Young Lady Mary is rescued by Sheikh Omar from certain death from thirst. He took her with him while his caravan travelled home to his oasis town. Now together with a French army captain and an Irish rebel who joined the Foreign Legion they try to find out what to do.
--------------------
The English girl, the two soldiers in the French foreign legion and the Arab sheik sat around a table filled with teacups and pastries trying to figure out what she could do. Going back to the coast and sell the farm in Rhodesia she had inherited from her brother and then what? Go back to England or stay here as the Sheik had offered?
Lady Mary looked Sheikh Omar in the eyes. The man who had saved her in the desert after the plane her brother and she had been travelling in had made an emergency landing due to engine failure. Her brother had gone to look for help and had died in the desert and she had found herself in the tent of the desert lord who had traced her brother's trail back to the plane. As always his eyes were looking at her so friendly and warm.
The French army captain and the Irish rebel under his command just sat in silence waiting for her answer.
"But I cannot decide my own fate," whispered Mary. "Under the law I am still under age. I just turned 18 2 months ago and am barely out of boarding school. If I show up at the British embassy they will appoint me a guardian for the years to come and I have no clue who that might be. Maybe a distant cousin who is to inherit my brother's title or some pillar of society. I cannot sell the farm in Rhodesia. I cannot marry. He will decide what will happen to me."
"Unless you elope," muttered O'Shea.
"Do what?" asked Sheik Omar.
"Sometimes boys and girls run away from home and marry in Gretna Green or in France and with a consummated marriage the parents will pretend they did not mind," explained O'Shea.
"Oh we have that in France too," said Captain Le Brun. "Well it can result in shame on the family and the couple having to spend the rest of their lives abroad in a colony or something."
"We even have it here," said Sheik Omar. "But some male relatives will insist on honour killings or wanting a huge financial compensation. But do I understand correctly that the only way to give you independence Mary is to have you married? But then your husband will be your lord and the one deciding won't he."
Mary felt panic rising up in her throat. What to do? Tears pricked behind her eyes and she ran out of the room though the long hallway into the moonlit small walled garden near the kitchen. The air was heavy with the smell of the herbs growing there. During the day the ladies of the household would be sitting here doing their chores in the shade of the orange tree but now the place was deserted.
All alone Mary started to sob. She hated the idea that some stranger would take command of her life and send her to Rhodesia or try to marry her off in England. What an irresponsible risk-taker her brother had been! To sell their family home, to run the estate he inherited to the ground, to invest all their money in risky things like a flying school in Africa. And now she was in the middle of the Sahara desert. All alone. The tears streamed down her face. Sobs raking her body.
Suddenly from behind she heard Omar's voice. "Amira". She turned around facing him. In the darkness she could only make out the white of his robe and his silhouette. He opened his arms and she just flung herself in his embrace. They just stood there. Her face pressed against the white cotton of his robe. Sobbing. He felt her tears wet the cotton on his chest. All he did was just hold her tight and slowly stroke her back. Her arms snaked around his back holding on to him.
Mary could hear his strong heartbeat. He had saved her life and had taken care of her. She had slept in his arms for weeks. He had kept her safe and given her a place in his home. He had been her friend. She might be young and maybe naΓ―ve but Mary did realise that some men would have acted completely different upon finding a young unconscious virgin in the desert. Had her raped, killed, sold as a slave maybe. Omar had not done any of that.
She let go of his back and lifted up her face to him and said in her halting French: "Omar what should I do?"
"Amira, habibti. You know here but here you are afraid". His hand touched her chest and her head. Then he cupped her face and softly kissed her. Her fists grabbed his robe as she felt her knees buckle. This was what he had done that morning and she had ended up panting with his finger deep inside her. The reminder of that made her flush with warmth.
His lips left hers and she reached up to have them back again.
"Stay here. With me."
She just wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his face down again. Kissing him. Initiating a kiss for the first time in her life. For both that was enough answer. She did not know what to expect with this fierce man deep inside native lands but she knew he was her friend and he was nice to be with. He was the only one she trusted in the world.
The sheik slowly untangled them. "Come Habibti we have to talk to the captain."
Both walked back to the room where the two soldiers were patiently waiting drinking their tea.
"Please explain to me," said the sheik to Le Brun in Arabic with him translating that in French to O'Shea who translated that into English for Mary. "If I would marry Lady Mary how can we make sure her country will recognise that marriage? And if she would like to go to her own people after that and I gave her a divorce would that still work?"
Le Brun explained that if they would marry with some army officers as witnesses and all written down in a document with proper stamps and signatures he could not see a way around it for her English family or guardian whoever they might be. That it would result in Mary being able to sell the farm in Rhodesia as long as her Arab husband agreed. That a divorce would be a huge scandal but that the marriage to a native would already be a scandal but that she always could say on returning to England that she was a widow.
Diplomaticly he also explained that a marriage to for instance one of his soldiers would not do as it would be a bond for life not desirable to forge just to get rid of a guardian.
He had to stifle a grin when he saw their shocked faces. They both might think this whole idea of marriage was to solve a problem but to the old captain it was obvious that both could not think of any other marriage then one to each other. Ah well, the girl was a sweet young thing and the sheik a good chap for an Arab. Who knew what would happen to her when they did not marry and she might like living as his wife.
Then something came to his mind. "Sheik do you already have wives? As a marriage will only be regarded valid when she is your first wife."
Mary looked bewildered. It seemed this thought had never crossed her mind thought Le Brun.
"No," said Omar. "The mother of my three daughters died many years ago and although I have no son and heir I could not make myself marry someone else. Amira will be my only wife if she wants me."
All three men looked at her and she simply nodded unable to say a thing at first but then she asked; "How? When? How do people marry here?"
Omar explained that as the wife of the leader of the tribe and maybe the mother of a possible heir she had to convert to Islam to avoid discussions but that he would always allow her to pray to her own god in private. That she should express her desire to convert to the imam and that Omar himself would teach her to read the Koran as he would tell the imam. That they both really should do that as he was no liar but if she decided she wanted to keep her own religion in her heart he would never ask what she really believed.
Then they would ask that same Islamic cleric to perform their marriage with Le Brun and 8 of his soldiers as witnesses besides the 3 men who had travelled the desert with them as he wanted to include them as honoured friends. But as her brother had just died they could just pass on a big wedding feast and he would just hand out meat to his tribesmen to celebrate their wedding.
Le Brun said that he would take a certified copy of their wedding contract and a witness statement that she was alive but her brother had died back to the coast to hand over to the British embassy.
"Tell them that Amira and I will come to them with the next caravan in a few months time." said Omar.
The men said goodbye for the night and Omar walked Mary back to the private quarters so he could do and tell his mother and daughters before dashing into the night to warn the imam. But in the dark hallway he halted Mary and pulled her hands in his. "Amira, when we go to the coast and you want to go just tell me. But if you want to stay you stay." Before she could answer he called for his mum and explained there would be a wedding in the morning. The elderly lady cupped Mary's face and kissed her on both cheeks and then make an ululating noise to show how happy she was. Omar's daughters were already in bed and would be told in the morning.