Page 27 of Sheikh's Quarantine Triplet Baby Daughters

Samyar

Samyar had never thought of what it would really be like, having Diane in his home, let alone having her in his palace in a time like the pandemic. He had never thought about what it might be like to live with her, and to wake up next to her, and to look forward to seeing her when he had finished with his day's work.

He had never thought about what it would be like to be worried about her every moment of the day because there was a pandemic raging beyond the palace gates, or to worry about what might become of their three children either.

Three.

Dr. Ramamurthy had confirmed it at their last visit, and she had done so with a wry look and a shake of her head.

"Given that you both have multiple births in your extended family, this is not so very unusual. I will caution you both that this could be a complicated birth. This is something that I would far rather see carried out at a specialist birth center rather than at the clinic here at the palace, no matter what facilities we have."

Diane's hand tightened on Samyar's and before he could speak, she did.

"But... with the pandemic going on. We're not sure yet—"

"Babies are born in times of pandemic just like they are in regular times," Dr. Ramamurthy said. "We will of course ensure that you get the highest level of care possible, and that you are protected in every way possible."

"We could start making the preparations now," Samyar mused, bringing Diane's hand up to his lips for a thoughtful kiss. "Find the right hospital, ensure that they are taking all precautions. A lot of things can change in the months until the birth, and we can make sure they are using all the best procedures and taking as much care as they can."

Dr. Ramamurthy nodded.

"That would likely be for the best. I can offer you both my personal choices for the birth in a few days."

Samyar had let the matter settle for a few days, and then he had brought Diane out to eat with him on the veranda outside his room in the evening. He would have preferred to do it earlier, but his policy meetings were running later than ever. As a result, both of them had become somewhat nocturnal. Diane said she didn't mind, and he was too grateful for the comfort of her presence to try to stop her.

"Another awful day?" she asked, coming around to rub his shoulders.

Samyar let his eyes drift closed as her strong fingers seemed to find every knot that had found a home in his shoulders over the course of twelve hours.

"Just long," he said, because he knew what an awful day might look like in a pandemic, and his had absolutely not been like that, especially not when it ended with Diane's hands on him. "The numbers in Alraed are good, especially compared with our neighbors. This puts us in a place to send out aid and to offer at least our policies on how we have kept things manageable. The push back, both at home and abroad has been ridiculous, however, and well. It's fine, or we will make it fine."

Behind him, Diane chuckled, burying her face in his dark hair.

"Fine or we'll make it fine. That's a pretty good attitude. I'm sorry your day was long."

"It won't always be," he promised her. "We're going to take a trip after this is over, and I will spend all day and all night with you. We'll travel all over the world as soon as it is safe to do so."

"You and me and baby makes, er, five?"

"Absolutely. It'll be amazing."

She laughed, starting to go back to her seat, but Samyar took her hand, pulling her back down into his lap.

"That's something I want to talk with you about. Someday, we will leave the palace—"

"God, I hope so!"

"And when that time comes, we won't have the secrecy that we enjoy here. The palace has always been something of a fortress even before all of this happened, but if we want to leave it, that will involve being in public. We will only be able to keep what we are a secret to a certain extent."

She stiffened a little, starting to pull away.

"And you want to think about what your country thinks of us?"

He refused to let her go.

"I want to think about what we are going to do," he said sternly. "I want to think about what you want and what is going to be best for our children. I have every intention of keeping you in my life, Diane, and I want to learn how to make that as bearable for you as possible. I hope of course, it is more than bearable, but to get there, I need to figure out what we want to do and how."

She was stiff for another moment, and then she sighed, hugging him tightly.

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