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She awokethe next morning to find herself alone in bed. She lay without moving for a few minutes, listening for any sign of Kadar, but there was none. He’d gone. Left her without a word. She pushed herself up against the luxurious pillows and looked around, feeling suddenly uneasy as all the doubts of the previous day returned, twofold.
She checked her phone, but there was no message from Kadar. Nothing. She went into the bathroom and switched on the shower.
He had work. Of course he did. He was king and couldn’t just lie around in bed all morning, waiting for her to wake up. Of course. Then, she wondered, as she stepped under the stream of warm water, why did she feel so unsure?
By the timeshe’d showered and dressed, there was a message on her phone. But it wasn’t from Kadar. The British Consul had left a phone message to tell her he’d pulled a few strings and overnight they’d received an electronic version of her birth certificate and the application for both passport and visa could now be processed.
She rang and left a message with the consul, confirming she’d see him later in the morning, as he’d suggested.
Things were moving along. Kadar had told her to trust in their love and she truly wanted to. But she still felt uneasy. He still hadn’t explained what she’d heard him say about marriage. He’d insisted that he loved her and wanted to marry her, but how could he? She wasn’t the answer to his political prayers. But, even as she thought that, she wondered again if the answer to her questions lay in the past, in her family, in the paperwork she was about to be given.
“Ms Albright,”welcomed the consul, standing up from his desk and walking over to greet her. “I’m glad you could come.”
“Mr. Wallis,” she extended her hand to shake his. “I hear you have some good news for you.”
“More than that,” he said, returning to his desk and plucking a large envelope off it. “I have something for you which I believe will be of great interest.”
“My birth certificate,” she said with relief. “So we can get on with my passport now.”
“Indeed, we can. And, indeed, we have organized both your passport and your visa.”
“Thank goodness! It’s felt strange being without my papers, unable to leave if I wanted to.”
“All it needs is your signature and you can take it away. Please, have a seat.”
She sat down and eagerly pulled out first her passport, flicking it open to inspect it. The photo she’d emailed him earlier had been used, and everything seemed in order.
“You just need to sign it here.” He passed a pen to her.
She opened it to the correct page and signed it. “Great!” she said with a smile. Things were looking up. She was no longer tied to the palace, and could try to find out more about her family—the reason she was here in the first place. Kadar had promised to help, and the thought of them both working together on it made her happy.
“We took the liberty of using the name on your birth certificate,” the consul continued. “I hope that’s what you’d wished.”
She frowned in confusion. “Of course. It’s my name.”
It was his turn to look confused. “Yes, but it’s different from the one you’ve been going by. Different to your previous passport. But we thought it best, as it’s the name on your birth certificate.” He pointed to the birth certificate, which was still in the envelope. She looked at him and realized she’d missed something.
Slowly, she pulled out the birth certificate and read it. The confusion his words had created made the printed words swim in front of her eyes for a few moments, and then she saw it. Sarah Al-Barraq. She looked up at the consul with a start.
“What?”
The consul tilted his head, the frown still in evidence. “You weren’t aware of the name on your birth certificate?”
Dumbfounded, she shook her head. She opened her mouth to speak, but it was dry. She cleared her throat. “No. I thought my name was Albright.”
“Ah,” he said thoughtfully. “Maybe your grandfather anglicized your name to help you both to assimilate, or to cover your tracks. But,” he tapped the paper, “it’s definitely Al-Barraq. It means Albright in Arabic. And it means you’re part of the great Al-Barraq family.”
She looked up. “The Al-Barraq family.” She could only repeat the words back to him. They meant nothing to her.
“Yes. It will be easier now for you to trace your relatives.”
“How? I mean, do you know who I should contact? Where I can find them?”
“The Al-Barraqs are located east of the mountain range. Far from here.”
“Then I will pay them a visit.”
He looked down, avoiding her gaze. “Hm, you may need to get official clearance to travel over there.” He opened his mouth as if to speak before thinking better of it.
