“I need to know,” he continued, “and then I’ll leave you forever. Your freedom. Was it worth it all? Is it what you truly want? Was it Anna?” He rose and stood over her, his hands clenching and unclenching as if stopping himself from reaching out. “I need to know.”
She licked her dry lips. “Bargaining is such a useful tool.” His frown could have been a weapon in itself.
“It is only useful if both have something the other wants.”
“Oh, I have what you want. And I’m not talking about Matta.”
He came to her then and pushed his fingers through her hair, holding her face tight within his large hands. She could feel their roughness and their tenderness in every sinew of his fingers.
His face was close to hers now, his lips, a breath away.
“Tell me what it is that I have that you want. Tell me now, Anna, before I go crazy.”
“This.” She breached the slender distance between them and pressed her lips gently to his. Neither moved, simply held the soft touch of their lips, treasuring it, letting the connection flow through their bodies, through every nerve, fiber, muscle, vein, until it filled them both.
They separated then. But the connection was re-made, forged by a kiss. It was in his eyes as he looked at her and it was in her eyes as she gazed upon the one thing freedom had excluded her from, the one man that she couldn’t live without.
“I love you Zahir. You make me free. You are all I want.”
“Anna,” half-moan, half-groan she felt her name pressed into her lips as his own found hers in a kiss that breathed life back into her life, gave her back the passion without which she could not live. He pulled away as if suddenly doubting her words. “I love you Anna. You’ve shown me how to love, you’ve forced me to look inside myself and find that love. And I have. But are you sure you love me, after all the mistakes I’ve made, after how I failed you and my brother?”
She smiled at this man, so strong and yet to her now, unafraid to show his true self. “No mistakes, no failings. Just a heart that takes the wrong turn sometimes. Hearts do that.”
“Come back to Qawaran with me.”
She smiled. “That depends.”
“On what?”
“On what kind of bargain I can strike.”
“I see. And so in return for your good self, what is it that you want from me?”
“Undying love for me and your children.”
“Agreed. I already feel that love for you and Matta.”
“That’s not good enough.”
He frowned. “I love you, Anna. I love Matta. I always will. I promise to care for you to cherish you to worship you both forever. Isn’t that enough?”
She shook her head and took his hand and pushed it against her stomach, flattening his palm across the round edges of her stomach so that there was no doubt.
He sighed and dropped his forehead onto her head. His eyes closed, his hand caressing her stomach without her aid now.
“I take it that it’s a bargain then.”
She felt him nod in agreement as his lips sought hers in a kiss that left her in no doubt as to his answer.
THE END