RETURNS
But this had been a sin of passion, not of principle, nor even purpose.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter
Shane Simba stepped off the elevator to the family’s living quarters in the mansion. He called for Solly. He had just returned from his trip to England and meetings with Tony Blair. The nanny brought his youngest child to him.
“Where is Mrs. Simba?” he asked the servant.
“She is in the bush working with the anti-poaching brigades. She’s been there all day,” duly reported the help.
A perplexed Shane took Solly to the family room. Solly’s siblings later joined them there. Shane had ingested two Scotches before the elevator rose and deposited a jean clad Betty on the second floor. She greeted her husband and family warmly and asked for a drink to be brought for her.
“Why were you with the anti-poaching brigade, Fifi?” asked Shane.
“I received my first big check from the book on Rhonda. I went there to give it to them at the main headquarters just outside the Mara.”
“That’s wonderful, Fifi……truly it is.”
“How was England and Blair?”
“Cold and wet, always damp – not referring to Blair, of course,” he laughed.
“Shane, the anti-poachers have invited me to be an honorary Colonel.”
“Go for it, Fifi. You really deserve it with your gift of funds.”
They had a very lively evening meal with the family gathered at the table including Solly in his high chair. In the privacy of their room, Shane turned to Betty.
“I’m proud of you, Betty. I think you may have found your project.”
He then made love to her. As it was usually these nights, the act was exciting and super efficient with the intimacy and passion mislaid.
A nervous Caroline Cheetah arrived at work as the State House anchor for WMM-TV. She had taken some time off, Wilda Wildebeest filling the bill. This was Caroline’s first day back as a divorcée. She met Sloane Simba in the break room tackling the coffee machine.
“So how is the single life, Caroline?”
“A guilty one,” was her clipped and shaky response.
“Feeling badly about dumping Leland?”
“Yes, I am, Sloane and really don’t want to speak of it.”
“Fine with me,” he said, turning and taking his coffee to his upstairs office.
“Mom, you don’t seem all that happy to me. What happened to things while I was gone?”
The question was posed by Arlon Lyon. Betty was sitting with her oldest son in the library of the state mansion.
“Shane just became remote. I don’t know whether he is having an affair or not. He is home all the time when he isn’t on an official trip somewhere.”
“Maybe it’s just the presidency, Mom. Grandpa Lyon says he is really going strong and taking it to the top.”
“Maybe it is, Arlon.”
The lack of conviction in Betty's tone spoke volumes.
Arlon Lyon had spent a great time while back in the Mara. Tigger Tigeres, his best friend, was on spring break from school and also home. Staci Simba, Arlon and Tigger formed a threesome during that time and went to parties and other events that welcomed the young males on their university breaks. Both Tigger and Arlon were overwhelmed by Staci Simba’s escalating beauty. Though she treated them as her oldest and dearest friends, even their mild flirtations fell on deaf ears. Staci seemed to be decidedly disinterested in either romantically.
Luke Leoparde looked up from the grill in his back yard. Jane was there, having been invited for what Luke described as ‘meat to die for’.
“Janie, are you gaining weight?”
Jane suddenly clutched her middle in a swift defense mode.
“I may be.”
She seemed taken aback – off guard. Luke sensed the alarm in his dear friend. He put down the grill fork and went to where she stood his leopard eyes filled with intensity.
“Janie, are you pregnant?”
She stood for a bit, lighting a cigarette while attempting to formulate an answer. She suddenly slumped slightly.
“Yes, Luke, I am. I intend to keep them too.”
“Shane’s?”
“Yes, two cubs.”
“Does he know about it?”
“No, I won’t tell him either. I plan to have them at home. My aunts and mother will attend me.”
“Janie, just know if you get in a tight spot I will marry you and give them a name.”
“Oh, Luke, that’s the most wonderful thing I have ever been offered out of friendship. You are so wonderful. I will be fine. I never planned to marry but I did want children some day. Now I will have them.”
“Janie, I will always love you. You are one of the finest animals I have ever known.”
Across the way on the patio of the mansion, Shane Simba smoked a post midnight cigarette and thought longingly of Jane.
The ceremony inducting First Lady, Betty Simba as an honorary Colonel in the Anti-Poaching brigade took place on the State House lawn with a reception afterwards. I was returned from an exquisite vacation with Lachlan. It had been a dream come true to have a relationship with a male who would never hurt me in any way if he could prevent such. We spent a week in St. Tropez where Lawrence Leoparde had taken a powder, leaving me totally bereft. From there we had gone to a small fishing port on the coast of Italy and spent further celestial days and nights. Unknown to Lachlan, I had purchased a beautiful fifty foot schooner in Italy to be delivered to Mombasa in time for my love’s birthday. However, to return to Betty and her army, they had gifted her with a uniform and she wore it proudly for the occasion. It was a wonderful reception blessed with gorgeous weather. The guests milled about the garden, drinking champagne.
