Chapter 1 Ravinia Abroad

At Clean Lines Studio, staff is discouraged from checking their devices for personal messages while on the job, and Ravinia, wanting to be a high value employee, conscientiously turned off her bejewelled pink wristphone and her tablet as soon as she settled herself behind the front desk. Her value for this job made her more respectful of its rules than she normally displayed for other controlled environments, performing her role with humility and willingness. It made turning on her phone at the close of day to pick up on her social life all that sweeter, but she did not bother to turn it on although she was to meet up with friends at a fashionable, new eatery.

It was Ravinia’s job to close the front office. She fixed her face into a wide smile then leaned across the office door of her boss, Tcharo, to wave goodbye, and Tcharo waved back with a smile that crinkled the corners of her eyes. She was using her smart glasses to attend an online conference, writing notes on a stenographer’s pad. There was no one else there. The account executives were on assignments with their clients. The busy part of the week usually started on Wednesday afternoons and went through to Sundays.

Tcharo was the founder and Creative Director of Clean Line Studios, which had built a clientele of demanding and well-paying clients. She could be relied upon to organise a business dinner-at-home for six, to a Christmas product launch in July, to an ethnic wedding where international guests would be comfortable or a skybox at the Super Bowl. As the receptionist/ administrative assistant, Ravinia considered it a major opportunity to work with a firm that was led by an executive who generously shared her expertise with anyone who was loyal, willing to work hard at learning and to practice high standards. Ravinia had seen that off all these traits, loyalty was the one most valued by Tcharo.

With her head down to avoid eye contact with elevator users, Ravinia exited her building on West Fifty Seventh Street to walk the ten blocks to where she lived on Forty Seventh. The hot air outside caused her to immediately pull off the pink wrap that she had around her shoulders and stuff it in her bag, exposing immediately her deep decolletage around the scoop neck of the baby pink knit camisole. She was also wearing a long tube skirt made from stretch fabric that emphasised her high derriere and the outline and length of her thick long legs strapped in high heeled gladiator sandals. At five feet ten inches tall, size 16 with curled strawberry blonde dreadlocks defined like a mane and tossing around her shoulders. Her office building was just beyond the pathways that tourists walk to get to the main attractions so there were no high street shops and restaurants, just minions darting along grim and narrow sidewalks cinched in by skyscrapers on every side, and as they moved like ants, she bubbled and bounced, and in this heat, shimmered as a vision of young, healthy, energetic, proud, femininity. Ravinia relished the thought that at that moment she was the brightest item on this short strip of the concrete jungle called New York City.

Anonymous and alive, that is what she loved about these streets. Here she was “Who’s that girl?”, not Ravinia deMartin-Pinto, Simmit’s little sister, Kuro and Beverley’s daughter and many other identities. She still had not turned on her watch, delaying the silvery pings announcing the arrival of messages that she did not want but she had barely walked ten steps when she saw Wagstaffe standing at the corner and her heart, which was already in the pit of her stomach, slipped beneath her four inch heels, but what could she do? The radiant heat from the concrete nudged sweat beads to form in her back and the creases around her breasts. Wagstaffe, wearing a bright yellow track suit and red, green and gold knitted tam seemed oblivious to the temperature. They walked together, out of step.

    “I am to leave on Friday evening,” Ravinia said, her breath almost in her throat. Wagstaff’s eyes only narrowed before saying, “I am here to help you to pack,”

    “Why? I’ll be back on Monday.”

    “So you did not tell anyone you won’t be coming back.” It was a statement and Wagstaff said it as if to say, “As usual you don’t do the right thing”.

    “Well, I have my  job and…”

    “And you have no respect for it and for them.” Wagstaffe behind them, in the direction of Ravinia’s workplace.

Ravinia turned on her heel and gave her back to Wagstaffe. She was hoping to return on Monday but if her parents sent for her, that dream had truly evaporated.  

    “Give me a minute,” she said, and did her walk of shame back to the office, letting herself in with the security card. Tcharo saw emotions in play on Ravinia’s face and was concerned, but ensuring that she was muted in the meeting, leaned in to listen.

    “Tcharo, something came up, I have to go back to Jamaica tomorrow.”

Tcharo waited for more, then asked gently, “Is someone very sick?”

    “No, some family matters… and it will take a couple of weeks.”

Ravinia saw the surprise and then disappointment cross Tcharo’s face before she said, “Nobody flies home at a moment’s notice if it is not a sickness, not even a death. So you are telling me something that you have known for some time. You are walking out on your job.”

    “It’s my family, you see, they insist.”

    “You told me when I hired you that you were an independent woman free to take on the demands of this round-the-clock job.” Tcharo held up her hands. “That’s the shakes then.” She swung her chair around to refocus on the meeting.

Ravinia put down the company door card and said nothing. Offering her apologies seemed so…trite.

    “If you don’t mind,” Tcharo swung the chair to face Ravinia who thought that she saw a misty disappointment in her eyes.

    “Those so-called zirconium stud earrings, they are cushion cut white diamonds aren’t they?”

Ravinia nodded.

    “And that carved pale green bracelet that you accessorise with the acrylic ones from a craft market, it is an antique jade, isn’t it?”

 Ravinia nodded again.

    “Got it!” Tcharo said. “I was helping out a trust baby when I thought I was giving a break to a struggling island girl. Good luck Ravinia.”

Chapter 2 Above Rocks

  Great Uncle Hardley’s 10-foot fibreglass fishing canoe, the PR Raise a Pay appeared to Ravinia’s left as the gates of Above Rocks swung open Friday afternoon. It had been resting on boat stands for years but her father said it was seaworthy in case it needed to be put in the sea and work for the family as it had done two generations before. Ravinia had never met Great Uncle Hardley but the stories of how important he was to provide for the family were repeated and respected.

There was no main house on the compound. The family lived across a series of connected buildings that were erected over time. If there was to be a focal building it was the foyer which declared the ethos and tone of the home. Murals of HIM Haile Selassie and Empress Menen majestically received the entrant and the covered walkway to the right led to the family tabernacle. Ravinia paused and with Wagstaffe, did obeisance in the foyer before proceeding left along a covered walkway to her suite, passing vibrant borders of lush tropical plants with deep colours: croton, red ginger lily, bird of paradise, hibiscus yellow elder.

After a shower, she was robed by Wagstaffe in plain creme garments. A georgette scarf was wrapped simply over her hair and she slipped a loose fitting linen robe over her black stretch ankle length dress. She buttoned the top three buttons of the robe and looked at herself in the mirror and the pink on pink bedroom walls and fittings around her and nearly cried feeling that after two years of not being home to build a new life, today felt as if she had made no progress.

Pushing back her disappointment, she poured her energy into checking that her eyebrows were on fleek, fully pencilled in. She applied a layer of bronze lip gloss over the fire engine red lipstick. That finish created a fiery glimmer to her presentation. Her acrylic nails were studded with small decorations. Now she was ready to meet her parents.

Above Rocks was a home that had been under continuous construction since her grandfather bought five decaying properties on a cliff above East Kingston. It was an off-the-grid experiment in sustainability that was steeped in his livity. It had a farm, rainwater catchment as well as atmospheric water generator, solar and wind power systems, a radio tower and its decorative elements were all connected to his spirituality which was adopted by his children. 

Ravinia walked through the vegetable gardens, the hen house and fish ponds to her father’s favourite place, the reasoning room, a gazebo with a view of Kingston Harbour and beyond the breakwater, the brilliant Caribbean sea constantly crashing against the rocks protecting the Palisadoes. The reasoning room had electric awnings that expanded and retracted to adjust the shade as the sun made its journey westwards, or to stop rain from streaming in. The reclining benches were fitted with brightly coloured plush cushions making it both a cosy and a breezy space. Her parents Kuro and Beverley were there in their home robes and hair uncovered. They both stood as she entered, matching each other’s height and stature, predetermining that Ravinia and her brother Simmit would both be tall and muscular. In addition to height they seemed to be able to read each other’s moods and at times even minds, so matching they were to each other.

Her parents loved to share their stories with their children and anybody else who would listen. Her father always said that he realised that Beverley would be the right person to counterbalance him in life and he had gone out of his way to impress her. First it was to make the national basketball team, then to become an executive in the Jamaica Junior Chamber of Commerce, but what sealed the deal was the opportunity to slow dance with her at the chamber’s annual gala where he cradled her back as she rested her head on his shoulder to the musical caress of Cynthia Schloss’ signature song Surround Me With Love. 

Beverley said the dance made her realise that his shoulder was a very comfortable place for her head to rest, and, she would laugh, the rest was history.

    It had been two years since Ravinia had seen them as her parents no longer travelled. She kissed her mother on both cheeks first, and felt her mother’s hand linger on her, touching her hair, then she embraced her father and they all sat. Ravinia felt anxious that although she had made a great declaration two years before that she was leaving Jamaica forever it would appear now as a childish outburst as she had been receiving an allowance every month and additional help when she asked.

    “My daughter, good to see you looking well. I know you are wondering why we need you back so quickly, as you know your mother and I were in agreement that you be allowed to live your life as long as possible, but now, time come.”

He glanced at his wife, and Ravinia realised that her mother must have given him a signal to get on with it, they were so closely connected that most times they moved as one.

    “It is your brother, he is moving to the UK, so we need you here.”

Ravinia was confused, but tempered her thoughts with a respectful reply, “I am blessed to have my parents welcome me home. Thank you for your ongoing prayers…So Simmit gets to live abroad but I have to come back?”

Her father replied, “It is a story with an unusual history and many bends along the way. Let me tell the long story, short.

    “More than 100 years ago in the 1950s….”

Ravinia breathed deeply and held her breath and made her hands into fists to keep from blurting out that she did not need a long story from ancient history. Her parents were very partial to old stories and today, they needed to tell her this one. She thought that she knew them all.

Kuro did not realise her tension and he happily told his story smiling to himself.

    “My grandmother’s little sister migrated to the UK as a little girl. She had one child, a daughter, but I never met my grandaunt or my first cousin once removed, her daughter. That daughter married a minor member of the British aristocracy and they had one child, a son called Wilton. Wilton married an Ashanti princess, Ana, uniting two aristocratic families. Wilton and Ama have not been able to have any biological children and they decided to identify one of his male relatives as an heir and that led them to me, Wilton’s first cousin twice removed.

