Love of a Sheikh -- Original Short Story --
I had been there for supplies. So had he. We unintentionally shared the same Moroccan night sky on many succeeding occasions; this night was no different. I smiled at him. I always smiled at him, and he always returned it.
"What do they call you by?" He asked me one evening, a tanned hand on the reins of his horse before he prepared to mount the animal and ride off.
"Most call me 'mademoiselle.' You may call me Leyla." He inclined his head in a bow and I did the same, never breaking eye contact with him, nor he with me even as he mounted the spirited Arabian horse. And then, with no grand spiel or gesture to his wealth and position in life, he asked me a seemingly simple question; as if inquiring whether I took a ship or train to come this way.
"My men and I have come to the city to obtain provisions for my people. I came also for a wife. We leave at dawn to return to my tribe where we dwell in the Sahel... Would you accompany me, Leyla?" At first I believed him to be playing a game, the jest that our conversations had been leading up to. But his eyes, the ones that pierced through me and into mine, they held no excessive mirth. Therefore I deemed him in earnest and surprised myself by truly considering his proposal, though not without care.
"Would you give me so little time to consider? I have quite a life to leave behind, should I follow you." He smirked, his lips curling into a smile that was flirtatious, yet at the same time, authoritative. I was attracted to him, I realized, because I respected him.
"I force you to do nothing. I know you well enough, I think, to understand that forcing you would be impossible for my own happiness." I laughed lightly. He did know me well. Likely better than most. "I will wait until dawn at this spot. If you are not here by then, I shall leave and ask nothing more of you. If you are... I shall take you as my bride." He searched my face intently for a moment and then, seeming to find whatever it was he sought, smiled, and turned away to leave.
I stayed there, looking up at the stars, for little more than an hour before I had decided. The rest of the night I spent gathering what little I knew I needed and bidding farewell to those two or three people in the city I truly cared for. Of course, they were of no blood relation to me, so in that way I left very little behind.
Dawn was just peering over the bright horizon of buildings when I jogged up to our spot. It was just a little rise in the road, a deserted and fairly unnecessary area, except that it held residence to what I now considered my most fond memories... And him. He was waiting there for me, dutifully holding another horse beside his own in anticipation of my arrival. The sheikh turned from the sunrise and gazed toward my pitiful visage; standing there with only my linen dress I had worn the day before and a small satchel of necessities. I walked forward until I was face to face with him and he moved only to keep his intense eyes upon me.
"I am pleased with your decision." He murmured deeply and I smiled, lowering my gaze to the deep blue sash that was wrapped tightly about his waist. I noticed he switched the reins in his hands to one grasp behind him and then lifted the free one to turn my chin up. His chiseled face seemed to etch itself into my memory and gladly I embraced such a memory. I knew it would always remain with me, that he would always remain with me. "And are you pleased?" He pressed, subtly comforting me by letting me know my feelings mattered.
"I know that you will make it so that I am." I replied calmly, truthfully. And he soon made it so that I was very pleased. Near already, he inclined his head and tilted just so that he hovered above my mouth, causing it so that the least movement on my part effected in our lips touching for the first time.
Each time I think of what my words were back then, I’ve never once regretted the reply. Continually from that moment he rose to the challenge, answered my call. As the sheikh, to what I now consider my own people, he is a strong leader and just in the law they abide by. As a father, he has raised my children to respect others and become leaders among their friends and in their families. And as my husband, he has loved me more richly than I ever imagined affection between husband and wife could be.
Even now as I gather water from the falls we've held precious for more than one reason on more than one occasion, he looks at me as if he were regarding the most beautiful star, fallen from heaven into his lands. I blush, as I have always done, even though my cheeks are now darkened with the sun and no longer as fair as they were when I had only just come from the west.
"Leyla..." His voice calls my name, and I know it is for no purpose more than so that he may only hear it said aloud. I respond by approaching him and draping an arm about his strong shoulders, nestling perfectly into his posture with my embrace. His lips softly brush my warm brow before lowering to my mouth where I greet him as I have always done, as I always will.