Page 10 of The Sheikh's Secret Family

“Okay,” Owen agreed. “But just so you know, I’ll be alittlesad.” He let go of Emelia’s hand and dashed the last few steps to his room.

Emelia followed, trying not to look at the time. It wouldn’t do any good to dwell over how late they already were. This was just the life of a single parent, no matter what strategies she tried to get them out of the house on time.

Eleven minutes later, Owen was dressed in a yellow T-shirt with a green dinosaur on it that he said was okay and they were on the way to the elementary school for drop-off. Owen was telling a long, meandering story about a dream he’d had last night and Emelia was listening with one ear while thinking about her to-do list for today.

She’d recently started a new job at her old university, Stonebridge, as an administrative assistant. It was far from her dream job, but her coworkers were friendly and they let her bring Owen in now and then when she couldn’t find a babysitter. That had happened more over the summer, but now that school had started, she usually didn’t have that problem. Today Emelia needed to get to work on the alumni reunions, which were coming up in a few weeks. As well as getting a final list of which students were coming back, she needed to arrange the speakers, finalize the catering…

“And then I was flying even faster than the airplane!” Owen finished happily with a cute little hop of joy. “Wasn’t that the best dream ever?”

Emelia smiled down at her son, then looked up at the school building. Somehow, Owen’s story had finished at just the right time for school drop-off. “Definitely. Now, head on in and be good today, okay?”

“I’m always good!” Owen protested, but he gave Emelia a quick hug and ran off into the school, calling out a hello to one of his friends.

Emelia waited for him to get inside safely, then turned and walked quickly towards the bus stop. Stonebridge was only a few minutes away on one of Boston’s city buses, but she needed to hurry if she wanted to be close to on time. As she walked, Emelia tried not to worry. Owen was a great kid, but he’d been struggling in school lately and there had been a few incidents.

On the bus, she watched the city outside roll by and slowly turn from redbrick apartment buildings and parks to the spacious Stonebridge campus. Every time she came back here, Emelia felt a flutter of something long lost. Stonebridge had been the place that she had worked hard and learned a lot. It was where she’d met TJ. And it was where TJ had left without a word, leaving Emelia and their unborn baby behind.

Emelia had still finished college after TJ had left, but her senior year had taken nearly three years to complete. She’d had to go on leave for a year when Owen was a baby, then come back part-time while juggling two jobs and a toddler. Her graduation, which three-year-old Owen had attended in his own tiny robes and mortarboard as her only family member, had been triumphant but bittersweet.

Now Emelia had to come back every day. There were good memories, yes, but there was also a lot of struggle and heartbreak. Hopefully, with time, the difficult memories would fade. Although, it had been six years and Emelia still found herself glancing around campus, wondering if TJ might pop out from behind a tree. He’d left an indelible mark on Emelia that no amount of time could erase.

“Morning!” she called as she stepped inside the small office building perched on the edge of campus. It was a lovely fall day out, cool and breezy but not yet cold, and inside it was warm and cozy. Jeremy and Kate, her coworkers, called back their own greetings as Emelia passed them to slide into her desk. A glance at the clock showed that she was right on time and Emelia felt herself relax. She was still pretty new to this job and didn’t want any trouble.

Turning on her computer, Emelia got straight to work. She pulled up the list of classes that were having reunions this year and skimmed them again, then started with the oldest class, which was having its fifty-year reunion. Emelia was surprised to see that a lot of people had already RSVP’d that they’d be attending. She checked the listed speaker for the year, a woman named Annabeth McKinley, and got to work writing her invitation email. It looked like Mrs. McKinley had started a law firm, raised a family, and eventually moved into charity work in her sixties. Emelia hoped she might get a chance to meet her — it was an impressive life.

Throughout the morning, Emelia slowly worked her way forward in time, confirming RSVPs from class years and inviting speakers from Mrs. McKinley for the fifty-year reunion to Mr. Chen for the ten-year reunion. Finally, she got to her own class, which would be having its first five-year reunion this year.