    They called me about two months ago and we discussed it.  Simmit happened to be in the UK at the time so I suggested him to them, and they thought about it and agreed to meet. They loved your brother instantly…you know your brother is a people person.”

    “Oh yeah,” said Ravinia. Her brother was popular and this was helping him to build his business as a seabed prospector, which would make him fabulously wealthy over time. Ravinia wondered why her brother was in the UK in the first place. Prospective business partners came to Jamaica to do business. “What was Simmit doing in the UK?” she asked.

Her mother answered, “Visiting his fiancee, I think that you know her, Adina Klimmot.”

Ravinia’s initial reaction was a sense of injustice. “Why didn’t the small girls leave the tall guys alone?” The second was that of confusion as she had heard that Adina was engaged to someone else. Her third reaction was one of envy, Adina was good at many things, the most recent was being awarded a prestigious scholarship to do higher veterinary studies. There was public grumbling that she should not have applied so that the scholarship could have gone to a deserving student and not a wealthy member of the New Era, but Adina was awarded the scholarship, and her family’s foundation donated an equivalent value to an endowment of the university.

Ravinia checked herself and banished her negative thoughts and allowed them to drift out of her mind. Adina had never hurt or slighted her, she was a decent person who always comported herself in a way that justifiably earned admiration.

    “May the Almighty bless them richly,” Ravinia said, putting aside questions about Simmit and Adina’s relationship for another time.

She stretched out on a chaise lounge and unbuttoned the robe so that fresh air could get under it as the sun was now producing its greatest heat at this time of the day. The robe draped away from her body revealing her curves that were under the stretch knit dress.

    “So it is time for the vault to be opened,” her father continued. Ravinia looked confused. “You did not know”, he said, “but your grandmother reassigned you and your brother as signing officers for her safety deposit box, and it is time to open it now.”

    “I did not know I was a signing officer but I do remember that day with her and her safety deposit box in the bank,” Ravinia said. It was exciting to be sitting at a lit table in a cold bank vault. The bank staff left the family in the room and her grandmother went to a safety deposit box and turned two keys. Her father opened the door and took out the metal box, that seemed to be weighty, and placed it on the table and opened it.

Inside were labelled envelopes with papers, artwork in canisters, small carvings that were not explained, and then there was the jewellery. There were boxes with extravagant pins and brooches and necklaces and rings. Her grandmother opened each velvet lined box, and gently murmured as she looked at and touched the pieces with delight tinged with nostalgia before closing it and opening another box.

Then Kuro placed the largest box in front of her, and she pushed the others away. It was wooden and had carvings of turtles all around it. She pulled the box reverently before her, and opened it. Like the other jewellery boxes, it was lined but this one was lined with white velvet and the yellowing from rust showed its age. Resting in the box was a tiara made entirely of turtleshell worked with gold wire and embellished with white pearls. Ravinia held her breath at its beauty. The deep and ever changing colouring of the tortoiseshell and the luminescence of the pearls. Later, she learned that this was the infamous Le Mer tiara and jewellery collection. Her grandmother gently took the tiara out and rested it on the table and looked at her son, “Kuro, the next generation of brides in this family will wear this and the one after, don’t let the government take it from us.”

When the banker returned there was a lot of paperwork handling and signing. Simmit and Ravinia signed papers without paying attention as she had been entranced by the carved pendant made of whale ivory that her grandmother had placed in her hands as a gift.

  Chapter 3 New Era

For generations, both sides of Ravinia’s family made their living from the sea all around Jamaica, and fragments of those eras had been integrated into Above Rocks.

Aside from the canoe RaiseAPay placed in a position of honour just inside the gates, the table in the reasoning room was from Beverley’s grandmother’s cookshop at Half Moon Bay, Hellshire. The family photo albums that were kept safely in a cabinet showed pictures from deep sea fishing tournaments in Montego bay and Port Antonio. Pages of tourist snapshots were from a dive shop that a cousin used to own in Ocho Rios, some of them included members of the rich and famous from that era. The sports garage favoured watersports and there were fishing rods and tackle, snorkelling gear, scuba diving cylinders, bodyboards, a pair of wave runners and life jackets. Folded neatly on a high shelf In a corner were the extra set of sails for Simmit’s sailboat which, now that he was migrating, would trigger a decision on its future.

The wave of opportunity that came with the finalising of reparations for the Atlantic Slave Trade and the Slave System in Jamaica 1494 - 1838 changed the fortunes of the family. Thanks to votes made at the United Nations, citizens of Jamaica who could trace at least one ancestor to have lived in Jamaica before 1865 we

re given the right to have personal dominion over an allotment of the seabed of Jamaica. This group of Jamaicans were called New Era Citizens.

No other country in the world granted seabed rights to individual citizens, and later, the UN votes also extended this to full members of CARICOM creating divisions with other island nations that did not have those international rights. One thing it did was to draw a line under the reparations struggles as there were now economic opportunities. It was still easier to source minerals from planet earth than from the pioneers prospecting on the Moon and on Mars.

Every New Era citizen had this right from birth, and the allotment automatically reverted to the sovereign state when that person died, to be available for re-allocation to someone else. It was a contentious issue as by 1865 race was not noted on birth certificates and so the arrangements included Jamaicans who were not the descendants of enslaved persons, but the law was blind on the race or social status of ancestors. The immediate impact of the reparations was a baby boom as parents managed the reparation allotments of their children, and then shortly after, legislation was passed to ensure that management of allotments had to be done by persons who were domiciled in Jamaica. This created a seabed real estate sector and Ravinia’s grandfather was an early licensed realtor and his success created the first family fortune.

Ravinia’s grandfather used his wealth to build out his dream home, Above Rocks. His wife, who made jewellery, became a collector of treasures from the sea made from turtleshell, black coral, red coral Queen conch, whale ivory, seawater pearls, and items taken off sunken ships. As the convention on international trade in endangered species was in force, her collection was considered to be illegally held and she sheltered the priceless pieces in a safety deposit box at their bank. The ultimate piece in the collection was a tiara that had been created by an unknown jewellerymaker in Port Royal and shown in the Jamaican International Exhibition of 1891. The National Archives has a copy of a promotional leaflet with its illustration and description. A jewellery store owner in Montego Bay bought it in an estate sale in the 1950s and placed it in his shop window. It became famous when it was worn by the leading lady in the Hollywood movie Holiday at Le Mer that was filmed in Jamaica.

When possession of tortoiseshell became a crime, Le Mer vanished from public view. The next time it appeared it was being worn by Beverley Klimmot at her wedding to Kuro Pinto. By the time that the authorities saw the wedding pictures, Kuro’s mother had already returned it to obscurity in the safety deposit box. Ravinia was to be the next bride to wear it and she counted this as a part of her birthright, which Adina was about to snatch away.

Chapter 4 Olivier

Someone cleared his or her throat and Ravinia looked over and saw that a statuesque figure in athletic outdoor clothing and a sunhat had entered the reasoning room. He carried a backpack casually slung over his shoulders and was dressed in a white sun shirt with the hoodie down, dark cargo trousers with a cryptic pattern and deck shoes. He removed his wide brimmed hat with neck covering and she saw a wide set face with bright eyes and an even and open smile that was shaped by thick lips that were emphasized by a full beard and mustache that were perfectly groomed. His eyes were roving over her curves with appreciation and although her parents were there, she did not move or shift to cover up, she rubbed her manicured fingertips together and stared at him right back.

New York had done that to her. It removed her from being bashful to being bold in the presence of men, daring them to chat her up so that she could dazzle them with her physical charms.

“Olivier, you got in! good!” Kuro said, and stood so that they gripped each other’s hands, heads level while they looked each other in the eyes, and then the visitor kissed Beverley’s cheek before sitting. Ravinia realised that there was a high degree of familiarity at play among them. When Olivier spoke, she noted that his voice was Jamaican with an American accent and she soon learned his conversation easily leaned towards the jocular, as if a joke was always beneath the surface and a cheerful laugh might break through at any minute.

    “Yes, the sea was working with us, you know, not too rough but giving us a little work, so we got out to the rig and did our checks and got back in. Decided to drop a line on the way back and caught Wahoo. I think you have better cooks than me so I left it with the people in your kitchen.”

    “Wahoo!” said Kuro, rubbing his hands together, that will fix up for later.

Olivier nodded at Ravinia. “Hi, I am Olivier, and you are a perfect blend of your parents.”

Kuro pointed his fingers at Ravinia then Olivier with an open hand, “You don’t know Ravinia? Ravinia, you never met Olivier before? He is one of the Blacks from Port Royal. Oh yes, of course you would not know each other. Olivier grew up abroad and came back after you went to  America. I am managing his allotment as it is in the Morant Basin, near to where we are.”

Ravinia looked away to the horizon. These discussions about allotments chafed her and now that she was back from professional New York where individualism was socially preferred over sectarianism, identifying with this very localised identity of New Era Citizen felt illegitimate. In her social setting, almost every introduction or reference included a footnote about an allotment. Allotments had become more than a delivery of justice to persons from the past, it delivered an unexpected bonus by giving holders of allotments by descent an elevated level of citizenship in Jamaica.

Olivier had noticed her disengagement and deliberately leaned towards her and offered his hand. She took it and was taken aback that he made to carry her fingers to his lips. Without looking at him, she slowly pulled her hand away before he could complete his purpose: he did not restrain her.

    “Too nuff,” she thought. He would have to work harder for that favour.

    “So what do you do Ravinia?” Olivier asked.

She wanted to say, “I do whatever I want”, but her parents were in the discussion, so she spoke politely and carefully.

    “I was working for an event stylist in New York, we do events like trade shows and conferences, business related events.”

    “That’s cool. Plan to set up your own store in Jamaica now that you are back?”

The question jolted her for a minute, she had not thought about setting up herself in business. Her mind drifted off, “Could I make something of myself here successfully? Was I smart enough? Would I be able to do it and not feel overrun?” Olivier was looking at her, waiting on an answer.

    “I am back to support the family right now, no immediate plans.”

Olivier nodded and since he asked, she could now return with a question of her own.

    “You just came in from checking a rig, so what business do you do?”

    “I am an oceanographer. I have a government contract to monitor the water quality around all the rigs in the Walton Basin. There is no conflict of interest as my allotment is in the Morant Basin. You can come with me next time I go out, the weather has been beautiful.”

