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He gathered her to his chest; it was the ht nestled there, tight against his body If he could protect her from the uncertainty to come, Bahan would He would offer his money and influence, make sure that Sydney was cared for by only the best doctors and surgeons in the world But even he couldn’t buy fate Hopefully the medical intervention would work, but even that was beyond his power and reach For right now, he could hold her, rock her closely and proh time of illness in both of their families

Bahan only wished the e were as real as their pact to take care of each other and their relatives But at least she’d said yes, and that was a start

The wedding had to be in New York They were having it in the deluxe hospital suite he’d arranged for Sydney at the best facility in Manhattan With hisa kidney by the week between Christmas and New Year’s If any of them had been a blood and tissuehim and Fareed on the off chance there was a

He had noticed that with her first set of procedures, Sydney did seem better She slept less and her skin had a far less yellow caste It , at least as much as they could until she received a brand-new Cadillacelse, he didn’t want to take his bride away too early from his sister’s side He wanted her to be able to celebrate everything fully with her faement or not—before they went on their quick honeymoon Because of this, they’d flown in the royal I by the bedside His mother had come as well, and he could tell from the brief interactions he’d had with her so far that she was stewing at this technicality he’d found She’d never been fond of Western girls, or “infidels” as she sometimes called them

He didn’t care

Even if he was only going to have Jennifer Wilde by his side for a couple of years, he was going to follow his heart and his instincts, not tradition To hi so hard to keep her faether

However, as unconventional as the wedding was, he still needed to speak with his father, even if it was only over Skype Part of all of this was for him, so that the current sheikh would see that the country of Yeeneration to coht pass on to the afterlife in peace and harmony

Most of the top floor was sectioned off for them, such was the power of his last name and his position He used that opportunity to slip into a conference roo and to call his father He patiently waited as the call went through, and then his father’s wizened face appeared on the screen His beard was long and seeard face Even in the feeeks that Bahan had been in NYC attending to the e nuptials, he could see plainly how the poor condition of his father’s lungs was eating away at the older man

He bowed low, offering his sheikh and father the respect due to hi that he was a better actor

“I look like shit, as the A a little but then coughing to hi here, and now I do not have the delightful visage of your ”

Bahan laughed Considering how many tiine the reigning sheikha as a cal oasis “Surely you jest”

“I’,” he said “In the olden days, back when I lived with the dinosaurs…”

“You’re hardly that old, Father,” he replied

“Then perhaps in the Middle Ages with those damned Crusaders”

“Perhaps that’s e of the older man Hoould miss his father’s sense of humor when he passed on to his reward “I can see that Did you joust too?”