IT WAS KUMU who brought Flo’s breakfast in the next morning and it took more than a moment for Flo to register that it was Christmas Eve.
Not that it felt like it here in the desert kingdom.
‘How did you sleep?’ Kumu enquired as she placed the breakfast tray on Flo’s lap.
‘Very well,’ Flo lied, and then asked a question. ‘Kumu, have there been any deliveries for me?’
‘If there were they would have been sent straight to your room. Is there anything you need that I can get for you?’
‘No, I have everything.’ Flo smiled. ‘I just...’ She held in her disappointed sigh. ‘I thought my family might have sent something for Christmas.’
‘I shall look into it myself,’ Kumu said. ‘If anything comes, it shall be delivered straight to your suite.’
‘Thank you.’
‘Flo, I know that we don’t do Christmas here, but I wondered if, as a treat, you might like to sleep in the western wing tonight. The view of the desert at sunset is spectacular.’
‘It’s lovely of you to offer...’ Flo smiled ‘...but, no, thank you. I really like it where I am.’
‘You’re sure?’ Kumu checked.
‘Absolutely.’
It was madness, Flo knew, yet the first thing she had done when Kumu had opened the drapes had been to check for Hazin’s plane.
She could read the insignia on the tails a lot better now and it soothed her to know that he was still here. Yes, he had promised not to leave without saying goodbye, but men would promise anything after a good blowjob.
And if that was crass, she was only being crass with herself, because distance from him made Flo bully herself. And that bully rearranged her thoughts until she had decided that she had thrown herself at him in the hammam.
And though they had both enjoyed it, there had been nothing since then bar that brief exchange after his speech. Flo picked at her breakfast and then cast her mind back to yesterday and the moment they had shared.
Not now, Flo!
She could still hear his words and feel the tension with which they had been delivered. Flo could kick herself for being insensitive and for saying what ten thousand people yesterday had surely already said to him.
From all Flo could gather, Hazin had not returned to the Palace last night.
Where had he spent the night?
Give it up, Flo told herself, and hauled herself from the bed.
Yet she could not let it go.
She had known from the start that he came with a warning attached.
Yet it wasn’t his reputation or other women that concerned her.
It was Petra.
Flo, dressed in a soft, indigo velvet robe, stepped out onto the balcony and tried to shift her low mood. It was cold, though not, Flo thought, cold enough for it to be Christmas, not while the sky was so high and blue.
And his plane was still here.
* * *
Of course there were no decorations in the palace. Flo noted their absence as she made her way to Maggie’s wing.
‘Morning.’ Maggie smiled and greeted her friend. ‘Have you had breakfast?’
‘I have.’ Flo nodded as she wandered in and took a seat on one of the couches. Maggie came and sat with her and they gazed out at the stunning desert view. ‘It feels odd not to be hitting the shops today,’ Flo admitted. Usually she was the last of the last-minute Christmas shoppers but had made sure that she’d got it all done before she’d left. ‘It doesn’t feel like Christmas at all.’
‘I feel bad that I’ve let it slide.’
‘Well, you’ve been pretty busy.’ Flo shrugged. ‘I’m just a Christmas tragic.’
‘And this is going to be your worst.’
‘No.’ Flo shook her head. She didn’t want Maggie feeling guilty. ‘I’m having the most amazing time and I am so glad that I came. It was last Christmas that was the worst ever.’
‘Oh, that’s right, while I was away you broke up with...?’ Maggie frowned. ‘I can’t remember his name.’
Flo smiled at her friend’s irritation with her own brain.
‘What was his name?’ Maggie said, clicking her fingers in exasperation, as if that might make his name suddenly appear.
Flo decided it was time to share with Maggie his rightful description—and it was far worse than one that began in B and ended in D. ‘His name was Married Man.’
‘Oh, Flo.’ Maggie put her arms around her friend. ‘Why didn’t you say?’
‘Because I was just so ashamed. His wife came in to have her baby...’
‘You poor, poor thing.’ Maggie was completely lovely. ‘You could have told me.’
‘I know, I just didn’t know how.’
It was since she’d told Hazin that she’d felt if not better then a little less brushed by the shame. ‘I do know how to pick them, don’t I?’
‘You really, really do.’ Maggie sighed and then told Flo what little she knew about Hazin. ‘Apparently he came back very late last night and left early this morning.’
‘Do you know where to?’
‘I don’t,’ Maggie said, and then her voice was serious. ‘Though he’s asked to speak formally with Ilyas tonight. Ilyas seems to think that now Hazin has got the speech out of the way he’s going to formally request to step down.’
‘And how does Ilyas feel about that?’
‘He wants Hazin beside him.’
‘Don’t we all,’ Flo said, and then buried her face in her hands. ‘I’m sorry, Maggie, my disaster of a love life is the last thing you need to hear about right now.’
‘It’s exactly what I need,’ Maggie said. ‘I’ve missed you so much, you know.’
Maybe she could address it? Flo thought of Hazin’s suggestion to talk about what was on her mind. But Flo did not want to heap pressure on Maggie now and tell her her insecurities about the future of their friendship. So instead she did what she did best—shook off her mood and pushed out a smile.
‘I’ll be fine.’
‘Better than fine,’ Maggie said. ‘I’ve told the hammam to expect us this afternoon! I think we could both use a spa day.’
It was a very different Christmas Eve indeed.
Flo left Maggie and met with two nursery nurses who would be helping once the baby was here. She also spoke with the palace elder who went through a few details about what was required after the birth had taken place.
‘There are already people gathering and watching activity at the palace. It is one of the reasons that we prefer the birth to take place here. It allows the family some time before it is announced to the world.’
‘How long before it is?’
‘That is a choice for the parents. For Ilyas it was two weeks after his birth and for Hazin I believe it was a couple of months.’
‘A couple of months?’
‘The baby is brought onto the balcony, or that is what used to happen. Ilyas says that the announcement shall be made on the day the baby is born but the balcony presentation can come afterwards, whenever Maggie is ready.’
Flo could more than see the merit of giving birth here without the world waiting impatiently to hear the news. Maggie was shielded from a lot of what was happening, for certainly Flo would not be telling her about the crowd already gathered. It really sounded as if Ilyas had done all he could to ensure his wife was well looked after.
And that included having Flo here.
After lunch, she and Maggie made their way down to the hammam, but Maggie could not relax at the foot massage. She was just as tense through all the gorgeous treatments so Flo suggested they go into one of the pools.
The water was bliss and just the right temperature. Maggie lay on her back as Flo leant over the edge and stared out at the desert.
It was late afternoon and in a couple of hours the sun would be setting. Flo could have accepted Kumu’s kind offer and had that view all to herself.
Yet she had placed herself on Hazin-watch, furtively checking for his plane and all too aware that at any moment he could leave. It sounded as if he would tonight.
He was surely stepping down.
Why else would he want to see Ilyas?
And it made her sad.
There was a guilty shard in her soul that relished the thought of him living in London and the chance it might give them, but mostly she was sad.
She didn’t blame him for turning his back on his parents, who had treated him so abysmally, but the people all loved him so much, that was clear to Flo. And, despite his rather staid exterior, Ilyas wanted to right the wrongs that had been done to them and to have a relationship with his brother. Yet Hazin pushed away anyone who attempted to get close to him, that was abundantly clear.
And so she would close her drapes on the view tonight and stop watching for planes leaving and searching for signs.
She had a job to do.
Maggie was in pre-labour, Flo was quite certain, for she was irritable and unable to relax, though the water seemed to be doing the trick now for there was a lovely feeling of calm.
Flo was on Maggie-watch now.