Only Olivia had no idea where Zamir slept. She crept from one room to the other, finding nothing but empty beds. At the very end of the corridor, there was a staircase, and she climbed it slowly.
It led to another floor upstairs. The layout was identical, but the room formation was different. Some of these were bedrooms, but many were sitting rooms or formal state rooms. The fifth room along had a wedge of golden light flicking from under the door.
It could only be Zamir.
She pushed it inwards without knocking, and caught him in an unguarded moment. He was staring at the window, his body in profile. And his face was set in a mask of deep and perplexing thought.
Olivia moved to him, and without speaking, she lifted a finger to his lips. Her eyes met his, then she dropped her hand to link her fingers through his. A breeze rustled in the window and stirred her hair around her face.
He scanned her expression with both hope and fear. Was he about to have his worst fears confirmed? Or all his hopes in the world answered?
“I don’t know what to say to you,” she said finally, a small smile on her lips. “I’m so angry with you! I can’t believe what an idiot you’ve been.”
He closed his eyes. “Nor can I, believe me.”
“I have only ever loved one person. One man. That’s you.” She bit down on her lip. “When you left Vegas, I almost fell apart, Zamir. I’m not prone to melodrama, but you need to understand the power you have over me. You left, and a huge part of me died. I was beyond miserable. I was unrecognisable. I couldn’t eat or drink or think, or sleep.”
He couldn’t help but drag his eyes over her too-skinny frame with a gnawing sense of guilt.
“It is my biggest regret. I look back on that night and I want to reach back through time to shake myself. How could I have been so stupid?”
“You can’t go back in time,” she murmured, remembering her conversations with Ra’if.
“I know that. And I’m failing completely to fix the present,” he said with a frustrated quality to his words. “I will do whatever you ask of me, but please, tell me what I can do.”
“Yes. That’s what I came here for.”
She sucked in a deep breath, and with it, she breathed in courage and faith, trust and hope. She pushed out worry and doubt, anger and resentment. And then she smiled up at him, the man she loved. The man who was so inexperienced with love that he had been wrong-footed almost the entire way.
“I want to see that ring again.”
His eyes widened.
“But not now; not just yet.” She lifted a hand and put it on his heart “You asked what I need of you? I need you to think. To really, truly think about what you want.”
He nodded slowly.
“If you give me that ring again, I need to know that you mean to make me the happiest I’ve ever been. I do love you, Zamir.” She smiled tentatively when he let out a huge breath of relief. “But if you offer me that ring I need to know that I’m making a good decision. That you understand that I’m trusting you again, and that you have hurt me in a way I don’t ever want to feel again. I need you to admit, in giving me that ring, that you won’t ever break my heart like you did when you left Vegas.” She bit down on her lower lip. “We were never a vase that could be broken, so much as a vase that is constantly changing to house different flowers. What we were in Vegas is not what we are now. We’ve both changed. You changed me, as I did you. I’ve grown. But love isn’t something that can easily pass, and I don’t want it to. I love you in a way that I will carry with me always. If you promise to be respectful of that love, I will share it with you again.”
He opened his mouth to speak but she shook her head. “Not now. Think now. You say you left Vegas without thinking. You brought me here without thinking. Do not let our marriage be something else you do without thinking. For God’s sake, be sure. Be sure when I see you next.”
She walked away from him, and anxiety and uncertainty were filling up her body; but there was hope too, and happiness.
“And Zamir? You should probably speak to your father first. I don’t think he’s going to be happy about this.”
As soon as the dawn rays punctured the steel sky, he went to speak to Faisal. The older man had always been an early riser and this morning was no exception. He sat by the window, reading quietly. At the sound of Zamir’s approach, he placed a finger in between the pages and closed the book.
“Father,” Zamir said respectfully. He rarely called him by this title, and it caused Faisal’s brows to lift expectantly.
“You know why I have come to see you.”
“Ah, yes. The American who does not
love you,” he cackled. The joke was one only he understood.
Zamir was impatient. “Olivia, yes.”
“Well, you had better sit down and tell me, then.”