Sheikh's Lost Triplet Baby Girls: A Secret Baby Sheikh Romance

by Sophia Lynn

  "Am I?" she asked. "I guess I was just thinking about what you must have been like as a kid."

  "I think I must have been a fairly normal child," Abir said.

  "Yeah, just a normal child who was being raised to be a head of state."

  Abir smiled, shrugging.

  "Still a normal child. I ran around the palace shouting and playing with my cousins. I thought my mother was the most beautiful woman in the world. I watched television and played on my computer, made the usual mistakes."

  "I keep looking at the kids and wondering about how much of you they have. I mean, the hair and the eyes are obvious, but it goes much deeper than that. Were you rambunctious like Henry is, or were you more quiet like Hunter? Did you like to climb things like Viola?"

  To her surprise, Abir only chuckled softly.

  "That's very interesting," he said. "When I look at them, I mostly see you."

  She turned to him, wondering if it was a reprimand for how long he had been kept from his children, but he was smiling.

  "In them, I see your courage and your stubbornness. I see how much love you have, and how you have shown them that love is an action as much as it is a feeling. It is wonderful to see three children who are their own people, and at the same time to see someone you… Well."

  Abir turned away, and intrigued, Lia caught his hand.

  "Someone you what?" she asked, and when he didn't turn back to her, she came around to look at him instead. "Abir, what?"

  "Someone you expected to see a play from four years ago, and yet—"

  Lia acted out of instinct. She had never been a particularly fast or athletic human being, but she did have a low center of gravity. One moment she was admiring how Abir's eyes twinkled when he was teasing her, and the next she had put her hands squarely on his chest, giving him a hard shove right into the leaf pile.

  "Lia!"

  "There's a creative process!" Lia cried. "I have had a very busy four years!"

  Abir started to reply, but then he was swarmed instead, Henry and Hunter and Viola rolling over him and covering him up with leaves. His protests were drowned out in their happy shrieks, and for just a moment, Lia held herself apart from them to really see it all, to see the people she cared for most in all the world happy and playing on a gorgeous fall day.

  Days like this don't come around very often, she told herself. You had better savor it before it's gone.

  The idea of this being temporary, even for the inevitable but benign reason of time passing, sent a shiver of fear down her spine, and she dismissed it. If the last four years had taught her nothing at all, it was the fact that nothing stayed. You had to enjoy things while you had them, and in this moment, she had Abir and the beautiful children they had made together.

  "Hey, wait for me, guys," she cried, and she leaped into the leaf pile with them.

  Chapter 9

  Abir

  "I see," Abir said dubiously. "And you think you're equipped for the whole weekend?"

  Lauren, Lia's sister-in-law, nodded eagerly.

  "Absolutely! We have games prepared, and food set up, and the bedrooms toddler-proofed. All we need now is three kids and we're going to be all set."

  "And we're loaning you a security guard, so there's that taken care of," Abir said wryly, and if Lauren was a little nervous about that, there was only a brief moment of unease. His children were royal, and they deserved the protections that went with it. He was willing to explain matters to Lia's family where they seemed confused, but there were risks he was simply not comfortable with taking, not with his children.

  "Um... do we need to feed Nidal while he's with us?" Lauren asked hesitantly, and Abir burst into laughter.

  "Lia asked something very similar," he said. "Don't worry about it. Nidal has a very generous food stipend. You won't even notice he's there."

  "Fat chance of that," Lauren muttered, but then she was off, trailing three toddlers in her wake who were incredibly excited to spend some time messing up a home that wasn't their own.

  In their absence the house felt suddenly very silent, and he turned to Lia, shaking his head.

  "Does your brother think he is really going to get the 'full child' experience by babysitting those three for a weekend?"

  "Well," said Lia pragmatically, "they're either going to find it overwhelming and absolutely not for them, or they're going to find it overwhelming and that they're in love with it. One way or another, we get a weekend off while the kids get to hang out with their uncle and aunt, and we might get to sleep in past seven."

  Abir shook his head.

  "They didn't even turn around to wave goodbye..."

  "Be grateful. Back in the day, when I had to leave for work or something, it turned into a three-man howlfest whenever I had to leave them with Lauren. Lauren thought there was something wrong with her that they yelled so loud, but it was just something that needed a period of adjustment. No big deal in the long run, but man, were they loud."

  Abir winced at the idea of sending off his children while they were screaming. Lia was right, they could scream bloody murder when they put their minds to it, but the truth of the matter was that he wasn't sure if his heart could bear it.

  He followed Lia to the kitchen where she took an apple from the bowl on the counter, taking out a knife to neatly cut it into quarters and then eighths. He realized with a slight smile how very at home she had come to be in his house over the last few weeks, the thought making his heart beat a little faster.

  "Anyway, what are you thinking for the weekend?" she said, offering him a slice of apple. "I was thinking we could rent all the R-rated movies, make-outs on the couch, maybe just sleeping a lot..."

  Abir took the apple from her, feeling suddenly a little shy. It was utterly ridiculous, of course. He had been the Sheikh of Shujae for two years. He was widely respected in the international community, he was a force to be reckoned with at the negotiation table. And yet, now, confronted by Lia, he found himself more than a little tongue-tied.

