The Sheikh’s Mail-Order Bride: Halabi Sheikhs Book Three

by North, Leslie

  She hung up, and she heard Edlyn ask for her news. She heard herself share it, and still, she felt cold.

  This was her moment, so why did she feel so sad?

  17

  Danny squinted as he got out of the car, the morning sun hitting him like a club to the face. It wasn’t fair, he reflected. Hangovers were a punishment for too much fun, but he couldn’t remember having any. The party had started okay, toasting Rashid and his recovery from lymphoma. There’d been champagne and caviar, reporters snapping photos, but things went blurry after that. He remembered sitting alone, polishing off most of a bottle of scotch. He remembered feeling seasick and lying down for a nap.

  Sleep. He needed sleep, a whole day of it, without music pounding in his ears. He slouched up the steps and cut across the great hall, already loosening his tie.

  “Danny.” Chadil caught his arm and steered him in the opposite direction, a stern look on his face. “I’ve been waiting. We need to talk.”

  “Can’t it wait? I’m exhausted.”

  “No, it can’t.” Chadil half dragged him to his office and herded him into a chair.

  “What do you have to say for yourself?”

  “What do you want to hear?” Danny rubbed his temples. His exhaustion hung heavy on his shoulders, and he leaned back, limp and boneless. “I went out. So what? Last I checked, that wasn’t a crime.”

  “And what about this?” Chadil handed him a tablet. Danny squinted at the screen.

  “They took a couple of pictures. What’s the problem?”

  “This, right here.” He tapped on the screen. “The part about not getting married till you’re fifty. What could’ve possessed you to say that? What’s Jayne supposed to think?”

  Danny closed his eyes, fighting sudden nausea. He didn’t remember saying that—or rather, he did remember, but it hadn’t been last night. That quote was ancient history—his whole world had changed since he’d spoken those words.

  “‘Some woman telling me what to do? Maybe when I’m fifty.’” Chadil snatched back his tablet. “Oh, and then we have this gem: ‘You get boring when you’re married. I saw pictures of my dad, back when he was my age, and it was like he actually had a life.’”

  “No. That isn’t—” Danny blinked furiously. “Dad already yelled at me for all of that, remember? Four years ago, at Uncle Fatim’s wedding. Some reporter asked if I was excited for my turn, and I said...well, it’s all there. You remember, right?”

  “Vaguely.” Chadil tapped at his screen, frown deepening. “The Sunrise again, almost four years to the day. Still, you opened the door to this.”

  “Not last night, I didn’t. I was careful. I kept my mouth shut.” He scrambled to his feet. “I have to find Jayne. She has to know I’d never—”

  “Not so fast.” Chadil moved to block his exit. “We still have a lot to discuss.”

  “Can’t we just skip to the end?” Danny grabbed for the doorknob, but Chadil pushed him back. “Oh, come on. We both know the spiel. You get up on your high horse, and let’s see—I’m reckless. Irresponsible. Mouth like a megaphone, no off switch. I never think of anyone but myself. One day I’m going to hurt someone, and what do you know? That day is today.” He started forward again, threw up his hands when Chadil didn’t move. “Get out of the way. Before it’s too late to make this right.”

  “Sit down. Please.”

  “Forget it. If Jayne’s seen this...”

  “She’s seen it. Listen—”

  “I can’t. Maybe she won’t want to hear it, but you know I have to try. She has to know I wouldn’t humiliate her like this. Not on purpose.”

  “You’ve really got it bad for her, don’t you?” Chadil took him by the shoulders, but Danny shook him off.

  “That’s why I’ve got to get to her.” He lunged for the door, shoving Chadil out of the way.

  “She’s gone.”

  “What?” The breath went out of him in a rush.

  “She left this morning.”

  “That can’t be true.” Danny took off at a sprint. He tore through the halls and cut across the garden, bursting into Jayne’s suite through the patio doors. The place still looked lived-in, a teacup on the table, the bed unmade. He ran to the dressing room, heart in his mouth.

  “Jayne?”

  No answer. He rushed to the closet and found it empty. Her vanity was bare, her suitcase gone.

