The next day
Adonis and Demetrius, the twin sons Zoe Lykaios was expecting, come into the world prematurely, and we’ve just visited them at the hospital.
Madeline told me that there are cases of twins in her family, and her mother, Adley, even had a miscarriage of twins once, so there’s a possibility that we might be blessed in the future with twins as well, or perhaps even triplets.
“I’m nervous,” she tells me. We’re inside the elevator, on our way to an appointment with an obstetrician here in the United States. I wish she’d continued with the same doctor from Sintarah, who will probably deliver the baby, but after having taken the risk of a miscarriage when she was almost kidnapped, Madeline wants to make sure everything is alright with the baby before we take the flight back home.
“My mother told me that when she visited you at the hospital, she said that the baby is fine.”
“Yes, she talked to me too, but still, I want to hear it from a second doctor.”
Minutes later, while the obstetrician examines her belly covered in some sort of gel, I can’t take my eyes off the screen. “So tiny,” I say.
“No, within the normal size for the gestation period. Your baby is developing as expected.”
“Thank God!” Madeline squeezes my hand, emotional, and perhaps sensing that we want privacy, the doctor leaves.
“You were scared,” I say because I felt her tension throughout the whole exam.
“You weren’t?”
“No. My mother never gets her predictions wrong. Our child will be fine.” I lean down to kiss her. “We’ll be fine, my love.”
“What happened to that man?” she asks as I help her get off the examination table. “The one who tried to kidnap me, I mean.”
“He was arrested that same day. He’s awaiting trial, just like Adil, who, by the way, is my father’s son.”
“Oh my God!”
I tell her everything I found out: both about Adil’s origins and the fact that he seduced and impregnated Hiba.
I spare her, however, from what he said about his twisted plans and taking her life.
With all the confusion of our separation, I ended up focusing solely on us, forgetting to tell her about the unfolding of the situation regarding her near-kidnapping
“Your brother! What a horrible man, Kamal. I understand him holding a grudge against your father, but against you?”
“I never realized it. I loved him like I loved Zarif and Irfan, as if he were my blood, and the irony of it all is that he was.”
“But he used that and privileges he received to harm you instead of trying to be your friend or even form a family. Your father made a mistake by not acknowledging him as his legitimate son. Knowing your mother as I do, Amapola would have welcomed him into her home with open arms.”
“I believe so.”
“However, nothing justifies what Adil did. He destroyed the life of a poor girl, driving her to suicide.”
“I think Hiba would have done it anyway. Getting involved with another man while being engaged to me would have made her an outcast in our society.”
“Maybe not. She probably wanted someone to take responsibility for the child. We’ll never know, but the fact is that Adil is a vile human being. I’ll never forgive him for putting our child’s life at risk.”
“Nor will I, my wife. He’ll pay for what he’s done. That’s a promise.”
Chapter 55
Two and a half months later
Kamal and Madeline’s Wedding Day (Nikah)
“You look beautiful. I almost feel like getting married again,” Zoe says, hugging me.
