Once Violet had hung up from the children, promising to see them the next day, she searched the room, under the bed, amongst the cushions on the sofa. It was nowhere to be found. Then she realized that Hendrick's coat, his wallet, most of his things were gone too. He'd gone, and taken the diamond with him.
Was it anger or hurt that caused so much pain? Violet wasn't sure, but she knew that whilst she wanted to run away, bury her head under a beach full of sand, hide from confronting Hendrick, or hearing that he didn't love her in the way she loved him, she couldn't. She had to know. The indulgence of pleasing yourself doesn't mix with being the guardian of two small children. If she ran, she could only run to them, and if this was a fight, a blow out of huge proportions, she wanted to save them for witnessing it.
So she paced the room, questions mounting in her mind as she envisaged him at the door, skulking a return when he presumed she'd gone. She hadn't eaten since a sandwich in the airport at lunchtime, and despite the energies of an afternoon between the sheets with Hendrick, her appetite was quashed by anxiety and pain.
Still Violet picked up the phone and dialed 5 for room service. From the menu she requested champagne, two bottles, and a platter of delicate nibbles. The bill was astronomical, but as she charged it to his room, she remembered she'd spent over ten Euros on a coffee earlier on!
If Hendrick was so obsessed with money, she figured she'd hit him where it hurt - in the wallet. She knew that he'd justified his actions towards her....sort of, but she still wanted to lash out and make him angry in any way she could.
She'd drunk the best part of one bottle and hunger pangs had led to her attacking the platter of canapés with fervor, but still he didn't show. Now she felt more than tipsy and hardly at her best to take him on. So she lay her head down, resting on the sofa, hoping that a little rest would make things easier, help her sober up a bit.
She was fast asleep when Hendrick finally opened the door.
It was almost nine o'clock, four hours after he'd left her, far longer than he'd intended. He should've called, but he hadn't, he didn't trust himself. Opening the door, he first spotted the large silver domed platter, something from room service, and the ice bucket with a bottle of champagne, glad that she'd had the thought to eat in his absence, he suddenly worried that she'd been waiting for him to arrive to share it. Then looking across he saw her fast asleep on the sofa in the dark.
Damn, he should've phoned he thought as he saw the empty champagne bottle tipped on the floor, she'd had to drink it alone, but he'd been so overwhelmed wanted to act there and then. Looking around his heart started to pound. Her bag was packed and placed near the door, her coat and shoes next to it. She was all set to go!
Suddenly things didn't look so rosy. Why was she leaving?
With a groan he made his way over to her and lifted her up, carrying her into the bedroom. Sliding her jeans off, he left the t-shirt on, and pulled the duvet over her. Settling on the sofa to think and wait. All his excitement and anticipation quashed in an instant.
It was the second time that Violet had woken alone, dazed and disoriented in this room. As she looked around, she remembered the last few waking hours in more clarity. The bastard! She must've fallen asleep she realized angrily. As she sat up she realized that her jeans were missing, even more reason to be angry. The alarm clock said half ten, the last she remembered had been half past seven. And the champagne!
Shaking her head, she climbed out of bed, opening the door to the lounge. Then she froze. There slumped on the sofa eyes staring at a tumbler full of whisky was Hendrick. From this angle she could see the dark ring under his eye, the dark unshaven jaw, and that haunted look. Her heart bled for a moment, it must've been hard reliving all his horror stories earlier, but any sympathy for him evaporated as she remembered how he'd taken her to bed straight after, uncaring of using and hurting her.
He must've sensed her because she gasped as he suddenly turned to look at her with wide eyes.
"Put your jeans on!" he snapped, unable to tolerate those long bare legs, the sensible yet ridiculously sexy panties, and the too short t-shirt flashing an inch of belly. He needed clarity here, not libido-fuelled haziness.
"No!" she snarled back. "Too bad if the sight of me makes you sick!"
He shook his head, "what?" the sight made him ANYTHING but sick. He wriggled, ruing the bad timing of the sudden tightness in his jeans. "Why are you packed up and ready to leave? Has something happened?"
She shrugged, "you obviously want me gone, I just wanted to sort it out face to face before I left. I'm not running from anything."
"GO? Bloody hell Violet, why would I want you to leave?"
She twirled her thumbs as she tried to avoid looking at him, not wanting to cry, "look I understand that in your eyes I'm the spawn of Satan. It is best if I go."
She stepped towards the door, but his voice stopped her.
"If you walk out that door it's because YOU want to and nothing to do with me." He stepped towards her and she could feel his presence over her shoulder. "It's taken weeks to get you in a room with me again; I have no desire to see you walk away."
She turned to face him trying to stop the stubborn tears that escaped her eyes, "you did more than get me in a room with you.....I can't be what you want! I know that now......"
He gasped, "WHAT? You obviously have NO idea what I want V!"
She looked up at him, "I'm not Carla!"
He shook his head in wonder, "no shit?! I am WELL aware that you are not her. Thank God! Is that why you were going? Because you're not her?"
Stunned Violet stared at him, completely not expecting this reaction. He took her hands and looked at her imploringly, "Violet! Carla was a manipulative bitch. I thought I loved her but I didn't, our marriage was probably over before Marvin stepped in, I just didn't cope well with losing everything."
"She was coming back to you....."
He half laughed, "I wouldn't have taken her V. She made a fool out of me, and it's been my pride, my anger, my thirst for revenge that has kept those wounds open, raw. That's been the problem, me and my ego."
She sat down before her legs wobbled anymore, "I thought you still loved her."
"I've realized lately that I never really loved her, I thought I did...." he squatted in front of her, "until I met you, and realized what true happiness really is. I have hardly slept, since you left Mbumba. For the first time in my life I don't hanker after being back in South Africa anymore, I love it there, of course I do, but it's not the same without you. Every inch of that home reminds me of you, and I know one thing, I want to be wherever you are V."
