Forty-Two

Chris, standing beside his son, looks up, and he giggles, and Junior laughs, and Ken Kedem also laughs, and Effe smiles as she serves her father. Ivy Kedem looks on, and she is deeply disturbed, because suddenly the scene looks just like it used to be.The easy camaraderie between Chris and her husband is back, something Steve has never been able to achieve with Ken.

And Ivy is not happy one bit as she stands in the doorway, still taking it all in. She sees how happy Junior is, happier than she has ever seen him. She sees how relaxed Ken Kedem is, far relaxed than he has ever been with Steve. Ken and Chris have always had that relationship closer than in-laws. She remembers many years ago, when Chris had first come to their house with Steve. He had been Steve's best friend at school, and had come home with him for the vacation.

Steve had been a little bit intimidated by Ken Kedem all his life, and had been docile and very respectful. Chris had been brash, joining Ken to defeat one of their old friends in a game of partnered poker, relating to Ken without fear, making Ken laugh and enjoy his company.

That evening, as they prepared to sleep, Ken had remarked to Ivy that he really liked Chris, and Ivy had known that Chris was trouble. It is the same now. Looking at them, she knows that something urgent needs to happen otherwise Steve can lose Effe a second time to this violent man who Ivy Kedem doesn't like one bit.

Chris and Junior later go to the boy's room.

Effe sees her parents off.

"Are you not letting him leave, dear?" Ivy asked, worried.

"Mom, he'll be leaving soon. Junior asked him to fix a bulb in the bathroom. He'll leave immediately he finishes."

"You shouldn't entertain him, Ef."

"Would you please lay off, Ivy?" Ken chips in, exasperated. "She's old enough to know what's good for her."

"I know, honey, but Chris' bad reputation can harm Effe's career! And of course, there's Steve to consider. No need to do something that might hurt Steve badly."

Effe does not reply because she knows that when her Mom gets like that nothing will dissuade her from having her say.

"That boy can cook! The noodle meal was stupendous!" Ken says with a smile. "I wouldn't mind a package of that now and then, you know."

"I'm sure Junior can arrange that, Dad," Effe replies with a smile.

"Mr. Ken Kedem, don't you start encouraging that man!" Ivy says, sounding displeased.

They get into their cars, and each drives away, but Ivy Kedem gives her daughter a final meaningful look before driving away.

Effe returns to the living room, and she feels her heart fluttering.

She sees Chris on the landing as he emerges from Junior's room and closes the door gently. He turns sees her, and stops.

Their eyes hold.

It is a most poignant moment, a slice of magic when time completely stands still. It is the first time they have been completely alone in five years. He comes down the stairs slowly, and she moves forward. Her heart is beating so fast and so hard that she can literally hear and feel the thudding in her ears.

This is the effect he has on her, the only man who has ever succeeded in making her heart misbehave and making her lose control of her tight set of characteristic principles. She can see a tight faint of perspiration on the tip of his nose. She knows that tell-tale sign; it always signals that he is tensed up.

He moves forward quickly, as if heading for the front door, and she cuts him off, standing squarely in front of him. She does not look into his eyes. She cannot. She looks instead at his throat.

"Junior is asleep. I'm leaving now. Thank you for everything," he says softly.

He steps past her and takes fast steps towards the front door. She whirls round, and her face is anguished as she stares at his broad back.

"Chris!" Effe cries desperately.

He stops and turns slowly and faces her.

His face is inscrutable, his eyes flat and unreadable, but she can feel the tension oozing out of him. It is their language, the incredible chemistry that had exploded between them the first time they met.

"Yes?" he says softly.

She walks towards him slowly until she is standing in front of him. This time she looks up into his eyes, and when she speaks her voice trembles, and her hands are quite unsteady, and the trace of tears swim across her eyes. She raises her right hand, and she places it flat on his chest. She feels him flinch, but he relaxes, and she can feel his heart beating under her hand.

"I'm sorry, Chris. I'm so sorry for not visiting you in prison. It is true you did heinous things, and you killed me when I found you on top of Elaine, even though she was screaming her lungs out for you to stop," she says in an unsteady voice. "But I should've visited you in prison. Today I spoke to the Attorney-General. And I've spoken to some Supreme Court judges. They're going to find out who tortured you and left those hideous injuries on your back. Who did that to you, Chris?"

The tears are real now, but not falling yet. They shimmer in her eyes, and she is so lovely that he shivers as he is filled with the most urgent desire to take her in him arms.

He takes a step back, and her hand falls.

"What's done is done, Effe. It's okay."

He turns away again and has to force his legs to move. His body screams for her. His soul yearns for her. His heart is beating with rhythmic regularity with a cadence to the sound of her name...Effe, Effe, Effe!

Now the tears stream down her cheeks as she watches his retreating back.

"Why? Why did you do it, Chris? Why the hell did you have to rape Elaine, a girl who is like a sister to me? Chris, why?" she cries heartbreakingly.

He turns and looks at her, and this time his handsome face is tortured, and filled with sudden fury and bitterness.

"You ask me why?" he asks quaveringly. "You can ask me why?"

"Yes, Chris Bawa!" Effe replies tremulously. "We had a wonderful life! We had the son of our dreams! We were so happy! Wasn't I enough for you? Do you know what happened to me when I walked into that hotel room and saw you naked on top of Elaine? Do you know what happened to me?"

He crosses the room towards her, and his face is tortured. He reaches out and grabs her upper arms, and she moans with a bit of pain, causing him to release her immediately.

"You better stop crucifying me with the cross of Elaine, Effe. I don't know if it eases your conscience, or somehow makes your guilt lighter, but whatever you wanted to achieve, you achieved it. So just stop trying to bury me with it, would you? Just stop!" Chris says bitterly.

He turns away again, but she catches his arm and draws him back.

She had expected him to be sorry, to give her a reason, to be stricken with his guilt, but his anger, his bitterness, and the almost infinitesimal note of revulsion in his voice shocks her at first, and then fills her with a blast of confusion.

"What do you mean by that, Chris? What are you talking about?"

He snatches his arm away from her grip, and glares at her with venom in his eyes.

"My God, you deserve an Oscar, Effe!" he says with disgust. "You're not going to let go, are you? Well, I know all about your grand plans, and I know why you came to that hotel room at that time, so give me a break, would you?"

He turns away again and this time his steps are hurried. Confused, shocked and totally flustered, Effe chases him. She draws him back and stands in front of him, and her eyes search his face desperately, searching for a fake sign on his face, a deceitful look in his eyes.

"I don't know what's going on here, Chris. I had a fight with you that day. You told me you were not coming home that night so I should lock up. I didn't know where you were, and Elaine decided to come and look for you, to bring you back home. Evidently, Steve and Jonathan, your two best friends then, knew you checked into that hotel, and told Elaine," she says softly. "Elaine came to you, and later she called me from the bathroom that you were very drunk, and you wanted to have sex with her. You were preventing her from leaving. She gave me the name of the hotel and the room number, and then I heard her scream into the phone. I left Junior with Ira and drove to the hotel. When I entered the room, which wasn't locked, you were on top of Elaine, naked, your hand over her mouth, obviously to prevent her from screaming, and you were evidently having sex with her against her wishes. Her clothes were on the floor, torn! Her panties were torn! You were inside her, Chris! So don't you stand there and talk to me as if I didn't know what I saw!"