Diamonds!

Dearest Diary,

We are now in December and I can practically smell Christmas around the corner. Troy and Mum left yesterday, but Shea is still sticking around.

Why? I have no idea. However I think Grace and the rest of my cousins have a great deal to do with it. That and I think that she wants to stay around and make sure that no one hits on me and succeeds.

What? Of course not. She doesn't know about Troy and I and I am not planning to tell her any time soon. Yea. It's going to be crazy. It's safe to say that this is going to be the most interesting month yet.

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"Hey siz..."

"Shea." I respond skimming through some work related documents.

"Can I borrow your laptop for a moment."

"Why can't you use your phone?"

"Homework." Shea deadpans, giving me a pointed look.

"Oh okay." I mumble handing her my silver laptop. Since I also have the desktop I know I will not miss it, but still something tags on my mind.

Shea takes the laptop from my hands and mumbles a soft thank you and in that moment, my eyes are drawn to her face and her lips, twitching with a suppressed smile. It finally hits me.

"Shea wait!" Shea freezes mid step and turns back to face me. "I thought you just finished your year twelve?"

My siater gives me a cheeky smile and turns to dash out of the room, my laptop in her hands.

"Shea," I bellow through the open door. "Shea! I swear if you break that laptop I am going to make you slave to pay for it."

Giggling and stomping feet,  rushing up the stairway are the only answer I get. I know that she expects me to follow her, but I sit back in my office chair grinning widely to myself.

I return my attention back to my work and continue scheming through pages and pages of tenders that my company has contracted me to go through. It takes me the next hour or so to scan through the sheaves of paper, photocopied for me by our CEO's assistant, and to make small notes in my personal notebook. By lunch time I find that I am through and I compile my findings in an email sent to the P.A, with carbon copies to each of the company's board of directors.

Satisfied with what I have accomplished, I log off my desktop computer and start for my room in order to get ready for my meeting with Linda and Dr. Mwangaza.

"What exactly do you do?"

Shea's voice startles me as I walk into my room, buried deep in the cocoon that is my thoughts.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, staring at the eighteen year old sitting on my bed sorrounded by my white and beige covers.

"Hiding." she replies snarkily and I raise an eyebrow at her.

"In my room?"

"Admit it. It's the last place you would have thought to check."

"Sorry to disapoint you, but I am not in the habit of playing hide and seek."

She shruggs her shoulders at me and I turn away from her heading towards my closet. I remove a pink, red and gold Ankara dress from its hanger and throw it on the bed, before padding my way into my ensuite bathroom to take a shower.

"You didn't answer me!" Shea shouts after me.

"I am a consultant."

"At an editing firm?"

"Why?" I turn back to ask feeling panicked.

"You have so many manuscripts in here."

"Something like that." I reply and  walk back into the shower.

"Do you still write those books of yours?" my sister yells again, but I ignore her.I finish my shower and brush my teeth, before plugging in the blowdrier to dry my long brown strands. A light coat of make up later, I am ready to slip into my pink dress, a gift from from Troy as a memento of our travels to the Kenyan coast.

"That's lovely."

"Thanks and don't even think of 'borrowing' it." I riposte putting air marks on the word borrow. My sister rolls her eyes at me and a smile tags at the corners of my lips.

I turn back into the closet to retrieve a pair of red stiletto heels, which I slip on before moving in again to retrieve my red purse from a clear storage box.

"Where are you going to?" My sister asks and I shrug my shoulders at her.Huge brown orbs follow me out of the room and I grin at the curiosity that they are exuding.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

"None of your business, Shea."

My sister frowns at me and I take the opportunity to close the door firmly behind me.

I should have known, Shea never gives up. I hear the sound of feet hitting the tiled floor and before I know it the bedroom door is ripped open and the crazy girl rushes past me.

♧♣♧

"Shea, this is hardly appropriate." I complain for the zenith time and to my chagrin, my sister grins back, yet again.

Briella giggles in the carseat behind me and I am almost tempted to shoot her a glare. Luckily for her, I remember just in time that it is not her fault and I turn back to glare at her auntie who is riding shotgun.

"This is a work thing. You can't just tag along."

"You are going to meet Davis, I know it."

Frustrated, I grip Bridget's steering wheel tighter and take a sharp turn into the publishing house parking lot.

"Ah, you see. You are not even denying it."

I shoot Shea another nasty glare and put Bridget into parking before jumping out with my purse too pissed off to respond.

I make my way through the front doors and into the reception, not caring if the two are following me or not.

