A Jewel in the Sun (9 page)

All through the dancing,
Gastron
showed
himself
to be stubborn willful and jeal
ous. He refused to relinquish
Azolee
to another, so it meant that he danced with no one else, not even his mere.

Azolee
needed to use the rest room and was in
time to eaves drop on a convers
ation. The essence was that
Gastron
had to soften her up to
obtain the 39 shares that were given to her. It also mentioned a scandal that happ
ened some years ago with Anne Marie
being so wild and foolish and how being raped by a cousin brought shame on the family. They went on to say that her grandmother’s heart attack was the result.
They
mentioned that to this date shame controlled the family and that
Gastron’
s
father had had a re
lationship with
Azolee’s
mother.

Azolee
rounded the corner saw the faces of those who contributed and saw the false smiles. “Speak of the devil,”
one whispered in French
.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Azolee
was used to being alone, not being understood and thought of as weird. That didn’t hurt.
Not at all.
In fact, being different was trade mark.
However, they over stepped boundaries when the
y dared to mention her mother and
Gastron
.
What she recalled was that the only true kindness she had ever known came from them both. Nana gave her life, love and legacy and
Gastron
was her love
, life and legacy if he allowed
. She smiled at them and left the room. She perused the room looking for
Gastron
, who it seemed was looking for her.

“Do you trust me?” she asked suddenly. He kissed her lovingly.

“With my life” he swore solemnly.

“Good.” He saw the impish look on her face and wanted to warn the person on the receiving end. His woman was angry, someone had hurt her and they must pay. Her mother saw thunder brewing on his face, rushed in to intervene.
“
Gastron
”, she called.

“Pas
cou

nia
Manman
,”
He grated. His chest was rising furiously and his famous temper was about to explode.
Azolee
took his arm lovingly, smiled up at him. By this time, the crew had left the restroom and had crowded around the brewing scene.
Azolee
kissed him sweetly.

“Oh there you are”
Azolee
said with perfectly fluent French with all of the slurs and accent.
Oh you are the ones who lambasted Anne Marie, my darling mother, discussing her as if she is filth. Let me tell you, I heard you, understood you.......but I will openly defend her to you. She was a
woman who unde
rstood how to express herself. Few
understood her, but she lived and loved life without having to be hypocritical. She made some mistakes, yes, but who hasn’t? I loved her, she was my mother and if I had a choice, she would be here today. She has done more with and in her life time than
combined
nations
have
done in centur
ies.

In addition, when you mentioned
Gastron’s
name – let’s see
……..
you said he would be destroyed if he liaised with me and that he only wanted the shares back.
Well
,I
love him and the shares are his for the asking, but what I have with him cannot be faked or bought. He accepted me when others didn’t, he loved me when he knew it would conflict with other int
erests and he is my soul mate.”

By this time
Gastron
had moved to
Azolee’s
side. He turned her around. Do you really mean that? Are you sure? Do you know how long I have
suffered.
Darling, I love
you so
much. Don’t waste time on these silly empty-headed
gossipers,
lets
get on with our lifeti
me of loving. Will you marry me? We are already a family you know.
” He was shaking.

The only teary dry eyes were the offensive ladies who wer
e burning with jealousy.
Manman
motio
ned for them to be escorted out and turned to
Azolee
.

“
Azolee
?
Call me mere
”.
Her eyes were wet! She pulled a tall slim elderly lady with her towards
Azolee
. 
Azolee’s
breath caught, she swung her head from side to side.

Her face contorted with pain,
Gastron
hated her hurting like this. He was torn between anger for her pain and understanding for the other relative
. He
wish
he could have born some of it. He motion to the Aunt
and gave her a
calling card. He took
fiance
home after making excuses with his mother and other associates.

His face was
set in hard implacable lines. H
e was never
more angry
. In fact he will make calls tonight and make sure those excuse for socialites are banned from such social settings.  He felt like breaking something.
His throat constricted.
Azolee
wa
s the
most gentle
creature he knew. It was because of he
r
that Adele wants to brave the world and help other people. From the moment he met her, he had instinctively known that she would love them. Even his servants loved her intensely. His whole world was changed because of her. Adele wanted to print children’s book so that others would be helped.
All because of
Azolee
’
s
love.
How could someone who had so little in
her
life,
be willing to
offer so much.

