Really sorry about the long wait but I do have reasons for that:) 1. I was busy growing up. 2. I really thought I had finished this but I kept getting emails to update....so I finally continued what I thought was a complete story. As usual, let me know what you think. I'll post the follow up to Attempted break up by Tues next week. Thanks for reading and good karma!
Nefatiri
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Marci had been aware of Drew from the moment he had walked into the large garden at the back of her parents' house. It was that time again in the little town of Malindi and her parents were throwing some sort of party. She had been careful to avoid him so the last two hours had been a cat and mouse game with her as the unwitting mouse. Catching a glimpse of his profile not too far from where she stood, she made a hasty beeline for the opposite end of the garden and sat next to Mila who was busy trying to reason with her two year old daughter. The little girl wanted to go play with the big boys but her mother wouldn't let her until she finished her food.
"Food first, then you can play Hun." Mila said. One could tell her patience was wearing thin on the matter. Marci had to laugh.
"Here, let me try. The novelty of Aunt Marci may help?" she told her friend reaching out for the young girl who readily came into her arms probably thinking she was off the hook. The young girl, Laila, didn't eat much even after the women switched tasks and they soon gave up. They let her ran off to a group of children playing within their vicinity.
"She's really helping me with the weight loss. It takes almost three hours sometimes to feed her and this is accompanied by running all around the house."Mila sighed in exasperation but Marci could see the love in her eyes as she looked over at her daughter who was now rolling around in the grass oblivious to the damage that kind of frolicking was wrecking on her little white tee. Marci laughed as Mila choked down a look of absolute horror.
"Don't worry, you'll throw away very many clothes in the years to come, trust me. You are lucky she's a girl cause she'll start avoiding dirt soon enough. Kayden is still giving me headaches whenever he comes home from play or school. He's like dirt radar; if there's dirt, he'll find it and try to get some into his hair as well as on his clothes."
Mila laughed and the two mothers sat in companionable silence watching people at the party. Marci's thoughts were trained on her son who was by now nowhere to be seen. She wasn't worried though, he was among family and friends so she knew wherever he was he'd be fine. She was lucky her family and friends had been very supportive of her with regards to raising Kayden. He was quite a handful especially when she had to juggle work with being a good mother. It sometimes took its toll and her family had been wonderful about giving her a break every now and then. Just then the subject of her thoughts ran right into her giving her a hug. Such an affectionate little boy; she loved him dearly.
"I found Daddy!" he announced proudly as released her and went to hold his father's hand looking up at him so adoringly it almost broke Marci's heart.
"You're looking gorgeous Marci, everything going well?" Drew drawled to her with an eyebrow cocked up and an evil Joker-like grin. She had spent the better part of two hours avoiding him and he knew it.
"Not looking bad yourself Drew. I'm fine, you?" she replied warily and smiled slightly.
She hadn't seen him for a couple of months and had avoided being around when he came to pick Kayden for their father-son outings. Their split hadn't been entirely amicable and she had been avoiding him since. On his part Drew had given her space and kept his contact with his son as unobtrusive as possible. She had to give him that because the Drew she had been in a relationship with was anything but unobtrusive.
"Hey Sweetheart. " She heard behind her as large arms engulfed her in a hug and a quick kiss was planted on top of her head. She didn't need to turn to know it was Damian, her fiancé. This was a game he played all the time. Not entirely sure that Drew was over her, he gave them nary a moment alone. It worked for Marci because honestly she wasn't up to conversation with Drew just yet. Drew sniggered audibly and only Kayden didn't seem to notice the tension that had suddenly enveloped the adults around him. Mila excused herself and went to rescue a wailing Laila who had fallen. Kayden ran off with her as well. He was terribly fond of Laila and took his role as cousin very seriously. At five years Kayden reminded Marci so much of his father with his take charge attitude. He was a good kid and many a night she fervently prayed that her split from his father wouldn't screw him up too much.
"Kayden told me about the fishing trip. He really liked that." Damien offered conversationally to Drew as he placed a quick kiss on Marci's lips. He sat next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. She wanted to remove it but thought better of it as it would probably lead to a fight with Damian later and/or an annoying smirk from Drew. Neither was worth it so she left it there. Drew issued forth another audible snigger nonetheless and put his arms across his chest while he regarded them without any real expression on his face. Dr. Carl Lightman(Lie To Me - google it) would have called his stance aggressive with just a little defensiveness thrown in to spice the look.
