You will see

Dearest diary,

I have been feeling out of sorts lately, but after reading those passages I no longer feel so anguished. They all talk about grace and you have to agree with me that that man is indeed wise.

Yea, they probably should have called him Solomon, but I guess David will do.

I know, I know. I have broken one of my rules about writing names in you, but what's the harm. It is not like it is a secret?

Anyway, so I am still here trying to relax, but it's hard. My mind is thinking up so many projects and I am feeling so restless, because being here means that I can't do much about it.

What? That's a great idea. I will look around and see what I can do.Until later. Ciao!

************************************************************

"Attara!" Troy bursts into my room tightly holding his phone in his right hand. I quickly save the word document under diary thirty six and look up to face him.

"What?" I ask, studying his angry expression.

"What is my mother talking about?" he demands from me.

"I am sorry I do not understand."

"Thirty thousand dollars?"

My breath hitches and my heart is caught in my throat.

"What about them?" I reply opting to play dumb.

"She thinks you stole from me?"

"What? Because I can't take a loan to pay off my mother's debts?"

"Attara..."

"No!" I rise up to walk out, but his hand grabs me and pulls me back.

"Why don't you tell me what happened?" he says in a much softer tone.

"Troy, I told you. I am not comfortable talking about your mother."

"Please..."

"No. I will not do it!"

"Attara..."

"Troy, you're resourceful. Find some other way, but it will not come from my mouth."

He looks at me, his piercing gaze seeing right through into my soul, but I am not afraid. I have nothing to hide. Well, nothing that concerns him anyway.

"Okay." he nods and pulls me into a hug. "I guess I understand your reasons, but I do hate being in the dark."

I nod into his chest and he places a kiss on my forehead.

"Do you want to go out?" I ask pulling back.

"Where?" he asks me smiling.

"Tuktuk ride?"

"What's a Tuktuk?"

"You will see."

As Troy gets ready for our imprompt tu Tuktuk  ride, I take the opportunity to slip out of my white Dira and into a loose kneelength sheath dress. Considering the hot and humid weather, I slip into my gold sandals and take a wide hat to protect myself from the mid morning sun.

Maggie and Bri walk into the cabin just as I exit my room and I request the older woman to prepare my daughter while I contact the hotel reception to make arrangements for our afternoon out.

"Ready?" Troy asks as he walks into the living room in tan fitting jeans and a white T-Shirt.

"Yes, but I am waiting for Bri. Then we can move out."

He nods and moves to stand behind me wrapping his arms around my midsection.

"What are you doing?" I ask as he nuzzles his nose in the sensitive parts of my neck right below my ear.

"This?"

His breath fans my neck and I cringe, even as a giggle escapes my lips.

"Troy. You're tickling me."

Laughter rumbles in his chest, behind me and he steps away, moving sideways to take my hand. Maggie and Bri breeze into the room at that precise moment and I find myself grateful that our little moment ended just on time.

As it is, I may have given him another chance, but I am not sure if I am ready for the whole world to know about us yet.

Troy picks our little girl, who has now changed from her pink swimming costume into white shorts, a soft yellow blouse and matching dolls shoes, and we walk out of the cabin.

We take the cobbled stone path lined with palm trees up to the resort's main building. At the reception, we pick up our guide and he leads us out to a waiting Tuktuk.

"So, this is a Tuktuk?" Troy says and Bri squeals in excitement as we fit into the Tuktuk compartment.

"I told you you will like it."

"Yea. I have seen them before, but I have never been inside one."

"Where?"

"Nepal."

"Mmm..." I try to come with an explanation as to what he was doing in Nepal, but I come up empty.

"Why don't you just ask?" he tells me laughing.

"Now I won't." I tell him, despite the curiosity that is eating at me making my fingers twitch.

"Where are we going?" Briella asks me and I smile back pointing to our tour guide who has seated himself next to the Tuktuk driver.

"We are taking a ride through the town, then to Forte Jesus de mombaça." Moses, our tour guide responds and our little girl squeals with glee, causing the rest of the vehicle to burst out in laughter.

She then stands up from her seat, perching herself on her father's lap and I grin as she takes in view after view of the extensive ocean and the gigantic ship docking on the port of Mombasa.

Before we know we are in town and the Tuktuk driver pulls the three wheeled ride that is really a motorcycle with a body and two back wheels through the town's traffic.

We meandered through the hoards of matatus, personal cars and Tuktuks that fill its streets and avenues and before long we find ourselves cruising through old town in the direction of fort Jesus.

The Tuktuk driver let us off at the fort entrance and Moses allows us some time to take some pictures and watch the ferries as they cross over from Mombasa island to Likoni.

"Welcome to Forte Jesus de mombaça, Mombasa's most visited tourist attraction." Moses says taking us through the fort walls and into the museum inside.

" As the name suggest it was built by the Portuguese between years of 1593 and 1596, by order of King Philip I of Portugal to guard the Old Port of Mombasa."

" It is built in the shape of a man from an aerial point of view and is roughly square, with four bulwarks at its corners. Although the architect and master builder were from Europe, the materials and labour are believed to have been provided by the local Swahili people."

"Who were they?" Troy asks stopping to inspect a canon that is lying in the courtyard.

"The designer was an italian, Giovanni Battista Cairati, while the master builder was Gaspar Rodrigues." Moses replied before continuing with the tour. Troy nods, appearing to be deep in thought and we follow our guide who leads us deeper into the fort.

" The Fort has seen and weathered many battles having been captured and recaptured at least nine times in the period between 1631 and 1895 when it fell under British rule after the declaration of the Protectorate of Kenya. It then was converted into a prison and among notable activities that happened here, is the epic two-year siege from 1696 to 1698 by the Omani Arabs, led by Saif bin Sultan."

Moses continues his history 101 class on Forte Jesus de Mombaça and the role it played in the indian ocean trade, a lot of information that I could easily find on wikipedia, but is more memorable, now that I am experiencing it.

We pause to take some more pictures beside the canons in the courtyard and by the walls overlooking the ocean and I can almost imagine myself as one of those soldiers loading the canons to fire at enemy dhows.

For the next activity, Troy suggests snorkelling and we finally leave the fort for Mombasa marine national park and reserve.

Since we have a toddler in our midst, Moses suggests we take a glass bottom boat ride to the coral reefs out in the ocean, but my irrational fear of water masses and drowning kicks in and I refuse to get in. The two men spend the next ten minutes trying to convince me to go, but they soon realise that nothing can convince me to leave the safety of good ole' land.

In the end we cut a deal and I am left behind to go shopping as the two take Briella out into the water, bundled in life jackets to pacify my irrational fear that extends to my daughter as well.

Sneaky as I am, I take the opportunity to have a phone meeting with some of the resort owners on the prospects of investing in the business and like I had thought, they have several suggestions for me.

This includes the not so familiar concept of co-owning, where I would essentially own a percentage of a home, apartment or a cabin, and would get returns from them including the opportunity to vacation there every once in a while free of charge.

The other option is full ownership.I would by an apartment, house or cabin and the proprietors would manage it for me at a price with the rest going into my account.

They all sound like good ideas, but since I still need to do some consulting, I take down their contacts and promise to get in touch with them as soon as I make up my mind.