AMBER ROMANCE

AMBER ROMANCE

WHEN THE HEART KNOWS

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN


Her heart stopped beating and she couldn’t find her voice, she could only stare at him as her heart began beating erratically.
“Actually I have known before today. I thought it was so obvious that was why I was angry when you came to rescue me from Angela. How could I abandon the woman I love for one I dreaded from childhood?”
What was he doing he asked himself, he was babbling. Uche Okoha was babbling to a woman. He never blabbed. What had she done to him, how could he become so vulnerable to her. He felt his anger rise and did nothing to stop it. She wasn’t saying anything, he had just told her he loved her and she was silent.
“After all we’ve shared together, you should have trusted me enough to be sure that whatever the conversation was I would keep it neutral, or did you think I was asking her for a date?”
Nma was still trying to come to terms that the man of her dreams loved her, how was it possible that of all the women in the world, he loved her. She turned to him with stars in her eyes only to meet his angry ones and she was startled for a moment.
“Coming to drag me away from her showed insecurity on your part and you should have trusted me to come and get you once it was time for dinner”
Then understanding dawned on her. And she smiled at him. She saw it, the fear that comes with love, the fear of rejection and heart break.
“Angela is the least important person here right now. Right now all that matters is you and me and that we love each other.
“I love you”
It was his turn to be shocked even though he knew all along that she loved him. She had made no secret about that.
“I want you to know there is nothing and there isn’t going to be anything between me and Angela. It is you I want and love!” he said firmly.
“Do you believe me?” he asked firmly
She kissed him for a reply and he held on to her for dear life. When he let her go, she touched his face
“What took you so long?”
“You might not believe it but I was afraid”
“Afraid of what?”
“I have been here before” he said
“She was everything I thought I wanted, she was beautiful and raised to make a man like me the perfect wife and hostess, maybe that was why I wanted her so much but in the end she eloped with one of my closest business associates”
Nma pretended that she had not heard the story before and touched him
“Meeting you, I finally realized that I never really loved her but I thought if a betrayal of a woman I didn’t love could hurt me so bad what would happen if it came from you, a woman I love with all my heart”
When he said he loved her, her heart still flipped, it still felt like a dream to hear him say it.
“With me you have nothing to fear because you are my home and no matter where I ever I run to, I will always come home to you”
He held her with one hand drove with the other.
 “You are home” he said when he pulled to a stop in front of her house.
For the first time since she met him she wanted really wanted to make love with him but only her love and fear for God held her back. She didn’t want the night to end, but then she took comfort in the fact that by same time next month nothing would keep them apart any more.
“Are you too busy tomorrow?”
“Not sure if I don’t travel this night, I must unfailingly by next tomorrow so that alone will keep me fully occupied and I don’t really know when I’ll come back, probably next week but I’ll call you” he said
“Ok” she said as an idea began to form in her head for tomorrow”
“I miss you already” she whispered
“Naturally” he murmured “now don’t go watery eye on me” he told her
“Safe journey” she leaned forward kissed him before getting down. Uche waited until she entered into her house and the lights came on. He then drove away.
Nma ran to the window to watch him drive away.

She lay on the bed but was too excited to sleep. She couldn’t believe it, she couldn’t stay still, and she was wanted to scream her happiness. She thanked God again and again for sending Uche her way and for giving her the strength to live by His principles and standards. Somehow she knew that if she had given in and slept with Uche, he would have categorized her with others girls who wanted nothing but what his money could buy them. She shuddered thinking what would have happened if she had given in. “Thank God” she whispered again.
She went through everything that had happened since she woke up that morning. She was happy. She got up from the bed and walked to the mirror and at looked her green satin night gown, in matter of weeks she would become Nma Okoha. She would become Uche’s wife. She would share not only his name but his body and soul and then they would let go of all the inhibitions they have been living with because she would sleep with him then. She couldn’t wait for the twenty seventh of next month. She wanted it to be the most memorable day of her life, the day she would be his forever.
She wanted to call him, to hear his voice but she didn’t because he did have a long day and he had another long one ahead of him before he travelled. Then she stopped, did it mean she wouldn’t see before he travelled? No she thought, of course she was going to see him before he travelled. She had to give him a loving memory to go away with. But whatever that was going to be she had no idea.  She couldn’t think of what to do. He had already hinted that he was going to have a busy day. She went to sit on the bed confused. She thought of paying him a surprise visit at his office but she thought against it. She would be in the way and he probably would not appreciate that. She was sure something would come to her. Knowing that he loved her made her bolder and she loved the feeling, then again their platonic relationship didn’t give her much choice. She lay down on the bed and closed her eyes, she was sure she would dream of him and only because her senses were filled with him.

