was Ralph who found out she was walking on a remote road and thought this could be a good place to come and keep the promise he made.

She scurried behind a bush, but the driver of the Land Rover already seen her. He pulled off the road. She could hear a door open behind her. Footfall on the ground, through the grass and bushes behind her.

Arms snatched her up from behind, again as if she weighed nothing.

"What are you doing, Leah? Are you looking for a nasty object sticking into your other foot as well? Some thorns can stick right threw the soles of that shoes." Yellow brown eyes was now drilling into hair.

It was Sergio Martinez who was carrying her back to his Land Rover. When he finally settled her down in the passenger seat, she calmed down a little. Running away was surely a stupid thing to do.

"What was it that upset you, Leah?" He reached behind the seat and came up with a bottle of soda, which he unscrewed, poured into a cup and put it in her hands. "Drink."

And then his cell phone rang.

Sergio stepped aside to answer with his eyes still on her. If she dared to get up and run again, he was prepared to stop her in her tracks again.

She had no intention to do so.

Then Leah saw how Sergio’s face changed. He exclaimed, in alarm, "What? Where did it happen? Send me the co-ordinates, I am on my way."

He turned to Leah. "I'll have to take you back to the farmhouse. Something has happened and I have to leave. I'm sorry Leah."

"No, please don't. Don’t take me there. Not while Ralph is still there. How long will you be gone."

"I will probably be back in an hour or two depending on… But sorry Leah, I dare not take you with me. I'm on my way to a scene where an elephant stepped on a landmine, and it is still alive. Not a pretty sight. There are still remote parts of Mozambique where terrorists planted land mines. I will not put your life in danger by taking with me. Your father..."

"My farther…” she began. Then stopped. “No, I'm not going back home if you are not there as well. She could not tell him that he was her only hope, if Ralph really meant what he said? He is also a man. Men reason differently than women. What if he also thought that it was Ralphs right?

But Sergio had problems of his own. He utter a swear word. A huge one. Then the vet started to kick some stones, a log, the Land Rover's tires.

At last he ranted: "All right. You may ride along. On one condition. You stay in the Land Rover, while I'm going to do my job to the best of my ability. Promise?"

Gratefully, Leah gazed up into his face. "I promise. I won't be in your way. Thank you Sergio…"

“Please don’t thank me. Just call your dad and tell him you are going with me. I found your cell phone in the lion camp.”