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“Father-daughter time?” Joseph sat on his bed and rested against the tufted headboard.
“Not really. I had a run-in with Daaliyah. So he came to see if I was okay,” she replied.
“How bad was the argument?”
“We did not argue for too long because Sheikh Solomon walked in.” Olivia sighed. “I am tired of the arguing. It’s endless.”
“Come live with me.”
Olivia started laughing. “What?” she said.
“That kind of hostile environment is not good for you,” he said.
“No it isn’t, but living with you is not the answer.”
“It is. You won’t have to see your stepmother or your sisters on a daily basis.” She would get to see him instead. However, Joseph was not serious about her moving in because he knew that she would refuse. In the past, she had refused simple things like having dinner with him. He just wanted to cheer her up a bit.
“That is true,” she replied. “But then I would have to see you every day.”
“You would like that.”
“Living with you?” Olivia started laughing. “I think you are the one that would like living with me,” she said. Joseph laughed gently in response.
Once again, Joseph found himself speaking to Olivia for hours. It was oddly easy to speak to her. It was new to him. He had never had the time nor the patience to speak to anyone for more than ten minutes.
***
Sheikh Boutros senior called his son for breakfast at his house. Joseph was not surprised that his father had summoned him. Obviously his mother had told him about their heated disagreement over Olivia. Joseph straightened his tie before he walked into the dining room.
“Good morning, Father,” Joseph said as he walked into the room. His father was sitting at the table. The maids had already set the table.
“Good morning,” his father replied. Joseph joined him at the table. He picked up the coffeepot and poured himself a cup of coffee.
“Where is mother?”
“She is upstairs. She is still not ready to see you.”
For once, Joseph felt like rolling his eyes. He hated it when Olivia did it. It was rude. She needed to be tamed a little.
“She should not be upset,” Joseph replied. He had not done anything to upset her.
“She just found out that her only son wants to marry a non-Arabic woman, an illegitimate child,” said his father.
“She is half Arabic.”
“Half,” his father emphasized.
“She wanted me to marry one of Sheikh Solomon’s daughters and that is what I am going to do,” Joseph replied.
His father raised his eyebrows.
“Olivia is a beautiful girl but I am not sure that she is right for you.”
“Neither is Rania nor Marina,” Joseph pointed out. The two of them were right on paper but in person it would not work. Granted he did not know much about them but he saw the way they acted around him and how they treated Olivia. It was enough to put him off.
“What is wrong about the two of them?”
“I am not attracted to either one of them. I have seen how they carry themselves and I am not impressed.”
