Sarah's body was finally free of medications and unattached to machines, however, the doctors wanted her under observation. After her parents left for breakfast that morning, she went to take a shower and ditched the hospital gown she had been forced to use. Instead, she changed into a pair of polka dot pajama pants and a purple tank top her mom brought her from the apartment. She sat on her bed with crossed legs and started going through the many get well soon messages on her social media.
"Morning, beautiful!" Hamdan greeted as he came in.
It was her second day in the Presidential Suite, that featured a hall with three doors; one for the patient's room, one that led to a spacious sitting room and the last for a guest bedroom, where her parents had spent the night to be close to her. All around, the suite had cream colored floors and was exquisitely furnished and decorated in shades of gold, brown and beige.
"Hey!" She welcomed him with a big smile and extended arms.
Hamdan gave her a peck on the lips but she quickly pulled him close by the neck for a longer kiss.
"Where are your parents?" He mumbled with his lips against hers.
"Having breakfast. You can properly kiss me." She replied.
With his fingers tangled up in her hair, he kissed her like she had requested. They had not shared a moment like that since before the accident and Sarah felt a shiver go down on her spine out of the mixed sensations of Hamdan's soft lips and raspy beard.
"It's funny how scared you are of my dad." She observed attempting to control her laugh.
"He hates me." He acknowledged while still holding her and with wide open eyes.
"He doesn't hate you."
His eyebrows shot up on his forehead. "He won't even look at me!"
Sarah giggled.
"Did you talk to him?" He asked.
"No, I feel like he's avoiding me."
Hamdan exhaled with a worried look on his face and let go of her as he lifted his gaze to all the flower arrangements she had received. They had at least doubled in number since the day before when Hamdan was there.
"Seems like everyone has sent you one except for me." He said sitting down next to her. "That one is impressive." Hamdan admitted pointing at the biggest arrangement in the room, with a cascade of roses in different shades of pink.
"It just arrived. Guess who is it from." She challenged wiggling her eyebrows.
"Uh... Tom?"
Sarah shook her head.
"One of my sisters?"
"They have sent me some but not that one, no."
"I give up." Hamdan shrugged.
Sarah pressed her lips together for a moment before answering. "Mansoor."
Hamdan frowned. "That little punk!"
"And it came the funniest card!" She picked up the white envelope from her side on the bed and gave it to him.
The card inside had the drawing of a blue whale and it said Get whale soon! underneath. Inside, there was Mansoor's signature with an smiley face.
"It's so funny!" She chuckled while Hamdan looked at it.
"You two will be the life of the party at family gatherings." Hamdan teased sarcastically pretending not to find the card funny at all, but she could see the corners of his mouth going up a bit.
"The one your mom sent is still my favorite." She beamed staring at the white orchids next to her bed, still in disbelief about their new reality.
It took for Hamdan to tell the story of what happened while she was in a coma, at least three times for her to start believing it was true and fathom on everything Sheikha Hind had said.
He intertwined her fingers with hers. "I asked her not say anything about our plans until we talk to your parents. I don't want to do anything without their blessing."
"I'm sure we will get it, don't worry." She reassured squeezing his hand. "Listen, about that, with everything that has happened I was wondering if we could keep things simple. I know I said I would go with the flow but now I don't think I would be comfortable with a gigantic wedding."
"Good. I prefer simple too and I'm sure everybody will understand."
"And about the date..." She shifted in the bed. "I completely forgot that your birthday is in November! Should we push the wedding back to December?"
Hamdan's face fell. "What? No! My birthday is only one day! Who cares?"
"I care!"
"Well, then we can move the date to October, not push it back."
Sarah narrowed his eyes at him. "I thought that everything my heart desired--"
"Yes. After we're married, not before." He warned with his index finger pointing at her. "So October it is."
At that moment she decided to not discuss the date again or they could end up getting married the next month.
He smiled as his eyes traveled down on her. "Hey, what happened to your sexy gown?"
"Ugh! I asked mom to bring me these. I'm done with that robe or whatever, and hospitals and doctors!" Sarah rolled her eyes. "I don't want to see a doctor ever again."
"Hopefully you won't have to until you're pregnant."
"Woah!"
He was truly an specialist at dropping shock bombs when she least expected it. In a matter of seconds, she was getting married one month earlier and getting pregnant. Life with Hamdan was going to be anything but dull, that was for sure.
"What? We'll just have ten kids." He waved his hand carelessly.
"No, we won't!" She corrected.
"Why?"
"Because I don't want to spend the rest of my life pregnant!"
"Come on..." He leaned in with puppy eyes and kissed her shoulder. "Can you blame me for wanting to have an army of mini us with you?"
"You know I do want to have kids, but my mom struggled for years and years and didn't get pregnant until I came along and that was when they had given up already."
Hamdan straightened up with a serious face.
She pushed her hair behind the ear before continuing. "Sometimes I fear that the same thing might happen to me and here you are wanting to have an army of children."
He scooted closer to her. "I don't know if I can have children, I've never tried to, same as you, but I want to marry you anyways." He held her chin to make her look up. "Do you want to marry me even though I can't guarantee that I can have children?"
