Two.
One.
Champagne popping and squeals surrounded her, the noise filling the church so intensely it seemed the swell could lift her off the ground. And somehow, the noise chamber purified her. It made her clean again, filled her in a way that pushed clarity through.
All she needed in life was Julian. She shouldn’t have gone searching for more.
It might be a bitter pill to swallow, but it was the truth.
Starting Monday, once the last of the decorations were taken down, she’d get to packing and they’d be heading home.
* * *
Yonas sighed, fanning at his face. The hotel room was approximately a billion degrees, and everyone in the room was drunk enough to think that gyrating to this shitty music was fun.
He slunk against a wall, sliding down to his butt. He’d let Roli convince him to come here, even though Shaia was in attendance. His buddies had apologized for the ill-timed surprise, but really, they’d asked, couldn’t he just lighten up and enjoy it?
So that’s what he was doing. Lightening up. Enjoying it.
Shaia winked at him from across the hotel room, the tenth time she’d done so that night. Lightening up and enjoying it meant going with the usual flow. But this time, on this night, he wanted to be miles away from the usual flow.
All he could think about was Maia. And Julian. Hearing his excited shrieks when Yonas showed him the Porsche engine. Remembering the tenderness on Maia’s face as Yonas wrapped up the last line of Julian’s favorite bedtime story.
He might never fully forget the two of them. Yonas tugged at the front of his hair, the sweat prickling at his collar more annoying than anything else in his entire life.
“Buddy!” Roli danced his way, jabbing his index fingers into the air. He’d drunk his fair portion of tequila that night. “Get up! Get up! Let’s dance!”
Yonas scowled at him. Over Roli’s shoulder, Shaia appeared, draping herself around him.
“Let’s dance, all of us,” she slurred.
Yonas rolled his eyes. He shouldn’t have come here. Every ounce of his intuition had told him to stay away. And like an idiot, he’d shown up expecting something to be different.
But this was how it always was. It was the same damn party. The same damn music. The same damn boring, uneventful shit.
That was Maatkare. Always the same.
“I gotta go,” Yonas blurted. Roli barely batted an eye.
“Stay here,” he said, pinching an eye shut. “We’re just getting started.”
Lights flashed, temporarily illuminating Roli in bursts. “I’m not feeling well, mate. Let’s talk tomorrow.”
Roli displayed something like disappointment but danced off a moment later. Shaia was lost in the crowed. This was bullshit.
Yonas stormed out of the room. Roli had rented the penthouse suite in one of the luxury hotels on the outskirts of town, which meant he was roughly twenty minutes away from the church where his family’s New Year’s party was taking place. Yonas checked his phone. 11:40 p.m.
He had time to make it there by midnight. It seemed somehow right to go there.
But also, it felt even more right to just leave. To flee. To do what he always did, which was escape and let the dust settle and then come back and sift through everyone’s disappointment.
It was so much easier than dealing with their anger.
Yonas stalked through the hotel, heading for the lower-level garage. He slid into the cool front seat of his SUV, blazing up the ramp to the cul-de-sac in front of the hotel, barely noticing the neatly placed palms or the dancing fountain lit up in hues of red and orange.
Every bit of him craved Maia, but that’s what he couldn’t have. He needed to escape and let the holidays wind down. Once Maia was back in the US, he’d come back to Maatkare. That was the only solution that made sense.
Even so, his chest hurt at the thought of not seeing Julian again. Of never kissing Maia’s cheeks in the early morning. Of never whisking them away to a magical afternoon full of laughter and surprises.
When the clock on the console struck midnight, sadness trickled through his limbs. He should have been at the church with Maia. With his family. But he also needed this escape.
Yonas drove as fast as he could along the desert roads, his headlights the only thing cutting through the expansive black of the night. The airport sat about thirty miles away from the hotel; it wasn’t a long drive.
But somewhere near mile twenty, he heard a loud pop. Then his car began jerking. He couldn’t keep it heading straight.
