by Imari Jade
Halima looked at the papers in her basket again and then at the clock on the wall. She could have lunch with him and still get back in time to finish her work. She slid out of her chair and adjusted her clothes. “I’d be delighted. Just let me get my purse.”
About an hour later they were still talking and laughing, seated in a booth in a restaurant in the hotel. Robert was an excellent conversationalist and he kept her intrigued with stories about his life in the United States and growing up in Louisiana. Of course he mentioned his career a couple of times but it didn’t bother her because she liked successful men.
“Have you ever been to the United States?” he asked as they shared a piece of pie.
“Yes,” Halima replied. “I go there every now and then to shop for clothing and things for the hotel.”
“Have you ever been to Louisiana?”
“No, I’ve never had the pleasure. I’ve always wanted to go to New Orleans. I heard they have the best music in the world.”
“I can’t deny that, and the food is fantastic.”
“Hm, might not be such a bad idea one of these days. I’m sure the chef would like to try some of that Creole cooking.”
“I have an idea. Why don’t you come back with me and I’ll show you around.”
Halima nearly dropped her spoon. “Are you serious? I can’t just hop on a plane and fly off. I do have a job.”
“Don’t you have any vacation time coming to you?”
“Yes, but I think I need to give more than just a day’s notice.”
“Aw, come on. It will be fun. Just think of it as a business trip. You can shop for clothes, and things for the restaurant, plus bring back some samples and recipes for the chef.”
Halima thought about it for a moment. The idea was tempting. “What about Charisma? Won’t she be a little upset when she finds out?”
“I won’t tell her if you won’t. My offer still stands,” he replied. “We aren’t married yet and I can have a relationship with anyone I want until then.”
“Is this a relationship?” Halima asked.
“Yes. I do have to look out for my own selfish interest in case she doesn’t accept my proposal.”
“I do not understand you American men. What if she accepts? Will I become your mistress?”
“You can be anything you want to be. We can part and stay friends or part and never see each other again.”
“Won’t this cause some type of political scandal if word gets out that you’ve invited me to America?”
Robert laughed. “Politics and scandal go hand in hand. Besides, I’m not worried about what others think. I plan to continue doing my duty for Louisiana, and my personal life is no one’s business.”
Halima went back to the dessert. She didn’t know about that. She did pay attention to the news and had seen some pretty scandalous things happen around the world. “Okay,” she agreed. “What’s a little scandal?”
* * * *
What a body, Charisma thought as she watched Shakir emerge from the swimming pool. Droplets of water clung to his tall dark frame, that gorgeous face, and cascaded down his chest as he moved. She was lying on a chaise lounge taking it all in as he walked toward her with a gait of a panther. She sighed. Life couldn’t get any better. He sat down on a chair next to her and toweled the water off ending her fantasy.
“Are you enjoying yourself?” he asked as he took a sip of iced tea.
“Um hum,” she answered. “The view is beautiful.” They were alone, at yet another of his homes not too far from the hotel. She reached over and plucked a fig from a bowl and put it into her mouth. “I could just lie here and do this forever.”
He chuckled. “That could be arranged.”
A young man approached. “The food is ready, Prince Shakir,” he announced.
Shakir nodded and told him to bring it on. He moved over. A few minutes later he reappeared pushing a serving cart with their meal. Charisma raised her sunglasses and stared at the fare of fresh fruit, salad, wine, and cheese and baked fish. “You’re going to spoil me,” Charisma said as she got off the lounge and joined Shakir at the table.
“That is my intention. I thought you might like something light since we’ll be doing a lot of swimming and other things later.”
“Other things?”
“Oh yes. Lots of other things.”
Charisma giggled and thanked the young man for the food. She watched him walk away unaffected by their conversation. She pushed the sunglasses to the top of her head and began to eat. “Robert proposed to me,” she said.
“So I’ve heard,” Shakir replied as he cut into the fish. “Bad news often travels fast.”
Charisma sampled the fish. It was delicately seasoned with lemons. “My folks would not consider it bad news.”
He stopped chewing. “What about you?”
“I don’t know. It kind of took me by surprise.” She searched his face for some kind of reaction.
“I can not make that decision for you.”
She went back to the fish. “You’re no help.”
Shakir put his fork down. “What do you want me to say? You know how I feel about you, and I think I know how you feel about me. But I am not blind or stupid. I know that the two of you have been in a relationship for years. I know what a marriage between the two of you can mean for Louisiana and the careers of both Robert and your uncle.”
“Halima thinks I should be honored to possibly one day be the First Lady of the United States of America.”
“Halima needs to keep her nose out of your life. The decision is not hers. She has selfish reasons for wanting you to accept.”
