Page 103 of The Billionaire's Timed Wife

“I didn’t want everyone to know yet.”

“Why not?” Jazmina asks.

“I don’t know. It feels like that’s all anyone talks about now. I’m shy. It bothers me, this invasion of privacy. Even the European magazines have written about my pregnancy. I get anxious every time I see another story about our family in the media.”

“I get it, but it comes with the territory, Adeela. I don’t think you fully understood what you were getting into when you married my brother, but now you do. Your life will be under a spotlight forever. Especially after everyone found out it’s a boy.”

I smile, remembering Kaled’s face when the ultrasound revealed the baby’s gender. He was convinced we were having a girl, but my intuition told me otherwise.

“Have you two picked a name yet?”

“Not yet. We’re making a list, but we might wait until he’s born, see which one fits him best.”

“Are you happy?” she asks.

“Very. I never pictured myself pregnant, even though ever since he asked me to marry him, I’ve known I wanted children. But when I found out...knowing there’s a life growing inside me...it’s incredible. I feel whole.”

She laughs and hugs me. “You know I’m going to be the clingiest aunt in history, right?”

I nod. “When are you leaving?”

“I decided to postpone it for a semester or two. There’s no way I’m leaving before my baby nephew is born.”

“Your sisters will be jealous.”

Jazmina and Kaled already have several nieces and nephews from their other siblings.

“I don’t care. Our little sheikh will be my favorite, because he’s the son of the sister I chose and the brother I love most.”

“That sounds weird.”

“True, but what can I say? I’m lucky. My sister-in-law is also my best friend.”

A month later

“I don’t like her,” my mother says, referring to Eiza, the first wife of the former Sheikh Kamran and Naim’s mother.

“Neither do I, but what am I supposed to do? Tell her to stay away? It’s awkward. I mean, the woman barely looked atme before, and ever since her daughter got pregnant, both of them have been acting like we’re best friends.”

Eiza’s youngest daughter, Nalini, around forty-five, is finally expecting a boy after giving birth to five girls.

“I don’t trust sudden friendships. Eiza was never kind to me. She was one of those who loved reminding me I was an ‘unfit wife’ for being American.”

“She never spoke to me all the years I came to the palace as Jazmina’s friend, and even after I married Kaled, she barely greeted me on our wedding day. Do you think that’s because she didn’t like you?”

“Maybe . . . Who knows? She was . . . uh . . .closeto your father.”

“Close to my father? That’s odd.”

My father isn’t close to anyone. The few people he tolerates are all men. And it’s hardly appropriate for him to have been “close” to the sheikh’s wife.

“Very odd,” I repeat.

We’re in the palace garden, watching Eiza scolding a maid. She’s a beautiful woman despite her age, but her constant bitterness and arrogance erase any trace of charm.

I’ve never liked her, and lately her attempts to befriend me have only grown more unsettling. It feels unnatural, like she’s performing a role.

“Yes, I even thought that . . .”