The next morning Nma was still in the same high spirit, she couldn’t stop smiling as she took her bath and wore a baby pink empire waist gown that stopped at her knee, she wore black peep toe shoes and bag. She was feeling loved and that had a hand in her choice of color.  She dressed for work believing that before the day ended, what to do before Uche left the country would come to her. She examined herself in mirror, she was conscious of the fact that she ate too much yesterday. But no harm has been done to her curves she saw and smiled. At this rate if she married Uche she would become obese in a matter of weeks. She left the room deliberately denying herself of breakfast. She remembered she had to tell Tessy they had a wedding to plan. She felt her heart skip a beat at the thought. Planning a wedding, her wedding to Uche, She hurried out of the house. She couldn’t wait to tell the only other two people who meant something to her.
While at work, Nma found herself talking to Helen about her confusion and not about the wedding because she wanted Felix and Tessy to be the first to know.
“Pay him a surprise visit at his house” Helen said “let him come back to good home cooked meal and a warm body all through the night. When he is least expecting it”
Nma laughed because she knew that a warm body all through the night was not part of their relationship.
“But I have already cooked for him before” Nma said
“Nma, a man never gets tired of good food and warm body, that is the wise woman’s two most effective weapon to keep her man from straying”
Nma smiled as the idea took hold in her mind and before long she was planning.
“Guess who I met yesterday?” Nma asked
“Chucks, unless you met him, I am not interested” then she turned with interest, “You met him yesterday, oh Nma tell me, did you mention me?” she asked her eyes dancing with excitement.
“Honey that man is handsome, if there is anything like God’s gift to women, it would be Chucks” Nma said standing up and glancing at her watch
“Please may I have his number? I finished in a record time remember” Helen asked
“Nope! According to Uche he would be in town for a couple of weeks so I will try to introduce you two”
“That’s even better” Helen laughed “where are you going? We haven’t finished talking about him yet”
Nma laughed “Actually you are too old to be having a crush on a celebrity”
“You saw the guy; no flesh and blood woman can resist him”
“This one can” said Nma “he paled in comparison when Uche stood beside him, see you tomorrow. I am going to snatch some few hours with the love of my life” she left.
Helen’s eyes were still sparkling with excitement.

