Page 52 of Sheikh's Unexpected Triplet Babies

Chapter Eighteen

It was easier than Bedelia thought it would be.

The last few days, so bright and hot and vivid with anger and frustration, were etched indelibly on both their minds, her flight and his fury. However, once they both decided to look away from those moments, they found each other much as they had been before.

After a spate of incredibly busy days working with his ministers and law keepers, Jahin declared himself free from work for at least a little while, and their adventures began again. Bedelia noticed that their new adventures were a little quieter than they had been before, but they were still fascinating lessons in the country that would belong to her children and they to it.

One day, he took her out into the desert after making sure from the doctor that she was strong enough for it. Bedelia would have said that she was of course strong enough for a ride into the desert, but at this point, she found that it was best to simply listen to Jahin. He was far more nervous about her pregnancy than she was, and sometimes, unbidden, he would lay his hand over her belly, frowning with concern.

In the desert, they were met by a man with several birds hooded and in cages on his truck. At a word from Jahin, he showed her how each hunted, how they could strike down a rabbit from on high. She marveled at the fierceness of the golden eagle, the speed of the peregrine and aloof grace of the gray hawk.

"I cannot fly these birds," Jahin said with wistful reluctance. "They will only fly for the man who raised them, who rewards them. It has been many years since I have had the time to pursue falconry, but once upon a time, it was the birthright of all the sheikh's sons."

"Will you teach our children?" she asked, looking after the flight of the enormous golden eagle. It moved slowly, or at least that was the way that it looked from the ground, but when it struck, it was as if there was nothing in the world that could even dream of stopping it.

"What?"

"I would like very much to have you teach falconry to our children, whether they are boys or girls," she said, watching the golden eagle. "I wouldn't like it very much if the boys were favored and the girls left out."

When she turned towards him, he was looking at her thoughtfully, as if she had presented him with something that he hadn't considered before.

"I would," he said at last. "I am not sure it occurred to me that a girl might be interested in falconry--"

"I am," she pointed out.

"--and you are quite right. Very well. Our sons and daughters shall be falconers.”

She turned to him with a slight smile, and the answering smile on his face was slow but lovely.

"You have thought a great deal about what you want for our children," he said on the drive back to the city.

Bedelia rested against his side, drinking in the cool air of his powerful car.

She gave him a slightly amused look. "Of course I have. I think it comes from realizing that for at least a little while, you are completely and utterly responsible for three small lives, ones that eat as you eat, drink as you drink."

"I am the sheikh of Muneazil," he said slowly. "I think of its benefit all the time. I try to think about what is going to be best for it, and I think of how I could improve it. I...I do not know how to turn that into a concern for three children."

He looked so abashed that she couldn't resist. She scooted close and dropped a kiss on his cheek, startling him slightly, she could tell.

"You have to admit that I have a little bit of a head start," she pointed out. "I'm the one who has them inside me, and believe me when I say that that took a little bit of getting used to. You are sort of just feeling your way along this. You have never been a father before."

He laughed a little, a harsh sound that made her blink.

"I have had the responsibility for Muneazil placed on me since I was a young boy," he said, and she wondered at the slight bitterness in his tone. "Every day, I was made aware of the fact that someday the fates of all of the citizens in the country would rely on me as I led them into war or peace."

Bedelia shivered a little at that. She could imagine Jahin as a young boy, so serious with those bright eyes. Had he ever had a proper moment of childhood, where he could be as free and wild as children should be? Had he been allowed? Something about the picture of this man as a young boy weighed down with the issues of a nation broke her heart.

"Is that what you want for your children?" she asked softly.

She rested her hand on his thigh, feeling the way the muscle there tensed and relaxed. The miles of desert rolled out under the car's wheels as he considered her question.

"I do not know," he said at last. "It is true, the pressures of being the sheikh, they are not light, but...they were not as overwhelming as my father made them sound. He trained me well, as did the teachers he found for me. When he died, I was ready, and had been doing some of the duties for quite some time..."

Bedelia let him chew over the issue for a short while, turning it over and over in his head. She knew the conclusion that he would get to, but it was important that he come to it himself.

When he slowly shook his head, it felt like a victory of sorts, warmth deep within her that pulled him in, pulled them closer.

"I don't think so," he said finally. "I want my children to grow up responsible about the world and about their place within it. I would certainly not allow them to be ignorant of what privilege they had, and I would want them to do all the good that they could do...but no, I do not think I would want them to be...to be as weighed down as I was."

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