"Miss Durnham, Dr Mwangaza is expecting you."

I nod at the receptionist and step into the elevator pushing the button for the top most floor that houses the chief editor's office.

I take my time alone in the elevator to school my features and tuck away my anger, sparing a single glance at the CCTV camera at the corner of the box. I am tempted to smile at it or whoever is watching on the other side, but thing better of it when the doors ding to herald my arrival to the top most floor.

"Attara!"

Dr Mwangaza's voice greets me as I step out of the elevator. I reach out to greet his stocky arm before turning to greet his secretary, seated behind her desk.

"Good afternoon Dr Mwangaza." I reply smiling.

"How have you been? I haven't seen you in a while."

"Yea. I have been busy at work, then I went upcountry to visit some relatives."

"That's nice." He says leading me into his office.

He opens the door to reveal the interior that looks a little different from when I was last there.

"You redecorated?" I ask looking around the room and my eyes land on Linda, sesting on a brown leather seat typing away on her tablet furiosly.

"Just changed the furniture, curtains and repainted the walls."

"Isn't that redecorating?"

He turns to me and grins.

"I guess it is."

I take the seat next to Linda and nudge her with my elbow.

"Ouch!" She complains.

"What are you doing?" I ask peering at her screen. "Don't you have Lydia to di this kind of thing for you?" I add referring to the email that she is busy crafting.

"Lydia is on holiday." My friend and agent replies sourly. "I don't even know how she does this."

I laugh at her concorted facial expression and she puts her tablet away in a huff.

"Cheer up. We are here to talk about money, right?"

She nods, a smile breaking across her face.

"Yea. There's this set of earings I saw, I bet they will take my mind off my troubles."

"Earings?" I ask skeptically, picking up the sheave of papers that Dr. Mwangaza has placed on the coffee table before me.

"Diamonds!"

Dr. Mwangaza chuckles as Linda launches unto a full length description of the beauties as she refers to them. I shake my head in disbelief and turn my attention to the mounds of paper in my lap.

"One hundred and fifty thousand ?"

"And that's just the beginning." Dr Mwangaza tells me. "Since this is December, the retailers started placing their orders and we project that figure to reach three hundred thousand by the end of January."

"Wow. I used to think it would just trickle in."

"If it did, we wouldn't have to keep calling you to come over and sign off this huge transfers."

I nod looking at the huge figures staring back at me. I make quick additions with what I have in my account and lump settles in my throat as tears threaten to flow.

" Hey, You are a millionare." Linda whispers, squeezing my arm affectionately.

I gulp and turn to face Linda with a tearful smile and Dr. Mwangaza smiles at the two of us before continuing with his explanation.

"In addition to that, we also published your other books and as you know, Kenya has a population of over eight million pupils studying in over 25,000 public and private primary schools all over the country."

I nod still dazed at the figures that are meant to explain the six digit figure staring back at me.

"Of all of this, twenty one thousand are public primary schools. You are aware of the government's initiative to promote literacy by building their libraries?"

I nod recalling the conversations that took place in the meeting where I got to meet the ministry representatives.

"For that reason, the ministry planned to start building the libraries of a few select schools, about a third of that population in the marginalised areas. The rest of the books are to be dinated to the libraries in each town for access by the pupils."

"A third?" I ask looking at the figure that does not seem to add up.

"Roughly..."

"More or less..."

Both Linda and the Doctor say and I look up to face them amused.

"Come on. It's money. I am not complaining. Are you?" Linda says and I shake my head at her comments.

"How many copies are they giving each school?" I ask doing some quick calculations with the numbers before me.

"Three."

"Are you sure, because these numbers are grossly exagerated."

"I didn't peg you for a complainer." Linda admonishes and I turn to face her with a frown marring my features.

"I love money, but I also love to earn it. Honestly."

At that the good doctor beams at me and continues to explain the other numbers, which are largely the reason why Davis is missing from the room. Apparently, he went to escort a cargo of the children's books to Uganda, then to Zimbambwe and Rwanda.

To say that I am overwhelmed would be an understatement. I remember my last trip to church and the scriptures that had so inspired me to act and tears flow down my cheeks in gratitude.

"  Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act."

" Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established."

How would I have known that those two sentences and a crazy urge to give, more than I have ever thought, without compulsion or coercion, for the sake of my work would land me here.

Having been satisfied with the answers that I have been given I read through the fine print and put down my signature. I hand over the papers to Linda who signs her name next to mine and Dr. Mwangaza stands to authorise the transfer if the funds to my account.