Charisma sampled the fruit. The pineapple and strawberries were sweet and juicy and complimented the fish. “I don’t like making these types of decisions,” she confessed. “That is why I don’t think I would make a good First Lady.”
“You’re looking for excuses,” Shakir replied. “You have to look at the big picture. You need to think with your heart and not your mind. Don’t do anything you don’t want to do out of family obligation. Your folks will stand behind you whatever decision you make.”
“You’re smart for an arrogant prince. You would make a great king.”
“Not interested. I like being a prince. It gives me time to meet the most interesting people.”
Charisma smiled and then woke up. Damn. It was such a nice dream.
* * * *
Charisma opened her eyes the next morning, smiling and remembering the dream she had about Shakir. After swimming and lots of sex he brought her home, kissed her goodbye and then left. She yawned, stretched and then got out of the bed. Her stomach growled. The light meal was fine but it didn’t stay with her long. She looked over at the clock. It was seven and Robert’s plane had already taken off. She frowned. He hadn’t even tried to get in touch with her to say goodbye. “No problem,” she replied as she plodded off to the bathroom. He’d probably call later once he got home.
Charisma walked down to the kitchen after her shower. She found her aunt and uncle seated at the table eating breakfast. Julio was reading the newspaper while simultaneously sipping his tea. Carmen was for once enjoying her breakfast and leaving the manning of the kitchen to the chef. A breakfast of pancakes and fruit were quickly brought to Charisma as soon as she sat down, followed by a glass of juice and a cup of coffee. Her uncle passed her the travel section of the newspaper. Charisma gasped.
“Congratulations,” Julio told her. “You’ve made the big time.”
There at the top of the page was one of the photographs she’d taken on the way to Khartoum. It was followed by a story told by a staff writer. Beneath the photo was her first byline and courtesy acknowledgment. She read the story while she continued eating. The telephone rang and Carmen rose to answer it.
“Hello, yes this is the Fuentez household.” She listened for a moment and then gasped. “Oh no.” There was another moment of silence. “Yes, thank you. I will tell my husband. Please keep u
s informed.” She hung up the phone.
“Is something wrong dear?” Julio asked, lowering the newspaper and putting it aside.
“Yes, that was someone from the airline calling. The plane that the Edwards were on is missing.” She sat down. “He said the plane took off on schedule but it disappeared off the radar somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean.”
Charisma dropped the newspaper. “What? Are they sure?”
Carmen nodded. “They’ve doing everything this can to find it. They’ve already dispatched boats and divers to search the area.”
Poor Robert. “What are we supposed to do? Shouldn’t we be notifying someone?”
Julio hopped from his seat. “I’m on it. I need to call the Embassy.” He walked out of the kitchen and headed to his office to place the call and to prepare for briefing the public. Meanwhile, her aunt frantically searched through her telephone address book trying to find the names of people she thought needed to be notified.
Charisma felt so helpless. Shouldn’t she be doing something instead of sitting there looking hopelessly lost? Shakir, yes, his family and the king should be called. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Shakir and filled him in on what had happened. There was a pause in the conversation.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “Do you want me to come over?”
“I’m okay,” she replied. “Just a little stunned.”
“That can be expected. I know how much you care for him and his family.”
“Yes.” She paused. “Do you think that it’s possible that everything is okay….that the control station just lost sight of the plane?”
“Anything is possible.”
“I hear doubt in your voice.”
“Planes are crashing more frequent now, even on beautiful sunny days.”
She could tell that he didn’t want to lie just to make her think everything was going to be okay.
“Call me if you hear anything,” he replied. “I’ll call my parents to let them know what has happened.”
Their conversation ended and she felt even lonelier than before. Finding nothing else to do she took her breakfast dishes to the kitchen and went into the family room to watch the news.
* * * *
“This isn’t good,” Shakir said as he read the flight’s manifest that Amon had handed him. “What was she doing on the plane?”
“I didn’t know she wasn’t here until I saw her name. Mrs. Glover in personnel said Halima put in for vacation at the spur of the moment and she had to call in for someone to cover for her.”
“I suppose her father has been notified?”
Amon nodded. “I have taken care of it. He’s on his way to the airport as we speak.”
“Damn fool woman. What was she thinking just leaving and flying off to the United States with him?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Isn’t it obvious? She was following Robert back to the United States.”
“No,” Amon said. “Maybe it was just a coincidence. She often goes there to shop.”