The uniformed gate man opened the gate for Nma and she drove into Uche magnificent house. She came out of the car bearing some shopping bag. The surly house keeper opened the door for her. Nma smiled at the woman but the woman didn’t return the smile and she wasn’t giving her way to come into the house.
“Mr. Uche is not around?”
“Don’t tell me he has left the country already”
“No he hasn’t” the woman replied “He is not around and for that I can’t let you in. he didn’t leave that kind of instruction this morning”
Nma was too astonished to put her thoughts together “Did he leave instructions not to let his fiancée in? She asked
“Mr. Uche doesn’t have a fiancée”
“He asked me yesterday. I am sure he didn’t have the time to tell you. Look.” She began almost desperate I just want to surprise him but now you are going to spoil the surprise. I guess I will have to call him and demand for a key” she brought out her phone but the gate man started opening the gate and that stopped her. She watched with surprise as Uche’s jeep crawled to a stop beside the house and he came down staring at her with surprise. She smiled at him but stopped when she saw an elegant woman in black pants and white wrap around shirt. The woman was tall and as classy as they come. She recognized her as Star his personal assistant. Her heart gave a painful lurch but remembering that he loved her and told her only yesterday kept her from loosing her grip. She watched as the woman said something and Uche smiled. Then he walked to her and gave her a hug and kiss. That should have reassured her but somehow it didn’t.
Uche could see the dismay she was trying to mask and shook his head in amusement. Didn’t she understand that there could never be another woman for him?
“What going on here? Are you just coming?”
“I was going to surprise you but I guess it’s no longer a surprise”
He smiled at her and took the shopping bags then he frowned at the house keeper
‘You’ve met Star, she is my personal assistant and we would be making the final arrangement for our travel”
Nma shook the woman coolly. Their travel?  Was he traveling with this alluring girl?
“Actually I am more like a glorified secretary? Star said laughing. Nma smiled at the girl as Uche introduced her as his fiancée. Then he turned to the house keeper.
“Miss Ubong, I would like to see you shortly” he said in clipped tone. As they entered inside, as always the living room never ceased to take her breath away. She walked straight to the well equipped and beautiful kitchen. She dumped her shopping bag on the table and turned to find Uche watching her. He was leaning on the door.
“I am glad you are here” he said he came forward and kissed her
“I am glad too But my surprise has been spoilt” she complained
“No I was mightily surprised and glad to see you here; I was thinking in the car that today is going to be a long day without you”
She smiled and kissed him thoroughly
“Hm! That was nice” he said
“Glad you didn’t jump into the wrong conclusion about Star”
Nma smiled at him, if only he knew how close she came to that.
“She is rather too flashy and classy to be anyone’s secretary? She told him jovially
“Star personality is like an advertisement for us. She has that image that says we are the best” he told her.
“Enough on Star I figured we could make our engagement official” he said and brought out a velvet case. Nma’s eyed widened with excitement as he snapped it open and presented it to her.
It was a beautiful ring red ruby surrounded by tiny diamonds. Her heart skipped a beat.
“It is exquisite” she exclaimed as he took her fingers.
“It belonged to my mother, now it is yours and would be our daughter in law’s one day”
She smiled at the thought as he slid the ring on her engagement finger and kissed her.
“Now you are mine” he told her
“And you are mine too” she said and kissed him again.
She raised the ring to sparkle at the light. Just then the housekeeper came in. Nma could see that the woman’s wicked frown as she saw them cuddling and then her shocked expression as her eyes rested on her ring and she wondered what she ever did to the woman.
“Yes I was going to see you privately but I guess Nma may as well hear it”
Nma didn’t know who was more surprised between the house keeper and herself.
“You were going to turn her away?”
“I am sorry sir but you have always been emphatic about admitting visitors when you are not expecting them”
“Do you know who she is?”
The woman hesitates “Well yes she said she is your fiancée”
“The woman I am going to marry in a couple of weeks, you should have known better. Please let this not happen again. You may leave”
The woman left but not before she gave Nma a wicked look that spoke volumes.
“I don’t know what I ever did to her”
“She is Mrs. Ekpo’s relative that is the only reason she is still here” he said “I am sorry you had to go through that”
She smiled at him “it’s nothing”
“So what are you cooking?” he asked
“Oh! Something special”
“What…”
“I am not going to let you spoil the remaining surprise”
He smiled, “I will just finish with Star” he left and Nma smiled happily, it felt real good to see the woman put her in place. The woman had been nothing but mean and rude to her ever since Uche introduced them. She wondered how the wonderful Mrs. Ekpo ended up with a relative like this one. Then it dawned on her that Uche had addressed her as “Miss”. She was probably still a spinster but that didn’t explain why she was so rude and… then she stopped and laughed out aloud. “No way it is not possible” she said aloud. The woman couldn’t possibly have any designs on Uche. The thought was ridiculous. She was old enough to have a son like Uche. She began to prepare to cook Oha soup.  Star came into her mind again, and she shook her head. If Uche said she was just his personal assistant then she would accept that, though she didn’t feel right knowing that he would be with that very beautiful and elegant woman all through his trip. She looked at her ring and felt reassured and busied herself. If there was anything between them; Uche wouldn’t have been this comfortable having the two of them in his house nor would he have introduced her as his fiancée,
Just as she was dishing the pounded yam, the house keeper entered with her surly face. She went straight to fridge and opened it; Nma wondered how she was going to live with this woman after the wedding. She could only try and wish that the woman would come around by then. She was amazed at how quickly she was becoming possessive of Uche’s house but why not, the house was going to be hers too in a matter of weeks.
Nma turned to the woman.
“Look” she began and the woman turned
“You are not married to him yet” the woman spat at her “so don’t go making yourself comfortable in my kitchen”
“Look I don’t want to have to fight with you now nor in the future because really I don’t have to” she smiled as the woman understood her meaning “can’t we call truce? I am not here to take over my duties from you maybe except for preparing my husband’s meals…”
“You wouldn’t know where to start”
“I have already started” she smiled at the woman “We could actually live cordially; I am willing to try if you are”
“I would rather wait till you are married to him, if there is any superior knowledge I have of him over you, it is that he is very predictable with our sex” she left abruptly.
Nma was shocked speechless and she slowly returned to her cooking but her mind was pricked. The woman was actually hinting that a wedding might not take place. The truth was that she was probably right. Her mind immediately went to Star and Angela. She heaved a sigh, she hushed her insecurities, Uche loved her and he asked her marry him and none of the others.

