A Desert Rose

Chapter 8 - The Clothes

Chapter 8

Aimee sat in the bath drinking Champagne directly from the bottle.  Sheena sat in the corner, unsure of how to handle the mood Aimee was in.  She had stormed in, slammed the doors and Sheena barely had enough time to strip Aimee of the riding suit before she got into the bath in her underwear.

Sheena had filled the bath on her request and since then she watched the silent tears rolling down Aimee’s cheeks while she drank straight from the bottle. 

The minutes ticked by.

The bottle became empty.

I’m married…

It was the only thought that kept repeating itself, over and over in her head. 

She didn’t want to be married, didn’t even have a choice in the matter.  Hadn’t been asked or even told.

“Are you married Sheena?” Aimee didn’t look at the girl.

“No mistress, not yet,” Sheena shyly answered.

“Do you want to get married?” Aimee asked again.

“Yes mistress, it would be nice to have a husband.”

“But you would like to be asked, no?” 

“Yes mistress and both families must agree,” Sheena supplied.

Aimee let out a un-lady-like snort.  She could just imagine her father’s reaction to the news of his only daughter’s unplanned marriage.  The general himself never married again after her mother passed away and raised his only daughter as a soldier.  It was the only life he knew.

Silence descended again.

Aimee had not wanted to be a career-soldier though; she studied archaeology instead and found comfort in solving the mysteries of the past.  The people at the university became her family and Marc her brother. 

She rarely had long-term relationships as most men did not trust their women to spend months in the desert or liked them covered in dust.  And the ones that did not mind her career she only trusted as far as she could throw them.

She always thought she still had a good few years before she would focus on meeting a nice guy, maybe a fellow researcher, fall in love and do the whole marriage thing.

All of that had been wiped away.  She was married whether she liked it or not; the only alternative being an indefinite stay in jail.

She knew all about how women were treated in Arabia, so she had a choice between an actual cage and a gilded one.

She didn’t want to be married dammit.  She wanted to go home and continue her research.

“Are you going to sit in the bath all day?”  A deep voice enquired from the doorway.

Sheena shrieked and threw her own body between the intruder Zahir, and Aimee, shielding Aimee from his view.

“I don’t know.  Has it been decided for me too?”  Aimee countered unable to see his face due to Sheena being protective of her modesty.

“It was the only way Aimee; would you rather have gone to jail?”  He sounded exasperated.

“I did not ask to be saved,” she stubbornly continued, “and I certainly did not expect you to sacrifice yourself.”

“I cannot discuss this again, it is done.  I have to go into the city.  We can continue this discussion tonight, please do not continue drinking, I prefer you to be sober for it.”  He turned and left.