Kuro got up, “Wahoo on my mind, let me go see what chef is thinking of.” He walked out of the reasoning room and within moments, Beverley also left, leaving Ravinia and Olivier to figure out how to socialise as the afternoon heat rose along with the wind that was now lifting westward facing breakers in Kingston Harbour and flapping the awning over their heads.

Ravinia thought that perhaps she would like to be in Olivier’s company a bit, but being in an open boat for hours would not be good for her hair or her complexion.

    “That sounds lovely, let’s see nuh,” she said.

He leaned forward and touched a lock of her hair, twirling it with his fingertips. “I have a boat with an enclosed cab if you are worrying about the spray.”

Although Ravinia could not feel his touch, he was so close that she became wrapped in his personal aroma of sweat mixed in with the minerals that had remained on his skin after the sea water had evaporated, it intoxicated her, and without thinking, she lifted her chin and flared her nostrils to take in as much of him as she could.

    “Where would we go?” she whispered.

    “I would take you…” this time his finger was lightly touching her forearm and tracing a line through to the nail tip of her longest finger. Ravinia felt her eyelashes flutter as goosebumps formed on her arm. “East along the coastline to Bowden. Then dock there and show you some of the calmest, bluest water in Jamaica where they grow oysters.”

Then she heard a slight shuffle and realised that he was looking in his backpack and he took out a shell as big as the palm of his hand, he held it out to Ravinia

    “One of the workers on the rig today gave this to me. He said that it came up in a vacuum.

Ravinia took it, unsure what to do.

    “He said that there is probably a pearl inside. What do you think?

Ravinia felt flustered at the steady gaze of his eyes. She gripped the oyster. “I don’t know, but to check for a pearl, you destroy the creature that is living in the shell.”

    “I agree, that is too sad. Shall I take it back?”

He playfully grabbed at it, but not too strong to wrest it out her hands.

She got up and towered over him, noticing his thick black hair that was cut in a low afro, then he leaned back and smiled up at her, seeming pleased to see her stand at her full height.

    “I have to go now. Thanks for the conch Olivier. I’ll let you know what I find. I will let you know soon.”

She stepped away into the sunshine, acutely aware that Olivier was observing her sway through the rockery until she gradually disappeared down the steps, but even in the privacy of her room, she still felt his magnetic presence, pressing like warm flesh on her mind.

Chapter 5: Inside an Oyster

Ravinia was just as he had imagined her to be, and now that they had met, Olivier could not get Ravinia out of his mind.

He had returned to Jamaica, as he had always intended, and against the best advice of his family and friends. After being migrated at age eleven and living thirteen years out of the country, returning only to conduct business or for a family funeral he would not be able to fit back in, they told him.

    “The red tape will kill you, things that take an hour will take a month,” he heard regularly

    “My cousin bought a house and when she got there the amount of work he had to do on it, he might as well have started from scratch,” was a lament.

    “My friends built a house and they robbed them, they paid twice to build it,” he was warned.

    “The place is moving backwards, now with the new rules about New Era citizens is a caste system built on a class system, it is a crazy society,” he had already felt that first hand.

Nevertheless, to Olivier, it felt like home, and living on an island meant that he would be always near to the sea, the ultimate home of every living creature on earth. He fell in love with the sea as a child in Port Royal where his elder cousin showed him how to line fish, how to swim, how to navigate a power boat. He listened to outlandish stories of the sea from Uncle Lando and the other fishermen.

“Me see him nose peep out from under the rock and me draw back me hand just in time before him flash out fi bite it,” was the encounter with an eel.

    “Is head me heading back to the surface with the yellowtail when I feel a bounce and is gone him gone with it,” described a shark making off with a diver’s catch.

The threat of the mermaid’s song was another one, “At night time, ‘im call you to come save ‘im and next thing is you boat that on the reef.”

“Certain time of the year, the people weh dead a sea wind come up from under the water fi dem vengeance and spin the wind into category hurricane,” explained tropical storms.

    “Every morning you get to see the sun, you know you can make it,” Uncle Lando used to say of the daybreak after a night out at sea, hoping for a catch. He took Olivier diving and showed him how to spear fish while keeping alert for barracuda and shark. He also showed him the beauty of the coral reefs and finding conch that was fit to eat. Olivier had seen a world of wonderful seas and oceans but like the homing instinct of migrating creatures, he had a compulsion to return to the coral shoals, islets and mangrove lagoon holes of his childhood, to feel the breeze always coming from the east unless the weather turned bad. 

But a woman would be there in Jamaica, he had also told himself, someone who he would love and take good care of and she would be his loving company. His gift of the oyster to Ravinia was not planned. Whether it had a pearl in it, or not, closed within its shells was his hope that what he felt when he met her would grow into a beautiful and lasting relationship.

Chapter 6: Company dM

The following morning, Wagstaffe drove Ravinia to the dM company office in Greater Liguanea, the last remaining high rise glass building in a network of municipal parks, wellness centres and nature reserves.

The seabed real estate sector had rapidly reverted the business hub of the city to the Kingston Harbour shoreline and around the Marcus Garvey Airport at Three Miles. The dM corporate campus had expanded over time to nearly 10 hectares, and the office was a five story concrete and glass building housing a computer datacentre and also archiving facilities for clients. Less than 20 people worked in the building at any point in time. To Ravinia, it was a cold, inhuman edifice, emptier than any skyscraper she experienced in Manhattan and it emitted a humming noise all day from the equipment perpetually working within it.

The business offices were on the ground floor, and when they walked into the boardroom, Kunta the accountant and Stanley the corporate secretary were already there standing by the break station, not seated. Ravinia had known them all her life. They were young men when they had been hand picked by her grandfather to join the firm and support Kuro when he joined as a director at age 18. All three had grown up together in dM.

Kuro opened the teleconference and Simmit joined them with his usual gently smiling demeanour and Ravinia felt emotional but it was she who had forced a separation between them. Kuro had visited her once, shortly after she went to work in New York. She had made the meetup deliberately short in a West Indian restaurant in Brooklyn, far from where she lived and worked in Manhattan. Online, their communication had gradually dwindled down to seasonal greetings and not personal updates or chat. Her brother was too close to what she tried to leave behind in Jamaica. He knew nearly nothing about her past two years and correspondingly, she knew nothing about his, which, up to yesterday, was fine by her.

Kuro said the opening words of prayers of gratitude and invited the Creator into their discussions so that they would end with a proper outcome. He shared a few light moments with Simmit about the UK weather, then started the business agenda.

    “This is a pre-meeting for two matters: succession planning for our firm is the first and preparation for the convocation of the brotherhood which is just under two months from now, is the second, and we know that right after that is Simmit will have the great fortune of entering into matrimony with Adina Klimmott. Let us deal with the second issue first as it has an impact on succession planning.”

    “I can announce that Simmit is now the legal heir to the Beninland peerage and this will substantially change his role in this organisation. We will have to resign as a member of the brotherhood as all members must not only have Jamaican citizenship only, but must reside within the glebe of the brotherhood. Simmit is a member of the investment committee and if a member from the de Martin-Pinto house is not accepted as a replacement, then another house will claim that seat on the committee. So that is why it is important for Ravinia to return so we can present her as the family replacement.”

Kuro had not shared his thoughts with his children or his advisors, so he knew that they were being taken by surprise, but he was strong in his conviction, having agreed with Beverley how the future should be shaped. This was not to be a discussion, but a handing down of a decision.

The brotherhood was an ancient society of seafarers and fisherfolk living along the southern coastline from Morant Bay to Old Harbour, set up to help fishermen and their families when (not if) tides of tragedy washed in, and for centuries it did, with no help from insurers or government administrations. The terms of reparations overlooked its existence and when they all qualified for seabed allotments, they used the society to operate as a legal cartel, seeing themselves as providing balanced oversight against government overreach. Up until that moment, Ravinia had not paid any attention to the brotherhood, and now she was being thrust into the middle of it as a pawn.

Kunta spoke, “Chairman, Family Ravinia should be offered membership in the brotherhood now that she is back, but remember that our Family Simmit was more than a member of the brotherhood, he also sat on the investment committee, that is a matter that should be carefully considered. Would you take up that role?”

“Ravinia will be put forward for that as well.” Kuro said, and there was silence from the others. “What special skills are needed to be a committee member, I don’t remember Simmit having any when he was elected?” her father asked.

Stanley added carefully, “When the intention is signalled to the brotherhood, we can expect that there will be competition for the seat. We will have to convince the brotherhood that our candidate is stronger than the others. We can say that the house of dePinto-Martin has the experience but they will want to see the experience of the candidate who will take independent decisions. That is a case we will have to make.”

Although she was, in size, bigger than Stanley or Kunta, Ravinia shrank within herself. It seemed that all her life nothing had been expected of her, and here were Stanley and Kunta confirming that. Simmit was enough of an achiever to cover for the both of them, and he had the gregarious personality to match. She existed as a deadweight balance, the other child, and this was now being extended to her place in the brotherhood.

Her brother came to her rescue, “Ravinia catches on quickly, and is loyal and the brotherhood knows that the house of deMartin-Pinto comes with their candidate.”

Kuro nodded, “Thank you Simmit so that it is the perfect lead in for me to announce that to support her candidacy, Ravinia will, as of today, hold a substantial role in this company as Lead Prospector.”

The meeting had already been conducted quietly, but the silence that followed revealed shock. Kuro took over as Lead Prospector the day after his father’s untimely death. It was not only the most important role in a company that specialised in seabed operations. The Lead Prospector at dM would be a leader in the industry because of the number of allotments it managed.

Stanley and Kunta had become experts in leaving family matters to family and this moment was one. They remained silent in verb and body while Ravinia leaned over, her breasts pressed on the table, as she faced father to really determine if he was serious.

    “Dadda, you never discussed this with me. Did he talk to you about this Simmit?”

    “No, this is the first that I am knowing our father’s mind,” Simmit said, sounding hesitant as if he was struggling to find a helpful reply.

Ravinia considered the enormity of what her father said. He was demonstrating his faith in her, for no reason other than he wanted to believe in her. She would not have given herself such a chance. She looked at Stanley and Kunta who had found empty spaces to fix their eyes on, and Simmit was not speaking. It was an ultimate gift but was this what she wanted though?

