Page 156 of The Sun Sister

‘No, it’s just that there are lots of things I feel I don’t know about you, and I should.’

‘Well, I went to Eton, which, as you may know, is a school where the British aristocracy are beaten into submission and made ready to go and run an empire. A hideous place.’ Bill shuddered. ‘I cried like a baby at night for months on end. Strange as it may seem, it was Joss Erroll who saved me. He was in the same year and house as me. On the surface not at all my type of chap, but for some reason we hit it off and we’ve remained good friends ever since. Sadly Joss was expelled from Eton – you can imagine he never played by the rules. I went to Oxford to study Law, but then I was drafted into the army at the age of eighteen towards the end of the Great War. I was lucky because by then it was all over, bar the shouting. I stayed in the army for a couple of years, having no idea what exactly I wanted to do with my life. Then my fiancée left me, and...’ – Bill took a gulp of his beer – ‘I rather lost the plot.’

‘I’m so sorry, Bill.’

‘Please don’t be, Cecily. You’ve suffered from the same malady recently, and in fact, it was a blessing in disguise. I’d given up thoughts of going back to the law by then, so Joss tipped me the wink that the British government was looking for young men to come out to Kenya and establish a community – as well as impose some sort of order on the locals, of course. They were offering land by way of a bribe. I signed up, got my thousand acres and out here I came. That’s not far off twenty years ago now. Can’t believe I’ve been here so long,’ he sighed. ‘So that’s a little more about me, now what about you? Perhaps you should at least tell me who the father is,’ he added, lowering his voice. ‘So I’m prepared in the future. I’m guessing it’s someone from round here?’

‘Oh no, it isn’t.’

‘Your fiancé then?’ He raised his eyebrows as he forked up the goat curry and rice.

‘No, it wasn’t him.’

‘Well, who was it then? If it’s England or America, it’ll mean nothing to me anyway.’

‘Actually, I’m afraid it might. It was when I was at Woodhead Hall and I met your brother at dinner. Lord and Lady Woodhead have a nephew called Julius...’

‘Good Lord.’ Bill looked shocked. ‘That’s closer to home than I thought. My brother wouldn’t have got wind of it, would he?’

‘Oh no, Julius is due to marry someone else. It was only a...’ – Cecily gulped, blushing to the roots of her hair – ‘quick fling.’

‘And he broke your heart?’ Bill asked her, his tone softening slightly.

‘Yes, he did. I...believed his intentions were pure.’

‘Never trust an Englishman, eh? Well, I can’t promise you much more than a few thousand head of cattle, but I can promise you that I am an honourable man. Well, well, we really are quite the pair, aren’t we?’

‘I suppose we are.’

‘Now then.’ Bill searched in his pocket and brought out a small velvet box. ‘Here’s the ring. Try it on, why don’t you? I’ve had it made, but I fear it may be a little too large.’

Cecily opened the box and found a pretty diamond band with a reddish-pink stone at its centre.

‘Oh, it’s beautiful!’

‘It’s a star ruby. My grandfather brought it back from Burma for my grandmother. And now here it is in Kenya – about to go on your all-American finger. Do you like it? When the light is shining directly on it, you can see a perfect star on the top.’

‘I think it’s...magical,’ Cecily said as she placed it underneath the lantern that sat on the table and saw the shape of a shimmering star. ‘Thank you, Bill.’

As Bill made no move to put it on her finger himself, Cecily took it from its velvet nest and placed it on the fourth finger of her left hand.

‘As I thought, slightly too big, but the jeweller in Gilgil can fix that in a trice. So now that we’re officially affianced, I’ll send a telegram to my brother and ask him to put a notice of our engagement inThe Times.’

‘What about here?’

‘Oh, the jungle drums will announce it for us,’ said Bill. ‘Although perhaps it would be better for us both if you kept quiet for now about your...condition. When it becomes public knowledge, as it inevitably will, I shall of course take full responsibility.’

‘Thank you.’

‘Not at all. And you needn’t worry, Cecily, when we are married I’ll be out of your hair most of the time. The blasted cattle demand my constant attention.’

‘Don’t you have a manager?’

‘I do indeed, and the Maasai to help me, but it takes all of us to do the job properly. In truth, I rather like being nomadic. There’s been nothing much to come home for, up until now. Anyway,’ Bill said as Aleeki and the staff cleared away the supper dishes. ‘Why don’t we look at these plans so we can get started on the house?’

An hour later, when they had made some alterations to the layout, Cecily adding extra bedrooms as she one day imagined her family coming out to join them, she followed Bill towards his pick-up. Nygasi, the Maasai man, was sitting patiently waiting for him. Bill gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek and said goodnight.

‘I’ll be away on the plains for the next ten days, but please, feel free to add to the house plans and organise the wedding as you wish,’ he said as he climbed into his pick-up. ‘Goodbye, Cecily.’