Every time he got close to her, his mind drifted back to that night. Now, sitting with her on the bed, he felt the magnetic attraction between them. The last night they were together, the night, she’d told him she was his; that he was all she wanted; and he caught himself staring at her now, wondering if she’d managed to keep that absurd promise. He wondered if she’d slept with anyone else since their son had been born, but it wasn’t his place to ask those kinds of questions.
So he just stared and let his imagination have its way with both of them.
Then, there was a knock at the door. They both jumped off the bed as if they were teenagers caught together. Rebecca threw her jacket back on quickly and walked into the living room behind Zaid as he went to open the door.
Zaid cracked the door open to find three people standing there: Hazim, the head of security; a woman who, from her red hair and blue eyes, could only be Rebecca’s younger sister, Amy; and peeking around her was Calum, his son. In that moment, the world stood still.
The photograph didn’t do Calum any justice. The child standing before him was so much more than what that picture had been able to capture, but it was still like looking in a child-sized mirror. His son’s features looked the same as his own.
He saw in Calum’s dark eyes a hint of recognition, as he, too, realized he was looking at someone who bore a striking resemblance to himself.
Rebecca gasped behind him and ran to their son, embracing him in the doorway and throwing an arm around her sister.
“Thank you, Hazim,” Zaid said to the security guard.
Hazim simply nodded and turned to leave.
“Oh my God, what are you doing here?” Rebecca cried out to her sister and their son.
“Zaid had us flown out here,” Amy said. “He insisted.”
Rebecca stood up and turned around behind Calum. She narrowed her eyes in anger at Zaid. “I told you no,” she growled lowly before kneeling down behind her son.
“Calum, honey,” she said slowly, patiently. “I want you to meet someone very special.” As Calum looked at her with interest, she turned him around to face Zaid. “This is your dad, Sheikh Zaid Al-Qasimi.”
Calum looked back up at Zaid with his tiny eyes fixed on his father’s.
“Sheikh?” he asked. “Sheikh dad?”
“How about, just, dad,” Zaid answered, kneeling down in front of him.
Zaid held out his arms for his son to hug him, and as they embraced, he had to fight back tears from all the time he’d missed with his boy. His son hugged him tight, as if he felt the exact same emotions that were surging through Zaid at the moment.
Zaid broke their embrace and sat back to look at his son. He was suddenly extremely proud.
He looked up at Amy and Rebecca, standing in front of him and looking down at him where he’d just been hugging Calum. Neither one of them seemed too pleased with him, but he didn’t care. Meeting his son for the first time trumped anything else that was going on at the moment.
“What’s this?” Zaid asked as Calum pulled his arms back from their embrace to show his father the two action figures he had in his hands. “Are these your toys?” he asked.
Calum nodded solemnly.
“These are neat. Can we play with them?”
Calum nodded again.
“Excellent. Well, let’s come in.” He stood up and gestured for everyone to enter his quarters. The sister followed, letting the door close behind them. Zaid walked with his son over to the couch, where they sat and started playing with the action figures he’d brought with him.
“You brought these guys all the way from home?” Zaid asked.
“Yes, sir,” Calum said politely.
“That’s cool,” he told his son.
“So, you had no idea we were coming?” Amy asked, as the sisters sat at the small table near the kitchen.
“No idea at all,” Rebecca admitted, making no effort to hide how angry she was at Zaid for not telling her he’d had them flown out behind her back. “I told him I didn’t want Calum here.”
“Why not?” Amy asked, looking from one to the other. “It’s long past time that Calum knows about his father.”