A Jewel in the Sun (2 page)

How much time passed, it was difficult to tell.

CHAPTER THREE

Gastron
put the phone down. He loved this
country with its vivid
colours
and laid back lifestyle. It was a preferred destination for vacation. He had been there three times – two on business and had been meaning to return. Now was his time. “Anne Marie”. He wrapped his mind around the name, sounding it off on his tongue. What was she in relations to his father? Was she the reason why he became so distant in the latter phase of his
life.
Was it from her bed that his father was returning when he was killed? The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.
She was going to give him some answers, this Anne Marie.

Two He too
k out the dossier and read it again
. He had read it and removed the irrelevant parts. Anne Marie was indeed a beautiful woman, but if he wasn’t mistaken, her skin had a dark hue. This was becoming more complex by the minute. The next few hours were busy with calls, arrangement and so forth. He must have fallen into an uneasy sleep because soon they were landing at JFK International airport in New York. He went through the relevant procedures and then stood online to board
American
Eagle
into Miami. His final boarding pass declared that he was finally on his way to The Bahamas
.
The task of reaching Nassau and waiting to board for
Exuma
was a taxing one, but it was essential.

Two hours later, he decided, he would mix business with pleasure. He would pursue this complex dilemma, but he also wanted to scout business
a
oppor
tunity. He was heading for Emerald Bay
Marina when he swung his rental into the slot aggressively to prevent another from getting in. That’s when he saw her.

She had on a colorful print wrap with a
n aqua
tank
top. Her hair was twisted carelessly on top of her hair. Her jewelry consisted of natural
coconut creations along with a
golden dolphin anklet. He was extraordinarily beautiful, more so because she seemed unaware of it. She was about five feet nine inches in her flat sandals. She stared as if fascinated – her skin color was a light caramel color – burnish gold, with her crinkly bronze – sun-streaked hair. He felt the first stirring of desire. He knew right then that his decision to stay longer, was a good one. As she browsed her mails, he admired her long graceful neck and bare, shoulders – made
more
golden by the sun. She look
ed
up with a scowl at his approach and immediately returned to her perusal of the bills.
After a brief moment, she climbed into the jeep and pulled off in a cloud of dust.
She was a
native,
it was obvious in her dress and in the confidence with which she carried herself. There was
a nonchalance
about her to those who would casually study her, but for the discerning, there was more.
So much more.
Maybe it was the vivid sights here in The Bahamas that had altered his thinking
because he had no time
for women. They were a dime a dozen and were his for the asking. As far as he was concerned, he was here to do what was necessary to obtain the shares back and nothing was going to get in his way, not even a slip of a girl.

                  
 
However, an hour later, his thoughts were still occupied with her.
     “Mon
Dieu
”, he thought to himself.
“Elle
est
b
elle.”
The instinc
tive return to his native language
was lost on him. He went about
deciding how to locate and approach Anne Marie, but upper most in his mind was the flash of her honey brown
eyes to a golden flare.
He quic
k
ly reminded himself of the many responsibilities
awaiting him.

The business that had been in his family for years was at stake and he had a job to do.
There were many beautiful and available women here, he had already met two earlier. He felt the business card in his pocket.
He had business to tend to.
He quickly banished the
remaining
thoughts of her sexy body wrapped around his from his mind and with the will power that he was known
for,
he proceeded to attend his business.

CHAPTER FOUR

Azolee
was in the back of the yard, sketching
plants after photographing them and comparing them with other similar speeches.
The swim had done her some good. Every day, the pain was easing a little
, but it always
seem
to resurface at nights with very greater vividness. Work helped it to slip into oblivion.

She consulted with
her notes while being assisted
by
Estella Marge
. Mama as she was called by the natives
was a veteran with
bush medicine and had been the recipient of an encyclopedia of oral history of the various plants. This knowledge extended to
the
ir native
name
s
– locally, uses and how to prepare and apply.
Azolee’s
work included the
latin
names and scientific proof of their actual medicinal powers and a comparison of those used in other Caribbean Islands and Western Africa.

The bush seeds and practice of the use of bush medicine was said to have
been brought to the islands more than
two hundred years before with the African slaves. There were ‘medici
ne
men’ and witch doctors who often sang chants as they applied the healing concoction. Some of the plants were aromatic while other
were
smelly. The use of the art was not as prevalent as the younger generations were more hyped to
man- made counter parts.

