Page 8 of The Sheikh's Secret Family

“And that’s what we’re celebrating,” Tariq added. After Emelia’s words, he felt even more guilty for not telling her the truth, but there would be time. He could come clean later, before the end of the semester. Just for tonight, he would let them both enjoy the feeling of being in love without any complications. He would let this moment of completeness rest in the air between them. “Now, let’s eat!”

They both settled in, side by side. Emelia reached across Tariq for a piece of flatbread at the same moment that he turned towards her to ask for the hummus. Suddenly, their faces were only inches apart again and Tariq had a sudden, overwhelming feeling that they wouldn’t be eating dinner just yet. He couldn’t even imagine being hungry right down, despite the delicious smells wafting up from the takeout. All he could think about was Emelia, how beautiful she was in the flickering light, how much he wanted to hold her in his arms.

Emelia seemed to be feeling the same way, because she leaned ever so slightly forward, brushing a kiss across Tariq’s cheek. He felt the warmth of her lips even after she drew away, like the kiss had left a permanent mark. Tariq wouldn’t have minded. Reaching for Emelia, he pulled her closer and into a deeper kiss. They kissed for a few minutes, still as sweet and soft as ever, but with a new kind of urgency. Tariq needed to be close to her. Then he pulled away, feeling breathless.

“Em,” he said, his voice coming out lower than usual. “I would never want you to do anything you’re uncomfortable with, but I did want to mention that we have a bed here.”

He nodded behind him and saw Emelia’s eyes widen. “Let’s go,” she said, just as breathless as he was.

In one fluid motion, Tariq helped Emelia to her feet and she twirled to sit on the bed, just as light and graceful as ever, reaching for him. There, in the flickering candlelight in early spring, they gave in to the pull that had been drawing them together since the first day they met.

CHAPTER5

EMELIA

The weeks since Emelia and TJ had confessed, and acted on, their feelings for each other had flown by. Emelia was still spending every possible moment with TJ, but they both seemed distracted. She was worried about the upcoming finals and about how much TJ seemed to be hiding, while TJ often seemed lost in thought about something. Emelia had no idea what, because that was one of the things he seemed to be hiding.

Emelia loved TJ, she knew that. But she didn’t love his secrets. Even worse was the fact that she seemed to be one of his secrets, too.

Without meaning to, she’d overheard a few more conversations between TJ and his parents in which he talked about hanging out with groups of people when really they were alone together. Emelia worried that he was ashamed of her. And she worried about what would happen when the year ended. Would they at least be able to stay in touch when he went home? She had hoped that, after their night together and that pull she’d felt as they confessed their feelings, things would change. She’d hoped that TJ might share his secrets with her. But, despite the obvious love that they shared, TJ still didn’t trust her.

She shook her head, taking a deep breath and turning her attention back to her lecture. She was taking a statistics class, part of her university’s general education requirements. It was always hard for her to focus on a topic that didn’t much interest her, but on a day like today, when the weather outside was finally sunny and warm and Emelia just wanted to go see TJ, it was even harder.

Emelia glanced up at the whiteboard and quickly copied down a few graphs into her notebook. She was definitely going to have to reread the textbook chapter for today’s class afterwards, because she had no idea why she was copying down something about flat and fat tails. It reminded her of beavers more than statistics.

Satisfied that she had at least taken some notes, she sat back in her chair, smoothing a hand across the open page of her notebook. Just then, a bout of nausea hit her and Emelia reached for the box of crystalized ginger she’d started carrying around with her. In the last few days, she’d been feeling sick to her stomach and the ginger was the only thing that helped. She knew she was probably feeling sick because of exam nerves and worry about TJ. She almost always felt bad around this time of year. Still, it was annoying.

The professor finally announced the end of class and Emelia gathered her things, hurrying out into the warm day outside. TJ had classes all afternoon, so she wouldn’t see him until they met for dinner later that evening. That meant that she had a few hours to prepare for her Spanish final exam on Monday. All she needed were a few more boxes of crystalized ginger and she’d be ready. A new purpose in her step, she headed towards the convenience store that was on the edge of campus.

Inside the store, she headed straight for the candy aisle and grabbed her ginger. Then she added a jar of peanut butter and a bagel. Emelia hadn’t had lunch yet and was starting to get hungry. As she was walking towards the counter to check out, she passed the feminine care aisle and faltered for a moment. Did she need to buy something for her period? It had been a while since she’d had it.

Pretending to look at a shelf of different hand soaps, Emelia counted back to the last time she’d had her period. It had been the day that TJ had surprised her after class with a box of cookies and taken her off on an adventure across campus to look for the signs of spring. They’d stopped under a trellis of blossoming vines in the garden and TJ had teased her about her bud report between kisses. That had been… almost six weeks ago.

And Emelia had been sick to her stomach this week.

“You’re just being silly,” she muttered to herself. Still, cheeks flushing red with embarrassment, she grabbed a pregnancy test off the shelf on her way to the checkout.

Back at her dorm’s private bathroom, she took the test and sat on the edge of the bathtub for several long minutes, waiting for the results. Her heart was pounding too fast, but she kept taking deep breaths. Emelia’s life had been full of unexpected twists. She could handle whatever happened next. Especially with TJ by her side.

Finally, after the longest five minutes of her life, Emelia crossed to the sink where she’d left the test. There was no mistaking the results: two small lines had appeared in the testing window.

Emelia was pregnant.

For a fraction of a second, her future seemed to flash before her eyes. She’d planned to travel, go on adventures, finally be free to be just herself. Then those dreams disappeared like a soap bubble popping and Emelia felt a flood of something she hadn’t been expecting: love and protectiveness.

This wasn’t a great time to have a baby, that was true, but Emelia already loved her child more than she could say. It was instant and intractable. Suddenly, her head was full of a new dream: walking her child to school for the first day of kindergarten. Teaching her child how to ride a bike and tie a pair of shoes and swing on a swing. Holding her baby in her arms.

Emelia had always loved children. She’d adored her younger foster siblings and had even worked as a babysitter in high school to help save for college. And now she was going to have a child of her own. Yes, things would be harder. Emelia would have to figure out finishing school with a baby. But she could do it, could do anything, for her child.

Her and TJ’s child.

Another rush of feelings flooded through Emelia. She could imagine a child with TJ’s big brown eyes and long eyelashes, with his sense of humor and his unassuming kindness. But she couldn’t imagine how TJ himself would react when he found out that he was going to be a father. If he couldn’t even tell his parents about Emelia, how on earth would he tell them about a baby? And he was planning to go back to Al Salyah in just a few weeks. Would he stay here when he found out?

Maybe TJ would be excited, though. Maybe, like Emelia, he would love their child even before he or she was born. Maybe they could shop for baby clothes and brainstorm names together. Maybe, hopefully, he would still love her despite this unexpected change in plans. Either way, Emelia had no choice. She would tell TJ about the baby. What he did next would be up to him.

Taking a deep breath, Emelia washed her hands, grabbed her things, and headed back up to her room, giving an apologetic wave to the small line of students that had formed outside the bathroom. Luckily, her roommate was away, so Emelia could flop onto her bed with a loud groan and reach for her cell phone without worrying about being polite. TJ was still in class, so Emelia sent him a quick message asking him to call her when he had a chance. Then she closed her eyes, one hand resting lightly on her stomach, and started thinking about her plans. She would need another part-time job, maybe a deferment for her final year of college…

Emelia woke up with a start. How had she managed to fall asleep right in the middle of the most dramatic day of her life? Reaching for her phone, she checked the time. It was just after six — she’d only slept for a few hours. But TJ should be out of class now.

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