After the storm (31 page)

"She is
flying into Nigeria in about six weeks for a week's holiday and
then will come back again a week before the programme," Lara said,
assuring Yemi that Cerys would be available for fittings. "I'm
afraid that will be all the time she can spare," she added
apologetically.

Yemi
spent the next twenty minutes discussing the event with Lola and
Lara, and the more she talked to them, the more the idea of taking
part in it appealed to her.

"Give me
a few days to mull over this, and I'll get back to you," Yemi said.
She still needed to look at a few logistics and how best to manage
the cost without it being too much for her to bear.

They
were very happy when she called them two days later to tell them
that she would do it. They gave her the names and contact numbers
of the models that she would be working with. Five of them were
local, and she could start work with them right away.

"I'll
believe it the day I see Cerys walk through these doors," Ken told
her when she discussed it with him.

Yemi
felt the exactly the same way.

∞∞∞

"How do
I look, Mummy?" Aleena asked, walking into the sitting room where
Yemi sat working on some sketches. She was wearing Yemi's four-inch
Jimmy Choo heels and had dabbed on some of Yemi's
lipstick.

"Like a
little diva." Yemi smiled as Aleena tottered towards her. "I think
you should wait a little longer, though. There is plenty of time
before you start wearing heels."

Aleena
giggled. "Maybe when I'm as tall as you, Mummy?" She stepped out of
the heels and went over to Yemi. "Daddy says he's going to buy me
lots of high heels and bags when I grow up."

Judging
by the amount of unnecessary things he had already gotten for her,
Yemi had no doubt that he would.

Aleena
sat beside her on the sofa. "Are you drawing pretty dresses?" she
asked, peering at Yemi's sketchpad. "They look very nice. You draw
very well," she added loyally.

Yemi hid
a smile. "Thank you."

"I like
painting best, though," she continued. "Then I can use lots of
pretty colours. Maybe I can help you paint your drawings when you
are done, Mummy?"

"Eh…not
these ones, but I can draw some specially for you to paint,
okay?"

"Okay,"
she replied and then adjusted herself to seat more comfortably on
the sofa. "What do you think I should get for Daddy's
birthday?"

"What
would you like to give to him?"

She
screwed up her little face, appearing to think hard. "It's hard
getting gifts for boys," she finally said. "Girls are so much
easier."

Yemi
smiled. "We'll go to the mall on Friday before you go to your
dad's. I'm sure we can pick out something nice."

Aleena
brightened up. "Daddy liked the gift I gave him on Father's Day. He
said your mummy knows how to pick nice things."

Yemi
didn't say anything. Of course, Akeem would know that she had
picked out the handmade Italian leather shoes Aleena gave him for
Father's Day, the same way that she knew that he bought the
beautiful Hermes bag she had gotten on her last birthday. She still
hardly saw him, which suited her. The last time she had seen him
had been at Shona and Justin's wedding two months earlier, and they
had just exchanged polite greetings. He looked well and his
dressing was as faultless as ever. She had always felt a guy who
looked so good from top to toe had to be vain, but Akeem could not
be accused of vanity or pride. Just a roving, unfaithful
eye.

Sara
came to visit a few days later, and as she seemed to think it was
her duty to do so, she updated Yemi on the latest happenings in
Akeem's life. His relationship with the actress was over, and he
was now dating Lois, the daughter of a shipping magnate.

"She's
okay, quite nice actually, but she's not you. The spark is not
there, either," Sara continued, not minding Yemi's silence. "At
least not the way that you and Akeem made the air sizzle whenever
you were together."

Yemi was
not interested in Sara's analysis. "Two women in ten months? He's
really making up for lost time. It must have been so hard for him
being married and keeping to one woman."

"I knew
that actress was not going to last with him anyway," Sara said,
wrinkling her nose with distaste. "And when she started putting
pressure on him for more commitment, he called it off."

Yemi
tutted. "Poor thing. Commitment is not Akeem's strong
point."

Sara's
eyes narrowed. "Ever since you drove him back to the streets, you
mean?"

Yemi's
eyes widened as she stared at Sara. "The guy cheated on me, and you
said I drove him back to the streets?" She glared at her for a
moment. "I don't know why I bother with you. You're too biased to
be objective."

Sara
looked unrepentant. "Well, I'm sorry if it sounds like that to you,
but I know Akeem loved you. He made mistakes, mistakes he
acknowledges himself. Why not find it in your heart to forgive
him?"

"He made
one mistake too many," Yemi retorted. "And the way he's going about
changing women shows me that I made the right decision in leaving
him." She struggled to keep calm. Sara's words had touched a raw
nerve.

"Can you
make me some clothes soon?" Sara asked, changing the topic. "I'm
attending a friend's thirtieth birthday soon, and I want to look
seriously wow!"

"I hope
you won't steal the celebrant's thunder," Yemi muttered. She was
still annoyed with the comment Sara had made. She wished Sara would
stop giving her information on Akeem. She did that all the time and
then would subtly turn around and try to blame her for Akeem's
behaviour.

Sara
giggled mischievously. "That's the whole idea." She eyed Yemi's
unsmiling face. "C'mon, lose the attitude. I've said I'm sorry, but
you must agree that…"

"Don't
spoil the apology by adding more annoying things," Yemi cut
in.

Sara
looked amused. "But why are you still so affected by comments about
Akeem? Are you sure you're truly over him, as you say?"

Yemi
stared at Sara. Was she deliberately trying to needle her? "I know
I'm over you as a customer. You can get yourself a new dress
designer."

Sara
grinned. "That's not happening. You're stuck with me for
life."

