Roaring Hearts

Chapter 7

"He stepped down, trying not to look long at her, as if she were the sun, yet he saw her, like the sun, even without looking." Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy.

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She stepped down from the ship.

The wind blew against her face almost lifting her dress but she was quick to hold it with one hand, while the other hand held onto the bag she had carried from home. James alighted soon after. Hasnaa released a frustrated breath. She had spent two months aboard a ship to London, although it was only a few weeks, eight weeks to be precise, it felt like a century. The journey had been nothing but dreary but to add to her predicament, she was in a foreign land, unfamiliar to everything and everybody, and she was going to meet people who might reject her and refuse to accept her as the wife of their son-- the dreary journey was just the beginning of her anguish; there was more coming her way.

Maneuvering their way through the sweaty persons at the dock, Hasnaa could barely manage to move a step without crashing into someone, making it nearly impossible to make it to the other end. Hasnaa managed to hold James' hand, she didn't wish to get lost in a foreign country. They nudged them until they made it to the other end breathless and as sweaty as the persons at the dock.

They swiftly settled in a hired coach. James gave the coachman the address he was to take them.

"Noted, my lord." Said the coachman to James.

Hasnaa noticed the coachman addressed James with admiration and respect but she was too nervous and tired to inquire the reason as to why the coachman did so. She resolved to the idea that all white men were respectful and addressed each other as Lord.

Sighing, she leaned back at her seat as she glanced at the window beholding the busy streets of London. It was nothing like her home in Kalu village, but it almost resembled Nairobi, the big city in her home country. At the sight of London, Hasnaa felt she did not belong, not only because of the unfamiliar tall infrastructures but also due to the way the individuals conducted themselves. She had only been in London for minutes but somehow she managed to feel out of place.

Somewhere in her unkempt mind, she found a way to calm herself down and to stop the deliberations that were streaming through her mind.
Hasnaa could hear James and the coachman conversing among themselves, all she got from the chatter was that James came from a renowned family. She knew everything would unravel itself at the right moment; she needn't worry herself raising a question about James' Identity.

The coach began slowing down after several minutes of trekking and it came to a halt before a black gate. Her eyes drifted shut as she expelled another breath in a failed attempt to soothe her nerves. She felt a warm hand on top of hers and she slowly opened her eyes to look at the hand's owner; James. "We are finally here," said James as his face lit up. It had been a while since Hasnaa saw a genuine smile on James' countenance and it just warmed her heart. For a while there, her bothers vanished.

"Shall we go?" James drew her from her daze as he brought forth his hand. Nodding nervously, Hasnaa glanced at the gate once more through the window before extending her hand at James.

"This is it," the coachman said as he opened the door. Hasnaa expressed her gratitude to the dashing young man before taking his hand and climbing down the coach. She settled on her tired feet while glancing at the unfamiliar bungalow in front of her and waited for James to climb down the coach. Soon after the coachman handed them their two bags and was on his way.

Hasnaa keenly watched as James pressed a bell beside the gate announcing their presence as the gate was opened for them. Her gaze immediately swept over the cozy compound; Hasnaa watched the breathtakingly beautiful scenery all before her excitedly --- the path to the house was smooth and tarmacked, one side of the area was graced with the presence of tall leafy trees and shrubs underneath them. From the entrance, she could see a sprawling garden in which clusters of flowers of all colors blossomed. The beautiful flowers added to the beauty of the compound. The house was huge and in all her life Hasnaa had never come across such a house, even her father who she knew as the wealthiest man she had ever met could not own such a house.

"Welcome back, my lord." Two men revealed themselves; they were both in blue attire and they adorned their heads with black headdresses. They bowed before James. James nodded at the men and him together with Hasnaa proceeded towards the house.
A range of emotions was battling inside her heart and she could not control herself; she felt happy and excited she was going to meet new people but yet the fear of rejection from them could not leave her.

And as they made their way to the house, Hasnaa noticed a lot of servants present and as they got to the house and as James was about to release the latch that closed the door and pull it open, Hasnaa dared to stop him. Hasnaa would never concede to being scared and afraid out loud but, deep down, she knew she was. But she knew if anyone deserved to see her at her weakest was her husband, and he was right beside her.

"No, don't. I am scared of what awaits me behind this closed door." She said almost to herself, somehow James heard her. And for the first time Hasnaa expressed her vulnerability to someone, she let her guard down.

"Of what?" asked he.

"Of everything. What if your kin does not accept me? I am different from you right from our way of life to the way I look. We are distinct from each other." She confided softly.

"I would never let that happen," James told her.

"What's the guarantee?" She inquired. "What if they refuse to accept me because of..." she could barely get herself to finish her sentence.

"Because of what?!" James was adamant about getting answers from her. "Because of my color, we are so different, and that fact can never be changed."

"I did not see your color when I fell in love with you. I see you, the real you, your color does not encompass me and if it ever becomes a problem for my family, I shall protect you. It's Hasnaa and James till the end." James assured Hasnaa. "Always remember that." He added.

His utterances did not entirely convince Hasnaa, but she knew that, even through the slightest and severest of winds she would always have somebody to support her.