by Ella Brooke
Blinking back at her clock, Juliana refrained from throwing her pillow at it. Red digital letters shone back at her, decreeing that it was still only 3 a.m.
But in Jordan it’s almost noon.
That thought shot as readily into her heart as any arrow.
After four months, Juliana couldn’t resist temptation. Sitting up, she dug into her purse and pulled out her phone. It rang through five times until she figured that Cemal had deleted her number or was no longer interested in dealing with her. After her coldness and strange one eighty, Juliana couldn’t blame him.
Finally, his voice rang out on the other line.
“Kitten? Is that you? Please, it’s okay. I just want to see you again.”
Her breathing came in ragged gasps, and she wanted to do so much. Juliana wanted to tell him that she was pregnant. Fuck, she wanted to video call him and show him her bump, let him know that their love had produced a child who was growing stronger by the day. But words failed her. After all, across the hall was the man she was supposed to marry, the one her family wanted her with. The person who wouldn’t cause her permanent exile from the Caine homestead.
I can’t be cut off. I just can’t.
“Kitten, please, just come back to me. I—”
She wouldn’t know what he was about to say after that. Instead, she clicked her phone off and tried to curl up into a fitful sleep.
***
“Caine, we have to talk,” Karen Grant said as she gestured for Juliana to leave her desk and step into the executive office. “Now.”
Juliana hopped up as fast as she could without dislodging her much needed jacket. Then she made her way to her boss’s office. Things were actually going better for her at Simco Systems. Of course Cemal had given her a glowing review, and her reputation for being the systems whisperer for the smart-house technology was spreading throughout the company. She was doing so well as the emergency person to call with that setup that Ms. Grant was considering letting her pitch her own projects for the company to pursue next. She was setting up a portfolio on apps and ideas for two weeks from now.
Has she changed her mind?
Her throat was dry and her tongue seemed to be too big for her mouth as she shut the door behind her. Slumping down into one of the low chairs in front of Ms. Grant’s desk, Juliana tried to smile as politely and surely as she could.
“Ms. Grant, is something wrong?”
The other woman shook her head. “Juliana, do you think I’m stupid?”
Her heart thudded so hard in her chest now that she thought her sternum might snap. “What?”
“Do you think I’m stupid?”
“I just…usually you don’t call me by my first name.”
“Usually, I don’t have to take the pulse of my employees.”
“I don’t understand,” Juliana said.
“You’re pregnant. You weren’t when you went off to Jordan, and I had the sheikh request for you to stay longer and talk you up in glowing reviews. Don’t get me wrong, Juliana. I know I’m damn lucky to have a higher-up with as much skill and smarts as you have. But I also can put pieces together and that jacket isn’t fooling most of the girls in the office.”
“It’s not?”
Ms. Grant laughed.
“I have two kids and my baby sister is about six months along. I know all the signs well.”
“Are you going to fire me?”
“No. I should lecture you about inappropriate behavior but our asses were on the line with the smart-house system needing as many recommenders as it could get based on the beta testing. You might have saved our roll out.”
“Oh.”
“That said, I actually like you.”
Well that’s been hard to tell.
“You do?”
“I do. You remind me of a young me,” Ms. Grant said, tenting her fingers together in front of her. “You’re talented, driven, and you’re the type of geek who can get her point across to investors, who can actually translate tech speak. There aren’t a lot of us out here in Silicon Valley, and we should stick together.”
“So you’re sad to be firing me?”
“I’m not firing you, but I’m curious to see what you’re going to do. I need to know if my best employee is retiring to the Middle East to literally live like a queen.”
Juliana looked down at her hands. “He doesn’t know. We broke up when I got back here, and I don’t know how to tell him.”
“You can’t just keep it from Sheikh Samara. That’s illogical and wrong.”
“I know but my fiancé and I got back together. We haven’t…it’s been a long recovery for us.”
“I don’t need the As the World Turns dish on your life, Caine. You’re good, but no one’s that good,” Ms. Grant barked.
Now that sounds more like the boss I know and am nervous around.
She had been close to thinking she’d slipped through a wardrobe into an alternate reality.
“I don’t know how to tell him.”
“I think dialing his number on the phone is a good start.”
“I just…what would you do?”
“I’ve done what’s been smart and expedient. I’ve built an empire by forty that even Gates and Zuckerberg would want.”
“Oh, so the smart thing would be tell him but focus on my life in America, right?”
Ms. Grant paused for a long while and stared out the window, seeming to focus on something only she could see. “It’s a good life, so don’t you play any tiny violins for me, but it’s lonely. Sometimes, you have to do what’s smart for yourself too, not just what’s practical. Pardon me for going all Walt Disney on you, but sometimes you have to follow your heart before you wake up and realize it’s not quite working right anymore.”
“I’m sure you still have time and…” Juliana fumbled.
“Maybe, but you better call him, and God, I don’t envy you unsnarling all of this.”
I don’t either.
***
“We have to talk,” she said, her voice ringing out loudly across the dinner table.
