Prologue

A year had come and gone, and it was finally time to return home.

She had come to Africa to escape reality, only to discover a harsher reality, one that made her past seem carefree and peaceful. She had packed up her sorrows along with her disappointed dreams, and carted them halfway across the world, hoping all the while that the passing sands of time would allow her to irrevocably check her baggage and return home with a much lighter load. And so amidst pleas and tears from those nearest and dearest, she had left everything that symbolised her old shattered existence. The locals had welcomed her with open arms and generous toothy grins plastered on their shiny ebony faces, with a gratitude that filled her heart and touched her very soul. She had been amazed that people who had so little could be so hospitable, appear so serene, as if their poverty lessened the stresses and unending desires associated with the rat race of western life. She had shared their highs, and wept through their many lows, and surprisingly, she felt the heavy burden that had caused the self-imposed exile from her life, gradually lighten. She had never expected that amidst the war battling around her, she would finally find her peace.

And so standing on the edge of the dusty plain she had called her home, and looking out at the African sunset which drew a close on her last full day on the continent, she felt a tranquillity, a contentment, she had never expected to feel again. With slow deliberation, she eased the two rings off her left ring finger, gently fingered the name inscribed within, and with a lingering kiss, placed them in the small wooden box the local children had painstakingly fashioned for her parting gift. She closed her eyes in silent remembrance.

"You, Lizzy, are an emerald in the rough", he whispered, as he massaged her tired shoulders.

"An emerald?? Don't you mean a diamond?" she replied saucily "And, unless I'm mistaken, isn't that phrase a metaphor for an unpolished gem? You better watch out, after working fifteen hours straight, I might be inclined to think you're referring to my rather frightful sleep-deprived appearance".

"Firstly, pure emeralds are usually more expensive than common diamonds. Secondly, with your bewitching green eyes, sparkling and shining, as they are now, no other simile will do. You are an emerald in the rough. You have a much greater beauty hidden deep inside the witty outer layer that everyone sees," he stated, gazing down at her with unmistakable adoration.

"I knew there was a reason why I spend so much time with you," she said flippantly. "You are the king of massages and idle flattery!"

His fingers stopped their kneading, and his voice was low, hesitant.

"Every king needs a queen."

She turned around to face him, as he reached into his breast pocket and produce a small box. As he opened it, she gave a small gasp at the simple emerald encrusted platinum ring.

" Elizabeth," he whispered. "I had hoped to find a jewel that would compare somewhat favourably to the twinkle in your eyes. Now, gazing at you and this mere stone, I know that I have failed miserably. I will never find your equal. Elizabeth, I've loved you for months. You captured my heart the first moment I laid eyes on you at Memorial. I know that some people may object, that it's too soon, fifteen years is too great a gap, that you're still young. God, my own mind has been telling me I'm acting irrationally. But I know my own heart, and I know that you care for me. I don't know what life holds for us, or what bumps are on the road ahead; all I know is that I want you beside me through the passage. Please, Elizabeth, will you share that journey with me?"

With her acceptance echoing in her ears she allowed the memory to fade with the dying embers of the setting sun. With a soft smile and shining eyes, she headed towards the cottage.

He was gone. The journey had ended. She could never forget him. But she would go on.