“The King always stayed in close contact with my mother, especially after the death of my father. It is perfectly legal for a man to have up to four wives in their country and so I was considered a legitimate member of the royal family, a prince, and when I was twelve I started making regular visits. They lasted until I was seventeen when I began University and then onto my medical studies. Until two weeks ago, I hadn't been back. The old King, my grandfather, died a few years ago. The current King is my father's older brother and he used to visit us at home in England on occasion so I knew him quite well. When he invited me I felt I had to come, so as soon as I completed my training I arranged to take a leave of absence and came over for a short visit. This trade agreement thing had just come up and he asked me to represent him in the negotiations because Ravi is my cousin - our grandmothers were sisters. And so here I am!”
“Where exactly is Qumrai?” Charis asked.
“On the Gulf,” he replied. “North of Dubai. Just a small country. If you blink when you drive through you could miss it. It’s very rich in oil, a pro-western country but very much a traditional Islamic country. The king rules the country with an iron fist, although in a velvet glove! A rather benevolent despot if you like,” he grinned.
There was another question that Charis wanted to ask. She felt hesitant but finally blurted it out. “Why gynaecology and obstetrics?”
“Well, it wasn't always first on my list of specialties I’d considered. Not on my list at all actually. I was going to be a brilliant brain surgeon or find a miracle cure for cancer or diabetes or something like that. But when I started training in the hospital I found there were things I couldn't be happy doing all the time. I couldn't be a paediatrician, for example, because I got too involved with the patients and couldn't bear to see the children suffering. I cared too much. And when I worked in A&E I got so ticked off at all the drunks and the accidents that they caused. I didn't care enough about them! Then when I worked on the adult wards, the men would wind me up.”
He paused and then asked, “You've heard of man flu?” She nodded and smiled. “Well, it's all true, you know. The men are such babies! Worse actually! No one has ever had whatever it is they're suffering from as badly as they have, and they moan and groan about it all the time. The women just get on with it and there's only one specialty that deals only with women. I found that not only did I enjoy it, but I was good at it too. Plans!” insisted Ben again, changing the subject. “If you're going to become Mrs. Sinclair we need to make plans!”
“Oh dear! Mrs. Sinclair! I'm not sure about that. I rather fancied being Mrs. Blogs!” Charis giggled.
”Yes, well if I'm Dr Sinclair you have to be Mrs. Sinclair,” he firmly stated and Charis suddenly burst into peals of laughter. “Now what?” asked Ben.
“Doctor Sinclair! I knew I'd heard your name before! You're the dishy doctor!”
“I'm the what?” he exclaimed, his voice registering shock, disgust and slight amusement.
“The dishy doctor. You're Helen's doctor aren't you?”
“Helen?” he queried.
“Yes, James' wife. Helen Barrington Smythe.”
“He's your trustee?”
Charis nodded.
“Yes, I'm her doctor. She’s never called me the dishy doctor!”
“No, she didn't but her friends did. I took a gift for her babies last month and she had a couple of friends visiting and they were telling her how lucky she was to have such a dishy doctor, and they were saying such things about you.”
“Like what?” he demanded to know.
“How they'd heard you were the most fantastic lover and that you were fabulous in bed and one of them said she'd leave her husband if you crooked your little finger at her and stuff like that…stuff that I would be too embarrassed to repeat. Helen told them off. She said they were shocking me and they should be ashamed of themselves, and besides, they were both too old for you anyway. She agreed you were exceptionally good looking and then said you were an excellent doctor and a very nice, kind person but she was very happy with her James, thank you.”
“Put all such thoughts behind you, young lady,” he said feeling somewhat embarrassed. “It's getting late and we still have plans to make.” He paused for a moment and then continued. “I've been thinking. I believe we have three options for tomorrow. One. I take you home to London and then fly straight back to Dubai. Two. You come with me to Dubai. Or three. You stay here until I come back for you.”
“Not here! I couldn't stay here!” Charis’ voice registered real fear.
“No! Not right here. Not in this place,” he reassured her. “But I could leave you in Cairo at the Embassy. I have friends there and you could stay with them.” When Charis didn't reply he asked, “When will you marry me?”
“Tomorrow if you like.”
“Tomorrow?” he queried, surprised.
“Why not?”
“It'll take longer than that to arrange a wedding.”
“I don't see why it should. All we need is you and me and someone to say the words,” she whispered shyly.
“Have I told you lately that I love you?” he said, and once again she could hear the love in his voice. “You never cease to amaze me. Most girls want a big wedding with all the trimmings. I know my sister's wedding took months to plan and arrange.”
“I don't care about the wedding,” she said. “I just want to be married to you.”