Phillip had tried hard to make things better since he’d come back. He still seemed to drink more than he had before she’d found out about Candy and the affair. Today, it was the cooking sherry that he’d seemed to enjoy just a little too much as he prepared the beef tips. She wasn’t sure why, but it was one of the many things bothering her about the mess her life had become since coming back from Jordan.
She and Phillip just weren’t made for each other, and trying to force it was wreaking havoc on both of them.
“Why?” he asked, biting into his rice. “What’s wrong?”
Juliana figured that after four months of hiding that there was no longer a point to beating around the bush. Keeping her head held high, she stood and took off her baggy sweater. Then she pulled up the hem of her T-shirt so that Phillip could see the bump for himself.
“I’m pregnant, and it’s not yours.”
Phillip went deadly still. When he spoke, his voice was low and controlled but cold as ice. “Whose is it?”
“You know whose. Cemal’s.”
“Were you ever going to tell me? It would be incredibly hard to cuckold me when you’re nine months. We’re not even in the same bed.”
“Cemal and I were together before you came back.”
“I had a right to know, damn it!” he said, slamming his fists down hard on the table.
Juliana jumped back and frowned at him. “I didn’t know what to say, and I’m telling you now.”
“Are you going back to him?” he said, standing, and it didn’t escape her notice the way he wobbled a bit on his feet.
“I am. I’m going to call him tomorrow. He deserves to know, and I love him. I don’t care anymore what my family thinks. I’m sick of being miserable just because it ‘looks right’ or it’s ‘what my parents want.’ I want to do what makes me happy.”
“And some guy riding camels in the middle of nowhere does that?
” Phillip demanded, the level of his voice rising so that she scooted back even farther.
“I know he loves me. That he’d never cheat on me.”
“Holding that against me forever?” he demanded, sweeping out his hands and sending the plates clattering to the floor.
Juliana’s heart was pounding even as she eyed the front door. She needed to get out of there. Turning to run, she hurried to the door but Phillip was far taller than she was. He was there right behind her. He slammed his palm flat against the door.
“No, you’re not going anywhere.”
Chapter Thirteen
“She called,” Cemal said over breakfast with Yasmeena and his mother.
He’d taken to sitting with both women early in the morning. Being near them helped him ease the pain in his heart. They’d cared about Juliana too and were as confused and hurt when she cut them from her life so suddenly. It was a small consolation when who he really wanted was an ocean away. Still, he remembered his mother’s words so many months ago. If he let Juliana go and she came back to him, then they were meant for each other. Well she’d called, damn it. By Allah, that was a sign he needed to go get her.
“Did she?” Yasmeena asked, her face brightening instantly.
“Yes, it was her number. I…she didn’t say anything, but she called me at three in the morning. I know she misses me.”
His mother, her hair already elegantly drawn up in a braid, nodded. “I agree it’s most unusual for anyone to call from half a world away that early for them.”
“So is that your way of saying, Mother, that it’s time for me to go and see her?”
Yasmeena grinned more slyly. “I would say that it’s time for you to go and play Prince Charming.”
“Yasmeena” his mother said. “Can you go and check on the women of the harem?”
The older servant stood and shook her head. “If you needed me to leave the room to speak freely with your son, you merely had to say such things. I always honor the requests of my sheikha,” she said, bowing low. “Still, I wish you luck, Cemal. The palace has been far too empty without her.”
You and I agree on that one, old friend.
“Mother, do you have something left to tell me before I hop on the jet?”
She sighed and stood, walking around the table to place her hand on his cheek. He took in a deep breath and freesia tickled his nose. It was the same scent he’d always experienced, the smell that always seemed safe to him.
“I hope she doesn’t break your heart, but I believe if she called you that you’re right and that she misses you as dearly as you miss her.”
“Is this your way to say that you were right?”
She winked down at him. “I never need to say that. You and I both know that my omniscience goes without a word.”
“Yes, you are all-powerful then. Just you and the Wizard of Oz,” he replied, grinning back at her. “I need to get going. I don’t intend to spend another night without her in my arms.”
“Good, but before you go, allow me to give you something for her, a tiding from all of us, since we’ve all waited so long to have her back.”
“Now that I can agree with.”
***
It wasn’t hard to have his sources find out where Juliana currently lived. He was surprised to find that in the four months since she’d returned home, his intel indicated she’d moved to a town forty-five minutes outside of Palo Alto where the rent was lower. Why would she need a newer place? Maybe something bigger, but did that mean someone else was back in her life?
His throat burned with bile at the thought.
No, she was his. There was no way she’d call him again if she didn’t burn for him as much as he did for her.
He stepped up to the front door of her modest rental home, but almost as soon as he did that evening, Cemal heard a loud crash. Alarmed, he dropped his flowers and shoved his surprise into his pants pocket. There was a second crash then and Juliana screamed from inside. Adrenaline pumped into his heart, and Cemal channeled the reckless youth he’d been, that ne’er-do-well from over a decade ago. It wasn’t hard for him to kick in the door. A few deft strikes and it sprung open.