Mama was five feet and
rotound
. The fifty year old village
‘
nurse
’
was well-known for her bush medicine cures for common ailments. “Dis one ‘ere is call stiff cork
an
we use ‘
m
fa
when
ya
ga
bad back.” ‘Mama’ as
s
he was affectionately called, was
focused on her descriptions as was
Azolee
. It was a
wonder that they heard the persistent chimes of the bell
.

“I get
de door
fa
ya
”. Mama moved her
ample body
and went out to check. She had been
but took a while. When she came in she was apprehensive.
“
One
wite
foreign
man out
dere
now.
Him
askin
’ for Ms. Marie.
I done tell him, she passed. Come you
bes
’ talk
wid
‘
im
.
An
he
ain
no
touris
’, no
siree
. He from strange land,
dat
one you see.”

“What does he wa
nt?”
Azole
e
asked in preoccupied fashion,
even  it
though it was a strange occurrence to have visitors at all.

“Like I say, you
bes
’ come see
sweety
”.

Azolee
,
wi
ped her hands on her red
tye
-dyed
skirt. She moved with an unc
onscious grace towards the door, closely followed by Mama.
Her confident strides were brought up short at the view of the stranger
standing by the window. He was very tall, ove
r six feet, dressed in a tan
slacks with a stark, white linen shirt. His hair was black and insanely thick and slightly long over the color. His shoulders were impressively broad.

“ Nice
view you have here.” He said in thickly accented English. He turned around. The only
sound that betrayed him
was the extreme stillness and the subtle hardening of his features.
They betray him to the others. Only a very observant onlooker who knew him would have been alerted. Mama knew that the stranger’s presence had something to do with a vision she had of long ago. This was not a surprise. She knew these things, but she wondered if
Azolee
had
an inkling
?

“Thank you. May I be of some help?”
Azolee’s
voice was low key, had clarity, but with a sweet musical undertone. This was often made more effective by the fact that often observed more than she revealed. Even now, her face was schooled into a mask of inquiry. It hid the fluttery I her stomach and the erratic pace of her heart beats. The tensing of her muscle and the escalation of
sensuous thoughts were experienced by
Azolee
, hidden from the naked eyes but observed by Mama. She gave a small smile and slipped out unnoticed.

Sarah stared into impenetrable
eyes.
They were impossibly green, made more so in the
dusky light of the evening. He had straight aquiline nose,
portuding
cheekbones and a strong square chin. He was handsome.

He was dashingly handsome. Even with a scowl.
“
I am in search of one called Anna Marie.”

For a brief moment
, a spasm of
pain contorted
Azolee’s
features,
then
she composed herself.
It happened so fast, it almost went unnoticed.
“She’s dead.” The
emotionless
voice caught his attention.
He was a good connoisseur of people.

His eyes
appreciated her up close. She was more alluring than he had thought. He allowed his eyes to ru
n over her long lithe frame.
Her
legs,
were long. Very long!
She could have easily be
en
mistaken for a model. She was beautiful. There was no denying that. She was more beautiful not because she was golden – hair and body
, with graceful, sexy carriage. She was not beautiful because of her honey brown eyes and her glorious tresses. He had seen absolutely stunning women, had dated and bedded them. He had his pick of the litter. No. This one was different. It was in her unconscious grace, her down right lack of pretense and naturalness. She was an earthling. She had very little awareness of her allure. In fact, although she was
unpretencious
, he sensed a defense in her nature as if waiting for him to strike.

What also struck
him,
was that she looked him directly in the eyes and was challenging him! She
didn’t flutter at what many termed his movie star looks as some of the other natives he met
, nor was she intimidated and he had used his b
oardroom look on her. She was
not
intimidated. In fact, she had mechanisms all of her own. After carelessly and nonchalantly perusing his features
, she told him
huskily
, “She has passed”.

“ Where
? I need to see her.
Maybe I can come back in a more appropriate
day, be
cause I need to have a conference with her
. It is of vital importance.”

“It would
n
o
t
matter
”
she said with a shrug
. 
Azolee
invited him to sit down.
She saw he did not understand.
“Would you like a drink?” she offered.