"Yeah,
the consequences of my many sins," Yemi muttered. She ignored
Sara's smirking face. "Let me show you a few designs I made
recently," she said as she turned to the computer.

As Yemi
lay down later that evening, she found herself unable to sleep.
Different flashbacks of her time with Akeem ran through her mind.
She had loved him so much. It hadn't been about his status or any
of the trappings that he had come with. She had loved Akeem the
man, just him.

"Why did
you throw it away?" she asked over and over again, her eyes
smarting with unshed tears. She had made up her mind not to cry
anymore over Akeem and his betrayal, but she was feeling so low at
the moment that she gave up the struggle and sobbed into her
pillow. "I loved you so much. Why did you despise and make such a
mockery of my love?"

She
finally fell asleep in the early hours of the morning, the dried
tears forming whitish streaks across her cheeks.

∞∞∞

The
regular orders picked up some more over the next few weeks. That
lifted her spirits some. But Yemi made up her mind that she was not
going to get comfortable with the new pace. She was going to remain
focused on growing her clientele base.

She also
had to prepare for the charity fashion show. Apart from Cerys's
appearance, it seemed like a small event, but she made up her mind
she was going to put in her best. The good thing was that Lola and
her friends had given her a free hand with the designs; she was
free to let her creativity run loose, and she did.

The
locally based models came in for their fittings once she was sure
what outfits she wanted to make. They were easy work apart from a
diva-like one amongst them. The model made so many demands and
wanted so many adjustments that she nearly drove everyone round the
bend.

"And to
think that Ghana is the farthest place she has ever modeled in,"
Francis, the new tailor Yemi had just employed, muttered under his
breath after one particularly tiring session with her.

Yemi
heard his comment and smiled.

The
fittings with Cerys were starting the following week. They had her
measurements, and she had chosen what she wanted from the designs
that Yemi had e-mailed to her. She was on a tight schedule, so they
were going to work around the clock to get her clothes fitted and
ready during that time.

She
arrived for her first fitting with two bodyguards and insisted they
go with her into Yemi's private office, but that was all the
diva-ish behavior she had. She was polite, although a little cool
in her attitude, something Yemi didn't hold against her. She must
have loads of people trying to get close to her all the time, so
the girl needed some sort of façade to protect her.

Cerys
was very professional, and she showed that she had modelled for
top-end fashion houses. She was a stickler for time and would
patiently try on as many clothes as Yemi gave her and only made
useful comments about how she wanted them altered.

"I love
this dress; it's got so much attitude!" she said the third time she
came in, breaking into the first real smile Yemi had seen since she
started her fittings.

The
dress she referred to was really her. Yemi had designed it the
first time Cerys had come to the office. She had watched several
video clips of her modelling work, and of course seen her that time
in Paris, but having her in her office had been a different
experience, and her pencil had seemed to take on a life of its own.
She had sketched several designs that she felt would do justice to
Cerys's beauty and added them to the ones that she had already
made.

"You can
have it as a gift when you're done with it," Yemi offered. "I won't
repeat the design, and we can tell the guests that this particular
one is not for sale." She held out the other dress. "There is still
one more for you to try on."

"Whoa!
I'm not sure which one I like best out of the two," Cerys said when
she had tried the second dress on. She did a little catwalk, and
Yemi and Ken looked on in admiration. The girl was gorgeous and
sure knew how to strut her stuff!

"But I
definitely want to wear both of them that evening, if it's okay
with the concept you have in mind?" she asked after she sat down
again.

"You
can, and I'm glad that you like it. I still have a few designs that
I've not made yet. Would you like you to see them?"

"Of
course."

Yemi
showed Cerys the designs on the computer that she had sketched
especially for her.

"I like
the look of this and this," Cerys said pointing to a couple of the
designs on the computer screen. She looked at the other designs
critically. "I don't mind this other one as well," she said,
pointing to another one. "I need to be in Milan in three days, but
I'd like to place an order for them."

"You
will have at least one of them ready before you go, but the others
will be ready by the time you come back for the charity
ball."

"You're
really good, you know," she told Yemi. "I've been talking to my
friends about you. I had my reservations initially, as I didn't
recognise your name, but I'm really impressed with your work. You
make a girl look beautiful."

Yemi
found herself smiling throughout the rest of the day. She and Ken
stayed later than usual in the office that evening. She wanted to
be sure that she could make good on her word that Cerys would have
the outfit she wanted before she left for Milan. That was
professionalism. Keeping her word.

She was
still all smiles when she got home later that night. Even the
picture of Akeem, Lois, and Aleena on some sort of outing that she
saw on Aleena's iPad did nothing to dampen her mood. Akeem had his
hand around Lois's waist and the other arm around Aleena. They
looked like a happy family.

She felt
a little guilty as she looked at her daughter's sleeping face. She
had been working late since she had the fittings with Cerys and had
missed her bedtime a few times that week.

"I love
you Alee," she whispered and kissed her soft cheek. "Mummy just
needs to work hard so that she can be financially
steady."

As she
lay in bed later that night, her mind went back to Akeem and Lois.
He obviously felt comfortable enough with the relationship to allow
Aleena to meet her. He hadn't done that with the
actress.

She
looked at her bare fingers. The indentation left by her wedding
ring was completely gone now. It seemed like she had never worn a
ring there.

∞∞∞

"Whoa!
Yemi, are you going places or what?" Laide, Dotun's wife, said
excitedly over the phone. "I just saw Cerys on TV talking about the
charity fashion show and that she will be walking for Matrix
Kreations."