The decision not to respond to Sheikh Omran’s message wasn’t my idea alone. Mazen thought it would be best as well. I treated the Sheikh’s messenger with kindness and told him that we only do what we believe is best for our country, which was the case now.
A message from the leader of the largest tribe in the Kingdom should not force us to act otherwise or withdraw our decision. It wasn’t respectful for them to assume that.
Mazen and I did what we knew was right. Their objection was expected, but they weren’t the rulers of this country, my husband and I were, and only we got to create laws or stop them.
The day the month-long waiting period ended passed like any typical day, but one thing was new – I felt relieved. I finally managed to get the law in place – no one could force any girl to prove her virginity in such a cruel way without any repercussion.
I felt relieved, but something was holding me back from enjoying the ultimate joy in my accomplishment. I tried my best to ignore those feelings because it was completely normal for some people not to follow laws. At least, now there was a punishment for that.
By the time I returned home, I was too exhausted to even consider doing anything other than throwing myself on the bed and fall asleep. But given that my baby wouldn’t like the ‘throwing’ part, I settled on the idea of resting on the first available surface, even if someone had to carry me to bed later.
I was surprised when I didn’t find Donia waiting for me by the foyer, but I didn’t think much of it. Since the day we had lunch together, she’d been acting like a total stranger. Donia was always respectful and did her job perfectly, but the small talk and ease between us were gone. We were boss and employee –not friends anymore.
I wondered if she was afraid I’d ask more questions about the subject she’d referred to as ‘indecent’ or if she was upset with the new law like the rest of her tribe. It would be such a shame if the latter were the motive for her change in behavior. After all, she was a big reason behind why the law had been created at all. She was the inspiration.
I didn’t call her, I was too tired to even do that. I felt as though I would throw up if I just opened my mouth. I stripped down to my undies and got under the covers, hoping that this day would end peacefully. I was sick of vomiting, sick of being sick.
My doctor had said that nausea would disappear in my second trimester, but nothing had changed. I had an appointment with her in two days, and I hoped she knew of ways to stop the nausea or at least ease it.
I fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow. Later on, I felt Mazen lightly rub my stomach, and then his arm surrounded my body. I felt his soft kiss on my shoulder before he settled for the night. It was then that I got really comfortable and slept like a baby.
Mazen was very understanding, he never complained, or bugged me about yawning or whining about my aching bones and sensitive stomach, and not once did he try to disturb my sleep.
A few hours later, I woke up when I felt the need to use the bathroom, surprised to find that Mazen wasn’t in bed with me. Glancing at the clock, it read 4:13 AM. With a frown, I got up to take care of business, but before I reached the bathroom, I heard noises coming from behind my bedroom’s main door.
There was no way I wasn’t going to investigate, especially since I was able to hear Mazen’s voice and at least two other female voices. Although I wasn’t able to understand exactly what they were saying, I could hear the stress in all of their tones.
Something was wrong, and worry started to worm its way in my chest.
I donned my robe and went straight to the bedroom door, where I knew Mazen was standing.
Opening the door slowly, I could see Mazen in only sweatpants and a T-shirt with his arms crossed over his chest. His expression was hard, and he gazed away while three of the palace managers stood silently in front of him, waiting for his reply to something they’d asked.
Mazen’s frown vanished the second he saw me. I could tell that he was concerned about something even after he offered me a small smile.
“Hey!” I said to Mazen, then turned to the palace managers, “Ladies!”
“Good morning, Your Majesty,” one of them greeted me. “We apologize for disturbing you.”
“It’s okay, Britney. What’s going on here?”
“We’re facing quite a situation, Your Majesty,” Britney said, and my frown deepened. “Most of the servants on the night shift are absent, and many of the servants on the day shift left an hour early yesterday, without telling anyone. Now that the new day has started, the day shift workers haven’t appeared.”
I thought about it for a second, confused as to what could’ve possibly caused that. Looking at Mazen, it seemed like he already knew the answer, but he didn’t say anything. He looked deep in thought.
“How many of them?”
“About seventy percent of them, Your Majesty,” she said, and then it clicked.
“The Bedouins,” I said, realization hitting me, the whole situation clearing up for me.
“That’s true, Your Majesty, all of them are Bedouins.”
I nodded, then glanced at Mazen, and he replied to my silent question, “Sheikh Omran’s response.”
“Figures,” I said.
“How many of the servants, who are here, can we trust in our wing and the main kitchen?” Mazen asked the palace managers.
“I’m afraid we do not have as many as we need, Your Majesty,” Allia replied.
There was a long moment of silence as I tried to arrange my thoughts; I believed Mazen was doing the same.
