Princess's Secret Baby(81)

                It was early August and their baby was due in two days’ time                     and still James had not been able to marry her. Despite polite letters, despite                     Manu and Zayn’s best attempts, they were blocked at each turn as they tried to                     get the necessary documentation.

                ‘I’m just going to ask her father,’ James said, and then he                     picked up the phone and spoke in Arabic, not with Farrah but with the king.

                He kept it brief.

                ‘I need Leila’s birth certificate,’ James said, and he knew the                     drama that would be going on in the palace tonight because he had had the                     audacity to call. ‘If I am to marry her.’

                He was met with silence.

                ‘If it isn’t here within a week, then I will call every day,’                     James said. ‘Or I will write letters, or I shall email, or I shall write to your                     press. I hope the noise I make—’ Manu’s lips pursed because of course what James                     would do would cause offence, but James had been practising this on his own and                     he cleared his throat ‘—will not upset your wife too much and in turn cause too                     many problems for you?’

                It came in the post a week later.

                Two days after that he stood with Leila in Central Park and                     married her on the very spot that James had told her he was in love                     with her. Then they had a photo taken on the bench where Leila had used to sit,                     drinking coffee, and where he had found her sitting that night. Already they had                     so many memories.

                It was the tiniest of weddings.

                Leila wore a cream robe that was threaded with silks that were                     the colours of the changing trees around them and, as James had said it would                     be, her favourite place in the world was spectacular at this time of the                     year.

                James wore a suit but not socks and though he had had his hair                     cut for the day, on Leila’s instructions he hadn’t shaved.

                They just grabbed passing joggers who were happy to stand for                     the brief service that was so terribly important to them but especially to                     Leila, for she wanted to be married before the baby was born.