Page 32 of Sheikh's Quarantine Triplet Baby Daughters

Samyar

The trouble was, Samyar realized ten days later, was that these things didn't always pass. He would have thought that during a global pandemic people would have better things to do than to comb over the love life of the leader of the country, but apparently not.

"Kind of naive of you, sir," said Camille archly. "The problem is that everyone's trapped at home with nothing to do but watch TV and surf the internet."

"I nationalized fast free internet. I feel like this is unfair."

Camille laughed, shaking her head.

"I predict that in about five to ten years, they're going to call you a hero. However right now, they're calling you all sorts of things."

Samyar shook his head angrily.

"I don't care about what they're calling me. They're calling Diane worse things, and I want it to stop."

Camille shrugged, her face grim.

"Easier said than done. We need to just keep on going the way we've been going. I know it feels like this is taking forever, but this won't last. We need the world to see her, to grow to adore her. There's not a lot of room for that right now. This is just a storm we need to weather."

Samyar knew that Camille was right, but it didn't make it easier when Diane increasingly wore a tight and nervous look on her face. Whenever he saw her, she had her hand on her belly, as if she could somehow protect their children from the outcry against their parents. He thought with frustration that if people could spend any time with Diane at all they would grow to love her just as he had. It would have been a snap during normal time, but of course they weren't looking at a normal time.

"It'll be all right," he told her one night three weeks from their first conversation with Camille. "It'll be fine. Our lives won't always be like this."

"You mean I can open a newspaper without fear again someday?" she asked wryly, and Samyar winced.

"I wish you would stop reading them at all," he said, but that was an argument he likely wasn't going to win.

Diane gave him a slight smile, curling under his arm. It felt as if she had lost weight to him, though Dr. Ramamurthy insisted that Diane was a healthy young woman and progressing fine.

"It's just that multiple births will demand a great deal from the parent," she had said. "Some weariness is to be expected. Rest and food and a low-stress environment are all that she needs."

He wasn't used to not being able to provide for Diane, and he hated it.

"I'm going to keep reading the news sites," she said. "I have to. I'll go mad if I don't know what's going on."

"Of course you know what's going on."

"Really?"

"You know the important things," he said, nuzzling the side of her neck.

Diane sighed, tilting her head so he could have better access to her delicious skin.

"Do I?"

"Yes. You know that I adore you."

"Mm. Yes. I do know that."

"You know that you are going to have beautiful children."

"Okay, yes, that makes sense."

"You know that I will not allow anything to happen to you."

Before she could respond to that, his phone rang, and Samyar looked up in irritation.

"Better get that," Diane said with a sigh, and with a growl, Samyar stood up, going to where he had left his phone in the sitting room. He frowned when he saw that it was Dr. Ramamurthy.

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