Another Love Story

Epilogue B

My bones were liquid. It had been ten years and Tiger still had the power to passionately immobilize me. I stared at the ceiling in our room and listened to him catching his breath beside me. His arm was tossed over my midsection. I reached down and clasped his hand in mine; intertwining our fingers. Our wedding bands rubbed together; a reminder that we belonged to each other forever.

Tiger turned his head and pressed a kiss to my shoulder. I squeezed his hand slightly in response. Early morning quiet settled around us. The curtains blocked out the light and I couldn't tell what time it was—not that I cared. It was a Saturday and we had nowhere urgent to be. I dozed off with a satisfied smile on my face.

When I woke up again, I was alone in bed. I stretched my leg across to the other side and discovered that it was cold. I had been alone for a while. I sat up and reached for my champagne-colored robe at the foot of the bed. I slipped my arms through and tugged it closed as I got out of bed.

I walked over to our closet and picked out a short African print dress. I laid it on the bed and went to the bathroom. I took my time in the shower; washing my body and hair. I brushed my teeth and applied minimal makeup. In the bedroom, I got dressed and straightened out our room and bathroom before I headed downstairs.

As I entered the kitchen, I saw a breakfast setting. I smiled as I crossed the room and sat down on the kitchen stool. There were two newspapers next to the food which immediately drew my attention. The first newspaper was folded with the Lifestyle section on top. "Top 40 under 40" was an on-going lifestyle segment in that newspaper. They had been profiling two outstanding Ugandans under 40 each week for several weeks. I reached for the newspaper, straightened it out and was stunned to see my face staring back at me.

Tiger had written the word 'proud' in block letters near the top of the page. It was underlined and circled. I blushed. He was nothing if not a supportive husband. The article detailed my professional achievements first. After serving as a credit manager at United Bank, I had been promoted to senior credit executive. I had served in that position for two years before leaving United to start my own business.

I ran a financial management firm with wide continental reach in Africa. For eight years, I had been doing exactly what I loved: managing investment portfolios, trading in stock and currency for myself and for my clients, organizing investment and entrepreneurial seminars in schools, universities and organizations.

I was nearly at a personal net worth of one billion shillings and the newspaper laid out each of my personal achievements and part of my A-list clientele. I had expanded into business law and my firm offered in-house legal counsel for contracts. We were raking in money as intermediaries on business contracts; ensuring that the contracts were not only straight but beneficial to our clients before they signed.

What the newspaper didn't mention was how important Tiger had been to my success. He had been so excited when I decided to branch out on my own in the financial sector. I had always worked on his books on the side and given him financial advice. Even married, he still paid me generously for it. He was the first client of my firm—along with a lot of our friends. Word seemed to spread like wildfire and in no time, I had more clients than I knew what to do with.

Even then, Tiger stayed on my client list. I contracted his company to handle all the software, hardware and computer security needs of my firm. I hit him with the deal one night in bed while we were wrapped up in each other. At any other moment, he would have resisted and fully outfitted my firm for free as a gift. I wanted to pay—so I hit him with it when I knew his mind was about to splinter in several delicious pieces.

He groaned and flipped us so that he was lying on top of me with his weight balanced in his forearms which were planted on the bed at either side of my head.