by Inia Jardine
As he comes he turns my head towards him and kisses me deeply. I try to twist my body around without him slipping out whilst kissing him back. ‘Wow we actually made the earth move there my love – at least the couch...and I still have some life left in me’ he grunts and I feel his pelvis grinding into me. I made the turn and he is still inside. I come with a bang, again, and Jonah responds by purring in my ear ‘how long do you think this ‘being in heat thing’ will last Lilia?
'Until it is like pushing a marshmallow into a piggy bank, and even then there is Viagra!' I giggle and look at him adoringly.
'Do you eventually believe that I love you and I want to be with you forever like I said that night on our first date in Jamaica? This 'us' thing has lasted throughout the past year so has it stood the test of time for you?’
As I try to disentangle myself from him to pull a throw from the couch to cover us he keeps me back.
'Tell me first.'
‘Jonah, I think I can believe you now.’
‘Methinks this is the perfect time and place to assure you of my undying never ending love Lilia, real love, deep, everlasting love. I don’t just mean your capacity to amaze me with your sexual abilities...I want you to be mine, I want to engrave my name on your soul. Will you marry me?'
He digs in the pocket of his Na'vi ensemble which was thrown on the floor in our haste and presents me with a ring. Not a box, Jonah is too unique for that cliché.
Just a ring on a mauve velvet ribbon. The ring has a central amethyst and is surrounded on three sides by hazy topaz stones. It is amazingly beautiful.
‘I kept this in the pocket of every pair of trousers I have worn over the past week waiting for the perfect moment. What do you say Lilia? Before you are too close to fifty...and me to fifty-something else...’
I slap him playfully. ‘That ring is so beautiful Jonah, so different, so me.'
'It is for you and the three cats. A package deal.'
'But I did tell you over and over that I adore you with all my heart and mind and soul. I have thought about the idea many times since you brought it up last, but do I ever want to get married again? I don't know. Life is so fickle.'
‘It has been a year since I followed you here Lilia, don’t you know by now that I am not fickle but sincere and that you love me deeply in return?’ Jonah sounds hurt.
‘Hey, give me time to finish! Phew. What I was getting to is that I have changed my mind. I just did not know whether or not you still wanted to marry me now that you know all of my weirdness and idiosyncrasies. Of course, of course, of course I will gladly spend the rest of my life with you. I love you, I honestly love you...’ I croon like Olivia Newton John in her famous song.
'Anyway, how can I say no when a big naked blue man asks for my hand in marriage?' I kiss him.
‘Well just make sure you are ready for the wedding because it must be soon. I have decided that I cannot wait now that I have got you. I don’t want you to slip away’ Jonah rapturously replies as he reaches his hand behind me to pull the throw over us.
‘Don’t we make a pair...naked on the floor with feathers in our hair...’ he sings his own song.
‘No problem with the wedding being ASAP Prof Hibbert, I want to be Mrs Hibbert as soon as possible. I will see what I can do. Any special requests?’
‘Just show up. Next weekend. Wherever you want, take my credit card and just organise it.’
'Hmm. Unlimited cash? Whatever will I do?'
11
I spend the next week planning our small wedding, Jonah trusts me implicitly because he knows that I am not extravagant. There will be only a few people present as witnesses like our close friends Howie & Bella, our friends from the adjoining farm Violett and her mom Nan, plus a small number of Jonah’s colleagues.
My parents said that they could not come, and I feared that it was not because of the time constraint but because of Jonah. Back in South Africa the general move to a democracy and belief in equality had happened quite a number of years ago. In most people of their generation though, racism was so deeply ingrained that it is very hard to overcome - except superficially.
Their last words to me about us were ‘Jonah seems like a lovely man but differences in religion and race are two things that you cannot overcome in a long term relationship. The differences are too deep.’
Well, we have proved them wrong with our commitment to each other now for a solid year and I am in for the long haul. I don’t do religion anyway and I am colour-blind. I believe that Jonah is my destiny.
I walk into our garden towards the lovely small 'chuppa' wedding arch Jonah had knocked together. I am dressed in a flowing, layered, lilac organza dress, my bouquet is magnificent fragrant magnolia from our greenhouse. Jasmine flowers entwined with gardenia blossoms are woven into my hair. I feel extremely proud seeing this big dark man wait for me at the end of the petal strewn path. That must have been done by my maid of honour, Bella, who whispers in my ear when I get to her ‘You are a lucky duck Lilia, he only has eyes for you. I wish I got to him before you did!’
I must say, he is an imposing man in any situation but today he is splendiferous in dark grey suit pants with a pirate style loose lavender shirt.
My Jonah. I have been afraid of this but it feels so right.
