Back home Dee was soon back into the old routine. Looking after David and ferrying her children around to their various social and sporting commitments put paid to what little free time she had outside her teaching duties.
The only exception, of course, was when she was asleep. It was then that he came to her. His presence, the almost magnetic attraction she seemed to feel for him, his attitude that would seem vainglorious arrogance in anyone else. The power in those deep brown eyes and that commanding voice. In her dreams he came to her and she recognised him. Shaka - quite literally the man of her dreams. He would beckon to her and she would go to him. Then he stripped her and laid her bare in front of him. She was a white sacrifice to this Black God of masculinity and sexuality. He moved towards her and suddenly she saw his big Black cock stood up against his muscled chest. He was hard for her and was going to claim his right, the tribute that every woman he desired owed to him. He continued to move forward and pointed the end of his cock at her exposed and defenceless pussy and then...
She woke up.
Always at that point and always with a wave of crushing despair. She'd tried but she couldn't return to the dream if she tried to sleep again. The dream would only let her get so far. As if that next stage could only happen in person, flesh to flesh. She shivered and always got a grip on herself after a few seconds of such thoughts. It was just as well that half a continent lay between her and Shaka. That temptation had to be kept at much more than arm's length.
Three weeks after her visit to the Capital Dee got the belated call that she had been expecting. Emily excitedly informed her that after a long labor both mother and daughter were doing well. A picture soon arrived of Jess holding the new arrival. Her former student had that half-smile of the exhausted as she looked into the camera.
It was another few weeks before she heard from Emily again. This time the exuberant young blonde had some more time to speak and took great joy in describing the unbearable cuteness of little Amelia. "But what Amelia and all of us want to know is - when is Aunt Dee coming to see her?"
"It's not so easy Emily. You know that I'm a teacher and that this is a VERY busy time for me. Besides, David really doesn't like me being away from home."
"What," laughed Emily, "can't he look after himself for a couple of days. Would everything go to ruin if you took another trip over here?"
'No,' thought Dee, 'but he'd bitch and moan for weeks about it - just like last time.' She didn't say that of course. Instead she said, "But there are the children..."
"They aren't babies and it'll do him and them good not to have mommy waiting on them hand and foot for a couple of days. Besides, your talking about children sort of reminded me. Jess and I are both keen to ask your advice..."
Dee's attention picked up. It was much more pleasant to talk about how she could help the young mothers. "Anything at all, Emily, you know that."
"Well, it's just that - well, you'll think its silly. I know Jess has only just had Amelia but it's been a while for me and I still look and feel like a beached whale. You've had three children and your figure looks absolutely amazing. It might seem vain but we were hoping you could tell us your secrets. So WE need to see you soon - just as much as Amelia!"
There wasn't much secret about it - lots of hard work and careful attention to diet mainly - but the comment chimed loud for Dee. She was justifiably proud of how trim she was, despite her pregnancies, and she felt good that the younger women had noticed. She almost didn't notice Emily's teasing next remark until its significance hit her.
"Oh and we've had a certain someone come around here. A certain someone whose name begins with an S."
Dee felt her heart begin to pound and the sound of the phone suddenly seemed to become more intense somehow. The silence after Emily's statement was, in truth, momentary but to her it seemed to stretch for hours and the silence itself was a deafening white noise. Finally, it seemed after an agonising wait, Emily went on in the flirtatious tone of a school-girl discussing who had a crush on who.
"He came around supposedly to check on how Jess and Amelia were but he seemed to spend all his time talking about a certain someone else. He seemed VERY interested in everything about you and VERY insistent that we let him know as soon as we knew you were coming to visit again. I need to say - Shaka has a certain reputation you know."
Dee felt her head was in a spin. This was not what she had been expecting. "I know - Tyrone told me that he had a past, that all the men ... respected him."
Emily laughed. "The men - who cares what the men think! It's what we women know that counts. I'll just say that Shaka is supposed to be incredible where it counts, in bed. I've never had the pleasure myself but Jess reckons it's all true. She says being with him was one of the most intense experiences of her life."
This was all coming too fast. Dee was in confusion. Shaka was asking about her - he hadn't forgotten about her. She wasn't naive and she knew what that sort of interest from a man like Shaka meant. He wanted HER. She hadn't needed the recommendation of Shaka's sexual ability and potency. She had met him and the moment she had looked into those deep brown eyes she had known that he was a man who could turn her world upside down. After him nothing would ever be the same again. But, of course, she'd known that a man like him would never be interested in her. Except, now she knew different. She had to be strong and she knew that she could never risk visiting Jess again.
***
That night he came in her dreams again. He came and beckoned and, in her dreams, she went to him.
Never Say Never
Dee was a woman with considerable mental strength and determination. If would have amazed her to be told that her firm resolution not to go back to the Capital, not to go back to HIM, would have lasted only a couple of weeks.
