As it turned out, the wedding planning process was a healing one, too. For once in her life, Olivia was planning for something that was going to be all about her. Fake or not, the vendors and organizers they patronized focused solely on her.

“I’ll have to check with Yasin,” she said to the venue director.

Nylah elbowed her. “Oh, honey,” she said. “Yasin doesn’t care. He just wants to make sure that you’re happy.”

“You keep saying that,” Olivia said. “But I don’t want him to hate any of the decisions we make.”

Nylah smiled at her. Her eyes were similar to Yasin’s; a deep brown. In the bright mid-day sun, they looked more gold than brown. Olivia thought back to Yasin’s eyes, and how the shade changed from a caramel to coffee color, depending on his mood.

“You know,” Nylah said. “You’re lucky to have a fiancé who’s happy to sit back and let you plan such an extravagant affair.”

Olivia nodded. “But I didn’t really want a big extravagant affair, anyway.”

“He’s a sheikh,” Nylah and the venue organizer said at the same time.

Olivia jumped back, surprised at their united front. Her shocked face gave way to a smile as she snickered.

“All right, all right,” she said. “But how much is it going to co—”

Nylah held her hand up. “I swear, if you ask that question one more time, I’m going to take this binder,” she said, holding up the wedding planner binder in her hand, “and I’m going to stick it in your ear.”

“I’m sorry,” Olivia said. “It’s just a bad habit. I’m not used to spending someone else’s money.”

“It’s not someone else’s money,” Nylah said. “It’s yours, too, now. When you get married, you’ll be a united front.”

Olivia nodded and smiled even as anxious thoughts began to brew in her head. She didn’t know much about Rebayan culture and she wasn’t sure what sort of role a wife would have to play. Not only did she have to pretend to be his wife—she had to pretend to be a Rebayan wife.

As the day went on, Olivia felt the fatigue kick in. By the time she arrived back at the mansion, she felt as though she had just run a cross-country marathon. As if by instinct, she walked straight into the sitting room and plopped down on the couch. Her arms fell to her sides and the bags she had carried in fell to the floor. A few of the bags fell over, spilling their contents onto the floor.

“That is a lot of orange fabric,” Yasin said as he walked into the room. He sat down beside her.

When Olivia looked over at him, she suddenly realized that she hadn’t seen him all day. Seeing his face made her smile and gave her just enough energy to sit up and act somewhat presentable.

“I didn’t mean to disturb you,” she said, not knowing what he was doing.

“Oh, it’s fine,” he said. “I just got finished with a conference call when I heard you come in and I thought I’d say hi.” His brows pinched together in worry. “You okay? You look tired.”

“I’m beat today,” she said. “All this planning and running around must be getting the better of me.” She breathed in deeply and relaxed her shoulders.

“Here,” he said. “Let me.” He lifted up his hand and twirled his finger around in a circle, indicating that she turn around and face the other direction.

She did so, without protest. He placed his hands on her shoulders and massaged her aching muscles.

“How was your day?” she asked.

“Good,” he said. “Nothing very exciting to relay. How was yours? Is Nylah treating you well?” His fingers were magical as they targeted and pinpointed the knots in her shoulders.

“She’s great,” Olivia said. “She’s so sweet and she knows just what to say when I do something silly like worry about how much all of this fancy fabric costs and worry about what you’ll think of the venue. Would you like to check out the venue before we book it?” she asked. “I know she told me that you wouldn’t care, but I wanted to give you the option of seeing it first, so I told her that I was still deciding.”

“Do you have a place in mind?” he asked.

She nodded.

“And does it make your heart race?”

She grinned and nodded again.

He stopped massaging her shoulders and leaned in toward her left ear. With a soft whisper, he replied, “Then that’s good enough for me. Book it.”

Olivia’s heart skipped a beat as his hands began their magic once again. The whole exchange made a shiver run up her spine.

“Um,” she started, worried that she might ruin an otherwise perfect moment. “I do have a question to ask.”

“Oh?” He lifted his hands from her shoulders. “That sounds serious. Is everything okay?”

She turned around to face him again. “Yes, yes,” she said. “It’s just a…clarification, maybe?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Okay,” he said. “Well, I’ll try to clarify as best I can.”