  “Noah?”

  A flash of color caught his eye, and he dashed back to the bedroom. He reached under the bed and came up with Noah’s parrot, the same one Fiona had given him his first day in the palace.

  “Noah...” Danny did a slow turn, searching for a note, a token—she wouldn’t have left without saying goodbye.

  “Danny.”

  His heart plummeted at the sound of his sister’s voice. He plopped down on the bed, burying his face in his hands. “They’re really gone?”

  “I’m sorry.” Edlyn came up beside him and put her hand on his arm. “She asked me to watch for you. She wanted you to know she got your message. You’re not ready for a relationship. She understands. She didn’t want to make you say it or make things awkward by sticking around. She said it wasn’t the tabloid quotes. They just made it impossible for her to ignore the message you’d already delivered.”

  Danny’s throat closed up. He sat silent, stunned.

  “Oh, Danny. What were you thinking?”

  “I wasn’t.” He fidgeted with his cufflink. “None of that’s true, that nonsense in the paper. I love her. I...love her.”

  “Did you tell her that?”

  Danny winced. “She gave me chance after chance, but I was afraid.” He looked up, shamefaced. “I was terrified she’d look at me the way you’re doing right now, but...maybe I kept giving her reasons to.”

  “It’s not too late to tell her that.” Edlyn handed him her phone. “You could call her right now. I’m sure she’d listen.”

  Danny stared at the phone, but his heart felt heavy. Edlyn hadn’t seen him at Jayne’s job interview, how he’d snubbed her and stormed out, left her to find her own way home. He’d acted like a two-year-old, and she had one of those already.

  “We’re too different,” he said. “This is for the best.”

  “Oh, that’s nonsense.” Edlyn slapped him on the arm, none too gently. “You two were made for each other. You balance each other out. And what about Noah? That boy calls you Dada, and I know he could say Danny if he tried.”

  Danny’s stomach clenched, a sudden, sharp pain. He covered it with a smile. “You know what I’m like with family—distant, negligent. That isn’t fair to a kid.” He stood up and tossed her the parrot. “Trust me. It’s better this way.”

  18

  Jayne sat up with a start, nearly knocking her coffee off her desk. “Mr. Safar! How long have you been standing there?”

  “Only a minute.” He chuckled. “It’s nearly six o’clock, though. Doesn’t your son’s daycare close at seven?”

  “It does.” She glanced out the window. Sure enough, the afternoon was almost gone. Noah would be hungry, eager for his nightly falafel. Jayne herself was starving, now she thought about it. “Where does the time go? I sat down five minutes ago, and it’s time to close up.”

  “You sat down five hours ago.” Safar stuck his finger in her coffee. “See? Ice cold.” He plucked her jacket off her chair and helped her into it. “Let me walk you out.”

  “Thanks.” She gathered her purse and her laptop and followed him down the hall. The office had begun to feel like home, the children who wrote to them like distant family. Even the poem that had so upset Danny had become a reminder of her purpose here, and she trailed her fingers along the letters as she passed it by.

  “I’ve been meaning to speak to you,” said Safar. He stopped in the atrium, smiling. “You’ve been doing an exemplary job, just throwing yourself into the work, and I see no reason to make you finish your three months’ probation. I’d like to offer you the job on a permanen
t basis, starting Monday.”

  “Really?” Jayne felt her whole self light up. “Oh, that’s great news! I was worried I was holding you back, all my last-minute ideas—”

  “Not at all.” Safar shook her hand. “I brought you on for those ideas. Keep them coming, and you’ll always have a place here.”

  “Thank you. Thank you so much.” Her smile faltered as a traitorous impulse took hold—she wanted to run to Danny, share her joy, but what would he care? She’d kept expecting him to call, their first week apart, but he never had. He’d moved on, and it was time she did too.

  She stepped out into the street, savoring the warmth of the evening. Life was good in Al-Mifadhir, busy days and quiet nights, great food, friendly people. She’d found a cozy apartment, which had come with the best chair, a big, padded rocker that Noah loved to curl into. She was making friends, putting down roots, and that was enough.