It was just in time for him to see a good-sized man standing over Juliana and preparing to bring his hand down to strike her.
That was all the motivation he needed. Cemal surged forward and tackled the asshole daring to strike his beloved. They hit the floor together in a tangle of limbs. Rolling around, caught somewhat in the other man’s long legs, Cemal was able to sit up and pin the other man at his hips and thighs with his body weight. Then he pulled back his arm and slammed his fist repeatedly into the asshole’s face. The other guy spit blood first; then there was the satisfying crunch of the man’s face and bones under Cemal’s strikes. A few more hits for good measure, even as the other man’s eye began to swell shut, and Cemal stood. The scum wouldn’t be walking anywhere right now. He had to see if Juliana was okay, and then he was going to call the police and paramedics.
Standing, he surged over to Juliana and his jaw dropped open when he saw her curled on the ground. Her shirttail was up almost to her chest and he saw the expanse of her ivory-skinned belly, the one curved prominently with a child.
But was it his?
Dear Allah, what did it matter right now? All that mattered currently was making sure he could help take care of her—that she recovered from what that monster had tried to do to her. He counted himself lucky that he’d taken her call seriously and gotten here in time. He needed to protect her.
Kneeling down, he scooped the woman he loved into his arms. “Shh, it’s okay.”
“I…I can explain.”
“Shh,” he said again. “Kitten,” Cemal continued as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “All you need to do is get better, and the paramedics are going to help you do that.”
***
Juliana was relieved and scared. Relieved not just because the black eye she had would fade but because her baby was alright. Relieved because she’d kicked Phillip to the curb and finally left that toxic relationship behind her. Relieved because Cemal was back in her life. But the fear still crept through her bones. He’d seen her, seen how pregnant she was. Would he think the baby was Phillip’s?
Why wouldn’t he?
Worse, would he realize she’d hidden his child from him so far?
She just didn’t know. It was like her emotions were a roller coaster doing infinite rounds, and Juliana couldn’t track what she felt from moment to moment. All she wanted was for Cemal to visit her. Ms. Grant and a few friends from work already had today, but the person she wanted to see most hadn’t yet, and it very well could be because she’d lied so much.
Then there was a knock at the door.
She smiled despite her fears. Cemal looked as regal as he always was in his well-cut suit and sparkling cufflinks.
“Hey, you’re way fancier than any hospital needs.”
“I want to look good. For helping you and the baby, they’re getting money from me for a brand-new wing. I was signing the paperwork before I could come see you, and I figured I’d look my business best.”
“Well you do.”
“And I come with a surprise,” he said, disappearing behind the doorframe just long enough to come back to her with a massive bouquet of red roses. There must have been two dozen or more in the bundle. “I think you’ll be able to have a nurse get you water.”
“You don’t have to get me anything,” she said, her voice croaking a bit as he came and sat at her side. “I don’t deserve it.”
He shook his head and set the flowers aside on the food table. Then he took one hand between his. They were so large that they swallowed hers whole. “You deserve to be a queen. That bastard didn’t know that.”
“He was my former fiancé.”
“Well soon he’ll be enjoying the California State penal system. I can make him disappear permanently if you like, be shoved in some prison in the most obscure tow
n in Jordan. It’d give me great pleasure.”
“Nah, we should let Cali take care of it,” she said, even though the offer of Phillip in permanent exile in the desert was awfully tempting. “Besides, you might hate me almost as much when we talk.”
“I missed you,” he said, surprising her utterly by leaning up and kissing her, his tongue playing deftly with her own.
Tears sprang to her eyes, and Juliana had no idea why she’d ever tried to make herself happy with a jerk like Phillip when she had the man she’d always loved so close to her. It no longer mattered what her mother wanted. This was her life, damn it.
“You might not for long.”
“It’s okay if you took Phillip back. I can’t understand why, but I love you, and I’ll raise any child with you as surely as if they were my own.”
“I…my mom and dad basically threatened to disown me if I stayed with you. I just wanted them to love me, and I made the biggest fucking mistake of my life. It took misery to make me realize that they’re small, cruel people and I don’t want to be involved with them. If they disown me for loving you, then they’re not worth it.”
He squeezed her hand again and then kissed her cheek.
God, how she’d missed that sweet sting of saffron in her nose.
“I don’t think they deserve you either.”
“But the baby…he’s yours, Cemal.”
“What?”
“Phillip and I were trying to fix things slowly. He had the guest bedroom. It’s why we got the rental house. The only man I’ve slept with in months is you.”
His eyes widened and she expected it then—the angry tirade about how she’d denied him his child, how she was selfish and terrible and weak. These were all the things she already knew about herself.
Instead, he shocked her by getting to his knees and pulling a small, velvet box from his pants.
“You’re serious?”
“Yes.”
“I…your son?”
She patted his shoulder. “Our son. I ran away and then I missed you. Then I figured out what was going on and felt too trapped to tell you anything at all. I am so sorry. I’ll spend our entire lives making up for the four months of morning sickness and my growing baby bump that you missed.”