“It’s just that—I guess it’s very American of me—when you said that you wanted me to pretend to be your wife, I hadn’t thought about the fact that I needed to be a Rebayan wife.”

He cocked his head to the side. “Oh?”

“Well…I guess—” she stopped herself. A sudden fear of accidentally insulting him filled her with dread. But at the same time, she was worried about the specifics on her new position once they moved past the wedding.

“I was talking with Nylah today, and she mentioned that I was lucky that you allowed me so much freedom in making the decisions for the wedding. It seemed as if most women here don’t get that. That got me thinking…I mean, I just don’t know what I’m expected to do or how to act, once we get married.”

The concerned look on his face relaxed.

“While we do keep some of our traditional customs here, a Rebayan marriage is just like an American marriage, as far as I know. Shared responsibilities and respect, at its essence,” he said. “Tradition here is that the men plan most of the wedding as a surprise for their bride, but since you’re so far from home, and since I wouldn’t have your family members here to help me choose things, it seemed more appropriate for you to make the decisions. Plus, my family knows you’re American and American brides are the wedding-decision-makers there. It’s a melding of our cultures.”

Olivia nodded, and her brows and lips relaxed, as well. The possibilities had weighed on her all day. She assumed that was part of the reason why she was so tired.

“Have you been feeling all right?” Yasin asked. “You’re looking a little drained. Have we been pushing things too fast?” He placed his hand on hers.

“Oh, I’ll be fine. I probably just need a good night’s sleep. I bet I’ll feel a lot better in the morning,” she said, even though she knew it was a lie. There was a better chance that she was getting sick with something.

“Well, I guess I shouldn’t ask you if you want a glass of wine tonight,” he said.

“Yeah, I think I’m just going to go to bed.” Her heart sank just a little bit. She wanted to spend more time with him, but the thought of her warm bed was just overpowering.

“Well, let me help you,” he said.

Together, they each grabbed handfuls of bag handles and headed down the hall to her room. As they passed Olivia’s extra room, she rushed ahead and shut the door before he could see in.

“What’s in there?” he asked. “Did you finally figure out what you wanted to do with it?”

She nodded. “Yeah, but it’s not done yet. I’ll show you once I’m done decorating it.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “All right,” he said. “Why all the secrecy?”

She beamed. “I like surprises,” she said. “I especially like the idea of surprising other people.”

Yasin laughed. “All right,” he said. “Speaking of decorating rooms, I picked out a room for the nursery,” he said. “I’d love to have your hand in decorating it. I have a feeling that you’re better at the whole wallpaper, paint, color scheme…thing.”

She laughed. “Well, wait until you see this room. If you like it, then I’d love to help you decorate your nursery.”

Olivia walked him to her room and started setting bags down next to her writing desk.

“We can start scheduling appointments for the insemination procedure after the wedding,” he said. “So that way, you won’t have to worry about too many things at once. Your physical came out great. I want to make sure that you stay healthy: mentally and physically. I see how the wedding planning is taking a toll on you.”

“Yeah…”

“I think that every time I’ve come home this week, you’ve either been gone or napping,” he said. “I’ve never met such an avid napper.”

Olivia frowned. “I don’t usually nap so much. It’s just all the running around,” she said.

He held his hands up. “Oh no. I wasn’t complaining,” he said. “Sorry.”

They both laughed awkwardly.

“All right,” he said. “I’ll let you get some rest.” He took a couple of steps toward her and reached out, as if he was going to hug her, but he stopped himself before she could even react. “Oh,” he said as he realized what he was doing.

Yasin placed his hands in his pockets and smiled innocently at her before turning and walking out of her room, shutting the door behind him.

Olivia’s shoulders fell. She wanted to feel his arms around her again. It had been a while since they’d been close that way.

She fell backwards onto her bed, bouncing up and down just slightly, like on the mattress commercials that she used to watch back home, her gaze landing on the ceiling. Her eyelids felt heavy as her body relaxed. They had almost closed when a realization dawned on her, causing her eyes to snap wide open.

“I’m going to be a mother,” she whispered to herself. Despite not having any official appointments for the procedure yet, the insemination suddenly felt closer. “I’m going to be pregnant with a baby and I’m going to have to give birth.”

Even as a whisper, her voice squeaked as the words left her lips. She still felt the fatigue that plagued her body, and yet sleep eluded her for most of the night.