As he steps forward to meet me, he hands me a gorgeous platinum necklace with an amethyst stone set in a flowing ‘L’. ‘I love you. You are my world and you are beautiful. You were brave to walk down the aisle by yourself Lilia. I love you. Your mom and dad asked me to give this to you as a token of their presence’ he solemnly says. ‘It apparently belonged to your great grandma.’
‘Her name was Lilia too.’
I have conflicting emotions. ‘It is as if they are here with me, but it is better that they are not.’
The idea of Jonah and I as a couple is apparently not very popular with some of my former ‘friends’ and 'family' in South Africa and they have thus been written off by me. My parents seem to have accepted the idea of us as a mixed race couple at last. Even though I am way past the age that it should matter, the knowledge together with the man of my dreams by my side makes my day even more perfect.
I cannot but think that they must be ecstatic though, to know that no children can be born of this union.
I have never had someone who cared about me and loved me, as I am, imperfections and all. Jonah proved that he did, and does every day. That makes him the most important person in the world to me. I am so lucky.
As he fixes the necklace around my neck letting the ’L’ nestle between my breasts, he whispers. ‘Wow Lilia that looks good. The L also stands for Love and lust and lovely boobs...guess what I feel like doing now?'
‘We are in public now, behave yourself Professor Hibbert...’ This man has got a way of making me forget everything except him.
‘I am your family now Lilia and I will never let you down. Ohana.’
It is true, he is my family now. All I need.
As we say the vows we have written, we look deeply into each other’s souls and join there as one, a deep bond. This must be what real love is. It is magnificent. As the registrar says Jonah's name I look at him questioningly and whisper ‘What? Jonah Edward Arluin??’ You never told me you had other names?’
‘Tell you later Lilia’. Jonah looks troubled at my mention of the name.
Jonah slips the wedding band on my finger and he says quietly ‘it is inscribed
‘L ∞ J Together forever’.’
‘I now pronounce you, Jonah Edward Arluin Hibbert and Lilia Lamonte-Hibbert as legally married here before Mother Nature, the Universe and your witnesses. You may kiss the bride, Jonah’ the registrar finally announces.
I should have said yes a long time ago, being married just makes our union so much more special. It feels so good to be Mrs Hibbert!
Jonah’s kiss is not entirely suitable for a public display but I totally concur with his emotion.
We turn to go inside for
champagne and snacks as soon as the official register is signed. We greet everyone informally, exchange hugs and air kisses galore and promise them a party when we return from ‘honeymoon'.
‘Now, may I run outside and then carry you over the threshold for real, Mrs Hibbert’ Jonah enquires after we say goodbye to the last guests.
‘You know what Jonah; I would not like to exert you with such traditional nonsense. Rather try & catch me and you can do with me as you wish. I am your love slave’ I call over my shoulder and hitching up my dress I run towards the bedroom. As I run I loosen all the lacy bindings and as Jonah catches up with me and pushes me onto the bed, it slips off me. I only have a small black sliver of lace on.
‘What I wanted to add at the wedding about the ‘L’...it can also stand for totally lickable and luscious. If you are my love slave, then drink to my health - my darling wife’ he sexily murmurs as he grabs a hidden bottle of champagne from under the pillow and pours it all over him. Yes, Jonah is special and he is all mine. I will make all his lusty wishes come true, if it takes me a hundred years.
As he picks me up I lock my legs around his body. ‘Try and get away from me now ‘Môn, this is a lock down.... you are bound to me forever.’ My insides turn to mush as he does what he does best.
Two intense hours later we stumble to the kitchen. ‘You know Jonah,’ I declare ‘if I die tomorrow I would not be sorry. I have lived and loved. My life is complete.’
‘Please don’t leave me soon Lilia, I have much more of life to share with you. We have places to go and things to do.’
‘Well, not really as our ‘honeymoon’ is right here, right now. You have a week off don’t you?’
‘So what else will we do all the time?’ Jonah asks.
‘Maybe eat? You make me ravenous.’ I sashay to the kitchen and grab a tub of Neapolitan ice cream and a spoon and dig into it.
‘I have another use for that’ Jonah smirks.
‘No my darling, this goes down my throat. It is a bit parched. But perhaps you would like a little too? I smear some over my breasts. ‘Now you’re talking’ he whispers as he starts licking it off me. Suffice it to say that we continue our honeymoon right there and then, only coming up for air after four days of bliss all in the comfort of our own home.
Life with Jonah is a song.
A lovely lasting lingering orgasmic song.
Anywhere and everywhere.
I can never tire of this man.
‘Jonah, my husband, darling, may I ask you a serious question?’
‘Of course Lilia, my darling wife, what is it?’
It feels good to hear Jonah say that.
‘Why is it that you never told me that Edward Arluin were your other names? You never use it. It would suit you well over here, how special can you be with an exotic & traditional combination like that?’
