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The Upside
Chapter 7
He had expected to meet some resistance when asking for her hand – no family wished to appear eager to marry off its daughters. However Umayyad Kalifah Imtiyaz reminded him more and more of his father as the conversation drew on. The man sat opposite him with an impassive expression, and it had taken four cups of mint tea for the conversation to come to the point. Then Umayyad had asked one simple question – why should he let his niece be taken into the desert by a group of well-dressed nomads?
Abdul-Jalil was also present, now and then adding a comment. He was clearly in favour of this match, but for the most part he said nothing, letting Ardeth plead his case.
Ardeth wondered if the head of the Imtiyaz family was truly concerned about where Ester would end up if he gave his blessing to the union, or if he wanted to be convinced for the form of the matter.
"I have come to care for her deeply, and even if we should not be wed, I hope you will give Sahir Taymullah the treatment he deserves for insulting Ester and your family. His actions are nothing short of shameful – he certainly does not deserve to have a lady such as her by his side."
Finally that seemed to strike a chord, because Umayyad nodded slowly.
"I agree that she deserves far more than Taymullah. It remains to be seen however, if you are deserving of her."
Abdul-Jalil broke the silence. "Would you not agree, brother, that he has much to offer to Ester and to our family? The trade relations could be very profitable for both of us."
"That may be so," Umayyad admitted slowly.
"As for if he is deserving, why don't we ask her?" Abdul-Jalil inserted before there could be another endless discussion on the merits of the Medjai and life in the desert. "I will get her."
"You have spent time with her and she thinks highly of you," Umayyad said while the other man walked away. Ardeth realised that her uncle had not asked her about her time in the desert with him, and she had not volunteered any information. Umayyad clearly thought this was best for all concerned.
"And I hold the highest regard for her," he assured the other man. "The very highest."
Then he smoothly rose to his feet to greet Ester as she approached with her uncle. She walked a little careful after her fall the other day, but didn't seem to have any ill effects from it.
He took her hands into his own, caressing the back of her hands with his thumbs as he bowed deeply. For such a formal gesture it still made his entire body feel warmer just for touching her. Her eyes widened a fraction as he gave her the slightest of smiles, and he thought perhaps the effect on her was the same.
"Ukht-bint, Ardeth Bay of the Medjai asks for you hand in marriage," Abdul-Jalil introduced them formally. She nodded, her face showing no emotion. "Are you interested in the possibility of a union?"
"I am."
Ardeth found himself glad that he had spoken to her yesterday and that he already knew that she wanted to marry him, because before her uncle she was emotionless, with no indication of if the idea of the marriage pleased her. Umayyad nodded.
"Excellent," Abdul-Jalil said cheerfully.
"There is not yet an agreement on the faridah," Umayyad pointed out.
Ester opened her mouth to say something, and Ardeth caught her eyes to give a tiny shake of his head. He spoke instead of her, naming his offer.
He had done some careful asking around and found out the approximate faridah given to the daughter of one of the other high status Nile Valley families. Then he'd doubled the amount. It was more than eight times the faridah Sahir Taymullah had offered her at the time she accepted his proposal.
Within the Medjai the faridah rarely took to such amounts, but the council had discussed the possibilities when they had urged him to look for a wife at the Spring Races, so this was within his options. Since Medjai women inherited from their mothers, the money would also be an investment into the future of his daughters and their daughters.
"…also I would offer you a foal bred to your liking from any of our horses, and with your family I would like to enter into an exchange arrangement for bloodlines."
He hid his satisfaction at the subtly stunned reaction of Umayyad and calmly waited for an answer.
"I accept," Ester said as her uncles exchanged looks. Ardeth let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. Rationally he had not been worried about if she would accept, but still those two words unwound a tight coil in his stomach.
"Very well," Abdul-Jalil recovered first. "When shall the ceremony take place?"
Ardeth waited for Ester to say something, but she didn't seem to be particularly bothered about the details of the wedding.
"I would suggest on the last day of the Races," he spoke up, his eyes fixed on hers. "Once we arrive at the Medjai base camp there will be a second ceremony, but this is the chance to celebrate our wedding," he felt his heart leap as he said that, "with your family."
It wasn't that he had wished to keep secrets from his people; between Ester's fall and the arrangements with her family the wedding had simply been uncertain. Now that she seemed to recover and arrangements had been made for the cereony, he felt confident enough that the entire scenario wouldn't fade away as soon as he spoke about it.
"You had best prepare for a wedding," he told them. "It will be the day after tomorrow."
This caused a satisfying shockwave among his people. The only one who had had cause to suspect this announcement was Omar, and the man had not yet returned from the communal forges – in all likelihood he was still working on one of the several pieces Ardeth had requested that afternoon.
"Well, tell us! Who is the lucky lady?" Abdul-Rahim broke the silence.
"You know her already. Ester Imtiyaz Il Fernández."
He saw Fouad nod, as if this was a confirmation of what he had suspected.
"Is she not betrothed?"
"She broke it off," he answered Yamira. In fact Ester had been quite annoyed with her uncles when they had decided that it would be better if they handled it, and that streak of vindictiveness had both startled and amused him. Thinking of the pain and humiliation the man had caused her it was really no surprise that she had wanted to return some of that feeling.
However, as rumour had it her uncles had taken care of that; Sahir Taymullah had packed up his camp that afternoon and left the gathering. He wondered if she felt triumphant.
He watched the group as they processed this news, and was pleased to find no disapproval of his choice. Many of the men had already met her, or heard of her, and they knew she was no spoilt princess unfit for desert life. As for the others, she would have to convince those herself.
When everybody settled down they discussed the wedding and what needed to be arranged around it. He'd already decided that in two days they would be wedded in the style of the Nile valley, with a proper Medjai wedding when they arrived back with at the base camp.
Ester had confided in him that while she was not interested in a large celebration, in her family anything below two hundred and fifty guests would be considered hushing it up.
They had both concluded that it might not be worth the effort to fight her family on this – after all; after the ceremony she would be Medjai, and it was the Medjai custom that the newly wed couple retreated to the tent that was now their family tent once the ceremony was over.
In truth it was more of a tradition and in no way binding, but he was perfectly prepared to use it as an excuse to get Ester and himself away from the celebrations afterward. And in fact there was a small ritual as they entered their tent for the first time, to call the favour of Allah onto their family home.
"Congratulations," Fouad grinned. "I do believe you are the first man to marry one woman as his first AND second wife!"
To be continued