A flat tire. He swore, slowing to a stop.
This couldn’t be real.
Once he parked the car, he slid out onto the road, his feet hitting the asphalt of the isolated road. The world around him was eerily quiet, the only sound the hum of his SUV’s engine. If he stared long enough into the darkness, he could get totally disoriented. A shiver raced up his spine.
He circled the SUV once, finding the back-left tire had popped. He had a spare…but didn’t know how to change it. Yonas reached for his phone, glancing up at the inky black sky. The heavens hung heavy and infinite above him. He gulped.
The phone had no signal. He swore again, pocketing his phone. Now what? He headed toward the burst tire, kneeling in front of it. He’d only ever seen Noel change a tire once, and it had been some part of a demonstration to school kids. Yonas combed through his memories, trying to pluck something useful from the fog.
He rummaged through the back of the SUV, looking for the spare tire kit. Everything took twice as long in the inky black night. Or maybe it was his own despair slowing him down.
All he wanted was Maia. Emotion pressed at his throat as he clumsily removed the spare tire from the trunk. She would know how to lighten the mood. She would have had the perfect joke to crack—something about his royal ass not knowing how to change a tire. The imaginary joke made him smile.
After a solid half hour of searching for tools followed by another half hour of fruitless attempts to change the tire, Yonas admitted defeat. He threw himself into the sand, facing the night sky. He got lost in the infinite blackness, the tiny pinpricks of light that spanned from here and now to the beginning of time.
If this was his fate, then so be it. He’d wait here until someone drove by. Until he was forced to walk. Until Roli or the others noticed he’d never made it home.
The longer he stared at the sky, the more he thought about Maia. He wanted her so badly it could snap bone. And staring up into the void made him realize: he couldn’t leave the country. Not when she was here. Not when Julian was here. Not when curiosity prickled hot about what might come of the fact that they’d made love without a condom.
He hardly noticed when headlights crested the horizon. A few moments later, a car pulled up. Yonas stared up at the newcomers in a daze.
A family peered around the doors of a small car—a mother, a father, two children. The father asked, “Do you need help?”
Yonas pushed to sitting, squinting against the brash light. He was almost disappointed they’d broken his middle-of-the-night reverie. “I do. My tire popped, and I can’t fix it.”
The father wordlessly came to his assistance, deftly removing the old tire to replace it with the spare. The man and his wife talked about how they were on their way to a New Year’s Day party with family in a far-flung town. Yonas admitted he was on his way back to his family. Within twenty minutes, Yonas’s SUV was ready to go. He shook the hand of the unassuming miracle man.
“Thank you,” was all he could say. The father bowed slightly.
“Anything for a fellow family man.”
The words rang in Yonas’s ears the whole way back to the palace.
18
Yonas appeared at his father’s office bright and early the next morning. New Year’s Day was technically a holiday, but he knew his father wouldn’t break his personal routine for anything. Each day started with Turkish coffee and the newspaper, no matter what. He
knocked gently on his father’s office door.
“Come in,” grumbled the old man.
Yonas pushed inside. His father lifted a brow when his gaze landed on Yonas.
“There you are,” he said, folding the paper and setting it down. “Finally.”
“Did you miss me yesterday?”
Sheikh Yared’s mouth turned down at the corners. “Yes. Though I’m pleased you’re still in the country. Where were you?”
“Making a mistake. One that I intend to fix.” Yonas approached the desk slowly, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his loose linen pants. “Father, I fell in love with Maia, but I hurt her. I didn’t go to the party last night because I didn’t want to face her. But now I want to show her that I’m serious. I’m more serious about her than anything in my entire life. How can I show her?”
His father creased his brow, his gaze drifting to the wide wooden desk. He was quiet for a long time.
“You must show her exactly that,” he finally said. “Show her that you want something serious and long-term. That you want stability.”
“But how do I do that?”
