Ithemba hadn’t necessarily needed Bella, so to speak, but there was some paperwork that she wanted to get through before returning to London. She didn’t know how long they would be there, so she just wanted to make sure that there was nothing left for the workers to have to ‘figure out’. Without saying a word to Nathan, she booked a flight for herself and Athena who wanted to come along. Belie wanted to give Athena the opportunity to go to school in London and to learn about the city where her parents had spent their lives together.
Soon, they were on a flight to London. Rosa was aware of their arrival and had volunteered to take the kids for a sleepover. Nathan wasn’t aware of the plan; he was probably just grateful for the help. Once Bella and Athena arrived in London, it was rather late. Around 22.00. Bella took Athena to Rosa’s house. As she entered, the house was dark, except for the living room where Rosa had turned the light on. She greeted Bella with a warm hug and ushered a sleepy Athena to one of the bedrooms. Teun drove her to the house where Nathan and the kids had been staying. To her relief, there was a light on in the main room. Bella thanked Teun and headed to the door. She knocked and soon, a very confused-looking Nathan came to the door. Bella laughed lightly at his reaction of utter surprise. Before she knew it, she was locked in a tight embrace. She wrapped her arms back tightly around him, not wanting to let go either. Once inside, she explained her elaborate plan to convince Rosa to have the kids sleep over. She just wanted to insure that she had Nathan all to herself that night. “I couldn’t stay away any longer,” she told him. “I missed you way too much.”
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The day that Bella returned to Ithemba, she was excited to see everyone again. It seemed that nothing had changed. Nothing was falling apart at least. Everything still seemed to be in perfect order and running smoothly. Classes had resumed after the holidays, the animals were still well cared for, and there had even been a couple of animal rescues in the absence of the Dwyer family. A day after returning, however, Bella really missed Nathan and the kids.
Athena seemed to be moping around too, missing her cousins. Belie had told Bella that Athena wanted to return to London. She wanted to spend more time in the place where she was born and lived the first years of her life. It was understandable. As a child, Bella had longed to spend some time in Amsterdam where her father grew up. While they worked together on administrative tasks, Bella made a suggestion to Belie. “Maybe Athena can come with me when I return to London? I’d of course ensure that she keeps up with her studies and everything. Maybe she can even go to school for a bit. As long as we’re there, I mean.” Belie liked the idea, and Bella was already looking forward to returning to her family. Perhaps she was entering another phase of her life. Now that Ithemba could efficiently run without the Dwyers present, maybe it would give them some more freedom. More time to do things away from their wildlife refuge. Like travel. Or teach abroad, in Nathan’s case. Maybe Bella could find something to do in London too, once she returned. Her second night alone in Ithema, Bella was eager to chat with her family on Skype. When she saw Nathan’s face, her smile couldn’t grow any wider. “I miss you,” she said. “I miss you too. How are things there?” “As if we’ve never left,” Bella replied. “Everything’s in perfect order. I guess they do more than okay without us around. We should be proud.” “That looks really good, Mom.”
Bella glanced at Mya and smiled brightly. “It does huh?” She set the finished cake on the table and admired her work for a moment. “Are you sure we can’t just just a teeny tiny piece?” Eryn smirked playfully, quite obviously just teasing. Bella had quite enjoyed being in the kitchen with the kids. All three of them were a great help, and it had been a great change in pace to bake without a time constraint. Without classes to teach and animals to attend to, there seemed to be endless time. Bella still found herself texting Ollie and Ulwazi quite often, and even going online to access emails and such, but for the most part she tried to enjoy the time she had away from their work. She’d almost forgotten how much she enjoyed baking. But for the holidays she’d gone overboard and baked to her heart’s content. She and Nathan had even cooked a mini feast together for the family. With Nathan’s 42nd birthday following Christmas, Bella wanted to make it special. For one, they were away from home. London was a stark contrast to the warmth of their South African home. There hadn’t been any snow, but it was pretty nippy. Nathan didn’t mind the cold, he quite liked it in fact, but the change in temperature gave them all a mild case of the sniffles. Nothing that extra TLC and some orange juice couldn’t help. “Dad’s home!” came Ralphie’s voice. They’d all spent the morning hanging decorations in the living room for Nathan to see when he walked in. “Okay, girls, let’s go surprise your dad,” she said. They rushed out into the living room, and the moment Nathan entered, they jumped up and yelled “Surprise!” Maybe it was a little cheezy, but they didn’t often find time to do such things back home. Bella figured if they would be away from home, they had to make the best of it. Bella was in awe as she looked through the box of memorabilia. It was filled with scrapbooks, journals, drawings, dried flowers, feathers, and other things. It had been so many years ago that Bella and Belie had set off on an adventure of sorts. They’re travelled in Bella’s trusty mobile home. Gods, Bella was proud of that RV. “Whoa…” Bella glanced up from where she was sitting on the floor, surrounded by all the things she’d found in the box. Nathan now stood in the doorway of the bedroom, taken aback by the sight before his eyes. Bella chuckled sheepishly. “Yeah, I know it’s a lot. Belie found it in the storage closet in the guesthouse. I totally forgot I’d put it there when we first built the place.” Nathan joined her on the floor, picking up Bella’s scrapbook. He turned to a random page and gently traced his fingers over the colourful pictures of various wildlife creatures. “Argentina... Must've been nice,” he said.