"He loves fishing." Drew stated like he was talking to a child then turned to her, "Marci, I was wondering if I could have him for the long weekend. We're going to Kilifi to check out the boat and we'll be staying there for the duration of the weekend. Mila and Natalie will be there so you don't have to worry that someone is giving him beer." He completely ignored Damian.
"Sure, why not. I don't even need my girls there to keep a reign on things; as long as he's with you I am easy Hun." She turned to Damian who had been watching their exchange quietly, "now we can do that Lamu thing you wanted?"
"That's great!" he said enthusiastically and directed the rest of his statement to Drew, "I've been dying to take her on a retreat because she works too hard. Thanks man."
Marci wasn't sure if he was being sincere or just trying to goad Drew. Drew nodded, tipped his head at them and walked off in the direction of his son who was now walking aimlessly around holding Laila's hand.
"He seems happy." Damian remarked under his breath and Marci playfully punched him.
Damian was good for her. After her split with Drew about a year ago, he'd become a friend and finally more. They were now engaged and her father for one thing was very happy. Damian was a friend from childhood she hadn't been really close to until he permanently moved back to Malindi. He had started hanging out with Brian and Nathan which meant she saw a lot of him. While in Malindi Kayden spent a couple of hours every day with his uncles because in their words, "we don't want you sissying him up." Damian was almost invariably with them when they came to get Kayden and so they had started up a friendship of sorts. This hadn't gone down well with the younger Montague boys and it had taken Marci a while to convince them that her and Drew were truly over this time.
Damian was kind, funny and more importantly, wasn't as pushy and unpredictable as Drew had been towards the end of their relationship. He was also gorgeous and Marci found herself staring at him, familiarizing herself with his face all over again. He had striking gray eyes and wore his hair in a simple ponytail at his nape. He reminded her of something out of a vampire flick and just staring at him made her want to kiss him. She did.
"What was that for?" he asked returning the kiss a lot more enthusiastically than she'd offered.
"Cause you're so damn cute!" she said giving him another quick kiss and giggling. It had been so long since she'd giggled with a man and this felt good. Damian hugged her and they just sat there watching people mill around. She could see Drew on one knee trying to reason with a now sulking Kayden about something and clearly not making any headway. She thought about going to step in but dismissed the urge. Drew was a good father and he could handle Kayden any day.
"Want to go meet a few people?"Damian asked her as he held out his hand and motioned her out of the chair. She didn't really want to but she agreed to it anyway. They walked around her parents' garden being sociable. Brian and Carl were seated around the outside bar with a couple of other people Marci knew. She tugged Damian towards them.
"My, you are looking fine today!" Carl exclaimed the moment he saw her and got up to give up his seat. She tried to tell him she wasn't really going to be seated long and preferred to stand but he wouldn't have any of that. It was easy to pretend this was five years ago when the group had been younger and spent tons of time together. Brian and Carl had had their commitment ceremony and since settled in their own house further away from the old neighbourhood. Nate had married Mila and they were the proud parents of Laila. Marci was glad that relationship was working. It hadn't been easy in the beginning. Mila's earlier abortion had thrown Nate for a loop and it was ages before he could even look at her without exploding. Mila's parents had also hit the roof when they found out not only about the pregnancy but the subsequent abortion. She had gone off to stay with relatives in Bulgaria for a while. It was during this time that she and Nate had developed some sort of rapport online and started to like each other somewhat.
When Mila had come back to Kenya, Nate had been at the airport to pick her up. From what little she had told Marci about the two of them at the time, it had been a healing time. He'd gotten around his anger and he wanted to be there for her because no one else seemed to be. Mila had been through a deep depression after the whole affair and everyone was pretty much treating her like a pariah. Nate had stepped up and that's when they really got to know each other. Nate was good for Mila, she had mellowed out somewhat in the past few years and her friendship with Marci while tentative, was definitely much better than it was a couple years back. Nate had proposed and two years later they had a beautiful girl to show for it.
Notably absent at the bar was Natalie. She was still drop dead gorgeous and confusing men around town. With Marci's help she had adopted eight year old twins and when she wasn't partying, she was at home being the dutiful mother. She had been through a wild relationship with some guy and when it had ended she hadn't wanted to talk about it so Marci was in the dark about her love life. Marci made a mental note to grill her the next time she saw her.