Mischief flashed in his father’s eyes for a second. “It took me two years to convince your mother to marry me. If that type of persistence doesn’t say long-term, then I’m not sure what does.”
Yonas ruminated on his father’s advice for a few hours as he paced his bedroom, trying to piece together a plan. He called Robel and Noel and a few members of the Downtown Ragdar Association, looking for leads. And then finally the final piece of the puzzle clicked into place. He was ready for Maia.
Yonas drove to Iliana’s house with his heart in his throat. Every inch of him worried that it was too late. Though only a few days had passed, Maia might not be willing to let him in again.
He raced up to Iliana’s front door and knocked. She pulled open the door a moment later, her brown eyes wide with confusion.
“Yonas, what’s wrong?”
“I need Maia,” he blurted.
“She’s not here,” she said. His stomach pitched to the bottoms of his feet. “I’m sorry.”
“Where is she?”
“She’s finishing up at the church,” she said softly, as if maybe she wasn’t supposed to be admitting it. “From the New Year’s party last night.”
Yonas barely said goodbye before breaking into a run. The church was only six blocks from Iliana’s house, and somehow, driving and parking seemed longer than booking it on foot.
He ran as fast and hard as he could, breezing past pedestrians enjoying the cool morning air of the new year, leaving plenty of people gaping after him with confusion on their faces. When he reached the church, he was heaving, but he couldn’t slow down. He raced up the steps and burst into the church.
The scene before him was astounding. The previously unused, vacant expanse still bore the traces of an epic party. Streamers littered the aisles, and the twinkle lights crisscrossed the front of the church, forming a makeshift expanse of stars. He sucked in a breath, tilting his head back. Balloons had been released, filling the vaulted ceiling. And all around him, the haunting murals stared down in various states of judgement or shock.
What a party to miss.
Rustling caught his attention. At the front of the church, Maia was on a ladder. He approached slowly, not wanting to disturb her quite yet. He wanted these few moments of just watching her—taking her in. Before she lobbed more insults or anger.
Julian bounced into view. He was skipping circles around the base of her ladder. He could hear her tut softly as Julian came a little too close to the base.
Yonas’s heart burst open and spilled everywhere. How could he have ever deigned to leave these people? These two beautiful people who meant more to him now than almost anyone else. And not only them, but his family. He’d always been running away. Now he just wanted to stay.
Julian shrieked. He’d spotted Yonas. The little boy bounded toward him, arms outstretched. Yonas couldn’t help but smile and bend down to receive him. Julian launched into his arms, the joy overcoming him.
Yonas hugged him so hard that he thought he might break the boy in two. When he stood, Maia had descended from the ladder, her arms crossed over her chest.
She didn’t say a word as he approached.
“Mommy, do you see who’s here?” Julian asked.
“Yes, honey.”
The vitriol was gone from her voice. Instead, she sounded defeated. Or maybe exhausted. Yonas approached slowly.
“Hi,” he said.
She didn’t say anything.
“Mommy, he said ‘hi,’” Julian reminded her.
“Hi, Yonas,” Maia said curtly, turning to face the ladder again. “What can I help you with?”
“Maia,” he said softly, squeezing Julian’s hand for strength. “My sweet. Please talk to me.”
Maia faced away from him for a few more moments. But when she turned to him, there were tears shimmering in her eyes.
“I came to show you something,” Yonas said quickly, pulling out some papers from his back pocket. This was what he’d been working on all morning. He cleared his throat, unrolling them. “I think you might be interested in this.”
Maia eyed him suspiciously, but finally snatched the papers from him.
“I know you’re upset with me. I’m upset with me. But not for the reasons you imagine.” He paused, trying to gauge her interest. She was watching him, at least. That was a start. “What you saw at the palace wasn’t anything. It’s true I was talking to Shaia before I met you. But that ended the second you and I kissed. She showed up because my friends encouraged her to. They didn’t know about us. They didn’t know what we had.”
