SURPRISE NUPTIALS
Marriage, a market which has nothing free but the entrance.
Michel de Montaigne
The moon hung low, casting beams across the wooden floors in the Kitale retreat of Shane Simba.
“Janie, this has been the most perfect day ever,” said Shane, rolling over and holding her closer in their bed with the linen sheets and comforter. “I think I know Catherine and Andy a little better now.”
“They love you, Shane.”
“I know they love Luke too, but they should. He has been so wonderful in all of this.”
Jane sat up and taking a cigarette from the bedside table, lit it.
“Shane, Luke loves Staci. I know he is a complete gentleman with her but do you mind this fact too awfully?”
He leaned over and lit a cigarette from hers.
“I guess a male’s daughter is very special to him. Staci and I clung together when she was a little tyke and her mother was killed in that crash. I know that Staci is a good cat. If she comes to me and tells me that she loves Luke, I will have to accept that, Janie. Luke Leoparde is a great guy. But what will you do?”
“Luke and I had an agreement when we married. I will be fine. I want his happiness. He has been the most complete friend in the world.”
Two cats bumped into each other at the Euro Supermarket in the Mara. They just happened to be ex-mates and in a foul mood. They came around the corner approaching the meat counter, bumping grocery carts, at great speed, their mind on other things – like their personal lives.
“Oh my goodness, Christine, I’m so sorry,” apologized Chris Simba.
“Oh, hi Chris, I didn’t see you either,” exclaimed Christine Cheetah Mbube.
After a bit of platonic chit chat, they got down to specifics as in how they were cracking these days. Both of a disposition to disclose things of a personal nature, they shared their angst about Chris’ failure to hook Cate Ocelot and Christine’s problems with Micah and his former affair with Chloe Cougar. The result was their leaving their grocery carts in the aisle and heading for the Watering Hole Pub for a late afternoon drink.
Sloane Simba was at war with himself regarding a decision needing to be made. He loved the knotty Caroline Cheetah. They stood side by side at the bar of the pub. . They had come from a long day’s work at the State House. Sloane was about to bite the bullet and propose to her over a dinner later at Klip ‘n Dodi’s when she slammed her high heel into his Manolo Blahnik clad foot. He jerked his foot from under her heel and winced in pain.
“What the hell was that for, Caroline?” he shouted, causing the animals at the bar to look about them for the source of disturbance.
“Either you propose or I’m leaving you, Sloane?” she snarled.
“I was about to do just that later at another much quieter restaurant,” he roared.
“Do it here, Sloane!” Her amber eyes were fetchingly afire.
“Will you marry me, damn it?” he growled.
“Yes, I will, where’s the freaking ring?”
At that point loud applause rose from those surrounding them.
“Where IS the freaking ring?” laughed a bushbuck male standing nearby.
Suddenly Sloane broke out in hearty laughter. He threw his arms around Caroline.
“This has got to go down as the most unromantic proposal in the history of Kenya, Caroline.”
“It worked, didn’t it? You are now my fiancé,” she giggled.
The night was lovely with the fragrance from Cynthia and Dorian Cheetah’s townhouse garden. The occasion was a small and intimate dinner party honoring their daughter and her fiancé, Sloane Simba. Betty and Shane Simba were in attendance as well as the Cheetah siblings with the exception of Curtis Cheetah, Caroline’s brother. Curtis, being the best friend and law cohort of Caroline’s abandoned husband, Leland Leoparde, chose to ignore the evening out of loyalty to his pal. The others milled around enjoying the delicious food and drink. I was in attendance, although Lachlan was working late conducting a support group in the new AIDS wing of the Mental Health Center. I noticed that although Shane was very polite and attentive to his wife, there was an evident strain between them. Betty looked lovely but seemed subdued. We sat together in the corner of the garden and I dared to ask how she was faring.
“He leads a double life, Maurice. There’s me, with Solly and the coming baby and then there’s Jane with his kids by her,” she stated sadly. “I daresay Jane gets the best shot at him.”
“Is that enough for you, Betts?” I asked, placing a hand over hers.
“It has to be because I cannot live without him, Maurice.”
This tête-à-tête was interrupted by Shane.
“Maurice, Betty needs her rest so I will take her home. Ready, Fifi?”
He helped her from the chair, placing a small fashionable jacket around her shoulders to allay the night’s arriving chill. With a “See you tomorrow, Maury”, they were off.
Luke Leoparde couldn’t believe that Staci Simba had made love to him as her first lover, ever. He was careful not to tread too heavily on what he hoped would be a lasting thing. He didn’t press his cause; not wanting to frighten her from what he hoped would be a blossoming romance. He just went about his work with winged feet and a happy expression on his face.
Luke and Staci in bed together......
The sails were out in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Mombasa. The event was the annual regatta. Ashley Lyon had organized it when he first became enamored of and skilled at boating. Shane Simba had joined in with his zeal for the occasion. Today the President’s sailing yacht carried the flag of Kenya. Later at a casual reception on the beach for the sailors, Betty and Shane looked quite happy.