“So that is our plan,” said Kuro, and the meeting wrapped up shortly after.

Ravinia was assigned Simmit’s office beside Kuro’s and she went to see it, greeting the office administrator as she walked by, then her wrist phone vibrated; it was her brother.

She went into the office and closed the door before answering him.

    “My brother.”

    “My little sister,” he said and Ravinia cast his image on the screen in the office. During the meeting he had blurred the background, now she saw his environment. A room with books from floor to ceiling and what appeared to be an unlit fireplace. He was smiling at her.

    “Are you in a museum?” she asked and it made her happy to hear him laugh aloud.

    “Yes and no. This is going to be my new home and it is like living in a museum, maybe a bit like our home but with much older things.”

    “I did not get a chance to congratulate you on getting married to Adina, Simmit, she is a great person.”

    “Thank you. I think we will be alright. But this call is about you. I know that this was not your plan to come back home and work in the family business, but I want you to know that I support you and I hope you take it on.

       “I have never liked this corporate life, Simmit.”

    “But you like the nice benefits that it brings, don’t you? Sister, our father is giving you the opportunity to be in control of your world and not be a player in someone else’s.”

    “Why would I be controlled? You won’t be controlling Adina when you get married.”

     “She would not allow it, for sure. Ravinia, The brotherhood convocation will be in two months. Use that time to learn everything about its laws and bylaws. Meet all the important people socially. Get Stanley to put together reports for you on the company, ask Kunta to explain the money and the prospects, and of course, call me for anything. Be prepared is what I am asking you to do.” 

Ravinia got a small suspicion that he was asking her to do something that she would not normally have the presence of mind to do.

    “When do you get back Simmit?”

    “I will be home in time for the brotherhood convocation. Adina will be back next week. She is going to ask you to be a part of the wedding ceremony. I hope you say yes. OK sis. Jah love.”

Ravinia got up and walked around the office that was now hers, touching the furnishings and looking out of the window, but the only ideas that came to her was decorating the place in shades of pink.

The office sensor gave a slight beep to alert Ravinia that someone was about to walk through the office doorway. It was the administrator who came to assist Ravinia to activate her office profile and ai assistant.

Simmit’s office used to look out on to Old Hope Road but the windows were not usable for views, they were covered with decorative screens. One wall of the office displayed screens from any selection of security cameras that were around the building. Another wall had a screen for digital conferences or to playback videos. In the middle was a mahogany desk that had been converted into a computer with an electronic surface and a writing desk. Beyond that was a small sitting area and a cooler for food. Another space had a treadmill and a few weights. Attached to the office was a hygiene room for refreshing.

Still overwhelmed from all her changes, Ravinia was relieved to see that a communication was waiting for her and she opened the call after asking the manager to allow her some privacy. It was not a known contact, but anything was better than going through files.

    “Hello, this is Ravinia deMartin Pinto.”

    “Hello Ravinia…” The voice said her name and she felt a thrill, it was Olivier! “Hello Ravinia deMartin Pinto. Can you take a call right now, I know that you are at the office.”

    “Yes, who is this?” she said coyly, with a smile on her face that he could not see.

“Olivier Black, we met yesterday at your house.”

    “Oh yes, Olivier, hi! I can spare a moment. What’s happening?”

She stood up and paced the office in excitement.

    “I had invited you to visit an oyster bay, so was calling to see if we could firm-up a day.”

 “Oh, that would be lovely. Well, how about Saturday?”

    “Saturday….would not be convenient for me?”

Ravinia clenched her fists, she had been abroad for so long that she forgot that there were strict observances by many in her Jamaican group, including her parents, and obviously, also Olivier. She tried to breeze over the mistake.

    “What will the weather be like on Sunday?”

Olivier laughed, “I actually checked and it will be perfect. I can pick you up at 7AM.”

    “Did you mean seven in the morning?”

    “Yes, it will take us some time to get out there. I will have food on the boat, even coffee if you like.”

    “Will it be just the two of us?”

    “No, my boatman will be there also. Do you want to invite someone?”

    “No, I don’t have anyone in mind.”

    “Maybe your mother would like to come out. She has come out with me before.”

    “Mummy? OK, I’ll ask her.”

    “OK great, so we can talk and get to know each other then. Bye.”

As the call disconnected Ravinia felt it a bit strange that Olivier had very deliberately included her mother in the boat trip. She did not know what to make of it She wished that she had a friend to call and to go over all of the details, but when she left Jamaica to go to university, she had shrugged off all her childhood friends, like removing an old skin, and had not bonded with anyone overseas as closely. She surprised herself by thinking that she would like to talk to her mother about Olivier and spending the day with her. Feeling refreshed because she now had Sunday with Olivier to look forward to, Ravinia felt motivated to actually put in some work at the office. She got up to talk to the administrator about current business activities.

Chapter 7: The Sea is a Boundary as is the Land

Sunday morning, quarter to seven, Ravinia opened her sleeping pod despite being awakened an hour before by her watch, and also by her mother. She had rested well not just because the pod had kept her at the right temperature and circulated pure oxygen around her all night, but she had been happy looking forward to a day in Olivier’s company.

Stashed already in her tote was a beach towel and a knee length wetsuit that she had not worn in two years, just in case the sea water was too cold for her comfort.  Experience had also taught her that travelling in an open boat early in the morning would be cold, so she put on a pair of dark blue sweat pants and a white hoodie. Under the hoodie was a mid-riff white tank top and beneath everything was her pink floral bikini, the most revealing in her collection. The brassiere top had a crafted cup and shoulder straps that emphasized lift, but the bottom gave medium coverage and was held together with side strings. She decided to let her hair hang loose with a note that she would have to repair her tresses with a deep conditioner that same evening.

Her mother was simpler in a olive coloured mid shin cotton dress with sleeves and beneath that was a matching full piece, strap back suit with modest leg openings.  Her sun hat was in her bag and she had a spare one for Ravinia. They both wore water shoes.

Olivier arrived on time in his pickup, and gallantly came out and opened the passenger door and the cab saying that he had to be on double duty as he was carrying two queens. With laughter they drove off, Ravinia in the front and Beverley in the back. A slight fog was still floating over the glass-like water of the marina and parked vehicles showed that others had already gone out to sea.

Ravinia was happy that Olivier’s boat was a seven metre hard top cabin cruiser, so the helm and the cockpit were protected from weather. Its name printed in cursive lettering on the hull was Arise and Sing licensed for Port Royal. After putting on safety vests, Beverley sat beside her and Olivier took the helm and started the engine as the crewman untied the mooring and they slipped out of the berth. Outside of the harbour, with Gun Cay at port and Rackham Cay at starboard, the glare of the rising sun was in their faces. Ravinia and Beverley shifted to have the sunrise behind them and they watched the streaming white foam where the motors left a churning path. To their right now nearly half a mile in the distance were the dull brown sands of the coastline rising to small dunes, further in the background were the receding hills of Hellshire and beyond. The further they went the sun intensified the water into a deeper blue and lifted the wind, creating curls of small waves topped with foam.  After more than an hour, Olivier changed course for land and they eventually sailed into Bowden Bay. Ravinia admired the intense colours of nature. Sparkling, silky, dark blue water, green mangroves standing on high brown roots,  dense bushes and trees in the not too far distance, fallen leaves, not yet sunken, floating on the surface of the water, sublime and not competing with the brilliance of the life-giving scene. Bowden was deceptive, it seemed remote, but it was bordered by a main road and small communities were behind the mangroves and bushes and trees. The oyster farm was close to shore showing tops of wooden frames, barely higher than the water and on the narrow beach small canoes were pulled up. Their design had remained unchanged since the invention of the outboard motor. Anchored in the bay was a single mast sailboat with a flag of the Netherlands. They exchanged a wave with the couple on board and Ravinia prepared herself to really, relax.

Breakfast appeared: hot coffee, freshly baked rolls with shredded fish in an escoveitch sauce. After that enjoyment, Beverley walked around to the swim deck at the front of the boat, spread out a towel and paid attention to covering her skin with sunblock before lying down with a hat over her head. The crewman had left them to talk to the oyster farmers so Ravinia and Olivier were, for practical purposes, in private.

    “Some music?” he asked and she nodded, “Let’s see what you choose.” He smiled and in seconds instrumental classic reggae quietly surrounded them. Ravinia did not know the names of the artistes, Jimmy Cliff, Agustus Pablo, Don Drummond, Lee Scratch Perry, Harold Butler, but she knew the music.

    “So you work every day on the water and have fun on the water for your day off?”

Olivier grinned, “Guilty, I Love it. Which is why I get along so well with your mother, she is always ready to go out to sea.”

    “How did you meet my family?”

    “Your Dad is the top person to go to for managing allotments, and I also wanted to claim my membership in the brotherhood, so I was able to be introduced to him, and the rest is history. They really took me under their wings over the past two years. So I feel that I already know you because they are always talking about Ravinia.”

    “You said that you did not have family here so apart from working five days a week and hanging out with my mother on the seventh, what else do you do?”

Olivier nodded and looked at Ravinia straight in her eyes. “When I was in a relationship, I spent a lot of time with my girlfriend. She loved boating so, that is what I did.”

Ravinia turned the information about a girlfriend over in her mind.

    “Would it be too much to ask you what happened?”

    “That depends on your motive for asking. Are you generally curious or is it information that you need to have because you want to get to know me better?”

Ravinia stood up, she did not want to be cornered into a place that she was not ready to defend. Yes, she was finding Olivier interesting, but heck, could she not just ask a question without an interrogation?

    “Is the water cold?”

    “Let’s find out,” he said and peeled off his shirt showing her what she expected lay under the long sleeved shirt. Taut skin over smooth but defined muscles on his arms, back and chest. Muscles defined by watersports and boating, like rope, supple but strong. He placed a mask and snorkels on his face and smoothly went over the edge feet first. She did not see him for awhile and then he appeared and gave a thumbs up.

Ravinia shrugged out of her tank top and shorts, and jumped in and kicked to the surface squealing.

    “It is very cold!”

Olivier laughed, “You asked me and I gave the thumbs up, which means yes.”

