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And then there were footsteps, and he was standing there in the doorway, Rashid—her Rashid—his dark features and golden skin standing out in his snowy white robes. So handsome. So darkly beautiful.
‘Tora,’ he said, blinking as if she were some kind of vision. ‘But how—?’
‘Kareem helped me.’
‘But you came back,’ he said, as if he couldn’t believe it, his eyes full of wonder as his eyes drank her in.
‘How could I not come back?’
‘But after everything I did, after all the wrongs I did you.’
‘You did some right. You helped Sally and Steve when they had nowhere else to turn to. You did a good thing. Steve’s doing well. It’s a miracle and we all have you to thank.’
‘What else could I do? I had to do something.’
‘It was a good thing you did. A generous thing. Thank you.’
‘Thank you for coming to tell me that.’ He gave a small sigh, a brief smile. He was a man at a loss. ‘Did you want to see Atiyah? She’s sleeping now, but you can stay a little while?’
‘I’d love to see her.’
‘That’s good.’ He looked around as if for Kareem, frowning as he seemed to notice for the first time the candles and the decorations. ‘I imagine Kareem’s organised a suite for you?’
‘Rashid.’
‘What?’
‘There’s another reason I came.’
His eyes grew wide. ‘What?’
‘When I left here, I wanted to hate you. You made that harder with what you did for Sally and Steve—’
‘That doesn’t make up for what I did.’
‘I know. But while I sat there supporting Sally, I had time to think. And I thought about all the time that I watched you struggle with responsibilities that had been thrust upon you, struggle with the demands and needs of a tiny child you’d never asked for from a father who’d cast you into the world alone, even if to protect you—I thought about all that time, and how I could see you were a good man.’
‘I was not good to you.’
‘Not then, it’s true, but what man would act differently when he’d been subject to the turmoil of your life, when he’d felt betrayed by the most important of people, his own father? How could he trust anyone ever again?’
‘I should have trusted you.’
She put a finger to his lips to silence him. ‘What’s done is done. Can’t we draw a line under what happened in the past? Can’t we start anew?’
She saw hope swirling in the deep blue depths of his eyes. ‘What are you saying?’
‘I’m saying that, once upon a time, you hinted that you loved me, at least a little. I’m asking if you still do, and if you would do me the honour of marrying me, for real this time.’
‘Marry you?’
‘Yes. Because I love you, Rashid, for better or for worse. But I hope it’s for ever.’
‘Yes!’ he cried as he picked her up in his arms and spun her around. ‘A thousand times yes. I love you so much, Tora,’ Rashid said, his lips hovering over hers. ‘You have turned my life from a desert into an oasis. You have given life where there should be none. I owe you everything. And I will love you to my dying day.’
Tora smiled beneath his lips. ‘As I will love you, Rashid. Aisha told me you desert brothers don’t fall easily, but you fall hard.’
‘I never expected to fall in love. I didn’t think it was possible. But now I can’t imagine a day in my life without you being in it.’
‘That’s good,’ she said, ‘because I don’t plan on going anywhere without you.’
‘You’ll never have to, ever again.’
And they made love there that night, in the Pavilion of Mahabbah, the pavilion of love, the first night in all their nights of for ever.
EPILOGUE
THEY WERE MARRIED for the second time in front of the iconic sails of the Sydney Opera House alongside the sparkling waters of the harbour on which pleasure craft made the most of a perfect sunny day. Overlooking it all sat the magnificent backdrop of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The bridal procession was strikingly original, a confection of sheer joy, and headed by the combined children of the desert brothers and their wives strewing rose petals and jasmine flowers, the older children holding the hands of the younger ones and guiding them back to the red carpet when they strayed off course or got distracted, to the delight of all the assembled. Behind them came the three stunning matrons of honour wearing gowns in glorious jewel colours, ruby, emerald and sapphire, the Sheikha Aisha and Princess Marina and the blonde, blue-eyed Amber.