A smile played on her lips. "Yes."
"If we can't get pregnant then we'll just have fun trying!" He winked and made her chuckle. "And we can always adopt."
Sarah gasped. "That would be awesome! Even if we have ten biological kids, which is not happening..."
"How about five?" He suggested.
"No! Three, you like number three, three is a good number."
"Uh... we'll see. Anyways, did the doctors stop by today?"
"Not yet, but last night Dr. Nehme said I would probably get discharged the day after tomorrow!" She replied while making a happy dance.
"And your parents are staying for a few days, right?"
She nodded.
"Because I was thinking that maybe you could stay at one of my places. I have this beach front house. It's quiet and completely private, the three of you could be more comfortable there and get some rest."
Sarah pouted at the kind gesture. "Thank you. I'll tell them about it."
The main door opened and Sarah heard her parents' voices. Much to her surprise, Hamdan let go of her hand and stood up. Bri greeted Hamdan with a hug but Pat only gave a very general good morning to the room that suddenly had a awkward atmosphere.
"I should get going." Hamdan excused himself. "I'll stop by later."
Bri said how nice it was to see him while Pat started going through one of the informational brochures of the hospital. Sarah found the whole situation ridiculous and decided to address the elephant in the room once and for all.
"Love you." Hamdan whispered in her hear, before kissing her cheek and leaving.
"How was breakfast?" Sarah wondered.
Her mom grinned. "Delicious! I'm finally starting to enjoy eating again."
"I'll be watching TV in the sitting room." Pat informed somberly.
"Dad!"
He stopped and turned around.
"Can I talk to you?" Sarah asked.
Bri glanced at both of them. "Just got a new book, I'll be reading in the bedroom." She left them alone, patting Pat's chest before walking through the door.
Her dad stood with his hands inside the pockets of his khaki Bermuda shorts. Sarah could not recall a time she felt more anxious talking to her dad about anything. It was always easy telling him about whatever it was going on with her life but she suspected that he was really hurt about her keeping such a big secret from him.
"So..." She began, completely unsure about how to start the conversation.
"I can't believe you didn't tell me." Pat blurted out.
"I'm sorry, dad," she apologized. "But I knew it was not going to be easy for you."
"Well, what do you expect? He's a Sheikh! The Crown Prince!" His hands left the pockets and fell to the sides. "And we are not royalty, we're just simple, hard working people."
"Hamdan is simple and hard working." She pointed out.
"You know what I mean, the two of you have completely different backgrounds and up bringing. Does his family even know?"
Sarah pointed at the orchids arrangement. "Those are from his mom, yes they know."
"Isn't he supposed to be with a Sheikha?"
"Times change. And believe me, all these questions and doubts I had them! I was scared!"
Pat started pacing up and down in front of her. "And what are you to them? His girlfriend? I don't think so..." He scoffed.
Sarah looked down at her hand. Her bracelet was at its rightful place once again, after Hamdan put it back on her wrist the day before. She did feel bad about keeping things from her dad, but at the same time felt glad that he found out until that point, at which she had the strength and courage to take a stand, defend their love and not let anybody make her feel insecure about their relationship.
"Something more..." She hinted.
"Excuse me?"
Sarah fixed her eyes on his. "We want to get married, dad."
"What?!" His tone went up. "No!"
"Why not?"
"This is insane! How long have you been together?" He questioned.
"A few months..."
"A few months and you want to marry him?" He asked with a grimace.
"Yes! And it's not like we're getting married tomorrow, we're thinking about October."
"You have a date?" His face turning red.
"Not exactly."
"When were you planning on telling me?"
"The accident changed everything, but I'm doing it right now! Mom doesn't know about this."
Her dad inhaled deeply. "Well, if you want my blessing, the answer is no."
Sarah's heart was crushed, Pat was not even giving them one chance. She understood his fears very well but could not figure out if her dad was aware of what his attitude was causing her.
"I thought you trusted me!" She contended. "You said so yourself, that you trusted me enough to recognize when the right man showed up! And Hamdan is the one for me!"
Pat shook his head. "You're not thinking straight."
"What are you implying?" She felt heat coming from her stomach and expanding to her entire body. "That I'm starstruck? That I'm dazzled at the fact that he's a prince? You know me better than that, raised me better than that!"
"That's not it."
"Then what is it?" She questioned raising her voice as well.
Patrick remained silent with his head hanging low.
"What is it, dad?" She insisted.
Sarah got off the bed and stood in front of him holding his big hands in hers, the cool tiles contrasting with the warmth of her soles.
"Dad, look at me."
Her mind recalled the conversation they had while walking in the beach in Cartagena. For as long as she could remember, her father had trusted her with blind eyes, was always so supportive and her number one fan. But at the time of making the biggest decision of her life, he was behaving like she had never seen him before.
"Look at me and tell me you don't see it." She begged looking up to him, knowing very well that the spark he had told her about was there for the entire world to see.
Pat stared at her with a tense jaw. "Sorry doll, but the answers is still no."
***
I got sick but still managed to write this chapter between sneezes, haha!
Have a great weekend and please, vote and comment.
XOXO,
Sophie.