Claire's Prayer by Yvonne Cloete Page A

ranch grounds and crunch to a halt.
    Claire stepped out of the car and stretched herself. She was still gazing at Impunzi’s rolling lawns, and was smiling ear to ear. Seth began to follow Claire as she started towards the house.
    “Let’s see about getting you that tea…” he began. Before the sentence was finished, though, Claire came to a halt, causing Seth to bump firmly into her.
    Running up the pathway towards them was a beautiful, vivacious young woman. Her dark eyes sparkled and her chestnut hair rippled behind her in the breeze, until she came to a sudden stop, right in front of Claire. Even though, at first glance, Claire judged them to be about the same age, this girl had a worldliness and independence about her that set them years apart. Claire’s heart sank – but, before Seth or Naomi could utter a word, she extended her hand.
    In what she hoped was a friendly tone, Claire said, “Hello, Mrs Henderson; I’m Claire.” Letting her eyes roam again over the beauty of the setting, she continued, “I think you have the loveliest home.”
    Taking Claire’s extended hand, Naomi grinned. “Hi, Claire – it’s such a pleasure to meet you.” She glanced at Seth, and suppressed a giggle. “But I don’t have the dubious honour of being Seth’s wife. Being his little sister is bad enough. I’m Naomi, and I’m glad you like the ranch.”
    Claire seemed to have caught Naomi’s contagious grin as the brunette rushed on past her, and threw her arms around Seth’s neck.
    “Hi to you too, big brother. How was the trip? Did you collect my parcels in town?”
    Lifting his hands in mock surrender, Seth pushed past both of them. “Slow down, Naomi! Could Claire and I have a drink before you bombard us with questions?”
    Naomi stuck out her tongue at Seth, but practically skipped back towards the ranch house to start making them a pot of tea.
    Claire, unaware that Seth was watching her, finally had the chance to take in her surroundings fully. The actual house was very large and built right up against a rocky outcrop. Huge boulders balanced precariously on top of each other, seeming as if they could topple over at any moment. As Claire drew closer to it across the lawn, she noticed that paved pathways had been laid, leading up into the massive granite display. Behind it, trees of magnificent height and proportion swayed in time to the silent melody of the breeze. The natural beauty of the place took her breath away and, for long moments after Naomi had run inside, she stood in silence just drinking in the beauty of her surroundings. Lifting her eyes to the cloudless blue sky, she softly thanked God for picturesque beauty of his creation. Claire found herself forgetting that she was not alone.
    Throughout her silent communion with nature, Seth stood unmoving, watching every emotion flit across Claire’s lovely, expressive face. He found himself strangely captivated by this sad Irish girl he had known for such a short time. Trying to make out the words she was mouthing to herself, Seth caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. Wanting to protect Claire somehow, from what he was not sure, Seth touched her shoulder gently. Then he turned and noticed two familiar members of his select summer staff, Moses and Josiah, hurrying to the car.
    Turning to face Seth, Claire felt the warmth of his hand and saw something else in his fathomless brown eyes – something she did not understand. Wide-eyed, all she said was, “Seth, it really is lovely.”
    Introducing Claire warmly to Moses and Josiah as the most capable of handymen, Seth asked the two colleagues quiet questions about the welfare of the ranch. Smiling as they lifted Claire’s bags, Moses, Josiah and Seth guided Claire towards the house. On the porch, Claire met Tony just as Naomi bounced back out, followed closely by a white-clad man pushing a tea trolley.
    “Claire, this is the last member of our extended family, Joseph,” Seth said. “He pretty much