Black Coffee (Tara's Dream)|Dearest Diary, - Book 1 (unedited)

XI

"There you are." my sister said as she heralded our entrance into the house with a sneer on his face. I grimaced at her loud voice as everyone turned to look at me and the huge box that was in my hands.

"Ūyu auma kū rīu?" My grandmother questioned my whereabouts; frowning as she turned to look at a despondent Troy with a weary look on her face. I was not sure if he was really feeling that low or if it was just an act, played out for my benefit and that of his sympathisers. Either way my heart wrenched at the sight and I felt awful at how terribly I had treated him.

"Narī na wīra wa kūruta." I responded and everyone’s attention snapped back to me.

"You can speak the language?" my sister Shea gasped.

"I never said I couldn't. You just assumed that I didn't." I replied ignoring the horrified gazes that my mother and auntie were giving each other. At that, Caleb snickered from a corner and even Troy managed to smile despite his earlier grim looks.

"You fooled them." David whispered with a laugh as he came to stand beside me, bearing the heavy sisal bags that were full of the day’s shopping. We had found a mall after all and I had not expended on my resources buying anything other than the very best for daughter's fourth birthday.

"No I didn't. They assumed that I don't remember." I whispered back as my eyes looked around to search the room. "By the way, where is Bri?" I asked raising my voice in order to be heard over the discussion that my words had just incited.

"She got bored and decided to take a nap." Troy said and I lifted a questioning eyebrow at him. "She had some motivation from your younger cousins." he added with a smile.

"What other cousins?" I asked him as he relieved my hands of the heavy box that I had been carrying.

"Auntie Val's kids." Caleb contributed referring to the six year old boy and three year old girl I was yet to meet. I nodded, helping David with some of the bags, before heading out after Troy who had gone into the kitchen ahead of us. Once in the Kitchen, I placed the bags on one of the counters and turned to open the box freezer to preserve the cake in it. David placed the rest of the bags on the counter and shot me a nod, leaving the two of us alone with the privacy that we needed to talk. Even the house help seemed to be out 'somewhere' doing 'something', and with the kids still sleeping and everyone else being either in the living room or at one of my uncle's houses, we were left with enough privacy to have that talk.

"Uhm...Troy." I called out as I attempted to get his attention. He straightened up from his previous position where he had been bending over the freezer and he turned around to face me.

"Yap."

"We need to talk."

"That bad." he meant it as a joke and I smiled back. "This way." He told me as he began to lead me out through the kitchen door and to the lighted backyard. He continued to walk round a corner before coming to a stop in front of a white bench that was overlooking the great banana plantation. It was beneath the open sky under a bright crescent moon with a blanket of over a million stars twinkling above it.

"How did you find this place?" I marveled as I took a seat beside him on the bench.

"I had the entire afternoon and evening to explore the place." he replied without a hint of bitterness in his voice and my heart wrenched as the feeling of guilt overwhelmed it again.

"Look. I am sorry Troy. I should have explained that we had some work to do instead of leaving you like that." On its own accord, my arm moved and my open palm settled on his hand. My fingers glazed over his warm skin and he looked down, his grip tightening over my hand before I could pull it away. So much for comforting gestures, I now felt like a gazelle that had driven herself straight into the lion’s snare.