‘Are you happy here, Simon? ‘ she asked in a soft and tender voice. ‘I have no idea what being a king means, but the people must respect you very much. You should be proud of that.’
‘Grateful rather than proud. It’s a real honour.’ He could hardly see her hand now, but meshed his fingers between hers before answering. ‘I am happy in so many ways, but it’s the usual story. The more I do, the more I see what could be done. I will have the chance to give my ideas on how to build a better future for young men like Paul. But it’s not going to be easy.’
‘Do you have a … a wife or a girlfriend to support you?’
He shook his head with a grin. ‘No one will put up with me like you did.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that. Of course now you are going to be a tribal king of the village I expect the girls will come flooding around to take a look at you. Girls and their mothers! Speaking of which—and don’t bite my head off—have you told your mother your news? I know that she would be very proud of you and what you have achieved.’
Simon inhaled slowly before answering in as calm a voice as he could manage. ‘Actually, I have told her. We’ve met up a couple of times over these past few years, on my rare trips back to London, but only for coffee … maybe dinner. But this is different. The King has asked me to invite my family to the official coronation ceremony next weekend and, seeing as she is the only family I have left outside Africa, I asked her if she’d like to come and take her place as—well, sort of a village Queen Mother.’
He looked up and grinned into Kate’s shocked face. ‘I’m not sure that the village is ready for the Parisian couture hats, but she will be staying with me for a couple of weeks out in the wilds.’
‘Your mother? Queen of the couture boutiques? Alone with you in the jungle? Oh, I would pay to see that.’
‘Then why don’t you stay, Katie? It would be great having the two of you in the village. They won’t know which way to look first. A lovely blue-eyed blonde or a haughty aristocratic brunette. It could be great fun.’
‘Fun?’ Kate snorted with a harsh laugh. ‘Oh, Simon. You have to be kidding. I won’t be coming to your coronation, and I certainly don’t want to meet your mother again any time soon.’
‘Wait a minute,’ Simon replied in a tight voice. ‘I thought you got on well with my mother?’
‘Oh, I did,’ Kate said in an exasperated voice, and shook her head. ‘Until she decided to have an affair with my widower dad while still being married to yours. I know …’ She held up her hands in response to Simon’s harsh cough. ‘I know my dad was equally to blame. But have you any idea what it was like for him? He had been alone for so long, and then he met your mother. She was married, she was lonely, and he fell in love with her out of the blue. He didn’t ask your mother to come into his life—she just did. And I know that neither of them could have predicted what happened. It just did. And then he had the cancer diagnosis and she dumped him.’
Kate shook her head from side to side, eyes closed, and her voice dropped into her shoes. ‘She dumped him when he needed her, and he let her go without saying a word because he cared too much to make her stay and watch him suffer. I still can’t forgive her for that. If you need someone to blame for me not coming with you, you can start there.’
Simon paused and gave a short chuckle.
‘No, Katie, that’s not fair. Tom is an adult. He could have dealt with his life and let you be free to live yours the way you wanted.’
‘Oh, Simon. Don’t you get it? It wasn’t Tom I stayed for. I stayed behind for Gemma.’
‘Gemma? I don’t understand. She has a wonderful school for the deaf, and people to help her.’
‘Yes, she does, but I was the only person in Gemma’s life who stayed when the going got tough. Gemma really loved having you around, and then you were