  “Mamama.” Noah looked up from his blocks as she let herself into his daycare, but he didn’t run to meet her. He’d stopped doing that around the same time he’d stopped looking for Danny. Jayne stooped to pick him up, settling him securely on her hip.

  “How’s he been today?”

  “He’s been a very good boy.” Mrs. Abbas bustled over and patted him on the head. “He took a long nap, helped clean up after finger painting, and no tears today. Not a one.”

  “You helped Mrs. Abbas with the cleaning?” Jayne dipped her head to kiss him. “Oh, good boy. Want to help with the dishes tonight?”

  “No.” Noah rubbed his face on her shoulder. “No, no, no.”

  “I’m not sure he knows what that means,” said Mrs. Abbas. “He says no to everything, then he does it anyway.”

  “I think he just likes the way it sounds.” Jayne kissed him again. “Want to go to the park?”

  “No.” He squirmed in her arms. “I go slide.”

  Jayne and Mrs. Abbas laughed, and Jayne hitched him up, grabbed his backpack, and let herself out. Noah wiggled till she set him down, and he ran ahead all the way to the park. Jayne thought he’d run for the slide, but he made a beeline for the fountain. He perched himself on the edge and held his hands in the spray, giggling as it splashed in his face.

  “Don’t get all wet, now.” Jayne dug in her pocket and came up with a coin. “Want to make a wish?”

  “Wiff.” Noah took the coin and turned it over in his palm, as though he were thinking very deeply. He kissed it, then flipped it like a tiddlywink and watched it sink to the bottom of the fountain. His lower lip wobbled.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “Harun said you don’ get your wiff if the face side is down.”

  “What does Harun know?”

  “Eveyfin. He’s four.”

  “Yeah? Well, I’m twenty-four, and I say you do.” She fished out another coin and tossed it in herself. “And, see? Mine landed face-up, and I just wished you’d get your wish, so forget about Harun.”

  Noah giggled at that, and he ran off to play, but Jayne couldn’t help but notice how he kept turning to the gates, peering out into the street as if he was waiting for a friend. He did the same at home, watching the door before meals, setting extra places. She’d seen his drawings from daycare, the palace in the background, Danny’s crazy hair. He drew Graham and Halima and the horses, the ducks and the parrots, all the first friends he’d made in Al-Mifadhir. He missed them, and that wasn’t going away.

  Noah’s coin twinkled in the fountain, and Jayne closed her eyes. Just let him have it, she thought. Whatever he wished for, make it true.

  * * *

  Jayne set Noah down for the hundredth time, nudging him back toward his toys. He ignored his blocks and ran to Mr. Safar instead, tugging his pant leg for attention.

  “I’m so sorry.” Jayne hurried to collect him. “There’s a sniffle going around daycare, kids dropping like flies. Noah’s fine, but they told me not to bring him.”

  “Don’t worry one bit.” Safar ruffled Noah’s hair. “We’re thinking of starting a daycare here, in fact. Adara’s expecting, and we have three mothers already. It only makes sense.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a butterscotch. "Can he have this?"

  "If he says please and thank you." Jayne turned back to her work. Crunch time was coming, a week till their big presentation to the Ministry of Education, and everything had to be perfect. This was her chance to make a difference—to make sure no more kids grew up like Danny, needlessly ashamed. It still hurt her heart to think about it, the expression on his face when she’d guessed his secret. He’d looked almost guilty, like she’d asked if he’d killed someone, instead of—

  “Turn on the TV!” One of the receptionists burst in, nearly tripping over Noah in her haste. “Quick! Prince Danyal is making a statement! He mentioned us!”

  “He mentioned us?” Safar flipped the monitor on, and even Jayne turned to look. Danny’s face filled the screen, sweet and familiar, smiling that smile she knew so well. He looked straight into the camera, and her heart melted.

  “—and over the coming weeks, I’ll be making several large donations to special education programs, particularly those focused on early identification of learning disabilities, especially dyslexia.” He frowned. “Too many children are struggling through school, falling farther and farther behind every year when they don’t need to. Sorry—you had a question?”

  The camera cut to the interviewer, who nodded her head. “Why dyslexia, in particular?”