Bella nodded. “My favourite trip.” They looked through the book for a while longer and then Bella said, “You know… as much as I love being here at Ithemba, and all the amazing things we’re doing here, I miss travelling. It’s not so easy now, obviously, with the kids and all. But it could be fun… to go somewhere else besides London and New York. Don’t get me wrong… I love visiting family but I’d love to go somewhere else too. Maybe another country with incredible wildlife. Argentina again… Australia… I dunno.” She shrugged and looked at him for a moment. “I guess it isn’t very practical… But maybe someday…” “Ithemba is more than just a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation sanctuary to us. Ithemba is one big family. We’re proud to offer childcare, and now we have a mini wildlife adventurer programme for the kids here at ithemba.” Bella smiled as the audience of students in front of her broke out into applause. “As the programme is inspired by our own children, we believe that you and your children would approve and rather enjoy it. We want to make sure that you and your family feel at home here at Ithemba in addition to receiving top-not education and hands-on experience.”
More applause. “Anyway, without further ado, I’ll let you all enjoy breakfast. Your next session with Dr. Oliver will begin in an hour. See you all later.” She smiled once again and took her leave from the podium in the small lecture hall. So far, orientation was going well. Everyone seemed to like the services that Ithemba provided. It was a great start to welcome day and the launch of Ithemba’s family programme. The idea had come from Nathan and Bella discussion how difficult it was for Bella to leave the kids behind when she had to study in Johannesburg. The students of Ithemba came from all over the world. Nathan and Bella thought it would be helpful for them to be able to bring their family along and still get an education. “Do you think this will work out?” Bella asked as she met up with Nathan. “I sure hope so,” he said. “We’ll see.” Bella glanced at the happy children and the other students. “Yep… we’ll see.” It's probably pretty obvious that I'm not online much, but I promise it's for a good reason.
Please bear with me while I adjust mentally and physically to my new role as a mum. I'll be back ASAP, but for now, my visits here may be sporadic/non-existent/unreliable. I'll make it up to everyone when I can. Thanks for understanding! - Bella's PM Bella had to agree with Nathan. Maybe it really was time to just enjoy their lives rather than creating new projects for Ithemba or even furthering their current projects. Ithemba was functioning rather well in every aspect. Now all they had to do was maintain the progress and enjoy watching the kids grow up. They could finally just relax and live their lives. In perfect timing, the van Loon-Jones family showed up to pay them a surprise visit. Bella couldn’t believe how big little Tony had gotten, but after all, all the kids were growing up rather quickly. It was also so nice to see Isa and Gabe again. On one hot day, Isa decided to take the girls into town for a girls’ day out. Athena had caught Ralphie’s cold, so she was in bed under Bella’s watch. While Bella binge-watched movies and spoiled Athena with all the dessert she wanted, Isa spent quality time with the twins. They had been in Johannesburg rather long before Bella received pictures of the girls. For a brief moment, she didn’t recognise them. In their early childhood, their hair had been wavy, but as they grew older, those waves turned into tighter curls. The girls in the picture, however, had straight hair. Bella was surprised by how grown up they looked with their hair straight. She wondered if it was a vision of what was soon to come. Before she knew it, her kids would be all grown up. It was a bit of a scary thought, but all part of life.
A smile blossomed on Bella’s face as she watched the girls playing outside. Ralphie was a little under the weather, so his activity of choice today was watching movies over and over. Bella had watched Eryn run back and forth a few times so far - out of sight, and then back to Mya who was holding a timer. It was always amazing watching the twins interact. They were identical in looks, but definitely different as far as personalities went.
