He bent down next to her in the cramped space and pushed her hair gently out of her face so he could see her. She looked ashen and miserable and he wanted to pull her into his arms and rock her until she felt better. “What’s wrong, love?” he asked and ran a finger down her soft cheek. “You weren’t feeling well earlier. It’s obviously worse now.”
Sidra felt so miserable, she couldn’t even argue with him. All she wanted to do was break down in tears and pray that her stomach would feel better soon. She couldn’t even shake her head or smile to reassure him, afraid that any movement would send her stomach into overdrive again since it still hadn’t completely settled down, even though there probably wasn’t anything left in it at this point.
“Can I pick you up?” he asked softly when she didn’t appear to want to move.
“No,” she whispered, keeping her eyes closed.
Rashid sat there next to her for another moment, then shook his head. “I can’t leave you like this,” he said and put an arm under her legs and behind her back. She mumbled a protest, but couldn’t argue much since she was so miserable. When her head dropped against his shoulder, he pulled her closer, careful to not shake her as much as possible.
His body guards were already ahead of him, opening the door to the limousine. Rashid wouldn’t let her move to his side and after a feeble protest, she simply lay in his arms, her face pressed against his neck.
Sidra wasn’t sure if she wanted to die of embarrassment more, or just any way possible that would stop the horrible feeling in her stomach. Even the smallest movement made her want to wretch again but she concentrated on relaxing every muscle in her body so that she could control the nausea. She didn’t open her eyes so she didn’t see the magnificent structure they were approaching, lit up by the bright sunshine and located in the center of the city. The Tasain Palace was one of those amazing structures that were built so long ago with additions built up around each side and on top over the centuries. Rashid was proud of his city and equally proud of his country. He would have liked to show Sidra the sights both during the day as well as at night, to let her see how incredible the city could be and give her some of the history. But right now, all he wanted was to get her into his palace and have his physician explain how to make her better. It was probably just a stomach bug, he told himself, but he didn’t want to take any chances.
The guard nodded his head, indicating that the physician was on his way to Rashid’s private quarters. Rashid followed along, hurrying down the long hallways. A guard had the door open and he walked inside, laying Sidra down carefully on the sofa by the fireplace. She barely even acknowledged the change, barely moving and Rashid’s concern increased.
“Where the hell is the doctor?” he demanded to his guard.
The door to his quarters was opened by another guard and Doctor Hamid walked in, still buttoning his shirt and straightening his glasses on his face. “I apologize for the delay, Your Highness. What’s the problem?” he asked.
Rashid waved the elderly man over to the sofa and stepped back. “She woke up from a deep sleep about twenty minutes ago. She looked fine one moment, then lost what little she’d eaten during the day in the toilet.”
The man nodded his head, seeing the concern on his leader’s face and understood that this woman was important to him. “Let me see what’s going on,” he replied gently.
He bent down and took out his stethoscope, listening to Sidra’s heart, her lungs and starting to touch various points on her body. But when he tried to move her, she protested, shaking her head slowly and closing her eyes.
Dr. Hamid turned to Rashid with caring eyes. “Would you mind if I spoke to the lady alone?”
Rashid instantly shook his head. “Not on your life. I want to know what’s wrong with her.”
Sidra tried to protest, but any movement, even raising her hand to challenge Rashid’s assertion that he would stay in the room made her too miserable.
Dr. Hamid understood, and wasn’t going to challenge his leader. The man had absolute power here and if he wanted to stay during the exam, he stayed.
Turning back to Sidra, he took her wrist and noted the rapid pulse. “Can you tell me the date of your last period, dear?” he asked gently.
Sidra swallowed slowly and counted backwards. Actually, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had her period. “I can’t remember.”
The doctor clasped his hands together. “Could it have been in the past month?”
Sidra’s hand covered her face and she shook her head, then stopped when that caused her stomach to quiver. “The last three weeks have been….difficult...” she finally said.
“Are you normally regular?”
Sidra couldn’t believe she was discussing things like this with Rashid in the room but he wouldn’t leave. She couldn’t see him, but she was sure he was probably just as embarrassed as she was. “Yes. Very regular.”
Dr. Hamid pulled a syringe out of his case and some cotton balls. “What’s that for?” Sidra asked, terrified of what he was going to do. “I’m fine,” she started to say, wanting to avoid the needle as much as possible. “Please, no needles.”
The doctor chuckled and patted her shoulder soothingly. “I’m very good at this. You’ll barely feel anything.”
Sidra wasn’t convinced. She looked up at Rashid, wanting him to make the man stop, but his face looked painfully pale underneath his tanned skin and she wasn’t sure she’d get much help from him. Obviously he didn’t like needles any more than she did. “Please. I just picked up a stomach flu somewhere. I’ll be fine with a bit of rest.”
The doctor soothed her and shook his head. “Let me just get a blood sample and we can make sure that it’s just a stomach flu. I can then give you something to help with the nausea.”
Sidra sat back, curling herself up into a ball. “Please. No needles,” she begged.
Rashid stepped in, placing a hand on Dr. Hamid’s shoulder. “Let me talk to her,” he said quietly.
The doctor moved back and Rashid took his place. “Sidra, is there any chance you might be pregnant?” he asked, not sure how he felt about the situation.
She closed her eyes and thought back. Yes, it was entirely possible. They had only used condoms while in England and they weren’t one hundred percent reliable. Anything might have happened and there was that one time when they’d been rushing. She had no idea but she might not have put the condom on correctly.