Uche returned to the kitchen just as she was placing the food on the table, then it began raining.
“Smells delicious” he said sitting on the small eating area in the kitchen.
She smiled at him “has she left?” she asked
He nodded and sat down on a chair.
“In this rain, you could have invited her to eat with us”
“I want to be alone with you” he stated and drew her down to sit on his lap just as she was passing by him with a dish” he ran his hands through her hair. She turned and kissed him, he took the dish and dropped them on the table and drew her closer.
“I am going to miss you” he whispered.
Just then the house keeper entered with his phone “Excuse me sir” Uche looked at her irritated by her presence
“Your phone was ringing”
“Let it ring, since when did you start taking my calls?”
“I am sorry sir” she dropped the phone and left.
Nma quietly stood up from his lap.
“Let’s eat, the food is getting cold” she smiled at him. She was going to let the woman shoot herself in the leg. Uche opened one of the dishes and saw the pounded yam and he looked surprised.
“Don’t tell me you did this?”
She smiled at him “don’t you like it” she asked
“Are you kidding me, they are my favorite”
She was deliriously happy with the way he attacked the food.
“You know when I asked you to marry me, I didn’t bargain for a chef”
“What did you expect?”
“I thought classy girls like you don’t cook”
She smiled “For you I will learn”
They smiled at each other. Her heart glowed, the thought of being the one to take of care of him, cook his meal, take care of his clothes was like a dream come true.
The rain was looking as if it was not going to stop by the time Nma finished washing the plates and cleaning. She looked through the window at the heavy down pour and wondered how she was supposed to drive home in it. She sighed and turned to go into the living room where she had left Uche.

The living room was quite cold, the air conditioner was on in full blast and Uche was sitting in there comfortable in his jeans T shirts. His full concentration was on his laptop and his ears were covered with earphones, listening to music, she smiled as her breath caught in her throat at the picture he made. She shivered not really from the cold but from something else she couldn’t begin to phantom.  She was no longer scared of being alone with him as she moved towards him, he reached out and drew her down beside him, hugged her briefly and returned back to his work but he kept one arm around her. She trusted him. Nma couldn’t make any sense out of what he was doing; the graphical representations on the screen were quite confusing. But she was quite content to watch him work; wondering if this was what gave him his billons.
“The rain is not letting up” she told him
“Don’t worry, just give it time. In my experience, the rain never stops if you do nothing but wait for it to stop”
“But it is getting late, maybe I should consider…”
He turned and gave her his full attention “There is no way I am going to let you drive home in this rain” he said firmly
She grimaced “I thought as much” she said sitting up
“It is for your own good” he told her
She smiled at him “I know” she picked up the remote control and flipped through the channels. She found nothing she wanted to watch, she saw Uche nodding his head and she took the ear phones from him. When West Life’s QUEEN OF MY HEART wafted into her ears, she raised her eyes at him in appreciation.
“I am a music person; especially soul it relaxes me and helps me concentrate when I am working”
“Then I wouldn’t want to take away your concentration” she told him handing it back to him.
“Or we can share” he said giving her back one of the piece”
She laughed “No I would distract you”
“On the contrary, I would concentrate more knowing you are here with me and I would so much want you to hear the lyrics because they are everything I want to say to you”
She smiled at him and took one ear piece. He drew her closer and went back to his work, she fell in love completely with the song if these were words he wanted to say to her then he must really love her. At that thought she looked at the man she loved the way he worked, all concentration. The only indication that he was aware of her was the occasional kiss he dropped on her head or the squeeze he gave her shoulders. Nma could feel sleep luring her away and she fought to stay awake so she could watch him work. Her last thought was, not even ten million fire spitting dragons would stop her from marrying him on the twenty seventh.

