Anna to Omar: I have too Y. Deal with the rebels. Come and get me. I will be waiting for you. A
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Even without my passport, the people at the consulate helped me get through customs in time for the flight my mother had booked. As the plane taxied down the runway, I looked out at the tarmac and once again began crying. I was doubting every decision I’d made since meeting Omar Khalid and my heart felt broken in half. He’d not responded to my last text and I knew I had a solid twenty hours of dead air time and no contact from anyone I knew or loved.
I dug in my purse and found the bottle of tranquilizers the doctor had given me after the abduction. I’d not needed all of them, but I sure did now. As soon as we were in the air I asked for water and took two of them, hoping they would knock me out.
I was in a hazy state of sedated and not quite asleep when an official uniformed man knelt next to my seat. “Anna Khalid?” He asked.
“Potts. Not Khalid yet.” I mumbled.
He looked at the little booklet in his hands and nodded once, “Yes, miss Potts. Forgive me. Here is your passport. His Majesty delivered it to me just before I boarded. He also wanted you to have this.”
The official who I now assumed was one of the pilots handed me a small bag with ribbon handles. As he departed, I rubbed at my eyes and wished I wasn’t so foggy from the pills. I tucked my passport into my purse, and then I looked in the bag. There was a note inside, folded in three parts, and also a small ring box.
The ring box held both my rings, the engagement and the sapphire, and I immediately put them back on. I’d missed them and had wished I hadn’t been so hasty in my defiance. Then I opened the note. It was also hand written, like the short one earlier had been, and also in Omar’s perfect penmanship.
Anna, my love, my heart, my one and true reason for living. Our exchange last night and then today caused the ground at my feet to disappear. I’ve fallen into a void of hopelessness at your loss. I am angry at your defiance, but I do understand. Although, I plan on punishing you appropriately when you return to me. The loss of you in my life, in my bed, in my heart, has made me half a man.
Rest assured my love, I will retrieve you. I will claim you once again as mine and mine alone. Be safe in the arms of your family and stay true to your word to wait on me. I will vanquish the rebels and make my country a safe place for you to dwell yet again. For you to reign at my side as their new Queen. Queen Khalid.
The moment you are home, and safe, message me so that I may rest. I am bereft at our separation my love. My heart is broken and I will not be the same until you are returned to me.
Yours forever, Omar.
I held the parchment to my chest and wept in earnest. My heart was shattered and I didn’t know if I could function or go on in a life without him. I cried myself into a tranquilizer induced stupor and I slept through almost the entire flight.
It was almost dark when we landed in San Francisco, and I wearily made my way to the connecting flight. I got a Starbucks mocha on my way through the airport and sipped on it as I wandered. It was nice to be on American soil again. It was nice to see so many other white people in western clothes and speaking English. Having a mocha was the best treat I could have never imagined, and I relished holding the warm paper cup.
Anna: IN SF! 5 hours and I’m home!
Mom: Dad has a limo waiting for you. I’m waiting up.
Anna to Omar: I’m in America. 5 hrs. Home. Thank you for note, passport and rings. I miss you! Heart aches.
Omar to Anna: I am half a man with you gone.
Anna to Omar: That still makes you more than any other man.
Omar to Anna: That is why you are meant to be mine. Soon I will gather you home. I will not stand for this separation to last.
Anna to Omar: I am forever yours. Waiting for you.
Omar to Anna: I love you Goddess.
The flight to Boston seemed short in comparison to the international one, but nevertheless, by the time I got home it was the middle of the night. True to my mom’s word, she was up and greeted me with open arms and wet cheeks.
“I was so worried about you. I am so happy you’re home.”
“Me too mom.”
I went to bed, in my own bed and my own room that felt completely foreign to me. Nothing felt as if it were me. I realized I was an entirely new person after Omar claimed me and changed me into the woman I was now. I didn’t understand how a few short months could alter who I was so dramatically. It was as if the girl that once inhabited this room had died, and she’d been only someone I knew, not really me.
Anna: Home with mom. Hurry Omar. I am dying without you.
Omar: Soon love. I will conquer and then gather you home.
I fell asleep with my phone in my hand and tears in my eyes.