Seduced By The Sheikh Surgeon

‘He said I had four months left to go,’ Leila answered. ‘I was getting worse and I insisted that I be flown to a medical facility overseas. My husband and the healer were very opposed to the idea but I demanded it. In Dubai they said that I had to deliver the baby and that my blood pressure was very high. I called my husband and he said the healer had told him it was too soon and that the baby would die and that I needed to come home. Fatiq flew to Dubai to come and bring me back home...’

Leila started to cry in earnest then. ‘But by then I had delivered and the healer was right. A few hours after my husband arrived our son died.’

‘I’m so sorry,’ Adele said.

‘I have a picture of him.’

Adele got Leila’s bag and watched as she took out her purse and showed them the tiniest most beautiful baby. ‘We named him Aafaq, it means the place where the earth and sky meet.’

‘It’s a beautiful name,’ Adele said, and she looked at a younger Leila and a man who looked very much like Zahir and was probably around the age his son was now.

They were both holding their tiny baby and he was off machines.

‘What a beautiful baby,’ Adele said.

They were a beautiful family, Adele thought, despite the pain. The King’s arm was around his wife and he was gazing down at his son and you could see the love and sorrow in his expression.

‘We cannot even speak of Aafaq,’ Leila sighed. ‘There is too much hurt there to even discuss that time. I think that my husband blames me for turning my back on the healer and yet he loves me also. I want for us to be able to speak about the son we lost but we can’t. Aafaq would have been twenty-five years old next month and time still hasn’t healed it. I miss him every day.’

It was so sad, Adele thought, and she continued to hold the older woman’s hand as Maria examined her. A while later an ultrasound confirmed fibroids and Maria went through the options.

‘We have a private wing here and I can speak with the consultant gynaecologist, Mr Oman. Or you can be transferred to the hospital you’re already booked into, though I doubt they’d operate tomorrow. You might need a few days to rest and recover from this bleeding.’

‘I think I would rather stay here but I shall discuss it with my son. Will you speak with him, please?’ Leila asked Maria. ‘He will be so worried and I am so embarrassed.’

‘Stop thinking like that,’ Adele told her. ‘Zahir is a doctor, he deals with this sort of thing all the time.’

‘Adele’s right,’ Maria said. ‘Can I tell Zahir that you were already planning to have surgery?’

‘Yes.’ Leila nodded. ‘But please don’t mention what I said about Aafaq.’

‘I shan’t. Do you want him to come in when I’ve finished speaking with him?’

‘Please.’

‘Check first, though,’ Adele called, as Maria left. ‘I’m just going to help Leila freshen up.’

Adele left to make preparations so that she could give Leila a wash and change of sheets. When she came back into the cubicle Leila was staring at the photo but then she placed it back in her bag.

It must be so hard for her, Adele thought, not to be able to speak of her son. She wondered if Zahir even knew about the baby his mother had lost.

‘Were you going to tell your husband after the operation?’ Adele asked as she washed her.

‘Yes,’ Leila said. ‘I might even have told him before or got one of my sons to. I know it is hard to understand our ways,’ Leila said. ‘Most of the time I am very grateful for the care I receive. There are times, though, that more is needed.’

Aafaq had been one of those times, Adele guessed.

Soon she was washed and changed.

‘Thank you for caring for me,’ Leila said.

‘It’s my pleasure. I’m just going to take your blood pressure again.’

She was doing just that when Maria checked that Leila was ready to receive visitors and a concerned-looking Zahir and Dakan came in.

They came over and Zahir gave his mother a warm embrace and spoke kindly to her in Arabic.

‘It’s okay,’ he said. ‘You could have told me that you have not been well.’

‘I have been trying to deal with it myself.’

‘Well, you don’t have to. You have two sons who are doctors.’

‘The healer seems to think...’

What was being said, Adele did not know but she watched as Zahir’s jaw gritted.

‘Zahir, don’t just dismiss it out of hand. The potion helped at first but in the end was not working. It was the same when...’ She didn’t finish.

Zahir looked down at his mother’s swollen eyes and he knew that she would have been asked about previous pregnancies.

And he knew that subject must not be raised by him.

‘When things were getting no better, the healer suggested that when I was in London perhaps I could see someone.’

Zahir frowned. ‘He suggested it?’

‘Yes,’ Leila said, ‘but please don’t tell your father that. I don’t want the healer to get in trouble.’

It was a long afternoon that stretched into the evening. Dakan got paged to go to the ward and Zahir saw patients while keeping an eye on his mother.

Mr Oman came and saw Leila. It was decided that she would be admitted to the private wing and that surgery would take place on Monday.

‘For now we’ll have you moved somewhere more comfortable and you can get some rest.’

He spoke with Zahir on his way out. ‘You know that I shall take the very best care of her.’

‘I do. Thank you.’

‘Try not to worry. It will be a laparoscopic procedure and there will be minimal downtime.’ Mr Oman said.

Zahir knew that.

It was a straightforward operation that his mother had had to travel for ten hours to get access to.

Dakan came in to visit again and they persuaded their mother that Fatiq, the King, needed to be informed as to all that had happened today, and finally she agreed.

‘Go easy on him, Zahir,’ Leila said, for she knew how they clashed, especially on topics such as this. ‘He will be so worried and scared for me.’