“I’m sure we can manage the palace with the servants we have, until we can cover this situation and fix it,” I said. “Let yourself in at your regular time of 8:30 and we’ll take it from there. Understood?”
“You won’t need one servant, at least, inside the wing this morning, Your Majesty?” Allia asked.
“No, I’ll be fine,” I replied. “Surely, I can take a shower on my own. I do know how to turn the hot water on.” I offered her a small smile, not wanting to sound rude.
“Of course, Your Majesty,” she smiled nervously. “If you’ll excuse us, Your Majesties.”
Mazen and I nodded and went back to our bedroom.
“What are we going to do now?” Mazen asked, looking desperate.
“Mazen, all of the servants inside the palace are reliable and trustworthy. They’d gone through many tests and deep, multiple background checks were done on each of them. It’s going to be okay for a few days.”
“You have to be very careful about who you allow into our wing.”
“I will. Don’t worry, okay? It’s only for a few days. Everything will be back to normal before you know it – I have a plan.”
Mazen frowned. “What kind of a plan?”
“Well. Right now, your baby is sitting on my bladder, and I really need to pee. We will discuss it later today, okay?”
Mazen smiled, moving closer and placing a soft kiss over my hair. “Sure,” he said, and I was relieved. I’d bought myself a few hours to arrange my thoughts and think of how I would break the news to Mazen about my original plan to meet with the leader of the Bedouins.
“Absolutely not!” Mazen declared. He wasn’t going to back down. However, I wasn’t going to take ‘no’ for an answer.
“Mazen, please, hear me out,”
“You can say what you like, but there’s no way I’m going to agree that you go there. And all by yourself? Are you even serious?” He was looking at me as if I’d just grown a second head.
“As a heart attack. And I won’t be alone. Brad and Mo’taz will be right next to me.”
“Not good enough. If you go there – which will likely never happen – you’ll take one hundred royal guards, at the very least,”
“When I go there, which will likely happen today – I’ll only take my two guards and that will be it. I don’t want to look the least bit threatening. Please, try to understand my point.”
“I can’t try to understand your point when it shouldn’t even be an option, Marie! Do you know how dangerous this is?”
“None of the Bedouins would hurt me; they are too honorable. Even if I weren’t the Queen, then I’m their guest, and they’ll respect that,” I said.
If I was sure of anything, it was that the Bedouins would protect me with their lives if needed – not for who I am or what I represented, but because I would be going there willingly and on their grounds. That was something they highly respected and honored; they’d never hurt a guest.
“Not physically,” Mazen said. “But one of them might offend you somehow.”
“Words can’t break bones, Mazen.”
“But they break souls,” he argued.
I sighed. “I’m a big girl, I can take it.”
“Marie, please, you need to drop it. It’s not going to happen.”
I pressed my lips tightly, already getting frustrated. “I need to do what I see is best for our country, and I believe that my visit to Sheikh Omran won’t be fruitless. You can’t prevent me from doing my duty as a Queen just because you’re worried about my feelings.”
Mazen paused for a moment, and I knew I was close to getting what I wanted, so I decided to press a little bit more.
“I could’ve gone without telling you, Mazen. I have every right to do so. But I wanted your blessing and support. Please don’t make me regret telling you. You know very well that I won’t back down.”
“At least, let me go with you,” Mazen said after releasing a frustrated noise.
“No. This whole thing is my responsibility. I need to do it alone.”
Mazen shook his head, then he sighed. “Are you sure about this?”
“Positive.”
“What am I going to do with you?”
“You can wish me luck.” I smiled.
I suppose I’d focused on getting Mazen’s blessing more than I’d thought through the visit itself. The second Mazen left, all of my anxiety returned. Suddenly, I had the urge to ask Mazen to go with me.
No. This was my battle. I needed to be strong to stand fearlessly for these women. Only my passion for the cause would lead me, and that never wavered.
For some reason that I couldn’t explain, I asked Rosanna to accompany me. She understood me well and didn’t ask many questions, just the necessary things to determine what I needed from her.
Our visit was a surprise, but I believed the Bedouins knew the second our cars made it to their borders in the desert.
I had to stay in the car with Rosanna for a few minutes while our guards secured our way. I took the chance to whisper a small prayer to God for His guidance to do the right thing and say the right words.
When the car door opened, I looked at Rosanna, and her smiling eyes were encouraging. She seemed to be very collected and confident. I might’ve appeared as confident as she was, but on the inside, my worry was a bit too much.
Once we left the car, we were surrounded by my guards and hers. Standing in front of us, in the middle of a line of Bedouins, was Sheikh Omran. Their expressions were hard, but there were no rude looks to make me feel unwelcomed.
With a smile, I called, “Peace be upon you, Sheikh Omran.”
