Adele waited for her to come out.
And waited.
Perhaps she was topping up her make-up, Adele decided, but then she thought about how pale Leila had suddenly gone and Adele was certain that she had been feeling dizzy.
She was loath to interrupt her. After all, Leila was Zahir’s mother and she was also a queen.
But, at the end of the day, she was a woman and Adele a nurse and she was starting to become concerned.
Nursing instinct won.
She pushed open the door and stepped in but there was no Leila at the sink washing her hands or doing her make-up. ‘Leila?’ Adele called into the silence.
‘Please help me...’ Leila’s voice came from behind the cubicle door.
‘It’s okay, I’m here.’ Adele took out the coin that she kept in her pocket for such times. She turned it in the slot and pushed open the door, relieved that it gave and that Leila wasn’t leaning against it, as had happened to Adele in the past.
‘Don’t let my sons see me bleed,’ Leila begged.
‘I shan’t.’
She was bleeding and on the edge of passing out.
‘Put your head down,’ Adele told her. ‘Has this happened before?’
‘A couple of times. I am seeing a doctor on Harley Street.’
Adele didn’t want to leave her sitting up in case she passed out, but neither did she want to lie her on the floor. She opened the main door to the rest room, at the same time as keeping an eye on her. She saw Janet bringing a patient into the obs ward.
‘Janet!’ Adele called out in a voice that made the other woman turn around immediately. As she did so Adele ducked straight back into the cubicle, knowing that Janet would follow her in.
‘Just take some nice big breaths,’ Adele said to Leila.
As Janet entered, Adele brought her up to speed.
‘This is Leila, Zahir’s mother. She’s bleeding PV.’
‘I’ll go and get a gurney.’
‘Janet,’ Adele added, before she dashed off, ‘she doesn’t want Zahir to see.’
It was all swiftly dealt with. Leila was put onto a gurney and oxygen given. Adele put some blankets over her to make sure that she was covered before they wheeled her through.
Of course Zahir had finished with Mr Richards and was making his way to his office as they passed by.
‘What happened?’ he asked and then he gave a look at Adele as if to say, I left her with you for five minutes!
‘Your mother fainted,’ Adele told him as they walked quickly into the department.
‘Maria,’ Janet called out to the female registrar who was on duty today.
‘I will take care of my mother,’ Zahir said as they arrived at the cubicle.
He started to walk in but Adele blocked his path.
Well, she hardly blocked it, because she was very slight and he could easily have moved her aside or stepped around her, but there was something in her stance that was a challenge. ‘Zahir!’ Adele said, and she looked up at him and, for only the second time in twelve months of their history, their eyes met properly.
‘Adele, let me past.’
‘No,’ she said, and stood her ground. ‘Zahir, there are some things a mother would prefer her son didn’t see.’
As realisation hit he gave a small nod. ‘Very well.’
‘We’ve got this,’ Adele reassured him.
He was like a cat put out in the rain but reluctantly he stepped back. ‘Could you keep me informed?’
She nodded.
Poor Leila, Adele thought as she got her into a gown and did some obs. Leila point blank refused to allow Adele to remove her jewellery.
Janet inserted an IV and Maria ordered some IV fluids. In a short space of time Zahir’s mother was starting to look better.
‘I’ve been unwell for a while,’ she explained. ‘I came over last month to have some time with my sons but I also had some tests done. I’m supposed to be having a hysterectomy tomorrow. I don’t want my husband to know.’ She took a breath. ‘As awkward as it might be, I was going to tell my sons today at afternoon tea.’
Maria went through her medical history but at first Leila was very vague in her responses.
‘How many pregnancies have you had?’ Maria asked.
‘I have two children.’
‘How many pregnancies?’ Maria asked again.
‘Three,’ Leila said, and Adele saw a tear slip from her eyes and into her hair. ‘I don’t like to speak of that time.’
Maria looked at Adele, whose hand Leila was holding, in the hope Adele could get more out of her. ‘The doctor needs to know your history, Leila. She needs to know about your pregnancies and labours and any problems you have had.’
‘My womb causes me many problems. I got pregnant very quickly with Zahir but he was born prematurely. It was a very difficult labour.’
They waited for her to elaborate but she didn’t.
‘And the next pregnancy?’ Adele prompted.
‘It took five more years to get pregnant and then I had Dakan. Again it was very difficult, he had very large shoulders. Two years later, I was lucky and I fell pregnant but my body did not do well... I had the best healer and a specialist attar but there was little they could do for me.’
‘Attar?’ Adele checked.
‘He makes up the herbs the healer advises. I took the potion every day yet I still felt very unwell, and I started to vomit.’
‘At what stage of the pregnancy?’ Maria asked.
‘He said I had four months left to go,’ Leila answered. ‘I was getting worse and I insisted that I be flown to a medical facility overseas. My husband and the healer were very opposed to the idea but I demanded it. In Dubai they said that I had to deliver the baby and that my blood pressure was very high. I called my husband and he said the healer had told him it was too soon and that the baby would die and that I needed to come home. Fatiq flew to Dubai to come and bring me back home...’
Leila started to cry in earnest then. ‘But by then I had delivered and the healer was right. A few hours after my husband arrived our son died.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ Adele said.
‘I have a picture of him.’
Adele got Leila’s bag and watched as she took out her purse and showed them the tiniest most beautiful baby. ‘We named him Aafaq, it means the place where the earth and sky meet.’
‘It’s a beautiful name,’ Adele said, and she looked at a younger Leila and a man who looked very much like Zahir and was probably around the age his son was now.
They were both holding their tiny baby and he was off machines.
‘What a beautiful baby,’ Adele said.
They were a beautiful family, Adele thought, despite the pain. The King’s arm was around his wife and he was gazing down at his son and you could see the love and sorrow in his expression.
‘We cannot even speak of Aafaq,’ Leila sighed. ‘There is too much hurt there to even discuss that time. I think that my husband blames me for turning my back on the healer and yet he loves me also. I want for us to be able to speak about the son we lost but we can’t. Aafaq would have been twenty-five years old next month