Appetite For Love

Chapter Thirty Nine

"I have to go! I have to see my mother!" That was the refrain Aïda had repeated for close to fifteen minutes as the police refused to let her and Aden leave.

The ambulance that had been waiting had came and left. Two morgue vans had arrived on the scene, a stretcher had been removed from both and taken to the riverside.

The two police officers that were with them had locked the door and were outside whispering with their hands in front of their mouths.

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It was a week later and Aïda watched as her mother's coffin was wheeled into her childhood home.

She had always known that the day would probably come, but she had hoped for a different ending. She once had dreams of her and her mother having a 'normal' mother and daughter relationship. She had fantasies of speaking to Evelynn about Aden and asking her opinion about Tuis Kombuis and she even wanted her to get to know Zoë, but none of that would ever materialise.

The small livingroom was full of people, most were just curious onlookers ( Evelynn was not a very good neighbour and she thought nothing of flirting with married men ), and then their was Evelynn's family ( they never accepted or treated Aïda as their own ) and her father, Sifiso Matshoba, his wife and daugher and son along with some of his other relatives and politician friends.

Yes, he was a politician and a member of the national ruling party and of parliament. The media had found out about Aïda being his daughter. The main opposition party had used the situation to tarnish his image, the elections were around the corner and they would use every and any weapon to get more votes.

At the gravesite there were even more 'mourners' than at the house and church combined. Aïda and her father had hired to double decker busses and they were filled to capacity not to mention all the people who came in private vehicles. You could have sworn some royal had died.

As Evelynn's coffin was lowered into the ground Aïda was flanked on the right by Aden and the left by her father. Her stepmother and siblings and her friends and staff were also standing close by. Tuis Kombuis had been closed for the day.

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Tiffany was sitting in prison in Namibia. She had escaped there, but was captured on the same day that Aïda had been freed.

She put down the newspaper that she had been reading, wiping a few tears from her eyes. She had totally misjudged Aïda.

The two women had a lot in common. Both of them had absent fathers. Well, actually Tiffany had never met her father, but she had a dad. Her mother was married when she was conceived, her stepdad was her sister's biological father. Tiffany had been fathered by a white Afrikaner farmer, she got her green eyes and ginger hair from him ( She died her hair blonde ).

Growing up people would often make remarks about the difference in features, between her and her sister.  Gretchen was called ugly several times in front of Tiffany. People seemed to worship her more European features and made fun of her sister's Khoi looks, but their dad treated and loved them both equally.

On Tiffany's tenth birthday her parents told both of the siblings the truth about her paternity. Both girls changed that day: Tiffany felt like like a mistake and the destroyer of a family, even though her dad told her otherwise, and Gretchen became more possessive of her dad. She used to remind Tiffany weekly that she was an outsider. She acted childish despite being six years older.

Their dad died almost two years later. His funeral was held on Tiffany's twelth birthday. Life in the November house became very difficult not just emotionally, but financially as well. The dad worked in a warehouse as a forklift operator and the mother worked in a clothing factory as a cutter. They went from being poor to being impoverished.

Things got even worse when Gretchen left home to move in with her boyfriend,  their mother started dating and doing drugs. She would bring her 'boyfriends' home, some of them were interested in Tiffany. Often, her mother would go out and leave her alone with these men. Tiffany told Gretchen about it, but she refused to believe her her younger sister. She claimed that Tiffany was self-centred.

Tiffany would tell her mother too, but the woman had stopped caring about anything when her husband died.

The worse was yet to come. The last boyfriend, Rona ( Tiffany's mom ) had, had somehow convinced her to sell Tiffany off to some wealthy man in Saudi Arabia. He told her that they'd always have enough money for drugs and anything else that they wanted. She agreed and one night they entered Tiffany's room telling her about their 'brilliant' plan as they dragged her to a car. She fought them off and ran away, getting into a good Samaritan's car. The other two followed, but their car crashed into a tree. They died instantly.

Tiffany had a mental breakdown and was put into a mental asylum. She met Aden's mother there and a few days later Aden. She loved how Aden treated his mother and the other people. She told him her life story and they became friends. When it was time to leave, Aden's mother asked her to move in with them. Tiffany saw it as a new season and accepted. She was treated like a princess in that household, Aden always kept her at a romantic distance though, especially when she told him she had feelings for him. He told her on that very day that he was inlove with someone.

When it was time for Tiffany to go to University she opted
to do modelling instead. The van den Heever parents were disapointed, but the mother used her contacts to get Tiffany into the best modelling agency. Within the year her career blossomed and in the span of four years she was modelling and living in New York.  Aden and his family supporting her at every step.

Aden's mom and Heinrich wanted her and Aden to be a couple with Heinrich even calling her sister-in-law, but the father did not approve. Behind closed doors he'd say that she had too many Khoi / San features. His future daughters in law had to pass for Europeans or else he would allow such a union, over his dead body. Tiffany overheard one night as she went to get some water. Aden's mom noticed her and apologised, telling her not to take to heart what she said had heard. She told Tiffany what she had learned on the day that she tried to take her own life.

Tiffany asked for a phone she needed to speak to Aden. She had something very important to tell him.