“Peace be upon you, Queen Marie,” he answered.
“I come to you as a guest with Princess Rosanna, daughter of Prince Hamed Alfaidy. Will we be welcomed and safe?”
“You are welcome, Queen Marie and Princess Rosanna. If we have to, we will protect you with our souls.” There was nothing in his voice other than sternness and honesty.
My smile grew. “I didn’t expect any less from you, Sheikh Omran.”
The old man nodded once, then he pointed to the large tent in the back. “Come inside and have tea, Queen Marie, until the women are finished with the lunch they’ve started preparing in your honor.”
“Thank you,” I said, then started making my way to where he pointed. Mo’taz was standing right in front of me, protecting my every step, and Brad was on my right, while Rosanna’s guards were walking alongside her. The rest of the guards formed a half-circle behind us.
I knew that no harm would happen to me because I was their guest. I came in peace, and I asked for safety. Bedouins kept their word, so I was very sure I’d leave untouched. I even wanted to send the guards away, afraid to appear rude due to the large number of my security detail, but the guards would go insane if I told them to wait for me by the cars ―never mind Mazen, who would hang them by their hair if they left me alone.
Once seated on the carpet in the tent, I was surprised by how cool it was with the light breeze blowing fresh air through the gaps in the tent’s walls. I had thought that in this place the heat would be unbearable, but it seemed I was wrong and the Bedouins had tricks to make their homes comfortable in the desert.
“I have to apologize to you for the way my son acted when he delivered the message to you. He’s still young and sometimes it’s hard to make him behave,” Sheikh Omran said. I was taken aback by his statement – he was really apologizing? That was a shocker.
“There’s no need to apologize for that, Sheikh Omran. I wasn’t offended by what he said, at all,” I said, keeping a smile on my face. “Speaking of the message, this is the reason why I am here. I wish to discuss the matter with you.”
I decided to get straight to the point, taking my chances that he’d be gentle, not rude and stern, as I’d presumed.
“I said what I have to say in my message, Queen Marie. Apparently, the royal family doesn’t believe that my opinion matters.”
It didn’t really matter; the final decision rest with my husband and me – the rulers of this Kingdom. That was what he wanted me to declare, but I wasn’t going to say it. I liked to believe that I was smarter than that.
“Of course, your opinion matters. We would really love to have your support. You’re the leader of the Bedouins, a leader full of wisdom and knowledge. We would never wish to go against what you desire for our Kingdom,” I said, choosing my words carefully. The honesty in my voice was convincing.
The changes were subtle, but Sheikh Omran’s posture changed a little – his shoulders looked even broader, and his neck rose a bit higher as he sat with a straight back. His ego was stroked very well, which was exactly what I hoped to achieve.
“It doesn’t appear that King Mazen thinks the same. He didn’t cancel the new law as I wished.”
“You see, Sheikh Omran, this new law was suggested by me, which is why I’m here to discuss it with you. I believe all girls should gain a new feeling of security and dignity.”
“What the law is suggesting is for us to stop celebrating our girls’ purity and showing off our honor to others who might doubt it.” He was starting to get irritated either with me or with the subject matter. I needed to keep him as calm as possible, to get what I wanted.
“Who would doubt the Bedouin girls’ honor? They are the purest girls in the Kingdom, there’s no doubt of that. And if you agree with me, Sheikh Omran, to whom must you prove it? Common Deflowering happens inside a tent. It’s not put on national TV for the whole Kingdom to see, so who exactly are you showing off your honor to? People who already know how honorable you are?”
Sheikh Omran didn’t reply, and in that moment of silence, I decided I would push even more. “You’re such a wise man, Sheikh Omran, and you know very well that sheets with blood on them could be faked in a million ways."
That seemed to hit a nerve. The Sheikh’s eyes glittered. “Are you saying that our honor has been faked?”
“I’d never say that. I’m just trying to shine a light on the fact that it’s easy to give false proof of virginity if wanted.”
“Our girls would never do that, Queen Marie.”
“And that’s exactly my point. You’re sure of their purity, I’m sure of their purity, and the rest of the Kingdom is as well. So why humiliate them this way? Would it not be enough for the husband to know that on their wedding night?”
There was a long stretch of silence. Sheikh Omran wasn’t looking my way, and he seemed to be deep in thought. I glanced at Rosanna, and she nodded slowly, telling me silently that I was doing well, which was such a rewarding feeling.
“You can’t change our traditions in the blink of an eye; it’s what we’ve done for as long as we’ve existed. All of the Arabs once did. But it’s only us – the Bedouins – who still keep the honorable ways. And we take pride in doing so.” Sheikh Omran said, radiating stubbornness.
