“Mama.” Jake pointed down. “The people from your work are here.”
“They are,” she said.
He frowned, his expression serious. “I want to be a teacher like you someday.”
She took his hand in hers. “As long as it makes you happy, son of mine.”
“Lise!” Ingeborg had climbed the stairs at the side of the platform, hauling along her husband, who looked vaguely lost even though they had to have been escorted there by palace security. Lise stood up and embraced her parents, who had made the trip for the celebration. “Your incredible work is an excellent excuse for a party,” Ingeborg said, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “I’m so impressed with you.”
Lise blinked. “Are you?”
Ingeborg tsked her. “Of course I’m impressed with you. You’ve managed to do all this inside the happiest marriage I’ve ever seen, and you’re so hands-on with Jake. I’m very impressed. I’m very proud.” She kissed Lise’s cheek again and left her standing there, blinking, while Lise and her father embraced and exchanged the usual greetings. He followed Ingeborg to a pair of seats on the other side of the tent a minute later.
“Congratulations.” A man extended his hand to shake. “The parade is in your honor today.”
“Everyone’s honor,” Lise told Mahir Adli, Hamid’s right-hand man, beaming. He and his wife had spent the last five years chasing their son, and it showed—he had lost all his sympathy weight, and she glowed with pride as their son joined in with the other children. “This was a team effort.”
Raed strode through the tent, his eyes focused on a printout of the speech he intended to give about the programs he’d put in place, particularly one that focused on microfinance in rural areas. Jake ran at him from the side, but Raed caught him and tucked him close to his side. He stayed close while Raed went over his speech.
Lise plucked the paper from his hands. “Let me see that. I think it needs a few final touches.”
“Final touches? It only needs a bit more memorization so I can give it without looking at the paper.”
“Nope. See—you’ve got an error here.” She pulled a pen from her pocket and scribbled something down on the sheet. “There. All better. Now you won’t embarrass yourself in front of the entire country.”
He cracked a grin and bent low to brush his lips against hers, which earned him a disgusted noise from Jake, then swept the paper out of her hands. “What did you change?”
Lise watched his eyes as he read over her notes. At first, he squinted slightly to bring them into focus, and then his dark eyes went wide. A matching thrill heated behind her breastbone. She was never going to get tired of the way Raed looked when he was shocked and excited. “Wife and children?”
She put her hands on the side of his face and kissed him. “Children,” she repeated.
Raed dropped his hand down to her belly in a protective gesture that made her melt, but there was no bump there yet. It wouldn’t be obvious for a few months. “This is the way you tell me? Lise, I have to go make a speech.”
Lise glanced pointedly up at Jake. “And what would you do instead?”
“Talk,” he answered, just as pointedly. “There’s a lot going on, and we could use a few minutes to talk.”
“Sure.” She kissed his cheek again. “But you know we couldn’t be the only couple with just one. Your brother has two and a third on the way, and Gina and Skandar—”
Jake scrambled to get down, and Raed let him, and then he pulled Lise close for a lingering kiss. “I’m so grateful to have a family with you.” His voice hummed with emotion. “Especially you.” Jake barreled into them then, pushing them apart.
“The parade’s starting,” he cried. “It’s time for your speech, and then the parade can start.”
“I’ve got it, buddy.” Raed took his hand and the two of them hugged Lise one more time, then went down to the space in front of the platform, where Raed would address the country.
This was it. Lise was watching her entire life step out into the sun. There was more than that, too. A new family in Qasha. Her parents here, celebrating despite the fact that they would have work—they always had work. They could fit in here, too. They could visit and form relationships with her children and be there for all the important milestones.
Five years. It had taken five years for her to get pregnant, and she saw the sheer relief in Raed’s face as he smoothed the paper for his speech out again and again and chatted with Jake before they turned the microphone on. It had been a long game to play, with many months of waiting, and Lise had never thought it would take this long. She dropped her own hands to her belly. This would be one interesting announcement to make, and the press would be waiting—they were always waiting, with a royal family member like Raed. He was so handsome, and so invested in Qasha, that reporters couldn’t stay away.
Why would they? Lise couldn’t stay away.
But she hadn’t announced to the rest of the family yet, and time was running out. Oh, her family. Nenet was her family now, and Hamid and Tali and all their children. Gina and Skandar and their children were her family, too, and this moment was one of sweet anticipation. In just under a minute, they would know she was pregnant, and it would be another cause for celebration today. They already had so many. They were so lucky to have this one more.
Lise squared her shoulders and blinked away the grateful tears that had started to form in her eyes. No time for crying now. She had to tell her family the greatest news. And look—there they were, waiting for her.
End of The Sheikh’s Unexpected Son
The Blooming Desert Series Book Three
The Sheikh’s Fake Engagement, 5 November 2020
The Sheikh’s Pregnant Foreigner, 12 November 2020
The Sheikh’s Unexpected Son, 19 November 2020
PS: Do you love playboy billionaires? Then keep reading for an exclusive extract from The Sheikh’s Surprise Twins.
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About Leslie
Leslie North is the USA Today Bestselling pen name for a critically-acclaimed author of women's contemporary romance and fiction. The anonymity gives her the perfect opportunity to paint with her full artistic palette, especially in the romance and erotic fantasy genres.
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