Later they lay together against the pillows and Naledi moved her head onto Joe’s chest.

“You see how I am, Joe,” said Naledi softly, “I can hardly trust myself. Maybe it’s genetic. The thing is, I’ve always been unreliable where love is concerned. You need to know that.”

Joe ran his hand over Naledi’s pale skin.

He said nothing, but moved a strand of her long hair and kissed her shoulder.

“The first thing my mother did when I went round to her house the first time was to give me a set of keys. It was like the secret had been unlocked and the key put in my hand. My uncle doesn’t even know that I have them.”

“Maybe you should throw them away. Everything is out in the open now.”

Naledi nodded, but she knew she never would. She thought of the keys lying silvery and still in the darkness of the pocket of her jacket, and she knew she would always keep them.

A part of her still wanted to be able to open the door of her mother’s house any time she liked. Sometimes, she knew she might find men there. Men and women that her mother entertained and arranged liaisons with and rented out rooms to.

Maybe one day she might even walk down the passage and sit on the edge of her mother’s bed and talk to her, like daughters do. Maybe they could sip tea and chat, about this and that.

Naledi shifted her head on Joe’s shoulder. He had fallen asleep. Naledi smiled to herself. He always fell asleep after love making.

Naledi stood up quietly and left the bed. Naked, she walked to the bathroom. She paused and looked at herself in the bathroom mirror.

Maybe, one day, as they sipped tea, she would ask her mother all about her father. She had not done that yet.

The shape of her eyes and the colour of her skin could already tell her a lot about him. Jack had had a field day running over various possibilities.

“I think he was probably a travelling man of oriental descent,” he had said with a laugh.

That evening Jack and Naledi had been drinking tequila. Naledi had been drunk. She supposed that was why she had told him all about Gloria. And her grandmother. And Jack had respected her wishes to keep it a secret. Until now.

“You mean a Japanese sailor?” Naledi had said with a raucous laugh and Jack had shrugged and laughed as well.

Naledi had a pee and then returned to the bed where Joe was still sleeping. She climbed under the covers and curled up next to him. She suddenly felt overwhelmed with exhaustion herself. She realised that she had not slept at all the night before. The night she had spent with Sipho.

For a moment she remembered him, and the way his body had felt, heavy upon her.

Naledi sighed deeply. Joe opened his eyes as he awoke a little and, leaning on his elbow, he looked sleepily down at her.

“I don’t care about your mother, your grandmother or anybody else,” he said softly, looking deeply into her eyes. “I love you to distraction.”

Naledi lay still beneath him and saw herself reflected in his dark eyes.

“Don’t move,” she whispered then, and Joe looked puzzled but remained quite still. There she was. Naledi suddenly saw herself quite clearly, looking back at herself from deep within her lover’s eyes. And it was then that she believed him. She saw his love, but she felt it too, running through her veins, reflected in the very depths of him. Joe.

“I love you too,” said Naledi.

She meant it then. And it was the first time she had ever said it to any lover she had ever had. Naledi said it then, because she saw that she was part of Joe. There she was, encircled in his deep black pupil.

And Naledi felt something else too. It started in her toes and moved upwards. Naledi recognised it for what it was. It was a deep love for that soft reflection of herself there, held in Joe’s eye, looking down at her.

Joe blinked and closed his eyes. He slid down onto the pillow beside her and in a minute was asleep again. Naledi closed her eyes, safe in his arms.

Tell us: Do you think Naledi can heal? Do you think she can break free from her past and stay faithful to Joe? What will it take?

The End