Shane sailing his vessel in the regatta and below with Betty at a beach reception for the sailors....
Two possibilities were at play in the very speedy wedding of Sloane Simba and Caroline Cheetah: her haste to get him to the altar before he changed his mind or, the thought that titillated the Mara animals - the bride was pregnant. She certainly didn’t appear to be so in the elegant wedding held in the First Church of the Ascending Predator. Candles and ginger lilies banked the church. The bride was elegantly attired as was the groom in a Perry Ellis tux. His best male was his presidential brother, Shane. It had been said that Sloane, in a moment of panic and weakness just preceding the ceremony, had wept on Shane’s shoulder. This particular rumor lacked reliable witnesses. Nevertheless, as he stood at the altar, tall and handsome, he didn’t seem at all perturbed. He watched his bride approach followed by her flower girl, his adorable daughter, Georgy, looking like a dream come true. The ring bearer was Caroline’s son, Sunny Leoparde, who is in reality Shane Simba’s cub. If this bit of information makes your head spin, such is the life of our Mara animals – complex, overheated and terribly, terribly sexy.
Groom, Sloane Simba in a Perry Ellis tux and his bride, Caroline Cheetah Simba in her wedding finery....below is Georgy Simba the perfect little flower girl....
Shane Simba helping niece Georgy at the reception....
This was followed by a drop dead reception at Sloane’s elegant bush home. The house was lit by a myriad of candles and lanterns lined the drive. The food was catered by Rhonda Rhino and was absolutely marvelous. Wally Warthog had pitched in with a shit load of barbecue. The drink flowed so freely that I must admit that Lachlan and I become quite tipsy. We were among a host of others doing the same including our President who charmed everyone with his version of the Highland fling, joined by Ralph Lyon. The two lion presidents, past and present, let down their manes as they performed, in a drunken, boisterous fashion, the traditional dance of the Scots Highlanders. The only slightly poignant moment was when Georgy Simba ran to her father crying.
“Daddy, you’re not all mine anymore,” she sobbed as he picked her up to lend comfort.
When Lachlan and I saw Georgy in the crowd of well wishers seeing the couple off to the Seychelles for a brief honeymoon, she seemed quite fine. Her mother, Caitlin, had arrived by then and was holding the cub's paw in hers. Staci Simba caught the bridal bouquet as it was tossed by Caroline. She giggled into the lilies and freesias as if she had a secret of sorts.
Shane stood next to his daughter who was still nuzzling the retrieved bridal bouquet on the veranda of Sloane’s bush home. He lit a cigarette.
“Honeybunch, are you anticipating your own wedding?” he teased but with a slightly serious edge to his question.
“Nooo, Daddy, why do you ask?” she asked.
“Could there be a very nice leopard male you’re thinking about?”
Staci drew in a sharp intake of breath and looked at her father. He winked, patted her on the back and returned to Betty who was chatting with Cynthia and Dorian Cheetah.
“Shit, he’s onto something - that foxy dad of mine,” she mumbled to herself, breaking into suppressed chuckles.
“That was a lovely and very romantic wedding, wasn’t it, darling?” asked Betty as Shane was helping her unbutton the back of her dress.
He placed a kiss at the nape of neck, lifting her heavy hair, first. He slowly turned her to face him.
“You looked beautiful tonight, Mrs. S,” he said, kissing her.
“You looked gorgeous yourself, Mr. S., she answered, smiling.
This was the old Shane that had wooed her and married her under the tulip tree in her backyard on Leoparde Drive.
“Are you feeling delicate or indelicate, Fifi…..it’s your call?"
“I’m not feeling at all fragile - just hungry for you,” she moaned into his chest.
“You’ve got it,” he said, picking her up and placing her gently on the bed, before turning out the lights.
The following weekend he took off in the helicopter mumbling something about cattle disputes toward the east. As he ascended from the landing pad on the State House grounds, Betty watched from the balcony of their room. She knew he was going to Jane. At least she had the memory of those wondrous hours of love making after Sloane’s wedding to ease her while he was gone. She watched until the helicopter was a dot on the horizon, heading for the airfield.
That same weekend, Staci Simba received her pilot’s license. She planned additional training with Luke in order to learn flying by instrument. She flew with Luke to his home in Mombasa. They spent a quiet weekend alone. Ashley and Leah weren’t in Mombasa. Luke and Staci boarded his schooner at dawn and sailed to a remote island near Malindi and put down anchor. There they stayed the night sleeping in the gently rocking state room, listening to the waves slapping the sides of the boat. The next morning as the rays of the sun peeked over the horizon, they drank coffee and planned to take the wave runners on an exploratory excursion. Luke and Staci had worlds in common in their love of sports and adventure. It dawned on Luke that Staci was so like her cousin, Leah Simba Lyon, whom Luke had often coveted silently.