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One word.
Happiness.
Happiness for the child she was carrying.
And for herself and Qazim. Nothing else mattered. It was really that simple, and now that she had thought of it in that way, the decision that she had to make was somehow ridiculously simple.
She had been running from the truth for far too long. The way Qazim had held her last night in the garden reminded her of his passion for her. She had no doubt that his passion for her was completely genuine.
At least there was that to build on, she told herself. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad or so cold.
It was completely up to Grace. She held the future in her own hands. Not just her own future, but the future of her unborn child and any chance of a future of happiness with Qazim.
What she had seen last night on display with the two happy couples had given her pause for thought. Maybe she could be happy. Perhaps there was a possibility, even the smallest of possibilities, that she and Qazim could make this work.
Maybe.
But however they decided to do this, to begin with it would be a marriage of convenience, because Grace had to be sure that Qazim meant what he said. She needed to see for herself.
And the only way she would be able to be sure would be to take the biggest risk she'd ever taken.
With a growing certainty, she knew there was only one way she was going to know for sure.
Maybe it was time to take a chance on Qazim again.
It wasn't going to be easy, she knew that.
But all that paled into significance significance in comparison to thinking what was best for the child. That was all that mattered.
If she was going to go ahead with this, there would have to be conditions attached. She and Qazim still had a long way to go before things could ever be the way they'd once been.
It would be a long journey back to the happiness they'd once shared. That thought triggered a mixture of regret and unease.
Grace glanced at the open suitcase which lay on the floor in the middle of the apartment. She had planned to start packing early in the morning and head off to the airport in the afternoon.
But now, it was clear that the only option she could choose was the one which had been staring her in the face for the last twenty-four hours.
****
Qazim paced the floor of his apartment. It was three o'clock and he still hadn't heard from Grace. He was beginning to feel a rising sense of desperation, even panic.
Why hadn't she called? She'd agreed to call him this afternoon and tell him what she had decided. When he'd agreed to that, he hadn't anticipated the torment he'd haveto go through while waiting for the call.
The call which would decide his fate.
Their fate. The destiny of their family.
Because, whether Grace agreed with him or not, she and Qazim had made a family between them.
All that remained was to make it official.
With a marriage.
Even a marriage that had been arranged for the sole purpose of ensuring that their child would have parents who would shower that child with daily with love and affection.
Qazim had hardly slept. He'd spent most of the night running over in his mind every possible action he could take, everything Grace could possibly choose to do. Anything that would ensure happiness for all three of them. As far as Qazim was concerned that was all that mattered.
Happiness.
