Amy had made her opinions known on whether Zaid should have been told of Calum’s existence from the moment Rebecca told her who he was. But now was not the time for her sister to side with Zaid. “There is potential for unrest in some of the poor sections of Sharjah. I don’t want Calum around if anything happens,” Rebecca argued. She closed her eyes and counted to ten when she caught her sister rolling her eyes at her.
“Judging from the amount of security around here, I don’t think there will be any difficulties protecting him,” Amy countered. “Not everything is worst case scenario simply because people live in poverty.”
“You haven’t seen what I’ve seen, Amy,” she insisted. “If you had, you’d be concerned, too.”
“Maybe,” Amy admitted, “but look at them.” She nodded to Calum and Zaid playing on the couch.
She watched as Zaid and Calum sat with their heads together. Her son lifted his head and smiled at her; as Zaid whispered something in his ear making him laugh that little boy laugh that always made her heart beat harder with love for her little man. The Zaid who sat in front of her now, with their son, was a far cry from the business-minded Zaid she’d come to know. He was gentle and caring. He laughed with their son while they played. He talked in silly voices. He let Calum call the shots while they were playing. It was an amazing transformation, and it happened right before her eyes. She wouldn’t have believed it any other way.
She was still furious with him for bringing both Calum and Amy to Sharjah without her permission but a part of her knew that if the situation were reversed, she would have done the same. Seeing the way he was with their son, she began to have other feelings, feelings deeper and stronger than anger. She realized the dad her son had been missing, the father Calum would have had all along, if she’d reached out to Zaid. She had been too proud to admit that her family upbringing had made it difficult for her to accept that Zaid would be a good father or that Calum could have a normal childhood with both parents involved.
“Hey, mom,” Amy teased, “you should get in there and play with them too. They look like they could use a woman’s touch.”
“I don’t know,” she hesitated. “He needs some time with his father. This is the first time they’ve ever even seen each other in person.”
“And why is that?” Amy asked in an accusing tone. “Why did you keep them apart for so long?”
“You know why I didn’t want them to meet,” she reminded her sister.
“Listen,” Amy insisted in the Sheikh’s private quarters, “regardless of what your reasons were, they are together now, and you owe it to both of them, and to yourself, to be a part of it.” She pushed her sister. “It’s so obvious how much you still care for Zaid. Do you really want to give that up? Now, get over there and act like that’s your family, because it is.”
Rebecca gave in and sat on the couch on the other side of their son. “Do you guys mind if I join in?” she asked.
“Uh-oh,” Zaid said through the action figure in his hand. “Mommy’s onto us, kid. We have to hide.”
The boys laughed and moved their action figur
es to hide them. As soon as the toys were out of the way, Zaid looked at Rebecca and said, “We’re fine now. What’s up?”
She’d never seen that look on his face, the utter happiness he seemed to be feeling with his son there next to him. He was glowing, as he gave her a silly smile.
“I just wanted to know if I could play,” Rebecca said.
Zaid looked at Calum, who was hiding his action figure behind his back, and asked the boy, “What do you think? Should we let your mother in?” he asked.
Calum nodded with a big smile, and the three started playing together.
Rebecca began to realize what she had been missing as well. She saw before her the opportunity to finally have a real family.
11
After Calum and Zaid played together for a while and the excitement of it all began to wear off a bit, Rebecca noticed Calum start rubbing his eyes. When he snatched his action figures back from Zaid and refused to play anymore, Rebecca decided it was time to cut things short.
“Kiddo,” Rebecca said, “it looks like it is somebody’s bedtime. Are you feeling tired?”
“Uh-huh,” Calum said with a little whine to his voice and nodded his head.
Zaid scooped him up in his big arms. “He can sleep in my bed,” Zaid whispered.
“That’ll be fine,” Rebecca agreed.
“I’m feeling pooped, too,” Amy chimed in. “I can stay here with him while you two go grab a bite to eat. I imagine you have a lot to talk about after today.”
Rebecca cocked an eyebrow at Zaid. “We do,” she agreed.
“A lot,” Zaid added. “Are you sure you don’t mind?” he asked Amy.
“Not at all. We have this down, don’t we kiddo” she asked as she reached to rub his back. “We’ll be fine.” She looked around the Sheikh’s quarters. “Besides, this is like an apartment. You’ve got everything I could possibly need in here.”