The Sheikh's Baby Scandal(49)

‘But I am now,’ she said. ‘And I am much stronger for your love. I shall always have that.’

And then Rina was the bravest she had ever been.

‘Come what may.’

Still, even now, they could not properly discuss her infidelity—and not just because of pride or shame, but also because walls might have ears and whispers might multiply.

‘Speak to your eldest son, Omar. Now. Before it is too late. Offer him your full support.’

Rina stood after Omar had left and tears were streaming down her face. Oh, she knew how her husband and eldest son protected her, but she was a good queen and it was time for the people to come first.

And Rina had not lied.

She was stronger for her King’s love.

Nothing could take that from her. Even if the law dictated that Omar must shame and divorce her, still she would have his love.

* * *

‘Kedah?’ Omar caught up with son. ‘Can I walk with you?’

‘Of course,’ Kedah answered.

‘Your presentation left me speechless. I had never considered using murals on the east-facing walls. It would be an incredible sight.’

‘They could tell the tale of our history,’ Kedah said. ‘Of course scaffolding would be required to shield the beach during construction...’

‘We are not at war now,’ Omar said. ‘Those rules were put in place at a time when the palace risked invasion. I pointed that out to my father many years ago...’ He gave a low laugh. ‘You are like a mirror image of me. When I see your visions it is like looking at my own designs...’

Kedah turned in brief surprise. ‘We are nothing alike.’

‘Not in looks,’ Omar said. ‘But we think the same.’

Kedah did not believe it. His father was staid and old-fashioned in his ways.

But Omar pressed on.

‘You were right to challenge me in the office. When I studied architecture with Hussain we had such grand plans. My father said that once I had married he would listen to my thoughts. I returned from my honeymoon with so many plans and dreams. Your mother was already pregnant with you, and I can remember us walking along this very beach, talking of the schools and the hospitals that would soon be built. Your mother, being your mother, looked forward to the hotels and the shops. They were such exciting times. There was such an air of hope amongst the people. But even by the time you were born those dreams had died.’

‘How?’

‘My father preferred his own rules.’

For a moment they stopped walking.

Even though the old King was dead it was almost a forbidden conversation.

‘He had always said that when I was married—when I was officially Crown Prince—then I could have input. And so I married. I chose a bride from a progressive country.’

‘For that reason only?’ Kedah checked.

‘He was just delaying things, though. By the time you were born I knew he would never listen to what I had to say. It was a very difficult time...’ Omar admitted. ‘I was young and proud and I had promised your mother so many things—she had come from a modern country and I wanted the same. I wanted our people to prosper from our wealth too, but my hands were tied. I became very angry and bitter. I spent all my time trying to convince my father to listen to my ideas—travelling with him, pointing out how progressive other countries were. Your mother was in a foreign country with a new baby, but I had no time for either of you...’

They walked in silence as Omar remembered that difficult trip away, and coming home to a grim palace and a wife who had been utterly distraught.

And then had come her confession.

And as Omar remembered the past Kedah better understood his parents, for he could envisage how undermined his father would have felt. For a little while he pondered how he might feel, bringing Felicia here, to a land full of promises that did not come true.

‘You have a good marriage now,’ Kedah commented.

‘We have worked hard to achieve that.’ Omar nodded. ‘I had been so caught up in my own ego that I forgot what it must be like for your mother...alone in a new country, with no one to speak of her problems with...’

Except Abdal.

‘When did you realise you loved her?’ Kedah asked—not just because he was curious about his parents’ marriage, but because it was a question from his own heart. Suddenly he could not bear to envisage a future without Felicia. Their conversations, their laughter, their occasional rows...he just could not see himself doing those things with anyone else. And yet she was flying further away from him with each moment that passed.

‘When?’ he asked again, for his father was lost in thought.

Omar was thinking back to the day Rina had confessed what had taken place and his reaction.