Maia bit her lip. The first break in her defense.
“I’m sorry you saw that,” he went on. “But I’m even more sorry I didn’t come to the party last night.” Yonas shook his head, looking all around. “You worked so hard on this. And I wasn’t here to support you.”
Maia’s bottom lips trembled. Julian raced around the pulpit, his excited shouts echoing through the church.
“I wish I could say I tried to come. But I didn’t. I went to my friend’s party because I was angry at you, had a horrible time, and then got a flat tire as I tried to drive to the airport.” He released a humorless laugh. “But I’m not looking to escape this time. And not anymore. Because I want to stay here.” He paused, letting the quiet fill the space between them. “With you.”
“Okay,” she finally said. “And how is that going to happen?
He pointed to the papers. “Right there. That’s how.”
Her gaze fell to the papers again. She was quiet as she read.
“It’s a contract. Offered to you by the city of Ragdar. It’s a two-year position to act as the official decorator of the government buildings.” Yonas paused, anxiety nearly breaking him in two. He couldn’t bear waiting for her answer. “Please stick around,” he whispered. “I don’t want to spend the next two years without you.”
Julian zipped by. Maia’s gaze danced over Yonas’s face, and he couldn’t read her expression.
“Next two years, huh?” She looked down at the contract again.
“I want to show you I’m serious,” he said softly. He swallowed a knot in his throat and stepped closer. “Even if you tell me to fuck off…I’ll still be here. Waiting for you.”
A smile quirked her lips. “Waiting, huh? Right here?”
Something in her tone bolstered him. “Yes. I won’t move an inch.”
Her gaze swung back up to find his. Happiness jolted through him. He wanted to look into her eyes for as long as he could. For way longer than two years. Until the end of time.
“So this would make me a Maatkaran resident.” It was a question disguised as a statement. He nodded.
“Yes. And an official palace resident, if you’d have it,” he said.
She tilted her head to the side. “I could probably handle that.”
“You could even put
up those same garish decorations every Christmas,” he went on, unable to fight the grin now. “I won’t say a word.”
She laughed as if she hadn’t wanted to. “I doubt that. It’s hard for you to not say a word.”
“I’d accuse you of the same,” he went on.
Silence fell between them while Julian started hopping over cracks in the floor. Yonas grinned as he watched the boy, then his gaze drifted over the expansive space. A rueful sigh escaped him. “This place is incredible. I’d like to see more things done with it.”
“Like what?”
He hadn’t even thought it through, not fully. But the answer was tumbling from his lips as though the idea had been lurking inside him all along. “Something for kids. Something for Maatkare.” He paused, already seeing the dim outline of a vision forming. “An arts center. Maybe the new home of the puppet shows.”
“Yaaay! Puppet shows!” Julian crowed as he danced by.
Yonas laughed, kneeling down to snag the boy by the waist. “Would you like that? The official Maatkaran puppet show home, right here in this church? You can be my advisor, so we get it perfect. If your mom says it’s all right.”
Julian cheered. When Yonas looked up, Maia looked thoughtful.
“That’s not a bad idea,” she whispered. “Much better than your previous idea.”
“Yeah, well, let’s just say that was Previous Yonas. Current Yonas has come to realize some things are more important than nightclubs and escapes.”
Her face fell. “Sorry I called you a whore the other day.”
“It’s okay. No hard feelings. I’m sorry I called you a bitch. Will you stay in Maatkare with me, Maia?”
Something so sweet and pure shivered between them that it nearly made him forget about the final gesture. He reached into his back pocket, pulling out the treat he’d managed to track down via Ana. He handed the tiny chocolate to her. A grin spread across her face.
“Please, Maia.” He watched as she covered her mouth with one hand, inspecting the brown and white wrapper. “Take a chance on a Tootsie Roll.”
The Sheikh’s Christmas Family: Christmas With The Yared Sheikhs Book Two Page 10