She tried to splash him then decided to swim a bit to warm herself up. Olivier kept in stride beside her. Soon they were a few metres from the boat by themselves treading in the bay and Ravinia enjoyed the moment of beauty and peace. They had nothing to do or to discuss just to enjoy each other’s company, and she felt a sense of safety and comfort beside him.

In the days before Bowden, Ravinia had decided that getting serious about the family business was her best choice as well as her lot in life. Simmit had convinced her that she could grow into the role and do the job that her father had done so well for so long. Her parents were giving her the support and instructed the corporate staff that she was the decision maker. There were guardrails to protect the business, as well. She had to meet each morning for an hour with her father and go through the lines of business and agree on actions. Also, any major decisions had to go through him and her signature was not yet on the high value accounts - she was allowed baby steps.

    Did she like it though? Wagstaffe said that you can love anything if you give it time and focus.

And Olivier? They were in contact now daily. He made contact with her by text message on Monday to ask if she was ok after a long day out on the water.

   >Hi Ravinia, have you recovered from yesterday? I hope so.

She first typed, “Yes I have, but my hair hasn’t”. Then erased it as it felt too ungrateful, then tried again. “I am well, thank you for taking me out to somewhere new.” That was deleted as well as being too distant from how she really felt. She wondered how much energy he took to write his note. She read it again. He used her name, he enquired about her well-being, then he added his emotions to underscore that his ask was genuine. What were her emotions about a day spent with him? Was it simply a pleasant visit to somewhere new? Did she want to signal that she was interested enough to get to know him and for him to know her? She wanted to know his mind while shielding hers, she admitted to herself, and delayed a response until the evening when she could speak to Wagstaffe – which wasn’t fair, she knew – but she felt vulnerable.

She asked Wagstaffe if she knew Olivier’s ex-girlfriend and the response was, “He could ask the same question about you to me.”

    “And what would you say if he did?” Ravinia dug her fingernails in her palms waiting on that answer because Wagstaffe owed her no protection and saw honesty as a form of kindness.

    “I would send him away because my answer may make him hate me for taking you off a pedestal. You are restless and self-centred and not dependable and also immature but a part of that is not your fault, no one expected anything of you, until now that Simmit is not here.”

    “Even you?”

But Wagstaffe turned away and Ravinia did not press further. She finally sent her reply to Olivier.

  >Hi Olivier

  >I am well recovered. Thank you for taking us out yesterday and I am looking forward to another outing.

She left it there but in the morning sent him a follow-up.

  >I have never been to a rig. Can I join you one day?

He responded after a short while.

 >Yes, I will be going on Thursday morning, so can you meet me at my office?

They wrapped up the arrangements and she told her parents over dinner that evening.

Her father shrugged, “Good move Ravinia. Properly operating rigs are important to our business. Nobody better than Olivier to show you around.

    “Thursday did you say?” Beverley asked. Ravinia nodded and her mother said nothing more.

On Thursday, Wagstaffe picked up Ravinia from her office and dropped her off at Olivier’s office at the wharf downtown. For the occasion, Ravinia had tied back her hair and wore a lilac coloured lightweight sweatsuit. Olivier smiled broadly but did not reach out to kiss her cheek as he would have done to her mother. He instead offered her the Seal of Solomon finger position and she returned it, a formal and respectful greeting, appropriate for a business meeting. Feeling a bit disappointed, she boarded the boat with him and they set off to Port Esquivel.

The trip had several crew and Ravinia sat quietly throughout the hours long journey to the rig. She had seen photos before, and being beside a structure like a floating city was the opposite of the peace of Bowden. She stayed on board, while Olivier and the others climbed into a small crane that transported them ten stories up to the rig platform. The crewman for Olivier’s boat then powered a short distance away and kept the engine on low, keeping them from drifting.

So this is what it is all about, Ravinia thought. The wealth of her people was managing the use of the ocean bed and the resources that were extracted from the ocean bed. They were partners in the corporations that owned the rigs, had a stake in every ounce of mineral or gallon of oil that was extracted, then also created other businesses that created value from the extractions. Rigs were dotted along Jamaica’s southern waters and she had to quickly become an expert in the business but up to this time knew nothing but names of line items on files. The rig that was in front of her was a behemoth that consumed energy and other resources and demanded high-skilled workers to analyse ongoing streams of data and make decisions. Her job would be to ensure that the business kept going and stayed profitable.

The helmsman received a signal and he returned to the rig and the crane returned Olivier and the others to their boat. When they were safely inside, he took control of the helm and made the long journey back to Kingston docks. He hardly gave her a glance the whole time. Once they had returned he said, “Let’s get something to eat.” and she nodded.

Ravinia sent a note to Wagstaffe that she would not be needing a ride home and climbed once again into Olivier’s car. The Luxor Beach Club at Gunboat Beach was where she thought that he was taking her, but when they drove past the entrance, she made a light joke.

    “There is somewhere better than the Luxor?”

    “I thought that we could go to Port Royal. You are soon to become a member of the brotherhood, so it is a good opportunity to show interest in the community.”

    “Ok, I understand,” Ravinia said. She had not been to Port Royal for many years but knew the connection with her family and could see it from their house in East Kingston.  

Port Royal and the Palisadoes had defied the predictions made by Climate Change scientists. They were correct about parts of Portmore and downtown being permanently covered by water. The journey was, as it had always been, on a lonely road fringed with dunes and mangroves. They passed the perimeter of the former Norman Manley International Airport which was itself mostly flooded and covered with mangroves. At Port Royal, they parked in the main square and Olivier led her to an eatery on the bay. It was not fashionable, the clients seemed to be rig workers on shore break. Weathered and sunburned faces, rough clothes.They got a table overlooking Kingston Harbour. Ravinia sat with her back to the sunset as its glare was too much for her eyes.

    “I hope you got to see everything that you were interested in,” Olivier offered after they ordered their food.

    “Yes, seeing a rig up close was impressive, I have a new appreciation for the scale of the work and the lifestyle. I think. A little, not much, but I need to learn these assets. Thank you Olivier.”

He nodded and she somehow wondered if he appeared nervous. Then she made a decision. Whatever the reason why he no longer had a girlfriend did not matter as much as finding out about him as a person and making him want to be in her company. All else, she was sure, would be revealed. Plus, she told herself, her mother and Wagstaffe would not be encouraging the friendship if there was something to hurt her. When he looked her way again, she looked directly at him and smiled softly, showing that she was prepared to enjoy the evening thoroughly.

When Olivier finally drove into Above Rocks, they had talked about the business of managing allotments and the pitfalls to avoid and good people around them. He spoke about his studies overseas and what he learned from his travels. She knew now that he had a mother in Long Island, long separated from his father, and his father lived in Miami with his second family. He had a stepbrother and stepsister. He seemed close to all of them in different ways, they considered his home, their home in Jamaica.

He walked her to the foyer and they sat closely on the carved wooden bench that was once the trunk of a Lignum Vitae tree with the images of HIM and Empress Menen looking down benevolently at them. The bench used to be in the backyard of another family property and brought there. The conversation continued about the friends he made in college and who now lived in different parts of the world. He had already attended two or three of their weddings. He was a man with a community, so when he said, “I nearly got married earlier this year,” Ravinia was not shocked. Of course he would want to be partnered.

   “Yes, it was all but decided but, life is funny like that,” he said.

    “I am so sorry,” Ravinia said and touched his hand, inviting him to turn the palm upward to grasp hers. It stayed down, holding his knee.

Olivier looked sheepish, “It was probably for the best and there are no hard feelings about it. She saw somebody she liked better.”

    “Anyone I know?’ Ravinia asked quietly.

    “I would say yes, Adina Klimmot, your brother is marrying her next month.”

Like a rogue wave that leapt upward because of a hidden rock, just below the surface, Ravinia was hit by an emotional force. The introduction of Adina Klimmot into what had been feeling like a safe and sacred moment had pitched Ravinia from solid self-assuredness, into a current of distressingly familiar waves of powerlessness as an inconsequential member of the family. Without the talent, intelligence or beauty of her parents, brother, and ancestors, she was no facsimile, but a fraud existing within their privileged context. This was why she left Jamaica to establish a life that was independent of them.

Olivier was who Adina had discarded. Women like Adina had cultured winning instincts from the time that they were young girls, they made wise decisions. Ravinia’s hands grew sweaty and she pulled them close to her and clasped them.

Olivier had stopped speaking. The next move was completely hers and here her broughtupsy kicked in, allowing her to remain dignified on the surface while her brain was on overdrive.

    “I never expected that,” she said quietly, “This is information that everyone had except me. How is it possible that you are not in love with the person who a few months ago you were eager to marry.”

“Adina and I,” Olivier started to say and Ravinia stood up and said sharply, “Adina and I? Where is my brother’s dignity?” Then her tone changed from outrage to puzzlement, “What makes Adina so powerful, so captivating?”

She felt her righteous energy make way for melancholy. Tomorrow was Friday, Adina would be back in Jamaica and would call and ask her to be a part of her wedding. Aside from the whole thing being embarrassing, Ravinia also now needed to put her feelings for Olivier in a safe perspective.

She looked at him. “Let’s say goodnight. Thank you for the trip, for the lovely evening.” Then before turning away, she realised that she did not want to drive Olivier away, she had to be sensible and careful. She touched his arm and he grasped her still sweaty, cold hands and put them to his lips.

    “Good night Ravinia. There is no one else, no one. I want to see you again. Let’s spend Sabbath together.”

She allowed her hands to remain in his but said, “We will talk tomorrow.” Then she waited until he allowed her hands and her presence to slip away.

On her walk along the path to her room realised that Wagstaffe was waiting beside one of the nightlights to hug her shoulders and accompany her the rest of the way.

 Chapter 8: Personal Timeout

Following a near sleepless night bothered by uncomfortable emotions, Ravinia got out of bed before six and tried to focus on preparing for day five at the office. It had become increasingly difficult for her to put a look together for her father’s conservative, but relaxed, office culture as her wardrobe that had been curated for living and working in the experimental and progressive Manhattan fashion scene, but she tried. Today’s selection was a soft pink, long sleeved cardigan with cream crocheted edging, and she paired this with dubonnet coloured jumpsuit with stirrup pants that had got too tight; it fit her again now.

    At the breakfast bar, Beverley said, “Good morning Ravinia, Adina’s flight comes in at 3, so you will come home with your father.” 