"You don't mean it Hendrick!" she could barely process his words.
He lifted her chin, forced her to look at him, "I'm not too proud to say it, I love you Violet Parker, and I don't want to spend a minute more without you."
She shook her head, "you took back the diamond.....I thought you hated me."
Hendrick laughed, "just try getting this sorted at 5pm on a Saturday night in a Swiss ski resort! It has been a murderous challenge and taken me hours. There was nowhere that had the right materials, or the skill to do it. I had to drive an hour away to finally get this made!" Dropping onto his knees, he reached in the pocket of his jeans and pulled out the velvet box that housed the diamond. Flicking it open he watched her face intently, smiling at the wonder in her eyes.
Violet stared at the platinum ring that now housed the beautiful pink diamond, then raised her eyes to meet Hendrick's.
He raised his eyebrow and smiled, "So what do you think? Do you think you could tolerate this on a certain finger?" She bit her bottom lips nervously as she met his gaze. "Or even more so, could you tolerate the man that comes with it?"
She nodded nervously, "what are you saying?"
"I love you Violet, I want to marry you, I want to spend EVERY night and EVERY morning with you. Wherever you live I'll quite happily live. I just need you."
"The twins......I can't...." She could barely see through the tears.
He placed a finger over her mouth, "the twins are wonderful, I love them, you know that. Everything else we can sort out, as long as we're together. Where we live, how we work out the details, it'll all be ok, as long as you say yes V!"
"As if I'd ever say no!"
He huffed, "say yes Violet!"
"I love you!" she breathed, smiling at him in wonder.
He stood and pulled her into his arms, "I know you do.....now say yes, or I'll head down to the bar and drink myself into oblivion."
"And if I do say it?" Now she was teasing him.
"I'll scoop you over my shoulder and carry you into the bedroom and show you one of the upsides of becoming Mrs Kaiser....." he winked at her as he added, "ALL night!"
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes..............."
She was still chanting the word as he did as he strode into the bedroom and tossed her ahead of him on to the bed.
*******
EPILOGUE
"Dad! Watch this!" Hendrick knew he'd get no peace, so he glanced up from the wad of papers he'd brought up from Pretoria. Theo, a busy six year old, was stood on the diving board poised to jump in the pool. Hendrick smiled, then clapped as he executed a top class belly flop.
"Did you like it?" he asked as he finally emerged from under the water.
"It was excellent. You keep practicing though, yeah?"
He nodded as he ran back to the diving board.
Hendrick shook his head, he was so like Violet it was unreal, from his dark blonde hair to his blue eyes, he was the image of her. Unlike Genevieve, she sat happily at his feet playing, at three she was as inquisitive as him, and dark in her coloring, though she was in fact the image of his mother.
He leaned back in his chair and smiled, who'd have thought he'd thank Marvin Hancock? Thank him for creating Violet, and the weird chain of events that led to them being here together.
He'd been right on so many points. They'd made things work, managing to spend most of their time in the UK, whilst the children were schooled, but so many weekends and holidays they came back to Mbumba. Here they were starting a long summer in South Africa. They had many visitors planned, as usual, and their children were excited beyond belief.
"When will they be here?" Theo shouted from the water.
"Anytime now! Keep watching!"
Almost the second he spoke, the hum of an approaching airplane broke the calm. Looking up he spotted it, circling before picking out the landing strip a few hundred meters away.
The three of them were strolling out into the yard as Jan's battered jeep emerged in a cloud of dust.
Emma as usual flew out of the vehicle, throwing her arms around his neck, covering his face with affectionate kisses. At fifteen she'd suddenly blossomed into a beautiful, elegant young woman.
"Oh Ems, it is SO good to see you guys!" They'd spent a few weeks with Michael their father in Spain, but had flown in today, for the rest of the summer.
Smiling and nodding, she squatted down beside the younger kids and enveloped them in a similarly generous hug. Then Ethan appeared, still a spotty teenager compared to his sister, but at almost six foot, he was more than a match for Hendrick when it came to tennis, or pretty much any sport he turned his hand to. The four youngsters ran into the garden, desperate to cool off, he knew the trip for the twins would have been both long and not particularly comfortable, he didn't begrudge them the quick dive in the pool.
Looking up he finally saw Violet, she'd only left that morning, but he missed her every moment they were apart, which was far less than they first anticipated, but more than he was happy with. Since she'd got her pilot license a few years earlier, she split her work between teaching in small communities locally, and setting up healthcare care initiatives with large charities. She'd spoken to a thousand people at a conference in London the previous month and never looked so confident, sexy and strong.
"Hey you!" he smiled as she climbed down from the jeep last. She swung her arms around his neck for a long, intimate and promising kiss.
"You were longer than I thought!"
She smiled, "I had some errands to run!"
He took the bags from the car and waved Jan off, then followed her to the house, "any nice errands?"
She shrugged, still smiling. He was useless at being kept in suspense, so as soon as she set foot in the house, out of sight of the children, he grabbed her by the waist and pinned her against the wall.
"You're being very evasive...."
She snickered, "and you are SO rubbish at not knowing EVERYTHING Mr Kaiser!"
Sliding a hand up her back he reached the back of her bra and was about to unclip it, wreak havoc on her body when she whispered.
"I was at the doctor's."
"Is everything ok?" he laid a hand over her stomach, protective of their growing third child.
She nodded, still grinning from ear to ear, "its twins! We're having twins!"
He shook his head in amazement, "it started with twins, and now it ends with twins!"
Kissing her, he carried her upstairs, glad that they still had a lock on their bedroom door.