Wanted: A Baby by the Sheikh(45)
She finished her water and walked along the corridor, lined with priceless artworks, to the office. His door was open wide and he along with two others were seated around the table, already going over the arrangements, down to the most minute detail.
“Taina.” He smiled. “Come and join us. We were just going through the last minute changes to the guest list.”
Taina hardly registered his comment, more struck by the warmth of his tone, so different to how it had been just weeks ago. “No, that’s fine. I’ve seen an earlier one. I guess there are no major changes to it?”
“Just a few tweaks.”
“Then I’ll let you get on. I’m only here to make sure you have the latest presentation materials.” She waved the memory stick. “I’ve already forwarded it to you, but I’ll just leave this here.” She looked down at a dozen other similar memory sticks. “Hm, maybe I’ll just make this final one a bit more distinctive.”
She returned a few minutes later with the palest pink nail varnish and proceeded to paint the outline of a flower onto the stick. She held it up to him.
“A kielo, if I’m not mistaken,” he said.
“Now you can’t get it confused.”
She waved goodbye and left them to it. She returned to her bedroom, drew the curtains closed and lay on her bed and was instantly asleep.
“Taina.” Daidan’s voice swept like a wave into her dreams, rousing her gently. He kissed her and her eyes fluttered open. “You’ve been asleep all day.” He frowned. “Are you feeling well?”
She stretched like a cat. “I’m feeling better now.”
“Dinner is served on the terrace.”
She knelt on the bed and put her arms around him and nuzzled his neck. “Hm, I think I’m in the mood for something pre-dinner.”
He grunted. “I take it you’re not meaning an aperitif.”
“You take it right,” she said as she unbuttoned his shirt.
“It’s just as well it’s a cold platter,” Taina commented as she lifted the lids on the trays a few hours later.
Daidan sat down opposite her. His face was shadowed in the twilight that counted as night in midsummer. It would last only a few hours before morning broke again in the early hours. An owl hooted from the trees and the water lapped against the small pebbly beach under the deck. “If it had been a hot dinner, I’d have dealt with you in a much shorter time.”
She threw a bread roll at him and annoyingly he caught it and ate it. She sat back and picked at her food. “It’s so beautiful out here. Some of my favorite memories of Mama are of her sitting out here in the summer evenings, just dreaming, listening to music, talking in a low voice to Papa. When it was time for me to go to bed, I’d creep to the open window so I could hear them. And I’d go to sleep to the sound of their voices, their soft laughter and the murmur of the water.” She sighed.
“Special memories.”
“Yes. White nights. Mama had white-blond hair and loved beautiful clothes. Clothes that floated in the air, light as gossamer. They suited her personality. Magical, ethereal. Not quite at ease in the real world.”
Daidan reached for her hand. “I’m sorry.”
“Not as sorry as I am. I miss her. I would have liked her company for longer. Liked to get to know her better. Liked to laugh with her like Papa used to do here, on the terrace.”
“You can do that with your own children.”
“Yes.” The thought made her happy. She suddenly remembered her queasiness. Could she be? After dinner she’d check. It seemed hard to believe that she’d fall pregnant quite so easily, but it wasn’t out of the question.
“And what, Taina, are you grinning at?”
“Just a thought.”
“We’ll have children, Taina. Just be patient.”
She didn’t say anything. Just looked up at him and smiled.
Taina paced up and down the bathroom as she waited for the pregnancy test to perform its magic. She’d bought some tests after their first lovemaking, but they hadn’t all been used since she’d gotten her period. Though it had been lighter than usual… Of course she couldn’t be pregnant. When had anything she’d wanted so badly come to pass? Patient? She’d only been patient up till the moment she realized she could be pregnant and then each minute until they went to bed had seemed like an hour.
She stopped at the basin upon which the pregnancy test stick was balanced. Nothing. She sucked in a harsh breath. Ridiculous. Her aching need to be pregnant had lessened with each passing week with Daidan. She still wanted children, but not with the same obsessional drive. What had been a sharp pain, motivating everything she did, had turned into a dull ache she could live with, which didn’t drive everything she said and did. She was with Daidan and, miraculously, they were happy. But then this… And now it seemed her whole life depended on whether that thin blue strip appeared on the test stick.