Mya was more independent, more mature, more knowing. Sometimes she seemed beyond her years. She was definitely the thinker too. Like her father. Eryn was wild. She loved to be mobile, to run, to put her hands to good use like building things. Yet, she was the less independent one. More than anything, she loved to be with her sister. She looked up to her. Bella could tell that Mya was getting bored with this running game that Eryn had orchestrated, but Mya was so empathetic, she would probably never tell Eryn that she hated the game. Eryn on the other hand wasn’t so good at reading people. She’d probably go on and on and never realise that Mya didn’t like the game. For Mya’s sake, Bella decided to spare them. She opened the door and yelled, “Girls, lunchtime!” She’d prepared a garden salad and chopped up an assortment of fruits fo snack. A cool relief from the warm outdoors. There was grilled chicken too, otherwise Ralphie wouldn’t eat. As the girls entered, she asked Eryn, “Do you want to run next door and see if Athena and Tony wants some salad?” Eryn grinned. “Sure. Time me!” She exclaimed. “What?” But before Eryn could reply, she was off. Bella chuckled and bent over to kiss Mya on the forehead. “In the meanwhile, you can help me set the table and such, yes?” Mya smiled and nodded. “Yes, I just have to wash my hands first.” Before Bella could respond, Mya was off as well. Maybe they were more alike than Bella realsed. Just maybe. In a way, things had returned to normal. Bella had a sense of pride. She and Nathan had been through possibly the biggest challenge yet and they’d survived it. Not only had the awkwardness fade between them, but the passion had returned as well. These days, they even snuck away from work duties to slip in some adult time. With the business of Ithemba, they were often too exhausted by nighttime, but that didn’t change the flame that had been ignited once again.
“Do you think we’ve achieved all that we can for Ithemba?” Bella asked as they lay in bed one night. She gazed up at his handsome, sweat-sheened face. “I mean… we have the adoption programmes, an intern programme, we’re doing great things with wildlife rescue and preservation… I think we’ve achieved the dream of a lifetime. What more is there to do?” It was something she’d been pondering for a while, even before she’d gotten sick. Now with all of the drama over, her mind was left free to ponder again. In the past, there always seemed to be improvements needed, but now it was a game of maintenance. Or at least so it seemed. Maybe it was time to go back to the drawing board and think of something else to incorporate. Or maybe it was time to just relax? Somehow Bella couldn’t quite fathom the latter, but she and Nathan needed to make a decision about the fate of Ithemba. Ever since Nathan took a leap and prepared a romantic outdoor dinner for them, their relationship had been gradually improving. They’d opened up the communication lines - no more secrets, no more silence. They talked through everything, regained each other’s trust, and before too long, they were beginning to feel like husband and wife again. Bella no longer felt like a stranger in her own home. She no longer saw that fear or detachment in Nathan’s eyes. The kids were happy, and the tension was gone.
The only thing they hadn’t regained was that fiery passion they held for each other. The lack of intimacy was due to many factors, starting from Bella’s recovery from surgery, leading up to the decline in her mental health, and ending in the lack of trust and a semi-broken marriage. Honestly, Bella had been afraid to take that step again. It had been so long and she didn’t know how it would work out after all of the bodily, hormonal and emotional changes. But, eventually, she decided it was time to throw caution to the wind and take a leap of faith just as Nathan had. Lately, Ralphie had been wandering to their room at night and wanting to climb into their bed. Sometimes one of the girls came by for some reason, usually with the ‘I can’t sleep’ excuse. Tonight, Bella asked Belie to keep an eye on the household while the kids slept. To ensure that she and Nathan had total privacy, she headed a good distance away from the homestead and set up a tent near the barrier of Ithemba and the lands beyond. Before Nathan returned from his nighttime checks of the animal habitats, Bella made sure to shower, put on some alluring lingerie beneath her clothes, and then she began her plan for the night. She left little notes for Nathan, hinting at her location. She’d bought a new soap at the market in the days before, so in the bedroom, she hinted at the new soap in the bathroom. From the bathroom, she hinted at the dessert wine and chocolate covered strawberries that she’d prepared and left in the kitchen for Nathan to bring along. In the kitchen, she left a note that told him to step out of their home and keep walking westward. Meanwhile, Bella waited anxiously in the tent. She wore nothing but a silk robe over her new lingerie, and she’d made sure to get her hair at least semi-tame. When she heard Nathan’s footsteps approaching, her heart raced, but she quickly realised that it wasn’t out of fear, but rather out of excitement. She hoped that the night would be magical and that they’d regain the passion that they’d lost. |
Isabella Kaylee DwyerWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2017
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