  “Because it’s more common than people realize. We have children—our children—and they’re struggling, feeling alone. But statistically speaking, in a class of thirty, you’ve got three kids with dyslexia. It’s the most common cause of reading delays, and too often, it goes undiagnosed.” He leaned forward, animated. “A kid who’s having trouble reading, there’s a seventy to eighty percent chance he’s got some form of dyslexia. The earlier we catch it, the better the outcome, so the work Education First is doing, along with the other groups I’ll be contacting—”

  “Do you have some personal connection to the cause? A relative, maybe, or a friend?”

  “I’m glad you asked me that.” Danny’s smile widened. “We all know someone with dyslexia. Tom Cruise has it, Keanu Reeves. Albert Einstein had it, and you don’t get much smarter than him. Leonardo da Vinci had it...and so do I.”

  Jayne stifled a gasp. He’d admitted it? Just like that? She wished she could hug him, throw her arms around him and tell him how proud she was, but—

  “Dada!”

  She laughed. “Yeah, that’s Danny.” She lifted him up to see the TV better, but he squirmed to see over her shoulder.

  “Dada! Dadada!”

  “What?” Jayne turned around, disbelieving, but Noah was right. Danny stood framed in the doorway, a little red in the face, the smallest of smiles tugging at his lips.

  “What are you doing here? Aren’t you on TV?”

  “I recorded that earlier.” Danny dropped to his knees as Noah broke free, rocked back on his heels as the kid-shaped cannonball hurtled into his arms. “Hey. Hey, I’ve missed you. You been good for your mom?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “What about you?” Jayne approached cautiously, unsure what to think. “That took some courage. Your family must be proud.”

  “They are.” He set Noah down and got to his feet, a look of slow wonderment spreading across his face. “I thought they’d be disappointed, maybe even give up on me, but they actually seemed relieved. Like they finally understood.” He grinned. “Chadil’s even forgiven me for the whole college fiasco.”

  “But a public statement...” Jayne shook her head in wonderment. “That’s above and beyond. You didn’t have to do that.”

  “Yes I did.” He took her hands and gripped them tight. “I’ve been hiding all my life, hurting people along the way. I let my parents down, and my brothers, then you came along. You saw me for who I am, for everything I am, and instead of appreciating that, I threw it in your face.” He
edged closer, eyes blazing. “I had to get the truth out there in a way I couldn’t take back. Because I never want to go back. I’m sick of hiding and ducking and never being myself. I want a fresh start...with you, if you’ll have me.”

  “With me?” The air suddenly felt thin. Jayne swayed where she stood.

  “People don’t change overnight. I know I have a long road ahead. But I’m walking that road, walking it every day, and if you’d walk with me... I love you.” He dropped one of her hands and took Noah’s. “I love you both. I don’t want to spend another moment apart from you and Noah.” He stooped to look the boy in the eye. “Noah, if it’s all right with you, I’d like to marry your mother.”

  “Muwwy?” Noah tilted his head to one side, apparently thinking. “Uh...?”

  “Well, this isn’t going as I’d hoped.” Danny chuckled, and Jayne joined in, blinking back tears of joy. She nodded at Noah, and the yes was hardly out of his mouth before Danny had swept them both up in his arms.

  “I have a ring for you, but—”

  “I can feel it in your pocket.” Jayne hugged him tighter. “I don’t want to let you go.”

  “Then don’t. I’ve got you.” He kissed her, and Jayne heard applause, her coworkers sharing in her joy.

  “We get muwwied!” Noah ducked out of Danny’s arms and danced all around them, tossing papers in the air. “We get muwwied!”

  “That’s right. We’re a family now.” Danny held her closer still, and Jayne’s heart soared. She’d found everything she’d dreamed of, and this time, there’d be no letting go.

  Epilogue

  “Oh! Wrong way!” Fiona laughed as Graham barreled into her, helmet bumping her knee. He and Noah had new skateboards—birthday presents from Danny—tiny child-sized ones that came with so much padding they looked like miniature Michelin Men, and they’d been zipping around the terrace all afternoon.