Emelia looked through the list, smiling at the familiar names. There had only been a few hundred people in her year, so she’d known most of them, at least vaguely. It would be nice to reconnect with the people she’d gone to school with, even though she’d graduated with another class three years later in the end. Emelia couldn’t help wondering if anyone would recognize her.

Then she came to the speaker for her year and her eyes widened. Sheikh Tariq Jal Ibrahim was scheduled to speak for her class year.

Emelia squinted at the name. A sheikh? In her year? That didn’t seem possible. She’d known most people, and anyway, a sheikh would surely have drawn some attention. Maybe Stonebridge hadn’t been able to find a good speaker from their year and had gotten someone who hadn’t attended the college? That was the only thing that made sense.

Curious, Emelia copied the name and pasted it into her search bar. A few articles popped up about how Sheikh Ibrahim had inherited the role from his father a few years ago, how he was one of the youngest sheikhs in the history of Al Salyah, and how he’d led the charge for sustainable development and equality in his country. Emelia paused at the word ‘Al Salyah,’ her heart starting to beat faster. It couldn’t be, could it?

She clicked on the ‘Images’ tab of the search and suddenly her screen was filled with a familiar pair of big brown eyes bracketed by long, sweeping eyelashes. They were her son’s eyes. They were TJ’s eyes.

Emelia sat back in her chair, trying to keep her mouth from dropping open in shock. TJ was really Sheikh Tariq Jal Ibrahim? Some part of Emelia’s brain told her that it made sense. TJ — Tariq — was from Al Salyah. He’d been so careful not to reveal any details about his family. And TJ obviously came from his first and middle names, Tariq and Jal.

Another, larger part of Emelia shouted that it didn’t make any sense. The boy who’d made her powdered hot chocolate and kissed her like she was the center of his universe was a sheikh? Emelia had half wondered if he’d been kidnapped when he’d disappeared so suddenly, but clearly, he’d just been off in Al Salyah, ruling over his people.

Emelia clicked back to the listing of speakers and stared at Tariq’s email address and phone number. Finally, after six years, she had his contact information. Her first instinct was to write to him and pass on the news she’d been trying to tell him before he disappeared: that he was a father. That he had a son.

But, before she could pull up her email account and tell Tariq about Owen, she thought better of it. This wasn’t the kind of information that she should give in an email. In the worst case, it could seem like she was lying to try to get money or something. Even in the best case, Tariq would be shocked, confused, and blindsided. No, it was better to tell him in person. After all, he was the speaker for her class. Tariq would be coming back to Boston in a few weeks. She would tell him then.

Instead of anything personal, Emelia sent Tariq the standard invitation email from her administrative account, leaving out the signature bar with her name. She didn’t know why, but she wasn’t sure she wanted him to know it was her, not yet. What if he said no to coming to the reunion when he saw that she was organizing it?

The email sent, Emelia sat still for a moment. Then she refreshed her email, knowing that there was no way that Tariq had already replied, but unable to stop herself. The idea of seeing him again after all these years, telling him about their son… Emelia had no idea what was going to happen, and she was beyond nervous. But she was a little bit excited, too. Finally, after all this time, she would be able to ask what in the world had happened to make him leave so suddenly. Finally, she would be able to tell him about Owen. Finally, she could get some closure and stop wondering what could have been.

Just then, Emelia’s cell phone rang and she stepped out into the hallway to answer.

“Ms. Parker?” Emelia quickly recognized the voice as the principal of Owen’s school, and her heart sank.

“Hello, Mrs. Lawson,” she replied. “Everything okay?”

“Yes,” Mrs. Lawson said, her voice gentle and understanding. “Owen just got a bit upset today during an exercise on family trees.”

Emelia’s heart sank even further. She was pretty sure it was down near the core of the Earth by now. Owen had started asking about his father, especially why he didn’t get to go for bike rides or play catch with his dad like his friends did. Emelia had told him that his father was a great man, funny, smart, and kind, just like Owen himself, but that he couldn’t be with them in Boston. Owen hadn’t come anywhere near accepting that.

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