Her mother had merely made appropriate airport pickup arrangements; assigning Wagstaffe was not out of the norm. Ravinia knew this, but her high sensitivities where Adina was concerned overrode sensibility. She unnecessarily used her knife to cut her omelette as a way to control her rising anger.

    “The answer is no.” The words tumbled out as if they had been savagely chopped piece by piece from a sentence.

     “No to what Ravinia? Beverley was genuinely puzzled.

    “Wagstaffe is not available to pick up Adina from the airport today. That is my answer to the question that was asked.”

Beverley tilted her head to gaze carefully as a way to try and understand the response. She wondered if this was Ravinia returning to disruptive behaviour, which unfortunately, for years, her parents had responded to by being dismissive or at times even jocularly, hoping to tone her down. It was after she had pushed away from them that they worked out it was a response to an emotional insecurity. But this side of Ravinia was in control of whatever emotions she was experiencing. Kuro had also been observant.

“Beverley, you and I will pick up Adina and drive her over to her family,” he said, as a way to smooth things along.

After a few moments he carefully asked what he hoped would be a calming question that turned the discussion to work.

    “I hope that the trip to the rig yesterday went fine. How was the trip?

Ravinia was glad for the question as it was also an easy opportunity to clear the air about Olivier and her voice was nearly shrill when she answered.

    “The trip was very eye opening. I really now have some idea of the scale of what a rig can do and the kinds of investment that need to be behind it. I intend to learn the marine extraction business.”

Then she added the kicker.

“Olivier also told me about his connection with Adina. They were to be married earlier this year but she broke it off and got engaged to Simmit.” She pointed her finger at her father and then her mother. “This family seems very comfortable with the union, so I guess it is all for the best. My question now is why did Adina break if off with Olivier? Was there a problem?”

Her parents did not even exchange a glance between them, but together, they noted the signs of high tension in Ravinia: the intensity of her voice, way she was stabbing and chopping her soft breakfast, the taught muscles in her face.

“Adina is the only one who can answer that question”, her father said, “Olivier bought his cruiser Arise and Sing from her family, that is how they met. While they were getting to know each other, he brought Adina here and she reminded us that the both of you were in secondary school together.

Like the team that they were, Beverley took over where her husband Kuro paused.

   “She fell in love with Simmit,” said Beverley. “She liked Olivier well enough to get married to him, because all of the right reasons were in place, and then real love intervened.”

    “And what about Simmit?” Ravinia asked. “Is he in love with her?”

“Adina is a force of nature. Once she set her eyes on him, she made him see her, and in a short time he too was in love. I don’t know how the breakup with Olivier went, but it was done as tidily as was possible, under the circumstances,” her mother smiled steadily in her daughter’s eyes.

    “How do we know that Simmit is not marrying Adina because of the convenient right reasons?”

    “We raised you both to be independent thinking people, under God, and we continually offer prayers for God’s mercy and protection over you.” With this, Beverley changed the topic.

    “So will Wagstaffe will take you to work today, or are you going with your father? ”

         Ravinia received communication in the late afternoon that showed that Adina was trying to get in touch with her. She responded by answering the call. They both expressed joy at talking to each other. Ravinia offered her congratulations and Adina accepted, and asked if Ravinia would honour them by performing the sand ceremony at the wedding. Ravinia immediately accepted, relieved that she would not be a bridesmaid as she would physically stand out from the petite Adina. The wedding would be in Port Royal.

It was a short call and Ravinia felt as if she had been a box, ticked off by Adina as “done”. Ravinia felt relieved that the contact had been made and had ended without friction and a drain of emotional energy.

Her mind then went to Olivier. He had asked if they could spend Sabbath together. What did that mean though? she wondered. Her parents, being strictly religious, accepted guests before sunset and the following 24 hours were spent at home preparing and eating food, reading scriptures, praying and generally refreshing the soul for deeper family life and friendships. If they were not at home, they were doing the same spiritual cleansing at the home of a member of their faith. That was her parents, but should the Sabbath be the same for her? She realised that she should have a clear idea about that before making contact with Olivier, but called him anyway. When he answered, Ravinia nearly started the conversation with, “I spoke with Adina, she came in today,” but fortunately he spoke first.

    “Hi Ravinia, listen can I see you on Sunday?”

    “I was calling to follow up on your offer of spending Sabbath together.”

    “That was my wish, but it cannot happen again for this weekend, unfortunately. Sunday ok to come see you?

    “Yes, it is ok. Have a blessed Sabbath.”

    “You as well Ravinia. Peace and Love.”

Then another communication came to her from her mother. Her parents would be spending the Sabbath with the Klimmot’s, Adina’s family, would she come? It was polite of them to ask, but under the circumstances, she had to.

By sunset Friday, the deMartin-Pinto family had arrived at the Klimmot compound across town from them in Billy Dunn, and laid out in an orange grove and cocoa walk, which paid homage to their ancestry in rural Clarendon. The Klimmott’s were not of the same faith, but being in fellowship with family was not in conflict with the Sabbath, so Kuro and Beverley readily accepted and appreciated the bonding offer of their soon-to-be in-laws. They were given a well-stocked cottage for themselves and were expected to come up to the main house the following day for lunch.

On Sabbath morning, while Ravinia and her parents engaged in their devotions, the laughter and bright chatter floated to them from another side of the property. Klimmott family and friends seemed to be gathering. At the agreed lunch time, dressed in robes with their hair covered, Kuro, Beverley and Ravinia walked the short distance to the main house which was a traditional two-story Caribbean mini mansion. Adina was there to meet them in white capri pants and a light cotton halter top blouse that skimmed her hips. Although shorter than them, she easily elevated herself on the balls of her feet to hug each of them in turn, displaying her physicality from years of dancing and sports.

Three branches of Adina’s father’s family were there: Klimmot, Lawlal and Weekes and on her mother’s side the Durrants, Ravinia counted about 20 individuals. Lunch was in a pavilion set in a citrus grove that was a short walk from the house. Solar electric cooling fans made it comfortable. The smaller children played games with each other in-between the trees or were being cajoled to come out of the patio jet tub. A mix of other family members were already gathered and were making jokes and catching up. Adina’s parents Dino and Allegra escorted Ravinia and her parents to the gazebo and then called everyone’s attention to order briefly, and introduced Kuro deMartin Pinto, his wife and daughter and invited them to welcome them into the extended family as Adina would be marrying Simmit in another two months. There was a mix of quiet and enthusiastic cheers and then Ravinia was soon surrounded by family members introducing themselves to her.

Although no one spoke directly of business there were many social cues so Ravinia quickly picked up that none of Adina’s family were members of the brotherhood and only the Klimmots were New Era citizens.

When Ravinia happened to be sitting by herself, Adina came over and sat beside her.

    “We really have not seen each other since high school, but Simmit brought me up to date. He is proud that you are now a director in your dM.”

    “Thank you Adina, I know that you both will be good for each other. I believe that you will miss Jamaica though.”

    “Of course we will, but we will make sure that our children will get to know and love Jamaica like we do.”

Adina’s hand lightly rested on Ravinia’s arm and the sparkle on her engagement ring danced in the spot of sunlight that caught it at that moment. Ravinia wondered what her previous engagement ring looked like and where it was. Adina then surprised her with her frankness.

      “You are becoming friends with my former fiancée, Olivier, your mother told me.”

Ravinia’s heart almost stopped, but Adina quite smoothly and easily allowed her thoughts to flow as if this could not possibly be an awkward conversation, but Adina’s self confidence and courage was in-built and a part of her success.

    “When I met your brother, I quickly realised that I did not want to live without him, so Olivier and I went through a little rough patch, but he made it clear that he was not going to pursue me, so that era is now well and completely closed.”

She pressed her palms together to emphasize her words.

Going forward, I hope that Simmit, Olivier and I will be friends, even if we will not be on the same page with important matters.

    “Important like what?” Ravinia tried to keep her facial expression neutral and realised that she had failed. The conversation was revealing many things that were important.

    “Isolationism,” Adina said. “Olivier is of the view of Jamaica for the Jamaicans while Simmit and I have a humanist, global outlook,” She reached out again but only touched the arm of Ravinia’s chair, not her arm. “Let me stop before I break our agreement that there will be no business discussion today.”

Adina’s cousins strolled by and invited them both to walk through the grove to the koi pond. Before Ravinia could react, Adina had agreed for them both and Ravinia was swept away with the happy group.

In the evening, the deMartin-Pintos said their goodbyes. It had been a refreshing day and a solid step towards good family relations.  On the drive back home her parents spoke of the family members who they met and how lovely the children were and how their dedication to Adina had helped to make her such an exemplary young lady. Ravinia did not need, again, to be hearing about how wonderful Adina was and she was happy to see that a communication had been sent to her from Olivier.

    >How about taking the wave runners out tomorrow?

She smiled to herself and replied, >Lol. I hope I remember how. Sure.

    >OK, see you at nine.

She sent a thumbs up with a smiley face, and the smile remained on her face for the rest of the ride and until she fell asleep.

A jet ski outing was much more strenuous than sitting in a cruiser, so Ravinia wore her wetsuit over a one-piece swimsuit and securely tied back her hair and tucked in the ends. With the frequent sea and sun exposure that her locs were enduring, there was going to be a high risk of damage, but her time with Olivier made frizzy hair and split ends seem inconsequential.

Although a drive out with Olivier was now familiar, Ravinia’s skin prickled with excitement as his pickup rolled into the driveway. He drove around to the sports garage and the two wave runners were loaded into the bed and secured. As they drove out, he invited her to select music for their ride and she hesitated. For her entire time living in the United States of America, she had been listening to whatever the city’s urban contemporary radio stations offered. She did not follow an artiste and she did not, as he clearly did, listen to Jamaican music. What with Adina’s insight that he was a nationalist, it almost felt like an interview question. She wondered what Adina had chosen on their rides together, whatever it was, she was sure to have done it with confidence, not feeling any pressure to defend any choice that she made, only to share why her selection was wonderful.

Ravinia felt a teeny bit anxious. Aside from makeup and clothing trends, she was not articulate or even interested in music or art. Concerts were a way to socialise, not to get too deep into musical genres. She was about to say that he should choose what she should listen to, but that response sounded as if she did not have an opinion, which was worse than anything she could possibly select.