“Think about it. It’s the same flight, on the same day, and the seat numbers are just a row apart. I don’t think it is a coincidence. They apparently spoke on the matter and made arrangements. Anyway, didn’t the woman in personnel say it was a vacation? Most of her trips to there were on company business and we would have footed the expense. I bet you’ll find that it was charged to Robert or his family.”
Amon sat down. “Talking about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” He paused. “Do you suppose that the two of them were in love?”
“No, Robert would not have proposed to Charisma if that was so. I’m thinking that he invited her there for a little hanky-panky and then she would come home and no one would be the wiser.”
“You think Charisma is going to put it all together when she finds out that Halima’s name was on the list?”
Shakir nodded. “No doubt. Chrissy is one smart cookie.”
“I just thought of something. With Robert out of the way, that will leave you a clear path to Charisma.”
“I don’t want to win that way,” Shakir replied. “If Robert is dead, then Charisma will have to make the first move.”
Chapter Eight
“He’s dead,” Charisma kept repeating after the plane crash was confirmed. Tears welled in her eyes along with mass confusion. Robert was gone and neither of them ever confirmed how they felt about each other. Did she love him or didn’t she? She searched around in her heart but couldn’t pull out the answer. Was it wrong to feel anything but remorse for him? Charisma walked toward the door. She was mobbed by a bunch of newspaper men.
“Your uncle told us that Mr. Robert Edwards was your fiancé,” one of the said as he stuck a mike in her face.
Charisma refused to acknowledge the comment. She pushed away from him. “Leave me alone,” she replied. “My friends are dead and all you are trying to do is get a story for a tabloid.” She ran past them, out of the room and headed upstairs for some peace. She’d have to hear her uncle’s announcement like everyone else, on the television. She made sure her door was closed and locked before hopping on the bed. Charisma used the remote control to flip on the television. More tears flowed from her eyes now that she was alone. She wiped away the tears and then closed her eyes. Her uncle’s voice coming through the television stopped her from dozing off to sleep.
* * * *
“Flight 0124 African Air crashed in the Atlantic Ocean this morning on the way to the United States. Besides the crew, the plane contained 216 passengers. There were no survivors. Among the dead are Mr. Kelsey Edward, the Governor of Louisiana, his wife Ina and their son Robert. Robert Edwards had a promising political career ahead of him.” Julio turned the questioning over to the reporters. Ten minutes later it was over.
Charisma dressed and left the house. Before she knew it she was in her car and driving away from the mansion. She didn’t know where she was going, but all she knew was that she had to get as far away from there as soon as possible to sort out her thoughts. She couldn’t do that with all those people in the house and the constant reminders of what had happened. The next thing she knew she was headed to Cairo toward Shakir’s hotel. All eyes turned to her as she entered after the long drive. The young woman behind the desk smiled at her, forcing her to smile back. Apparently they knew who she was but were too polite to comment. She walked toward Shakir’s office but one of the hotel personnel stopped her.
“He’s not there. He’s up in the penthouse.”
Charisma thanked him and walked to the elevator. She changed her mind. No, I can’t go to him with this. She turned around the left the hotel.
* * * *
“She’s gone,” Shakir told his father as they sat in the castle throne room. “She left me a voice mail explaining that she was gong back to the United States for the Edwards’ memorial service and to graduate from college.”
“I don’t see a problem,” his father said. “You own a jet. Go after her.”
Shakir shook his head. “You know me better than that. I do not run behind women.”
“Don’t look at it as running after her. Look at it as showing concern for her emotional state. Show her that you are there for her in her time of grief.”
Shakir couldn’t do it. He was sad about the passing of the Edwards but he didn’t want Charisma on the rebound. “I appreciate the advice but I think I’ll pass. And besides, I have to be here for Halima’s family. They’re pretty torn up, looking for answers and not understanding why Halima made the decision to leave without letting anyone know.”
“That surprised me too,” the king admitted. “I had no idea that she and Robert had become so attached. I always thought that she wanted to marry you.”
“In her warped way she did, but then I met Charisma and all that changed. Halima latched on to Robert because he was available and I wasn’t. The idea of being First Lady of the United States outweighed being a princess to a prince who would never be king.
”
“But you do not want to be king.”
“Why are you the only one besides me who knows this?” Shakir asked.
Remmao laughed. “Because I am old and wise and you’re more like me than you care to admit. I didn’t have a choice in the matter since I was the eldest son.”
“Do you regret being king?”
“I did in the beginning but it grew on me. And I didn’t need the title to win the heart of the woman I love.”
Shakir sighed. “Yes I do love her but I’m still not going to America. She will return if she wants me. She needs space right now and she needs to finish her schooling which is so important to her. I don’t want to stand in the way of her accomplishing everything she wanted to do before we met.”