I cringed at his description of the practice as ‘honorable’ but I decided not to show it. “My Sheikh, the law wasn’t created in the blink of an eye. I’ve studied everything well, and I know for a fact that this practice came from people who worshiped the devil. We should not follow such a thing. We believe in God Almighty, and he ordered that we only follow his rules.”
Sheikh Omran looked amused by my words, but he was too stubborn to be convinced. He still argued, “I’ve been a Muslim my whole life, and I know God’s laws well.” He was telling me obliquely that he knew his laws as a Muslim better than I, the Catholic Christian, did.
These kind of remarks were what Mazen wanted to protect me from. He didn’t want my feelings hurt, but I wasn’t offended by his words. I just I didn’t know how I could convince the Sheikh if that was his way of thinking.
In a second, the hero sitting next to me spoke, “With all of my respect to Queen Marie and Sheikh Omran, I’d like to interrupt this conversation with my humble opinion.” Rosanna said, her voice nearly as stern as Sheikh Omran himself. “More like, I’d like to mention a few facts, actually, rather than give an opinion. I’ve been a Muslim my whole life and was taught by the highest Sheikhs in the Kingdom, the ones from whom we take advice upon each and every subject.
“I assure you, Sheikh Omran, none of what I studied referred to the fact that Common Deflowering was practiced on the prophet’s daughters or any of the girls of his time. As a matter of fact, the prophet says that whoever violates a woman’s privacy, even by just speaking badly about her, will be punished by hellfire. We are nobody to go against the prophet and God’s orders. Isn’t that right, Sheikh Omran?”
While Rosanna spoke, my heart was pounding. I was happy, hopeful, and anxious all at the same time. There was no way Sheikh Omran could refute that, and he didn’t.
The old man stayed quiet, and I knew he might not speak after that. So, it was time for me to play my last card.
Inside my suit jacket, I reached for a piece of paper tucked safely in a small pocket. I handed it to Sheikh Omran.
“You see, my Sheikh, I found this letter among many others in the palace. It’s a letter from your great-grandfather to King Mazen’s great-grandfather. In the letter, the Bedouin chief promises to respect all of the Kingdom’s laws and all of the King’s orders. He used very nice words in describing his respect for the King, don’t you think?” I asked in a sweet voice as Sheikh Omran read through the letter.
“Why are you showing me this?” Sheikh Omran asked.
He knew exactly why I was showing him that. I was encouraging him to obey our laws, but that wasn’t how I was going to respond, of course.
“Sheikh Omran, I’m only trying to remind you of the honorable words and tight promises the Bedouins made with the royal family. We hold your honesty and respect in high esteem; we should need no papers as proof. All I’m aiming for is to remind you of the bond we have with each other and the most cherished thing between us – respect.
“You should honor your forefather’s wishes, but whatever you choose to do, I’m only here to ask for your blessing. I hope that you would accept and support the law designed to protect all girls and women who call this Kingdom home, because of course, your opinion matters.” My smile was full, but my heart was jumping in my chest like crazy.
Sheikh Omran didn’t hide his displeasure which was somewhat scary. He was pissed off because I was right, and he couldn’t contradict me.
“Thank you, Queen Marie,” Sheikh Omran said a few moments later. “We appreciate that. I understand your point now and why the law was created.”
“I’m glad.” That was all I said, but our eyes had a different conversation. We both knew he was trapped by the promises made by his ancestors generations ago. He respected his words and his people’s. He couldn’t do anything but honor the contents of the letter. That absolutely ate at him, but it pleased me to no end.
The law could not be ignored, and that was all I needed.
Back in our car, Rosanna couldn’t hide her excitement. “That was amazing!”
I grinned, “You think?”
“It was! Did you see the look on his face? He had no chance with you, girl!”
“Thank you for your support in there, I really appreciate it.”
“Are you kidding? It’s my duty! As your best friend, that is.”
I squeezed her hand. “Best of the best.”
“Do you think he’ll order the Bedouin servants back to the palace now?” Rosanna wondered.
“This wasn’t about the servants, Rosanna. This was about him being forced in the nicest way to respect the law,” I said. “Sheikh Omran wanted us to respond to the withdrawal of the servants with disrespect, to give him a chance to rebel and separate the Bedouins from the Kingdom. Of course, that would’ve meant civil war. I might be queen, but I was glad to kiss his backside to protect my people. If we can win him over, he can influence a large segment of the population.”
“Wow! I never saw it that way. That was a brilliant move, Marie.”
“He shouldn’t underestimate women.”
“Amen to that.” Rosanna nodded.
Nothing would’ve convinced Adam to eat the apple, but his wife did. Women’s power should never be trifled with. It could break chains and melt iron.
My mother-in-law was right: Queens rule.