   “Well…..I listen to whatever is on the urban channels really. I use music as background sound to keep me company.”

    “Well let us both discover something new then,” he said, and she smiled at his kindness, “Let’s choose contemporary jazz.” He made the selection and bright music with horns and bass vibe filled the cab and the vocalist was rapping. For sure, Ravinia found it interesting, and they listened in silence for most of the journey.

At the marina, the waver runners were lowered in the water and Olivier and his crew tested them and they did a few circles, moving silently across the water and declared that the  electric mechanisms worked perfectly. Olivier activated the sound effect, as it was safer when other watercraft could hear vessels that were around them. Ravinia put on her wind face mask, strapped on the life vest and straddled the seat. The wave runner was easy to operate and the water was calm. They were both ready.

    “How far are we going?” she asked.

    “Lime Cay,” he grinned when he saw her shocked face. “Thirty minutes and we will be there.”

 With Olivier gently corralling her to move ahead, Ravinia at first slowly, and then gradually, got up her speed and he then came alongside her. Once they passed the outer harbour into the Caribbean Sea, they powered east, moving against the current, Olivier in the lead, staying close to shore out of the shipping lanes. A container ship was passing by them heading to harbour and the swells created by its wake caused Ravinia to sit low in her seat and concentrate on balance, but Olivier did not stop, so with her heart going faster, she had to keep up with him. Unlike when they were on the cruise and she could skylark, she was focused on staying in her seat and keeping up with Olivier. After what seemed to be a long time, she noticed that he had stopped and was looking back at her smiling, but she was churning ahead. Olivier flagged her down.

   “Stop, stop, stop. Where are you going?”

Ravinia stopped accelerating and looked at him.

    “We are here. Lime Cay,” he said.

She giggled, they were just a few metres from the offshore island where a few boats were docked and a canoe from Port Royal had let off passengers and was departing. Olivier guided her to gently beach the wave rider and then he pulled the two vessels high up on the soft, white sand. The sunshine was not beaming with more warmth than Ravinia’s smile. would not have believed that she could have driven across open water, to Lime Cay, but thanks to Olivier, she had done the unthinkable. Still in her moment of elation, she instinctively gave him a hug, intending it to be quick, but his arms drew her into his chest and held her, and she relaxed and stayed.

 Chapter 9: Olivier’s Revelation

The dM administrator was having a hard time scheduling Ravinia’s calendar more so because of the need to quickly reschedule. Members of the brotherhood approached as old friends to want to meet-up with Kuro in a casual way, but he understood that was because the power balance in the brotherhood could be shifted with Simmit out and Ravinia in.

Government and business partners made different overtures to have fresh meetings and discussions as a ploy to also meet Ravinia. Kuro treated each occasion seriously and Ravinia was properly introduced as his successor. Overseas partners found a reason to travel to Jamaica and they had done their research as they brought gifts for Ravinia, mostly fashion accessories such as exclusive bags, scarves, bracelets, eyeglasses, all in the shades that she loved, Rose Madder, Fuchsia, Bubblegum,  Cotton Candy, Baby Pink. She laughed at the watersports gifts, someone let the word out after seeing her on the sea with Olivier. It was exhilarating to be celebrated, listened to and to be able to do things that caused planes to take off and drills to be positioned and dig. Her assent moved money across nations and she saw how it had impact in markets. Her father and brother were at her side as supporters, protectors and guides but giving her wind to fly.

There were three hard dates in her official calendar: Simmit’s return on March 10; the brotherhood convocation on March 15; and the wedding on March 16.

Her personal calendar, therefore had to be spontaneous so that she and Olivier could see each other—and that could happen morning, evening or night, except from Friday evening to Saturday evening, the Sabbath. She really did not know what he did in those twenty-four hours.

“Do you do something special?” she finally asked one Friday as they sat in the reasoning watching the sunset. A fresh sea breeze rose steadily up the ridge to Above Rocks. Empty bowls of ital stew lay on the low table, and they were comfortably seated on a built-in couch, Ravinia leaning against Olivier’s arm, her head resting on his shoulder. His arms were folded in his lap.

“I go to church”

“Every Sabbath? That’s a commitment.”

With that, Ravinia unwittingly pressed a button that opened a gate that together they had passed many times, and pretended did not exist. She could not see beyond it, but she sensed that on the other side lay a country she was unsure if she wanted to enter but, although he was anxious, Olivier was calling her further. He had avoided this conversation, fearing he might be forced into an irreversible choice—losing her, or weakening his resolve and risking his integrity.

“How do you feel about that?” He asked.

Ravinia did not know. She preferred to live without hard limits on how she engaged with the world, and so she avoided discussions of spirituality. Not that it was foreign to her; she had been raised in it. But money and business was more solid. Things she could feel and eat and wear. And nature, the wealth created by the seabed and what lay beneath, and the sea that needed to be kept clean and the sun that powered their lives and the wind that at the moment was strong enough to wave the shorter hairs around her face. She turned the question back to him.

“Why do you go to church, Olivier? The Sabbath that I observe is spent here with my family or visiting brethren.”

“To worship God in a community of believers.”

“Do you worship God differently from us?”

“I do.”

Disturbed, Ravinia realised that this was a distinction that was important to him. Ravinia was used to accepting diversity in worship, it was common in Jamaica as there were hundreds of forms of religious observances, and no one in her immediate social circle treated it as a social barrier. Yet she sensed that Olivier was telling her something that was core to who he was.

“I think maybe you are going to find a wife in your church then, right?”

“That would be best and safest. But…here you are and here I am.”

“Explain Adina to me. You were going to marry her.”

“Losing my relationship with Adina opened another door for me. I felt I had lost my future and prayer got me through and that experience deepened my relationship with God and my saviour, Jesus Christ, it helped to clarify how I should live my life.”

“I am a Rasta, Olivier. Christ is not central to my faith,” Ravinia blurted it out more as a declaration of personal independence than a spiritual confession.

The sun had set, and the seascape was black save for the lights of ships in the harbour. Olivier bowed his head and despite being so close that she was touching him, Ravinia felt that he was not with her. She eased away from him, giving them both some space. Then Olivier looked up and leaned over to kiss her cheek, his lips touched as gently as a passing warm wind.

    “Happy Sabbath Ravinia,” he said quietly, and walked away, leaving Ravinia to question her priorities. As she watched his pickup drive down the driveway she sorted her thoughts.

Yes, she enjoyed him as more than a good companion.

No, she did not want to be with him if it meant not being at the centre with what was important in his life.

Yes, she had her own faith and was comfortable in it.

Yes, he could be someone she might marry—eventually.

Yes, right now she wanted to be a business leader, and that would get all of her effort.

With her thoughts set out as an accounts ledger, Ravinia was satisfied that she was happy with herself and her life trajectory, but her heart, which did not understand ledgers, knew that she would be fighting to keep Olivier in her life.

Chapter 10 Le Mer

Simmit’s homecoming was welcomed by his family when Adina arrived with him from the airport. Immediately, they moved into high preparations for the convocation and the wedding preparations. Adina had been taking care of the arrangements, but there was one thing that only Simmit and his sister could do, which was to take Le Mer from the safety deposit box.

Kuro and Beverley had made exhaustive preparations with lawyers to ensure that the suite could be legally used at the wedding and be held by them afterwards in a safety deposit box. A special license had been issued by the environment protection agency and their agent would be at the wedding to ensure that it returned to the safekeeping afterwards. The one thing that the family could not get around was that going forward, a member of the environment protection agency had to be a signatory to the box, so a new box would be opened just for the Le Mer suite.

When the carved box was opened and Le Mer appeared in the harsh vault lighting, Ravinia felt a rush of emotions on seeing its beauty and tearfully wondered, with a pang of jealousy, if she would ever wear it for her happy wedding. In the room with them was an expert jeweller from India who would be refurbishing and cleaning the piece. He was already mesmerised and his fingers touched each other in a steeple in appreciation for the unknown craftsman from Port Royal who created it. Then he quietly asked permission to hold it and examine it.

Adina was clasping Simmit’s hands on the tabletop as she sat still to allow the jeweller to place it on her head and do his evaluations. He then took photos with her phone so that she could work with her stylist to create the look.

Ravinia watched her brother and Adina, they seemed so much in touch with each other, she hoped that they were. The idea of moving across the Atlantic away from Jamaica now reentered her mind and it felt like freedom. Yes, she was growing into her new role, gaining respect, but that came with being settled and heavy like the rocks in the hillside below Rockfort.

With the tiara still on her head, and eyes glittering with excitement, Adina turned to Ravinia.

    “You must wear jewels from this collection, Ravinia. The jeweller can create a new piece for you.”

The representative from the environmental agency cleared his throat.

    “The license is for the Le Mer suite only which is the tiara, the neckpiece and a pin.”

    “Well Ravinia can have the neckpiece,” said Adina, very invested in making Ravinia feel included.

    “Please wear all of them together” Ravinia said, embarrassed that she had not been wholly happy for Adina and a bit overwhelmed by her generosity. “Jamaica is waiting on this historic moment to see this work as it was made to be worn.”

The suite was logged out and secured in a suitcase padlocked to the arm of the environmental officer who would be living at Above Rocks until Le Mer was returned to the vault.

    In her room, Ravinia opened a drawer where she kept a few papers, and took out the oyster that Olivier had given to her and invited her to open it. How long ago that seemed yet it had been only two months. It had completely dried out and was still closed.

The jeweller was staying at Above Rocks and a section of the sports garage had been cleared for his use. He was there creating the workspace as he wanted it. The environmental protection officer was also staying at Above Rocks and was there with the box chained to his wrist.

Ravinia went to the jeweller and placed the oyster on the table.

    “I want to use this oyster as my neckpiece, would you be able to create something with it?

The jeweller looked at Ravinia carefully. He seemed to examine every strand of hair, her skin, her eyes and weighed her stature and murmured to himself.

    “A restless woman but moving with intent. Her movements are graceful but filled with longing.” 

He opened his box. “Silk cords knotted to the mother of pearl.” Then he paused. “Was this oyster a gift from a man to you?”

    “Yes,” Ravinia whispered. “A good man.”

    “Then the final knot around your neck must be made by him. I can do everything else. I will blend the silk in the colours of your aura, white, pink and coral. I will add graduated conch chips around the central piece to encourage the generations that will come from you.

