‘I shall,’ Leila snapped back. ‘I mean it, James. I can support my baby. You are welcome to visit us when you wish but you don’t have to fund me.’
She tested his patience but in a way that was starting to amuse him.
‘So where are you going to live?’
‘I will find somewhere.’
‘On your music money?’
‘Yes.’
‘And what happens when the baby gets here?’
‘I will still work. I will get a nanny.’
‘On your music money?’
‘Yes,’ Leila answered, but then thought for a moment. ‘Though you could maybe buy me a house.’
‘And a couple of servants?’ James checked, and Leila nodded.
‘That would be very kind.’
‘How about I try and see if there’s a fiscal awareness course for displaced princesses?’
‘How about you accept that despite your lavish proposal, despite your attempt to pressure me, it is not what I want. I don’t want to be married to a man with a penis that acts like an untrained puppy jumping to greet any vague passerby.’
She looked at him and saw that he was smiling.
The oddest thing was, that even though she hadn’t been joking, Leila found herself smiling back.
‘Was that a row?’ Leila checked.
‘It was a discussion,’ James said. ‘Now, I’ve found an OB—you have an appointment tomorrow, at six.’
‘Six?’ Leila checked. ‘But I eat my dinner at six.’
‘She’s staying back to accommodate you.’ James rolled his eyes at her ingratitude. ‘I’ve also booked dinner in the restaurant tonight for seven but I can change it to six if you prefer.’
She wrinkled her nose.
‘What?’ James asked. ‘What’s wrong with that?’
‘Your array of silverware tires me,’ Leila said, and then flounced off to bed for a rest as she often did in her life, simply to pass time.
She was very used to a knock on the door that woke her in the evening and told her she was allowed to come out for dinner.
Leila sighed as James gently knocked and reminded her that dinner awaited. She rolled from the bed and padded out to get a glass of water before she dressed up for dinner and then she froze.
The lights were dim; there was cloth on the floor and cushions too. The food she had brought back from the restaurant was dressed on beautiful plates and there was a package of silver in the middle with a bow.
‘I thought that we might eat here,’ James said as she sat down. ‘Not a fork in sight.’
He poured her some lovely cool tea and she sipped it. As she tore some pita and ladled it with minted lamb, her eyes were drawn to the silver box, but she did not comment.