  "Actually," he said, "I was thinking about something a little fancier."

  Lia raised her eyebrows.

  "Oh really?"

  "Well, not if you are really set on staying in. I know how tired you've been lately with some of the—"

  "No, no, I am into fancy. Is this fancy and exciting?"

  "It's likely quite dull for many people, but I think that you'll like it."

  "Ooh, all right, I'm in. Tell me what's up?"

  Abir looked at Lia's lovely face. Any trace of her having wanted a night on the couch was entirely gone, and now there was a sparkle in her eyes that he knew all too well. He realized with a kind of wonder that there were never two Lias, the one he knew now and the one he had known before. They were all the same woman, and he loved her as much now as he had when he was younger.

  "Actually," he said thoughtfully, "I don't think I'll tell you. What do you say I show you instead?"

  Lia grinned, because the only thing she had ever loved more than adventures was surprises.

  "Okay, Abir, you have my attention and my interest."

  "Good. Let's leave in half an hour. We're leaving town, and we can pick the kids up on our way back in on Sunday afternoon."

  "Oh, an overnight trip? What should I pack?"

  "Throw a coat on over what you're wearing, and it'll be fine. There are clothes waiting for you."

  Lia's smile turned wry as she shook her head.

  "I keep forgetting what being with you is like," she said. "We're keeping the security guard too, I take it?"

  "Actually we are not."

  She blinked at that, tilting her head to one side inquisitively.

  "No?"

  "My security detail is a great deal less concerned about threats outside of the city. We'll be within an hour of help should anything happen, but... no. No security this weekend. I thought that since the mother of my children was an American, I might as well try out some of this American independence."

&n
bsp; He had expected the grin and the laugh, but he hadn't expected Lia to throw herself into his arms, hugging him tight.

  "Thank you," she whispered. "I get it, I promise I do, but. But I really think this is going to be nice."

  Nice wasn't the right word for what was in Lia's eyes as she looked up to him. What Abir saw there sent a surge of warmth and need through him, and he thought he might have done anything, absolutely anything to make her smile like that again.

  He dropped his head down, and yes, her kiss was sweet enough to drown in, but a few moments later, he pushed her firmly back.

  "Get ready to go," he said firmly. "We have a bit of driving to do, and it gets dark very quickly these days."

  "You're fault for making staying in and getting my hands all over you so enticing," she retorted, but she left for her room with a toss of her head.

  The drive took just a little over an hour on the freeway, and then there was a well-maintained but twisting road that led them up into the mountains. The entire way, Lia was half-turned in her seat, gazing out at the changing colors of the fall and the rolling hills with an expression of rapt fascination.

  "I love getting out of the city," she said with a sigh. "Seems weird, I fought so hard to get out to where the big lights were, and now that I'm actually there, I can see why people choose all of this instead. I never could before."

  "It means you're mellowing," Abir said with amusement.

  "Growing up and growing old, maybe," Lia grumbled.

  When they finally pulled into a narrow drive in a thick copse of trees, Abir came out of the car to open the door for Lia.

  "Well," he said with a grin. "What do you think?"

  It was, as he had been assured, utterly perfect. The cabin was small and tightly built, everything from the sheltered porch to the fenced yard to the single stained glass window over the door entirely right.

  "Oh it's gorgeous," Lia said, and Abir's chest swelled with pride.

  "Come on, let's take a look inside."

  The interior was as cozy as the exterior hinted it would be, and Lia laughed at finding the closet stocked with warm clothes all in her size.

  "You really go all out for the weekend surprises, don't you?" she asked, running her hand along the surface of the writing desk in the corner of the living room. "How gorgeous this place is!"

  "You like it?" Abir asked, unable to keep a grin from his face. This was another thing he remembered, something that would be a part of Lia no matter how old she was. She was open to the world, taking it all in, loving it if she could, and he couldn't have chosen a better quality to pass on to his children.

  "I do," she said. "I love every bit of it. But... are we going to be too far out of town in case the kids need us?"

  "Not at all. This place gets excellent signal, both for phone and for Internet, and it may look desolate, but there's a small town just fifteen minutes beyond. All the comforts of home in the middle of the mountains."

  "I can't believe you managed to rent it in the middle of leaf-viewing season," Lia said with a smile. "I have friends who live upstate, and the number of people who come up to get out of the city and see the leaves change is enormous."

  "Well, it likely helps that I didn't rent this place, I bought it. For you, as a matter of fact."

  All expression drained out of Lia's face, and for a moment, she only stared at him in blank wonder.

  "You didn't," she said softly. "You... you just borrowed this place from a friend, didn't you? You just rented it for us for the weekend, so we could get out of the house for a while..."

  "Well, the sale was finalized just when your brother called over about taking the triplets, but no, this has been in the works for a while. You don't even really have a spot to write at my place, so I decided that I might as well fix that. Made a few calls to some real estate people I know, and they were the ones who found this place."