He looks away and mumbles. ‘It is not significant, except that I have neglected to tell you about it on purpose. Arluin was apparently my father’s name meaning noble warrior or something and I never got around to getting rid of it. He never meant anything to me but my mom thought it was the right thing to do at the time. That is all I know about him. The name Edward, well - Jamaica always had a large mulatto population who obviously played an important role in the political changes. We were mostly the descendants of white planters who forced themselves on slave women.
Or in my case, white planter daughter who loved a dark slave. At least theirs was a choice, nobody was forced on anybody. Although the children were by law slaves, most fathers freed their children. I was lucky to be from a white mother or I would most probably not have been here today.’
‘It would have been terrible.’
‘Not that terrible, I'm sure you would have made a good crazy cat lady without me. But jokes aside my lovely wife, some of the planters denied having fathered the children. By the 1820s, Jamaica's mulatto population was larger than the white population and many of them owned some form of land. Edward Jordon was the leader of the free mulatto population, and he edited a newspaper that called for an end to slavery. He was arrested for this, served some prison time before his sentence was overturned.
The mulatto residents were becoming disgruntled with their position and lack of legal rights. Although they could work for themselves and own property, they could not vote.
Anyway, in 1820, the mulattoes of Jamaica had begun to organize behind Edward and an act giving them full civil rights was accepted about a decade later. So that’s the Edward part of my story.’
I put my hands on his cheeks. ‘Big J, look at me. Sorry I asked and upset you OK? Come here. Kiss me. Nobody matters except us, as you said; we are each other’s family now.’
‘First you answer my question. Do you know what that little sign ‘∞’ stands for in your ring?’
‘Hey, I might be blonde but I’m not stupid! It is the mathematical symbol for infinity.’ ...’JAM NUMERUS INCREMENTORUM EST’...you are so clever! I love clever men, come here my darling Einstein...’
'To infinity and beyond.'
The following morning while I am still sleeping Jonah creeps out of our love nest. He had told me the previous night that he had something urgent to do in the morning even though we are officially still on honeymoon. I awake to a rustling & panting noise next to the bed. The sight that meets my still sleepy eyes is amazingly beautiful. Jonah is holding a stunningly gorgeous young black and white Siberian Husky on a mauve leash. He or she is trying to get up on the bed.
'I don't want her to chase the cats. She is on a leash for now.'
‘Oh Jonah she is lovely! Where did you get her?’ My heart is filled with joy and sadness at the same time. I had to say goodbye in a final way to my old, sick dog Kiki just before I left South Africa and always said that I didn’t want another dog as my heart was too sore. Jonah knew instinctively that I was ready to love a dog again. He mended my heart by loving me unconditionally. He knows that I am good now.
‘She will look after you when I go back to work. You can name her if you want, but we wouldn’t want to confuse her. Kiki is a nice name don’t you think? She has gorgeous blue eyes and a thick soft white coat with black markings just like the famous Kiki. Violett and Nan found her at the shelter when they volunteered last week, someone didn’t want her any more as she has epilepsy. I asked them to keep her for us until after the wedding.’
I take the young dog’s lead from Jonah, beckon her onto the bed and hug her soft body to me. ‘Kiki is a perfect name Jonah, thank you. And she is perfect. Come here you lovely doggie and give your new mom a kiss. Don’t hiss Willow, come say hallo to Kiki you guys, come Flower, come Rainbow. She will not take your place my loves. I have a big heart, plenty of space for all of you!’
Kiki and I quickly become inseparable. The Husky is my constant companion while Jonah is at work, and when we are all together we have loads of fun walking all over the farm. A couple of times Kiki picks up the scent of some or other forest creature, but we discourage her from going off into the dense vegetation. Huskies tend to want to chase living things and we like to live in harmony with nature. She gave up chasing the cats very quickly as she got cat-slapped more than once. They have learnt to tolerate, even love each other. They share our bed now, all of them! We may have to get a bigger bed.
One day Kiki and I walk over to Violett and her Mom Nan's place. They are an ex-pat South African mom and daughter and have been our friends as well as neighbours for the past year or so. They are well loved in the community for their tireless work at the animal shelter, and Vee trains dogs to get them ready for adoption. Even though Vee has been married quite a few times, she has dedicated her life to looking after her ailing mother these past few years.
As we approach Naledi farm house (Naledi means 'star' in a South African language, Sotho) I let Kiki off the leash and she runs on ahead. She loves Violett and Nan for saving her from the pound. Vee comes out all bundled up against the weather which for me is just pleasantly cool. A
fter the suffocating heat of South Africa and Jamaica I thrive here. ‘Howzit Vee! What are you guys up to?’
She hugs both Kiki & me (first Kiki) and leads us into the house. ‘Nan is sleeping; she is feeling a bit under the weather – her lungs are acting up again. Come and have a cuppa tea by the fire.’