On a rainy night in the Mara, a frenetic scene was taking place in the Watering Hole Pub (where else?). The group of Friday evening revelers was already plastered and edgy when Lucy Cougar made her entrance dressed to the nines with cleavage overflowing her bodice. She searched the room for Dick Simba and found him there. He was not alone. He was with Caitlin Cougar, Lucy’s very own first cousin. Sparks were flying from Lucy’s deep hazel eyes by the time she approached the bar.
“Dick,” Lucy breathed heavily “I was hoping to find you here tonight.”
“Lucy, please join us,” said Caitlin in a very genuine and charming way.
Dick, on the other hand, could practically visualize Lucy blowing smoke from her nostrils so angered was she.
“What are you doing here with my boyfriend?” screeched Lucy who is nothing if not an attention getter.
Dick threw up both paws in horror.
“Wait just a minute, Lucy, I am not your boyfriend in any way, shape or form,” he protested.
This all took Caitlin, who knew nothing of Lucy’s interest in Dick, off guard. She was beginning to gather her things to leave, when Dick put a paw on her arm.
“Caitlin, I am here with you. Let’s go to my place as planned.”
He paid for their drinks and guided Caitlin out the door and to his town house a short distance away. Once inside, he took her in his arms.
“Caitlin, I have never gone to bed with your cousin. I swear this to you. I just didn’t want to get involved with her. Now I know why. I was waiting for you to come along.”
Caitlin threw her arms around the male lion and kissed his lips and face.
“Shall we go to my room?” he whispered.
“Yes, oh yes.”
In the pub, Lucy was breathing heavily and trying to take in the fact that her first cousin seemed to have the male she wanted and had failed to catch. She felt a paw on her arm.
“Got a problem, Sis?” asked Chloe Cougar.
“Dick just left with Caitlin,” wept Lucy.
“Then let’s try Simon. He is right over there,” pointed Chloe.
They ended the evening very drunk and in a threesome with Simon Simba.
Simon Simba and Chloe Cougar at the pub bar.....
Ashley Lyon was in the air on an final approach to the landing strip and hangar at the Leoparde-Lyon Safari Club in the Mara. His engine stalled, bringing him down before the runway. All vehicles headed for the crash. Luke Leoparde got there first, pulling his dear friend from the wreckage. Ashley was taken by screaming ambulance to the Exotic Animal Clinic where the doctors examined him. He had few cuts or bruises and no broken bones but had sustained a brain concussion of serious magnitude. His alarmed wife, children and parents arrived post haste. He lay semi comatose for several days with his vital signs strong. He finally awakened to see Leah standing next to his bed, holding his paw in hers.
“Ash, oh Ash, thank goodness you’re okay,” she cried.
“Who are you?” he asked with blank eyes.
Ashley Adamson Lyon had a lusty case of amnesia. Leah sat on the bed and held his paw while he looked at his wife as if he had never seen her before this day. The same held with his parents and offspring.
Ashley Lyon at the beach before his plane crash...
Sloane Simba, after much soul searching, picked up the phone and dialed Caroline Cheetah’s apartment.
“Hello,” she answered.
“Caroline, it’s Sloane. I’ve missed you terribly – just too damn much. Can you bring Sonny and come to my house for the weekend?”
“I’ll be there in a few,” she answered, excited heart thudding in her chest.
She pulled in his drive to find him waiting there. He helped her get the sleeping Sonny in the house and bed. At last, they fell on each other with the passion stored and unleashed by their separation and absence from each other. They made love the night through, going for quick brandy breaks in Sloane’s kitchen and returning with snacks and more drink to the bed. When daylight hit the teak floors in Sloane’s bedroom, the couple was, once again, totally absorbed in each other as if they had never been apart.
Sloane and Caroline reunite at his home.....
In the Watering Hole Townhouses Cate Ocelot waited for the call that never came from Sloane Simba. After taking a peek at the clock on her mantel, she closed her book and went to bed.
“These two cubs are growing like weeds, Jane,” reported Dr. Sylly Cougar Lyon on Jane’s now bi-weekly trip to the clinic for prenatal checkups.
“Good deal, I plan to have them at home with my aunts and mother helping.
“You can probably manage that. You’re very strong and will probably have no difficulty with the labor. But why won’t you just play it safe and have your babies in the clinic?”
“I just prefer home delivery, Dr. Lyon – nothing against the clinic. I just want complete privacy.”
Sylly was back in her office with Jane long gone when a thought struck like a bolt from the blue. Sylly was an avid reader of the Masai Mara Daily. She was especially fond of Jane’s writing and articles. Jane had followed Shane Simba to the places he had gone, even into the danger fraught Somalia.
“Shit,” exclaimed Sylly to an empty office “She’s pregnant by Shane Simba. That’s why she wants privacy.”
Betty and Shane Simba took their children, including Arlon Lyon, on the presidential yacht the following weekend. Tigger Tigeres was an invited guest. It was to be Arlon’s last weekend home, despite his father’s concussion and amnesia.
Jane got another assignment from Bob Bushbuck. She was given the opportunity to interview the President of Iran. She packed with great enthusiasm and left on an Iran Air flight from Nairobi