To be fair to her though, the process that led to her rapid capitulation had been going on much longer than that. She had loved her husband when they married and given the chance she would still have loved him just as much. He was her spouse and the father of her three wonderful children. However, there had been that long process of drifting apart. Well, that wasn't quite right. He hadn't drifted anywhere so much as just stopped noticing her. She had become part of the furniture it seemed. Occassionally he'd give her a polish, so to speak, but her role was to look after the children and make his own life more comfortable. She had a horrible knowledge that if anyone had suggested to him that she was a sexual being with her own needs then he would just have laughed at such a foolish notion.
Dee looked at him now - sat in the kitchen. There was an aura of complacency all round him. She knew that he worked hard at the power company and that he helped maintain their standard of living but that couldn't be all there was, could it? Wasn't there supposed to be more give-and-take to a healthy relationship than just the material side? With them he seemed to have tapped into her natural generosity and exploited it ruthlessly. It didn't make it any better that he probably didn't even realise he was doing it. For him everything was fine, everything was OK.
Well, it wasn't OK.
The text messages had been the catalyst. Both from Emily. The first one had just read - 'S came round again. Wants us to ask you out here.' A week later the second had read - 'S was here. Told us to make sure you come soon.'
She still couldn't quite believe that a man like him was so interested in her. However, he had gone to see Jess three times about her. She knew a man like him didn't waste time on matters of no importance. She also knew that a man like him wouldn't wait forever. Through some amazing chance she had been thrown into his proximity and he had noticed her and had made his interest clear. It was up to her now. This window of opportunity would only last so long. She could accept the way things were or she could at least go and talk to him again. She could find out if what was glittering so attractively really was as golden as she had made herself believe.
"David," she said.
"Umm," he responded but kept reading. She was only apparently worth a small part of his attention.
"I want to go to the Capital again - to see the new baby."
That got his attention! He whined and bitched about it for the next couple of hours but, for once, Dee stuck to her guns. He wasn't going to cheat her of this.
Third Time's A Charm
She half expected James or Tyrone to meet her at the airport - but instead it was Emily. The blonde was as exuberant as ever and spent the whole drive talking non-stop. Dee kept expecting her to talk about Shaka but surprisingly he went unmentioned. The doubt began to grow in her mind that maybe she had left it too long - maybe he had lost interest. It left an empty feeling in her but at least she knew that she would get to see Amelia and perhaps, after all, it would be for the best.
Little Amelia was just too cute. Looking out at the big wide world through big brown eyes full of wonder as she lay contented in her mother's arms. Looking from Jess to her daughter Dee could see the resemblances between them. She was her mother's daughter - even if the world would say she was a different race. It showed how foolish such broad brush categories were. People were people. That didn't mean they were all the same but it did mean each deserved to be judged on his or her individual merits rather than because of their supposed 'race'.
People definitely weren't all the same and she got proof of that a few minutes later as she looked out of the big picture window in the lounge. Last time she had been here James and Tyrone had been working out there. This time she saw a small group of men arrive carrying tools. That wasn't too remarkable until she noticed the man who stood half-a-head taller than any of his colleagues.
It was Shaka - dressed in a work-shirt and pants. She watched the men - almost as though it were a show being performed for her benefit directly in front of the window. Shaka pointed and indicated to each of the men and then set them to work. Some of them didn't seem too enthusiastic and one prodded his shovel into the ground in a half-hearted manner. It had been dry and warm and Dee reflected that the ground would be hard or at least the top crust would be. Shaka strode up and picking up the tool drove its blade fully into the soil. He grasped the handle and with a flick turned over the shovel-full of earth.
Now the crust had been broken the man managed to dig from the exposed edge and started having some more success. Shaka watched for a while and then - it happened. Shaka took his shirt off and exposed the upper half of his body to the hungry eyes watching him from the house. His body was hard muscle. Not the inflated look of a juice-head but rather the solid physique of a man used to hard exercise and hard work. The dark skin of his arms seemed almost to dance and it took a moment to register with Dee that his arms each bore a full-sleeve tattoo of intricate abstract patterns writhing and inter-connecting across his skin.
His men were all digging away and Shaka waited until the quickest was a half way across his row. Then the big man calmly picked up a spare shovel and set to work. He didn't seem to hurry - he just made it look ridiculously easy. While the other men struggled he was all grace and power. It came as no surprise when his row was finished before any of the others.
The men worked on as the women talked. Every so often Dee would find herself gazing out at them. It had to be warm out there. The men were sweating and some were starting to puff out their cheeks with the effort. Shaka, of course, looked like he could go all day but even he stopped once to mop his fore-head.
"I think we need to fetch the poor dears some refreshment," said Jess. "They are all working so hard and its getting hot out there."
The two youngest members of the household were both asleep and so the women collected glasses and three big pitchers of iced lemonade and took them out to the men.
Emily went right and Jess went left so Dee was left going to the center and right in the center of the men was Shaka. It was almost as if it had been arranged that way The other men took a glass each and then moved off. Maybe they could sense that the big man wanted some time alone with the blonde.
Shaka raised his glass in a toast and then took a sip. "That's fitting," he said.