  "For me?" she asked, her voice small, and Abir started to get nervous. Lia's eyes looked enormous in her face, and she had clasped her hands together as if she needed to keep them from shaking.

  "Abir... Abir, why would you—"

  "Is something the matter?" he asked, coming to take her shoulders in his hands. "Is there something wrong with this place, do you not like it? If you don't, we can sell it off, though I was hoping to bring the kids up at least once or twice this month..."

  One moment it looked as if Lia was on the verge of shaking apart, and the next she had thrown herself into his arms, hugging him so tightly that he laughed with delight.

  "No! Never sell this place, I love it, and I love it, and – and it's all for me? Really?"

  "Yes," Abir said with a laugh. "It's absolutely all for you. It's in your name, free and clear, with the property taxes paid out of a fund in your name for the next twenty-five years, easy to renew if you still want it at that point."

  "If I still want it at that point, are you serious? This place is amazing, and... and it's all for me?"

  "So I keep telling you! Call me selfish, but I would really like to see that play that you have been talking about and writing and working on for so very long. I thought I might provide you with a place to write it, and maybe that would speed things along."

  Lia pulled back only to tug Abir down for a deep kiss. In her kiss, he could taste her excitement and her wonder.

  "You can't do things like this," she said softly, and he scoffed.

  "You keep kissing me like this and nothing in the world is going to make me stop," he advised her, and she grinned.

  "I am going to write that play," she said, "and when they perform it, you are going to have to be sitting in the front row with me, telling me what kind of genius you think I am."

  "That sounds incredible," he said. "Until then, would you like to go out and to see the property that belongs to you? The cabin sits on some ten acres or so, and looking at the maps, I saw that you actually have access to a stream."

  "Yes!" Lia said with excitement, and then after changing from their city clothes into jeans and flannels and boots, they were out and hiking along the narrow trails. The autumn day had taken on a golden glow as the sun hit noon and started its descent, and there was a crispness to the air that Abir wasn't sure he had smelled anywhere else. Everything felt possible. Everything felt beautifully familiar and amazingly new, and as he looked at Lia, her strong legs pushing her up the incline of the mountain, reaching up to examine a curious branch just over her head, he knew that it had less to do with the world, and more to do with who was in it and happy with him.

  Chapter 10

  Lia

  After their hike, their excellent phone signal turned out to be something of a double-edged sword as Abir immediately got a call that he couldn't ignore. With an apologetic face, he stepped out onto the porch to take the call, leaving Lia alone in the cabin – her cabin – for the first time.

  It was too big to be real, a place like this that was all hers. She owned the small house in Queens. It had taken a lot of work, and to be frank, a lot of help from her parents and her brother. She may not have been close with her family, but they had come through for her, and she had been able to raise her kids in a place with some equity, even if sometimes the fridge was a little sparser than she liked and all the furniture was carefully chosen from second-hand shops.

  The cabin was a perfect blend of rustic charm and technological advancement. The kitchen was small but had a dishwasher, and she opened a cupboard in the living room to find a television hidden there. There were two bedrooms, one large enough for an enormous bed, and a smaller room to one side. When she looked in the second bedroom, she smiled to see three small beds there and waiting.

  Hesitantly, she went to sit at the writing desk, and there she got another surprise. There was a brand-new laptop there as well, just waiting for her. She wanted to run to Abir again and to ask him if this was really, really all hers, but she knew he would only smile and tell her that it was.

  Absently, she ran through the
laptop setup, and then she logged into her cloud storage, pulling up the files that had sat unopened for longer than she would have liked.

  “This is really for me,” she said out loud, and for the first time, she thought she might really believe it. This was for her in a way that nothing seemed to be anymore. She loved being a mother, but it had taken everything she had to raise the triplets while maintaining her job. Her brother and sister-in-law helped out where they could, but whatever breaks she got always seemed to result in naps rather than her getting any work done.

  I've not opened it in such a long while – God, before I started at River House. What must it look like? Is it going to be any good? Hell, forget about good, is it even going to be salvageable?

  Lia had been in publishing long enough to know that love alone wasn't enough to make a manuscript work. If it was, every book on her desk would be a bestseller. Her hand wasn't quite shaking when she opened the file that contained The Green, Green Fields, but it was close. She took a deep breath, fighting the urge to slam the laptop shut, and then she started to read.

  It was and wasn't like editing a manuscript at River House. She knew these characters and she didn't, she knew how this world worked, and there were a lot of mistakes, a lot of places where she could tell that she had been lazy or tired or just unable to make a connection that needed to be made. It was rough, even after all the drafts that she had put it through, and more than once, she flinched from something she would have bounced back immediately. She marked the errors where she saw them, which were plenty, and then she lost track of things for a little while.

  “It's not there, it's not even close,” she whispered to herself, “but this is good, yes...”

  She could say it without ego and without fibbing to herself, and she fell into the script, or rather, she dove into it. She started from the beginning, working through the pages one by one with a coarse toothed comb, and then she went back to go over it with a fine-toothed comb. She looked up things that she should have looked up ages ago, she instituted fixes she had been putting off, and she tore the heart out of the script to give it a better one.