Nma woke up as Uche was trying to make her more comfortable on the couch. He smiled at her. “Welcome back”
She rubbed her eyes “what time is it? She asked a bit alarmed that she had not left
“Too late for me to allow you to drive home”
She glanced at her watch and was surprised to see that it has gone past eleven. “You should have woken me” she told
“I didn’t have the heart not when you were sleeping so peacefully, do you usually have a smile on your face when you are sleeping?”
“No I don’t know, I don’t see myself when I am sleeping” it was obvious she was bothered about having to spend the night with him alone in the big house. The house keeper had longed retired to the boys’ quarters.
“I hope I don’t sound arrogant if I say I could be the cause for it”
She gave him a shaky smile and sat up. Then he looked her
“Do you trust me?”
She knew what he was asking and she nodded “I trust you completely it is myself I don’t trust. I loose all my control when you are near”
“I don’t trust myself too, when ever I look at you I want to make love to you but I also gave you a promise and I am going to fulfill it no matter what”
She smiled at him and got up “I would love a bath and something to sleep in”
“The room is the third one by the left and you should be able to find something to wear in my room” she gave him a kiss and left to get ready for bed. He sighed and closed his laptop. It was going to be a long night, he thought.

Nma looked into the third room by the left, she was relieved to see that it was not his bedroom and somehow disappointed. He wasn’t even trying, she said to herself but she had to quickly caution herself. She was happy that he loved her enough to do this; most men simply lacked just the principle and integrity for what he is doing. She was sure it was the same principle and integrity he applied in his business that made him so successful, she thought deciding to go to his room in search of something to sleep in.  The room took her breath away and her eyes lingered more than necessary on the big bed. She could see both of them on the bed on their wedding night, her heart skipped a beat and she quickly pushed the picture out of her mind breathlessly. The room was so big, her entire house could fit into it, and the floor was marbled and had some Persian scatter rug here and there. It had French windows and a marvelous view of the sea.  She walked into the closet, selected a T Shirt; it has been worn and had his scent on it. She hugged the shirt to herself and turned but when she looked at a closed door which was the adjoining bathroom, she decided to have her bath there instead of walking to and fro from one room to another. She smiled at the share luxury of the bathroom and she was humbled immediately. She had always thought her bath tub was something she could brag about but not when compared to what she was seeing before her. She sighed and ran herself a bath.
When she stepped out of the bathroom, she eyed the bed; she walked towards it and sat down to see how it felt. She lay down after sometime telling herself that she would soon get up before he came in. when she lay down, she could feel his presence and she could see him asleep on the bed. She sighed and closed her eyes contented.

That was the way Uche found her two hours later, asleep on the bed and shivering because she had forgotten to get under the duvet. He sighed with relief. He had gone to the room he directed her to, just to check on her before going on to bed. It was alarming to find her not there and the same emptiness greeted him in the other rooms. So he had rushed in here to check and there she was shivering. He slowly lifted her and covered her with the duvet and she didn’t wake only snuggled close to him. He climbed in beside her and drew her cold body into his and she fit him perfectly and he sighed. She would be the death of him yet. It was going to be a very long long night, he sighed.