“Well, I don't know how feasible it would be to get married tomorrow. I assume you won't want an Islamic wedding?”
“No, but isn't there an English church anywhere in Cairo?”
“There possibly could be, but I think that English law requires either three weeks of calling of banns or seven days’ notice of intent to marry. At least I think when my sister Elizabeth was married she had banns read in church three weeks prior.” He thought for a minute and then asked, “What about a civil wedding? Maybe at the British Embassy if it could be arranged? If seven days’ notice is required, I could leave you there…safe in the care of my friends, Gary and Joanne, you'll really like Joanne, while I zip off to Dubai, then go to London, get all my business done with Graham, go and visit my family and tell them our news and then come back. We could be married next Saturday.”
So it was decided that they would go to the Embassy the following morning and find out about the chances of getting married the next weekend. If not, Ben would fly to Dubai for Sunday and come to Cairo first thing Monday and they'd go on to London together.
Ben had been curious how long it would take Charis to realise that he was indeed the first love of her life, Jennifer's brother, Ben. He thought when she first saw him as he entered his room she had recognised him, but because he’d spoken Arabic, and because of his name, first as a prince and now as Sinclair, she’d been rather put off the scent, so to speak. He knew that she’d been very familiar to him right from the first, and when she was talking about her life some of the things she said rang little memory bells in his mind. But the name Charis had confused him. He’d known her as Jane when she was a child. If she hadn't spoken of Jennifer, and mentioned Sir Giles' name, he might possibly still not know who she was. He decided it was time that she knew the truth.
He began by asking, “Is there any reason that you don't want a big wedding?”
“I suppose I'm being selfish really because you probably want your family to be there but I have no one to invite. Well, maybe just a handful of people.”
“Who then?”
“Well, James and Helen of course, and the Pattersons. Then the Chandlers and the Ridleys. Maybe a few friends from school. And if I was having such things as bridesmaids, I would ask Jennifer to be my bridesmaid.”
“What about her Mum and Dad?”
“Yes, maybe them too.”
“And that's it?”
She nodded.
“Not Ben?” he asked, trying to feign innocent curiosity.
“No! He wouldn't be interested in coming. He'll
have forgotten all about me.”
“No, he most certainly has not,” he said, smiling at her and kissing her lightly on the forehead.
“Ben, it was such a long time ago. He won't even remember me.”
“I can assure you that he certainly does remember you, and with a great deal of love,” he insisted.
She looked at him steadily, saw the expression on his face, was quiet for a moment and then very hesitantly said, “Then I think perhaps he won't be needing an invitation? I think…perhaps…he'll already be there?” It was a question not a statement.
He held her a little tighter, smiled at her with such love and tenderness that she could barely breathe. His voice broke a little as he whispered, “There is no power on earth that could keep me away.”
Charis burst into tears.
When he decided she’d been crying long enough, he asked, “Are those happy tears?”
She managed a nod and then asked, “When did you know?”
“When you talked about Jennifer and mentioned Sir Giles' name.”
“Why didn't you say something? Why didn't you tell me?”
“I'm sorry about that. Maybe I should have but I was already in love with you by then and I wanted you to love me for me and not because of the memories you had of me all those years ago.”
“And you let me say all those things about you! What you must have thought of me.”
“I told you…I was very flattered.”
“You knew? I mean you knew back then?”
“Yep,” he grinned. “I knew.”
“I was that obvious?”
“No, it wasn't anything you said or did. You were very circumspect. But if you ever want to keep something a secret, don't ever tell Jennifer, even if she is your best friend!”
“But she didn't know. I never told anyone.”
“She knew somehow and she told me.” He remembered the conversation well.
Jennifer had said to him, “Jane likes you, you know.”
“Well that's good, I like her too. She's a very sweet girl.”
“No, that's not what I mean. She really, really likes you. She talks about you all the time and blushes when anyone says your name.”
“She'll grow out of it,” he’d said, a little embarrassed and changed the subject.
Ben’s thoughts switched back to Charis lying quietly beside him, and he said, “I think you knew the minute I walked into the room didn't you?”
“Yes, and I almost ran into your arms to beg you to take me home. But then you spoke and I knew it couldn't be you. Jennifer's brother couldn't be a prince and speak Arabic.”
“Jennifer's half-brother. Sir Giles is my stepfather.”
“Well, I know that now, but I didn't then.”
They were quiet for a few minutes before Ben asked some more questions.
“Just a couple more things to make decisions about. Where are we going to live? And what about a honeymoon?”
“I have a house,” she smiled. “It's in Chelsea and is big enough. Where do you live in London?”
“I room with a couple of other doctors. Your house sounds perfect. St. Anne's Hospital is in Chelsea - it could work out well. Shall we try it? At least to start with?”