Overcome, Ravinia nodded. “That sounds lovely, thank you”.

Chapter 11: The Convocation

The ancient brotherhood’s meeting that year was to be in Old Harbour Bay and members, young and old, tried to follow the old ways because this is how they showed that they were different from others in the society. They travelled to the meeting point in boats which transformed the regular bay into a flotilla of every kind of sailing craft. Some were deliberate in arriving in sailboats and canoes from a byegone era, which added to the spectacle.

Against his wife’s and daughter’s decision, Kuro said that this year they should arrive in Raise a Pay. He had got it certified seaworthy and, after confirming that the weather would be sunny all day, with Wagstaffe at the helm, they made the uncomfortable journey across the south coast to the meeting, arriving wet with spray, but hailed and cheered when they docked beside larger, modern craft. Beverley and Ravinia went immediately to a local house where Wagstaffe had made arrangements for them to shower and preen before appearing at the meeting. They appeared in tailored jeans suits and Kuro was happy with his contemporaries in cargo pants, mesh merino and colourful tam.

In the meeting room used to be the old fish market, long refurbished to be a business centre. In the grounds were booths and games so families could have fun as the members held the meetings and sub meetings which included ceremonies that included readings, chants, inductions and memorials for those who died between meetings. Maybe there were two hundred people present and scores of others online. The application for new members was accepted and Ravinia and others were inducted.

Ravinia glimpsed Olivier during the proceedings. She had seen his boat secured to the jetty when they arrived. Since that night, they had lunch twice, he had not been back to the house and their digital communication had dwindled down to infrequent check-ins.

The nomination of officers began and it was a noisy affair, harking back to when the roles were filled by the victors of physical fights, but in modern times, most matters were discussed, debated and decided before the meeting. When the agenda rolled around to the investment committee and the nominations were open, the decision was made to have an open vote. The names along with Ravinia were individuals who were known to the group and had served in other committees before. The discussions were harsh and rowdy with Kuro shouting hard for her but eventually the delegates wanted to hear from Ravinia herself. As soon as Ravinia was old enough for her parents to accept that she did not want to attend the brotherhood meetings, she stopped, so she, unlike Simmit, was not known.

Stanley and Kunta had prepared her to make the presentation, and she delivered it well, but it fell flat. The group sensed her lack of real connection with them and after listening quietly, did not vote her for the committee so she would not even be its chair.

Ravinia sat in the meeting politely applauding the new members but feeling deflated. In this group, her value as a business leader meant less than being a leader who they wanted to support. This was supposed to be her grassroots community, people who helped to build the society by the sweat of their brow and the lives that were lost at sea but they were never dependent, independently resilient and by the stroke of a pen in the United Nations, wealthy.

Chapter 12: Family Joining

Above Rocks was operating beyond what it could reasonably deliver, but no one was complaining. The wedding was a gathering of the family, and every room was filled with fambily, which included cousins from afar who visited for special occasions, childhood friends, neighbours from childhood, former staff members, the extended DeMartin-Pintos were all there, even if they lived on the other side of the island and not abroad. Everyone pitched in with cooking and looking out for younger members of the family. The last gathering of this kind was a family funeral for an elderly relative and the jubilation then was no less than what was happening on the morning of Simmit and Adina’s wedding.

Ravinia was not enthusiastic about sharing her suite bedroom with her mother’s sister, Aunt Krithy and her daughter Krithalee but fell in with the mood and eventually used her parent’s room to get dressed. The bride and the groom were wearing pure white, the bridal party were in sky blue and white. The bride’s mother revealed that she would be in emerald and Beverley and Kuro had matching outfits of sea foam with sleeveless cloaks in a pattern of red, gold and green. That left the space clear for Ravinia to wear her favourite range of pink.

The entire two families had gathered at Above Rocks the evening before for dinner, including Simmit’s benefactors and family who he had only recently met in the UK. Ravinia received a good share of flattery and invitations to stay connected. Through it all though, her mind was on Olivier. He had not come to any of the events, she did not know if he was invited to the wedding and if he was, if he had accepted and would attend.

Wagstaffe had styled her hair in an exquisite arrangement and accented it with pearl hairpins. Her dress was a rose pink satin wrap dress with long bell sleeves in a sheer material. It covered her decolletage and skimmed her knees and gold gladiator sandals finished the look through to deep red polished toes. While she waited on the makeup artist, Ravinia opened the box with her finished neckpiece. It was subtly architectural and at its base, sitting in a silver cross-of-hearts cage was the pearl that was discovered upon shucking the oyster open.

    “Wagstaffe was behind her, and reached forward to take the neckpiece from its case. Ravinia waved.

    “No, I am not ready as yet,” and closed it.

Kuro was managing the waves of relations to get into vehicles and leave the house. Ravinia found herself beside one of the groomsmen who was the corporate secretary Stanley’s nephew and a good friend of Simmit. He gallantly attended to her and she noted his cologne was really nice but not captivating her. She hoped that one of the many young women would take him on and relieve her of the attention.

The wedding was happy and serene, everyone performed their roles with perfection.

Adina did not wear a veil, so the Le Mer suite was on full display as she alighted from the vehicle. She had styled her hair in an updo which created a backdrop for the gold and pearls and translucent amber in the turtleshell tiara. Her wedding dress had a smooth neckline which also allowed the neckpiece to be displayed fully, and Simmit wore the pin where a boutonniere would have been. She gave the pre arranged poses as she emerged to the documentalist and other photographers before taking her father’s arm and moving to her wedding.

Beverley and Kuro both cried during the sand ceremony, and then cheered up for the group photos. Then there was the melee to get everyone to the hotel for the reception and toasting and loud merrymaking to dance music led by a wedding singer.

Simmit and Adina moved around their guests, found her and hugged her together.

    “Thanks sis, you did great today. Best sand ceremony ever,” Simmit said.

She kissed him. “I’ll come and visit you soon. You have found a good thing in Adina, but you know that, I just want you to know that I will love her too.”

As they moved away, Ravinia squeezed her fabric drawstring bag that matched her dress. She felt the outline of the case that still held the neckpiece, unworn, and that is how it was when she finally got back home and put it on a shelf in her closet.

Chapter 13: Intertwined

It took another two weeks for life to get back to normal at Above Rocks. After the hectic pace around the wedding itself, family members visiting from abroad now moved at a more leisurely pace to be nostalgic, to include visits to nature spots and symbolic places around the country. Simmit and Adina moved into Above Rocks as did his benefactor the Earl of Beninland and the Countess, Princess Joy of Agadagba.

Ravinia was central to discussions about how dM would have a mutual joining with the businesses of the earl. They were interested in prospecting but so far a link could not be found to link rural British farmland to seabed realty, but arrangements were made for them to visit a rig, and that is how Olivier entered the conversation, suggested by Ravinia.

She confidently called him and he picked up and sounded cautiously happy to hear from her. Ravinia explained the mission and he immediately accepted the request and they made arrangements for two days to allow some bad weather to pass.

    “But I can still come by and look for you Ravinia, right?” He asked.

    “I would love if you could, Olivier. I will be home this evening. We can continue our talk, ok?”

When she rang off, Ravinia knew that the sabbath question had not been resolved in her mind, but she was confident that they could work it through.

         She saw when his pickup drove in through the gate. She was in the reasoning room with a gathering of family members and immediately checked that her crossbody bag was slung around her and she trotted along the paths to arrive at the foyer just when he was parked. She strode out to meet him by his pickup and held him in her gaze as she held his wrist and felt his arm circle her waist and draw her close to him. She revelled in the electric energy that flickered within her and felt that it must be the same for him.

    “Let’s talk a bit first here before going in,” she said, and he assented by releasing her to open the tailgate and they shared the seat. From that location, they could only see the garden sloping down to the gate with Raise a Pay back on its hoist.

    “I am happy to see you Olivier. I missed your company, our talks, planning our adventures.”

    “I don’t want a superficial relationship with you Ravinia,” a finger tenderly wound itself around a loc and slid through to the end.

    “I’m good for that,” she emphasised by widening her eyes and arms, “But I do not have the same outlook as you for everything. You got back home two years before me and have happily settled back in. I still have moments when I am not sure if running the family business is what I should be doing. I got a bit ahead of myself thinking the brotherhood investment committee membership was going to fall in my lap, it didn’t, and I was disappointed. I like being the Boss Lady, but I also miss being carefree.”

She decided to say more. “The wedding was overwhelming. At times I felt hostage at home. Being with someone like you means that this big, interconnected family will be a way of life because I see that is what you want.”

    “I don’t think that I have to welcome you to the world of adulting,” Olivier said with a slight smile, he did not want to hurt her feelings. “Two weeks..one month out of your life to help celebrate your brother’s wedding should be manageable.”

    “Yes, I know that I am spoiled. Wagstaffe reminds me way too often. The question before us is, are you willing to be with me as I grow up and grow into my future better me?”

    “Only if you agree to do the same for me. Can you step outside of your own cares to do that Ravinia?”

Ravinia felt tearful, as she wondered to herself, “Am I that self centred that people that I care about don’t think that I love them?

“Olivier. I care about you deeply, I think that you must know this. However you see your future, tell me and show me how I can be a part of that.” She fumbled into her crossbody and took out the box with the neckpiece and held it towards him. “I opened the oyster.”

He looked surprised. “You did? I thought that you threw it away.” Ravinia started to cry. So he really thought that she was a shallow person. Olivier hugged her until she stopped and then said. “Let me see the oyster. I gave it to you just to be a talking point.”

He gasped at the beautiful neckpiece. “This is lovely, and I am hoping that you will wear it and that it is not for me.”

Ravinia stood before him and lifted her hair from her neck. “It is definitely for me, and the knot to secure it is definitely for you, alone.”

   “As a sailor, I can say that I know the right knots for the job.” Olivier secured the necklace and turned her around to admire it and her. “Where did you get the pearl?”

As she answered, Ravinia slid into his arms, then brought her face close to his until their lips touched. “Right where you wanted me to find it. My heart is yours Olivier, but it also needs yours to be complete, do I have it? Will you be brave, open, unafraid with me?”

    He responded with a kiss that touched her right through to every sensory point.

“Ravinia, my heart needs to share and yes, here it is, for you.”