Tangled Passion by Stanley Ejingiri Page A

His name was handwritten on the envelope and the writing looked awfully familiar but his brains were still in disarray, trying to figure out who could possibly have his address in the West Indies. He sank into his bed and tore open the envelope.
    How do you do Nathan, I hope that my missive does not meet you in surprise. If you were wondering I am perfectly okay, a bit lonely and bored but okay. How are you down there in the West Indies, having loads of fun I suppose, I hope you are keeping a diary, I need all the gist when you return and I mean everything.
    Suppose you were wondering how I got your address, it was from my father, she would not stop bugging me, I think it is about time we told them that we are not in love with each other, I am totally sick of it, my father and your parents trying to set us up, what shall I do? Christian is tired of hiding in the dark and is threatening to call it quits if I don’t do something about it. I honestly think that the sooner we let our parents know that we are not in love, not in a relationship and have no such intentions the quicker I can introduce Christian to them.
    Write me soon, tell me what you think but use Jennifer’s address, I don’t trust my father to not snoop on my mails.
    Be good and write soon.
    Victoria.
    After a third read, Nathan finally laid the letter down on the bed next to him. He was convinced that his parents had a hand in making sure that his address in the West Indies somehow found its way into Victoria’s hands.
    But he was happy; there was now a way to communicate with his best friend; the only person who knew him better than anyone else. Victoria Shillingford and Nathan had realized from the word go that their parents were trying to set them up and that the move was purely politically-motivated. On that same day, they also realized that they were more interested in each other as friends and nothing beyond that. At the time, Nathan was seeing a girl called Clara and Victoria was seeing a guy called Christopher but they had managed to keep their relationships secret and successfully fooled their parents into believing that they were seeing each other.
    After moments of staring at the ceiling with a lingering smile on his face, Nathan jumped out of bed and ran out of his room. “I need you to have someone prepare me a horse. I need to be taken to the post office in Roseau immediately—Sorry, I think an hour would be the least I need,” he told Edwards.
    “Son, you could have asked me about the post office, besides I was on my way to Roseau; I can take you there and maybe show you a few other places and people while there,” Longstands said, giving Nathan a betraying look.
    “I am terribly sorry, Father–did not want to bother you at all, maybe another time, I have already arranged to ride with Edwards—I mean Edwards is arranging someone to ride with me to Roseau,” Nathan replied and disappeared into his bedroom. It took him over an hour to complete his letter to Victoria; it was a four-page- long letter and in it, he had detailed the entire happenings at the Fort since he arrived. He talked about Ashana and his intentions for her, his blackmailing scheme against his father, but not in details, and then his mother’s obvious obsession with getting rid of Ashana just to frustrate his effort. After reading the letter over a few times, he concluded he had everything he wanted to tell Victoria in it and then smiled as he licked the envelope and sealed it.
    Victoria might not agree with his relationship with a slave girl but she would respect his choice and that was all he wanted. She might also scold him for endangering his relationship with his parents for a girl who was yet to say the words ‘I love you’ to him. But she knew he was a firm believer in love and was as stubborn as hell for whatever he set his mind to do. He was willing to wait until Ashana saw the truth and willingly offered her love to him at a time when she was comfortable to