Sold! A Romance In The Sudan (7 page)

Mrs Van Loon stood up, quivering with rage.
“I see I was quite mistaken to come here,” she announced. And with
a snap of the heels that would have been envied by a Prussian
Junker, she marched out of the house.

Lilly giggled. “Well, that’s torn it. I’m
never going to be invited to join the Women’s Institute!”

Hafiq was laughing so much that he couldn’t
answer. When he finally stopped, he saw that Lilly was considering
something.

“You know, Hafiq, I don’t understand why they
didn’t rape me.” She frowned in perplexity. “I kept expecting it,
you know? I was so scared but they didn’t touch me.”

“They were perverts,” Hafiq said gently. He
didn’t like this conversation. He didn’t want her to think about
that time. But Lilly considered his words with interest.

“Oh! You mean they were gay?” She giggled. “I
heard squeals at night but I thought it was monkeys!”

Hafiq was not amused. “It’s disgusting,” he
muttered.

Lilly decided not to joke about loving thy
fellow man. The cultural chasm between them gaped again.

“If you have a moment, I’d like to talk to
you,” she said diffidently.

Hafiq mistook her hesitancy for sadness and
felt his heart plunge. “Tell me,” he said gently.

“I’ve been thinking,” Lilly said. “You know I
was never happy at home. I stayed because my mum got sick. She had
spinal tumours.”

Hafiq nodded but she could see that he didn’t
understand.

“She lost the use of her legs. She was
diagnosed when I was 15, just as there was all that fuss at school
about my father beating me,” Lilly explained. “I wanted to leave
home but I couldn’t leave her. I nursed her for four years.”

He hadn’t said a word but he was listening
intently.

“She died a year ago and my father died two
days later. He was drunk and people thought he crashed into the
lamppost but I think he killed himself,” Lilly said. “He hated me
but he loved my mum.”

Get on with it! Her secret self yawned.

“It took me a while to get everything sorted
and then there was that mess with Ashton,” she talked on quickly as
Hafiq growled at the name, “and I was all set for this new life,
you see. I’m registered to start a hospitality course next month at
Bath University.”

That was it. She was telling him she had to
leave, Hafiq thought.

“Brother! Is this her? She’s beautiful!” It
was a flock of his sisters, accompanied by a bevy of cousins. The
blare of a car horn heralded the arrival of his brothers. No doubt
the aunts, uncles and older folks weren’t far behind.

Lilly’s eyes were opened wide. “Is this your
family?”

“Some of them.”

“How many of you are there?”

“I’ve got 18 brothers and 25 sisters or
rather half brothers and sisters,” he explained casually. “There
are a dozen or so aunts and uncles and their kids, say about 150
cousins. Then there are in-laws.”

“Oh my God!”

“Fourteen wives tend to lead to large
families.”

Lilly was swept away by a crowd of the girls
while the men pelted Hafiq with questions. He laughed and cracked
jokes but Hafiq was worried. He didn’t doubt that Lilly loved him
but she still wanted to leave him.

Perhaps if he let her go home and go to
college, she’d come back to him. He hated the idea of her leaving
and he was convinced she needed looking after but Lilly had made it
clear she didn’t agree. Hafiq knew he could force her to stay but
he couldn’t force her to change. He’d have to let her go. He loved
her too much to make her sad.

If he pulled some strings, he could get in
touch with the embassy at Khartoum. It would take a few weeks but
he was fairly sure he’d manage something. Quietly sliding out from
the party, Hafiq went to his office and picked up the phone.

Getting a line took forever. To keep himself
from thinking, Hafiq played a game of Mah-jong solitaire.
Mindlessly, he turned over and arranged Flower, Bamboo and Wind
tiles.

“Hafiq?” It was Lilly. She was grinning from
ear to ear. She was so lovely. Hafiq thought his heart would break.
“You busy?”

“Never for you.”

She came and settled herself against his
desk. Up close, she smelled like flowers. He had to stop himself
reaching for her.

“Important call?”

“Having trouble getting through.” Privately
he hoped the embassy had been bombed. Then it wouldn’t be his fault
if it took years to get Lilly’s paperwork.

“I didn’t get to finish,” Lilly said. “I was
awake all night thinking and I wanted to say to you...”

Here it comes, thought Hafiq. He steeled
himself to take it like a man.

“I think you’re right. I love you and if you
still want to, I’d like to try and make a go of it.”

It was his turn to gaze at her
speechlessly.

“Hafiq? Did you hear me?”

“Yes. And yes, of course I want you to stay.”
He dropped the phone on his desk and swept her up in his arms. As
he was kissing her, a squawking sound came from the phone.

“Your call is through,” Lilly murmured in his
ear. “Don’t you want to answer it?”

Reluctantly, Hafiq picked it up. To his
delight, a recorded message said the embassy would be closed for
emergency repairs for a week. The compound had been attacked
again.

Lilly shrugged at the news. “I’ll write them
a letter.” She giggled. “I’m so excited! Two of your sisters, I
think they’re called Subin and Nafy? Or is it Yaya and Matida? I’m
sorry but there are so many of them that I can’t tell them apart
yet.”

Hafiq shrugged. “Why do you think we all call
each other Brother and Sister?”

Lilly giggled again. She was deliriously
happy. “Well anyway, they run a kindergarten and they’ve asked if I
can come and teach English!” She looked at him doubtfully. “You’re
not going to object, are you? I would love to do it and it would
keep me busy.”

Hafiq grinned happily. “I won’t be making any
more decisions for you,” he said assuming an air of virtue.

“Yeah, right,” Lilly said unbelievingly.
“Your sisters have been telling me stories and if half of what they
say is true...”

Hafiq frowned worriedly. “Did you tell them
how we met?”

“They already knew all about it,” Lilly
giggled. “They were going to roast you alive but I told them you
were a real hero so now they’re all proud of you.”

He knew he shouldn’t say it but he couldn’t
stop himself. “I knew the moment I saw you that you were a rare
bargain.”

“Cheeky sod,” Lilly muttered. And then she
kissed him.

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Storm Chase