unless it has been broken, you are still mine.’
‘Alim?’
‘There has been no one else,’ Alim said. ‘There could be no one else. Had you not spoken of other men you would have walked into this room and I would have got down on my knees and asked you to be my wife.’
Gabi laughed.
Still dizzy, still confused, she laughed, because even if he had planned the perfect proposal she would not change how it had transpired.
There was nothing about them she would change.
Even now, could she go back to their first night and be on the Pill, she would not. There was nothing she would change save for the cruel rules of his land, and now her laughter died.
‘Your father will never agree.’
‘Reluctantly, very reluctantly, he already has.’ Now it was Alim who smiled. ‘I am more stubborn than he. I went through the rules and the diktat and then I showed him this image. I told my father that there had been no one else and that that would remain the case, for the rest of my life if need be.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘My father caved in to the Sultan of Sultans’ demands when Fleur would not come to the desert. I told him that I would not.’
And still she did not understand.
‘We think the same, Gabi. For the decision you reached was mine too. We would have more than made it as lovers. I would have come to Italy regularly, and brought you on occasion to the desert, and you would have remained the one and only woman in my life.’
And she stared back at him as he told her just how deep his love was.
‘I told my father that if he did not choose you as my bride, then I would never marry. Kaleb is next in line, Yasmin after that, and they will one day have children. The country is not short of heirs...’
‘You told him that you’d give up your throne?’
‘No.’ Alim shook his head. ‘I would still rule, but they would be my heirs.’
He had thought every detail through and he had presented it to his father, just as he would in any business meeting.
Only this one involved his heart.
‘He knows I am strong, and he knows his own regrets. He agreed.’
‘And Lucia...’ Gabi asked. ‘What will your people think?’
‘My father has been unwell, that is enough reason to have refrained from announcements and celebrations. This photo, of the night I made a commitment to you, is enough testimony of our love.’
It was love.
She had never truly thought she would know it.
Not fully.
An unrequited version perhaps, if she remained with Alim. Or a diluted version if she attempted to move on and meet someone else.
Yet the man she loved had changed his world for a chance for them. And he told her now why he had.
‘Gabi, I never considered love important. I grew up in a loveless, albeit privileged home. I saw first-hand the pain love caused for my father and Fleur...’
He thought back to when love had first started to arrive in his heart.
‘When I came to buy the Grande Lucia you were setting up for a wedding. It was the first time I saw you.’
Gabi thought back.
‘No, the first time we saw each other was the day after a wedding. You had come back for a second viewing of the hotel...’
‘No.’
And Gabi realised then that he had memories of her that she did not know, that the days she had felt so invisible had been days when she had, in fact, been noticed.
‘Marry me?’ he said, and she nodded.
‘Oh, yes.’
‘There is only one problem.’
And here it came, Gabi thought, the downside, for she could not remain on this cloud for ever. She braced herself for impact.
‘It has to be now.’
Gabi frowned. ‘Now?’
‘We’re already late for our own wedding.’
‘You mean now!’
‘The Sultan of Sultans has chosen. I was lucky to buy us even a few days. I have my family gathered, and I went and spoke with your mother; she has given her blessing if you say yes.’
‘When did you speak with my mother?’
‘That is why I was late to meet Lucia.’
Gabi was lying in bed on her wedding day when surely there was so much to be done.
‘Alim...’ She sat up. ‘I haven’t...’
There was panic, because she was a wedding planner after all and this wedding was her very own.
‘There is nothing for you to do. I know you would have dreamed of this day and that it might not be quite what you had planned...’
‘No.’ Gabi shook her head. ‘I never thought of my own.’
‘There will be a bigger celebration in Zethlehan but for today everything is under control.’
Except the bride!
For instead of answering her million questions Alim got dressed and then, having read her note with a smile, he left.
Gabi sat in the unmade bed, unsure what she was supposed to do, so she called her mum.
‘I am so happy for you,’ Carmel said. ‘It meant everything that he came and spoke with me...’
‘You’ll be there?’
‘Of course,’ her mother said. ‘I’m at the hotel now with Lucia and we’re both being very spoiled. I shall see you at the wedding.’
It seemed everyone knew what was happening except Gabi and just when she was starting to think she must have misunderstood the bedside phone rang.
‘Gabi...’
Gabi rolled her eyes at the familiar voice.
‘I can’t work today,’ Gabi started, but then realised that Bernadetta wasn’t calling her to ask her to work.
‘If you’d like to put on a robe, the bridal suite is ready for you.’
‘For me?’
‘Gabi,
