“So?”
“So, you are intelligent and resourceful. I will not always get my way.”
“I need to know that you won’t act without thought to my feelings. I don’t want a marriage based on a series of one-upmanship competitions.”
“We are not children.”
“Agreed.”
“I did consider your feelings.”
“And yet you still called your father with the news.”
“Waiting to do so would only cause you further stress and upset. Prolonging a thing of this magnitude only invites more complications as it becomes more likely the opportunity to act on your own timetable will be taken away.”
“No one knew I was pregnant until I told you.”
“You have not been examined by a doctor?” he asked with clear censure.
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, of course, I have and everything is normal and as it should be.”
“Good. I will expect the family physician to conduct his own exam however.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything else.”
“So, this doctor knows that you carry my child.”
“She knows I am pregnant, not who the father is and she is bound by laws of confidentiality.”
“And you claim you are not naive.”
“This isn’t Zohra, Zahir. Dr. Shirley has no reason to believe the father of my child is a person of interest to the media. I’m hardly one of the glitterati myself.”
“Perhaps that was once true, but things have changed since Amir’s wedding.”
That was putting it mildly. “You mean the very public courtship you were supposedly engaged in?”
“Supposedly?” he prompted, sounding none-too-pleased.
“I left Zohra six weeks ago. Today is the first time I have heard from you.”
“I sent daily gifts for the past few weeks.”
“Without a single phone call.”
“This did not please you.”
“Of course it didn’t, but it didn’t surprise me, either.”
“I cannot claim the same. Your actions after our single night together astounded me.”
“I told you my plans.”
“I thought you were doubting the existence of passion between us.”
“And when you gave me proof it existed, you assumed I would go forward with the plans to marry?” she asked, unable to hide her disbelief at his assumptions.
“Yes.”