She smiled in agreement and he inquired where she'd like to go for their honeymoon.
“Could we not just stay at home?” she asked.
“Is that what you'd really like to do?”
“Yes. I just want to be with you. It would be a waste to go anywhere, unless you want to, of course.”
“I think staying at home would be perfect,” he agreed. “Almost as perfect as you! Everything I learn about you makes me love you more and more as each minute goes by.”
*****
At eleven o'clock the next morning they were sitting in the British Embassy in Cairo trying to arrange their wedding for the following Saturday. The Ambassador was empowered to perform marriages but they were required to fill out, not a seven day notice of intent to wed as Ben had thought, but fifteen days, which meant some of their plans had to be changed. After the formalities were over he took Charis to meet Gary and Joanne who had a flat in the compound. It turned out that Gary was a friend of Ben's from schooldays and Charis immediately liked his wife, Joanne. They’d been married for less than a year and Joanne was happy to see another English girl of similar age. When she was informed that Charis and Ben were to be married in two weeks, and Charis was staying at the Embassy, she immediately started discussing plans for the wedding. Ben could see that Charis might have a hard job curbing her enthusiasm.
Ben and Charis made their apologies as they needed to shop for wedding rings and spend a few short hours together before Ben flew off to Dubai. Charis didn't know how she would manage with him gone for a full week. It seemed to her that they had been together forever, not just three days and nights. Her life before she met Ben faded into insignificance. They chose their rings and Ben bought her a beautiful engagement ring, even though she insisted she didn't need one. It consisted of a diamond in the centre, with a sapphire either side of it, and then another smaller diamond at each end. Ben said the sapphires were to match Charis' eyes.
The rest of the day flew by. They had dinner at a little cafe they found near the Embassy before they returned to Gary and Joanne's flat. Ben ordered a taxi to take him to the airport and Charis tried not to cry when they said their good byes.
“I will phone you whenever I can and text you every day so you know what is going on all the time,” Ben assured her.
They kissed and then he was gone.
PART IV
LONDON
Ben phoned Charis when he landed in Dubai. She’d gone to bed but desperately hoped he’d call. They spoke for just a few minutes then said good night and when Ben entered his room at the palace, there was a message from the King that they would breakfast together in the morning.
The next morning he was up early, showered, shaved and dressed and prepared to spend a couple of hours reporting to the King on the trade agreement, but as he had several other things he wished to discuss, he hoped the official topic of conversation wouldn't last too long.
The King was pleased with the work Ben had done on the trade agreement and, as hoped when he explained the situation, Ben was relieved that his uncle was expecting him to return home to England and resume his medical career, especially after what he’d done for his granddaughter. The King thanked Ben once again on her behalf and informed him that both mother and the baby boy were doing well.
Of course, the King was unaware of Ben’s desire to be married, and of the circumstances surrounding his meeting Charis. Ben knew that Charis wouldn’t be happy with anyone knowing about the situation, but he was unsure what should be done…about Ravi…about Henry…about the abhorrent practice of girls being sold for sex. He decided to confide, in part, in his uncle. He didn't know what his uncle could do either, but at least he was in a more powerful position than Ben to try. He hoped that his circle of influence would reach beyond Qumrai.
Their meeting was significantly longer than originally anticipated while Ben explained how he’d known Charis as a child and a young woman, and about her sudden arrival in Cairo. How he’d been so lucky, or blessed, to be there when she needed help so desperately. He outlined his plans for the next week and invited the King to attend the wedding, if it was at all possible for him to be in Cairo in two weeks. They said their goodbye’s mid-morning.
Ben's flight to London didn’t leave until very early the next morning. Impulsively, he decided to fly to Qumrai - taking up his uncle's offer to use the royal family's helicopter - to see his cousin with her new baby and perhaps some of his half brothers and sisters. He didn't have a chance to phone Charis until after he’d returned to Dubai that evening, and by then it was too late. He texted her to say he’d call when he arrived in London the next day.
About the time that Ben was landing at Heathrow, Charis was making plans for their wedding. Joanne insisted that som
e of Ben's family would be sure to come and they would need a reception of some sort. They met with the Embassy's catering staff and discussed the amount of food they would need and decided on having a buffet menu with cold meat and salads, sandwiches, quiches, sausage rolls, éclairs and a variety of small cakes. Charis chose a design for a wedding cake. Joanne suggested an ornate three-tiered one but Charis chose a simple, single layer cake instead.
They went shopping for a dress. Joanne took Charis to her favourite dressmaker and they spent time searching through fashion magazines until Charis found a picture of a dress she liked and requested the dressmaker make several alterations. With materials chosen and measurements taken they were on their way back to the Embassy.
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