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“I hoped you might say that,” Mahindar informed with a smile. “But please, let me first introduce you to my wife. Sheikha Arabelle. Arabelle, meet our neighbor and friend, Aisha.”
“Such a pleasure to meet you,” Arabelle said with a smile.
Aisha cackled again. “Oh, aren’t you a lovely one. And his wife, no less! I never thought I’d see the day!”
“It just took the right woman, Aisha,” Mahindar said in a teasing voice that held a somber note.
Aisha looked her up and down. “I believe you’re right. She’s no shrinking violet. She’s just what you need.”
Mahindar chuckled as he followed Aisha into her home, clasping Arabelle’s hand even as he ducked in the doorway and drew her into the surprisingly tidy hut with its bamboo floors and tiny kitchen and lounge room.
A big pot sat on the gas stove where a flame just barely flickered with enough heat to keep the fish stew inside it warm. Aisha explained, “I keep the gas lit all day to keep the pot barely simmering. It’s had all the flavors you could imagine from various vegetables and meats over the years. I simply add the stock, herbs, vegetables and whatever protein I’m eating for the day and reuse the master stock the next day. And so on.”
Arabelle was intrigued. She’d heard of the process, unlike anybody who lived in the western world who would throw out leftovers after a day or two. It would be frowned upon and thought unhygienic to reuse stock time and time again.
She inhaled the complex scent that suddenly infiltrated the home. “It smells divine.”
Aisha clapped her leathery hands. “Good. Good. You will try some?”
“I’d love to,” she said with a smile, accepting the seat her husband pulled out for her at the four seater square table. There was nowhere else one could eat. The single armchair in front of a laptop on a little desk was clearly for Aisha alone.
Minutes later a bowl of fish stew was placed in front of her and Mahindar, a basket of homemade bread rolls put into the center of the table along with a big jug of what was probably the date arrak she appeared to enjoy.
Aisha sat and grinned. “Let’s eat!”
Chapter Fourteen
Arabelle leaned back and patted her stomach. “That was delicious.” She smiled at Aisha. “Thank you for you hospitality.”
Aisha grinned, her already thin lips almost disappearing. “Oh shush, dear girl. It was the least I could do. If it wasn’t for Mahindar I wouldn’t be here right now.”
He sighed and placed his spoon into his bowl as he looked at the older woman. “You know how I feel about that.”
Aisha cackled. “Oh, you and your silly guilt. If it wasn’t for you I’d probably be imprisoned back in the same gilded palace I ran away from. Except I have no doubt I’d be in chains with bloodied whip marks on my back.”
“And I would have started a war to get you back.”
Aisha cackled. “A war that would kill many innocents to save one? I’m flattered my dear boy, but neither of us wants that. Better that I hide away here in paradise than risk anyone else getting hurt in my dear husband’s quest for revenge.”
Mahindra nodded. “This house was only ever meant to be temporary. I never wanted you to stay so isolated and alone all these years. You could have at least lived in the village.”
Aisha shook her head. “You know how people talk and gossip spreads. I might have been tracked down. No, thank you. I live a simple life and I couldn’t be happier for it.”
Arabelle blinked at Mahindar. “So you helped Aisha escape from an arranged marriage while agreeing to one yourself?”
Aisha shook her head. “Your husband wasn’t even alive when I was forced to marry fifty-six years ago. I was sixteen when I wed Sheikh Ramirez who was two years older than me, and who already had three wives.” She sighed and looked into the distance. “I managed to escape after enduring my husband’s sick cruelty for too many years. But I was fast running out of places to hide and people to trust when Mahindar brought me here to live out my years in peace.”
“So you were on the run until recently?” Arabelle asked.
Aisha nodded. “Until a decade ago. It wasn’t fun, but I did meet some good men in that time, many of whom might have sheltered me if I’d asked. But I couldn’t risk their lives. Still…I’d do it all over again than be forced into a lifetime of terror.”
“I’m sorry for what you went through.”
Aisha leaned forward and grasped Arabelle’s hand with bony fingers. “Don’t be sorry for me. I’m happy now. I just hope you’re happy too. Unlike my husband, Mahindar is a kind and generous man.”
He looked away, as though uncomfortable with the praise.
So he should be! All Arabelle had ever wanted was to fall in love with someone of her choice, not have that choice made for her! But he’d taken that away from her as well as her career before it had even began. “I don’t have my freedom, either.”
