His breath stilled. “We agreed that we would wait.”
“We argued about it and you commanded me as if that was enough,” she threw back. “I know you didn’t want to know, so I won’t force you—”
Her name was an entreaty on his lips as he begged her to tell him. And the minx teased him. “You’re going to be the death of me, habeebti.”
She rubbed her finger over his lips, as if she couldn’t bear to not touch him. “Only if you promise that you won’t tell your father. This is the only way I can pay him back.”
His smile slipping from his face, Zafir tried his hardest to not scowl. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. But be assured, Lauren. He’s not going to have a single say in our life, in our child’s life.”
So Zafir hadn’t forgiven Rashid and yet, he had come for her.
“It’s a boy, Zafir,” she breathed against his mouth. Then she wrapped her arms around his middle and kissed his chest, held him through the tremor that shook him. “A son who’ll be just as handsome as his father, I hope.”
He kissed her temple reverently, his mouth curved into such a beautiful smile. “I love you, Lauren,” he whispered again and again, against her mouth. “You’re my heart, my friend, my family, everything.”
“Zafir?”
“Yes?”
“Will you do something for me?”
“Anything, Lauren. I’m yours to command.”
“Try to forgive your father. Please.” When he began to retreat from her, she held his hands. “He...came for you, Zafir. He...pushed me and eviscerated me...just to see if I was worthy of you. He...he knew you’d do your duty by Behraat and still, he came...only for your happiness.”
“He will only make our life hard, habeebti. Why do you ask this for him?”
Lauren traced that aquiline nose, his brow, his sensuous mouth with trembling fingers. “For you, Zafir. Forgive him for you. Forgive him for grabbing his happiness the only way he could with your mother.
“You know, amidst all this, I realized something. It was her choice, wasn’t it? To live with him, to love him, to make a life with him the only way she could. And as to why he didn’t—”
“He told me why. He was afraid for my life. So he had it put out that I died along with her and then had Arif bring me back to him when I was four.”
Lauren waited, the haunted expression in his eyes twisting her. “I wish I could bear this pain for you, Zafir. I... All I can do is tell you that I love you.”
His forehead leaning against hers, he smiled. “That is not a small thing you give me, Lauren. Your love is everything to me, habeebti. With you by my side, I can take on the entire world. Even my father.”
“You. Me. Forever,” she said lightly and her reward was the look of utter joy in his gaze.
EPILOGUE
KAREEM ALEXANDER AL MASOOD was born four months later, a chubby, black-haired, golden-eyed bundle that gave his father, the magnificent High Sheikh Zafir Al Masood, the fright of his life when he’d balled up his cheeks for a full five seconds and bellowed at the top of his lungs when he’d held him.
The look in Zafir’s eyes every time he held Kareem and that deep, visceral smile for Lauren, it filled her with joy and gratitude.
Over that first month, true to his promise, Zafir tried his level best to spend time with their son and Lauren. Most often than not, his visit got interrupted even with all the contingencies in place.
And Lauren told herself to have patience.
Six weeks after Kareem was born, Lauren had taken a bath, dismissed the maid who was watching Kareem and settled down to feed him. It was around four and suddenly the night stretched in front of her felt long and interminable.
And then there stood Zafir looking down at her, a content smile on his face.
Lauren pressed a kiss on his hand when he cupped her face and leaned against him as he silently settled on the armrest. “Hmm... I’ve forgotten how good you smell,” she said, trying to swallow the rush of love gathered in her throat.
She’d barely seen him this past week. Even exhausted as she was mostly with Kareem and sleep-deprived, she had missed him so much.
They sat in silence. When Lauren finished with Kareem, Zafir took him, cuddled his son for a little longer and then called back the maid and handed him over to her, before dismissing her once again.
“Your evening is mine,” he declared, pulling her out of the recliner. When she looked at the retreating maid in question, he clasped her face, his golden gaze smiling. “He’ll be close, Lauren. There is a number of staff that’ll be watching him. They’ll bring him to us when he needs you.”