His mother, the mother of convention loved her already.
Azolee
made people see the best in themselves
and in situation. He knew that h
e was the most prominent businessman there tonight. He got little glory from that. That was started long before he was born. However, he had not felt
so
big as when she stood up for him. He knew his mother loved him, but he had always protected and sheltered her because of his father’s death.
Sometimes people see those who are tough, wealthy or strong and they assume that they can sustain themselves, but his woman was no ordinary person. He tenderly brushed her golden tresses from her eyes and leaned down to kiss her.
“ Je
taime
” he whispered. He knew she was indomitable, but he also wished he could have sheltered her. Yet, what is the beauty of diamond if it couldn’t be visible to bring
bring
pleasure to others.

He almost died tonight when he realized that she was a francophone. His woman was a tiger where her loved ones were concerned. She would
boldly
face giants, this little slender angel. When she loved, she loved unrepentantly. He knew she had been hurt before by a man, God help that man to remain in oblivion.

His mother saw
Azolee
as a mirror image of herself. He knew that her defense of Ana Marie will remove all of the reproach from the family His ba
by was healer.

He had seen the
promotion of her book,
Healing
You
.
Not only
had she completed her
d
octor’s degree in
holistic and ethnic medicine, but she had written a book on the
power of inner healing. She had brought healing into his adopted daughter’s life and she had changed his world, his little baby.

He had told his mom of his intention to start delegating because life was too precious pursuing empires. His mere smiled because he knew she wanted another grandchild.

Aldin
brought the car to a stop.
Gastron
leapt our agilely with his woman in his arms
and climbed
up to her room and
tenderly
undressed her. He stripped
,
got into bed and held his woman. She threw her long slender leg over his, her head on his shoulder and her arms across his stomach
, her mark
. Even in sleep she
was loving
him. H
e battled his body’s desire to make love with her almost
unsuccessfully. He just held her.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

He woke up to pleasure bites and his sex being nipped. He knew that he was going to embarrass himself, but she rose over him, insert his sex into her and rode him hard and long until he spilled himself into her.

“
Ga
s
tron
?
May I speak with you about something on my heart?
“ she
asked in French. At his nod, she told him that she wanted to sell the shares back and use the proceeds to help children that are helpful and feel
that they are without love. He
turned away abruptly.

“
Gastron
?
I promise I wouldn’t become too absorbed with it, but please answer me. Adele’s work is similar.” He turned back to her and she saw that his face was contorted in pain. She held him, kissing way the pain. She was so thankful that he was an enigma to others, but he trusted his true self to her.

“Get dressed please.” He said suddenly, I want to show you something. They showered and dressed in jeans, Tees and sneakers.
Gastron
got the convertible out. He was going to drive today.
Azola
loved the car
. The breeze whipped her hair all over, but she could care less.
As they drove, her hand played with the hair at the back of his neck.
They drove further into the country side another twenty miles until they came to a
n
area
circumference
d
by shrubs and other tall trees.
It had a massive open play area with a sand pit, swings and other colorfu
l ensembles
. There was a large sprawling house that was beautiful and inviting. As they ventured inside, there were c
ries of surprise and calls of “
P
ere
”.

Azolee
looked around with intense fascination. They were led into various rooms. In each room, there were groups of children, successive ages and with varying amount of difficulties – some seen, others unseen. They were abandoned by a society that refused to accept them, hence were at the mercy of a searing lonely life.

Gastron
watched reactions to
Azolee
. Their eyes all lit up as if seeing an angel, except for the one that reached out a hand. He was blind. She took him, two years old, into her arms and allowed him to touch her as if by Braille. He smiled a glorious smile
and
Azolee
was lost. She rested him against her face, inhaling his sweetness. Her eyes met
Gastron’s
in question. He smiled, unable to
refused
her anything.
Azole
knew that this place and this man
was
central to her life’s purpose.

His name was Alain
Geroux
. He had an indomitable spirit. He refused to let her go. The attendants were astonished. Ever s
ince he had been born and was ad
mitted, he refused to reach out or refused contact. The others thought him weird and refused to interact with him.
Gastron
  excused
himself as he went out.
Azole
played a game that included them all while holding Alain.