Shilo's Secret (25 page)

   Then he kissed her long and deep. They were interrupted by the sound of applause, and when they looked up, Lady Carina and Henri Delucci and Michaela were standing in the doorway in their dressing gowns, beaming. Carina and Michaela were in tears.

“That was beautiful,” Carina sobbed.

“So this is the man you fell in love with in Africa?” smiled Henri.

“Yes,” beamed Shilo, “This is the man I would rather be married to than that perverted, sick, poor excuse of a man you had on the cards for me.”

Suddenly Stratt swept her off her feet and into his arms. He carried her past them, and down the stairs.

“Where are you going?” asked Michaela.

“To a hotel for the rest of the night,” said Stratt. “We’ll see you guys later!”

He carried her down the sweeping staircase, out of the front door into the flurry of snow and the waiting taxi.

1.
        
Veld - a term used to define certain wide open rural spaces of
Southern Africa
, usually flat areas covered in grass or low
scrub
,

2.
        
The rondawel (Afrikaans) is usually round or
oval
in shape and is traditionally made with materials that can be locally found in raw form.
Its walls are often constructed from stones with a thatched roof and are also quite common as holiday cottages

3.
        
Springbok a medium-sized brown and white
antelope
which is extremely fast and can leap 4 m
into the air and jump a horizontal distance of up to 15 m

4.
       
Acacia – a thorny tree found on African plains

5.
        
Kudu – large antelope with massive  twisted horns, not usually in herds

6.
        
Rooibok (also known as impala) are medium sized antelope with a reddish fur (rooi= red in Afrikaans)

7.
        
Braaivleis – a barbecue. Can be done on a commercial machine or open fire. Traditional sausages, steaks, chicken, fish and cutlets can be cooked.

8.
       
Boerewors – traditional sausage (literally mean’s farmers’ sausage in Afrikaans)

9.
        
Pap – a stiff corn meal, which when water is added, becomes a stiff porridge which is eaten with sauce . This is a staple of the black people in South Africa, but is eaten at a braaivleis as a side dish

10.
     
Rusks – hard dry biscuits which are traditionally dipped in a hot beverage like coffee (similar but less-refined than Italian biscotti)

11.
      
Hadedah  –  a large a large greyish-green ibis