The Sultan's Bride (6 page)

‘Mother, do I have to do
lessons today?  It’s so sunny and warm outside.’  Catherine
said.  It was humid and hard to concentrate as it was so Sarah relented to
let her play with the children nearby. 

‘Don’t go too far from the
house,’ Sarah told her daughter and watched as the little girl met with
Hassan’s children a few doors down and smiled at the little girls ease at
making friends.

It was easy for Catherine she
thought to herself, she could make herself welcome anyway she had such a gentle
and caring way about her.  She wasn’t shy either which could be as much of
an embarrassment as something to be proud of.  With the children nearby,
she could hear the sound of children’s laughter and weary from the heat she
decided to take a nap.

It was the screaming that
woke her up, the child in the street screeching at the top of her voice. 
Sarah rushed down the steps at the front of the house, frantic in case it was
Catherine but to her relief it was a little girl from across the street.

‘What’s wrong
Daria
, are you hurt?’ she asked. 

‘Catherine is gone,’ said
Daria
, ‘Some men came and took her while we were playing.’

‘What men?’ Sarah
asked. 

‘They came up and grabbed
her, put something on her face and she went to sleep, then they took her.’

Sarah clamped her hand over
her mouth and screamed in horror.  Running as fast as she could to the
dock where Peter was loading the ship she nearly collided with him.

‘Peter someone’s taken
Catherine,’ she said between sobs.  She told him what
Daria
had said. 

‘We need to inform the
authorities and form a search party.  We’ll find her Sarah.’

For hours they searched,
there was no sign.  Sarah was frantic and Peter tried to keep calm himself
to console her.  The authorities weren’t too interested after the first
couple of days.  It was common they said for young girls to go missing and
in a port town she could also have easily fallen into the water and drowned.

So while the ship sailed,
laden with the goods that Peter’s business partners would take care of, they
stayed and searched and after many months and nothing, running out of available
resources they headed for home.  Heartbroken, all Sarah could think of was
Catherine.

The journey back was
uneventful, Sarah stayed in the cabin the whole time miserable and
seasick.  By the time they got home she had run out of tears, unable to
cry anymore but wretched at the ache she felt for her lost daughter.

Their home seemed dark and
cold when they got there, Sarah couldn’t bear to go near Catherine’s room and
Peter closed the door.  His regret now at ever going hung over him. No
amount of money would ever help them recover from this.

The morning seemed colder
than ever as Peter made his way to the office.  Keen to find out how the
business had done in his absence he was also running away from Sarah for whom returning
home had brought another wave of misery.

Every room reminded them of
Catherine, the living room where she had played, the dining room where they had
eaten their meals together as a family and the bedroom full of her
things.  Sarah was bereft with grief and Peter could not bear to see her
so torn up.

Trudging to the office all
Peter could think of was Sarah, he ached to see her like this and his own heart
felt as though it had been ripped apart by the loss of Catherine and to see his
beloved wife so sad pained him.

Peter turned the final corner
and stood before the office door.  The windows of the building were
boarded up and he looked at it puzzled before trying his key in the door. 
When it didn’t turn he backed up and looked again.  It was still, there
was no one there which wasn’t unusual but the place looked like it hadn’t been
occupied for some time.

‘Perhaps they’ve moved
somewhere better,’ he said to himself before turning and walking to the home of
Charles
Gray
, the nearest of the business partners.

A knock on the door was
answered by Elizabeth
Gray
who threw herself at Peter
to hug him.  ‘We were so sorry to hear what happened,’ she
said.   The
Grays
being childless had
adored Catherine and treated her as their own. 

Ushering him in to sit down
she poured him some tea.  ‘Is there any news of Catherine?  I have
been so worried for her Peter and upset for you and Sarah.’

He shook his head. 
‘There has been no sign, we still have people looking but each day holds less
and less hope.  I don’t know what to do Elizabeth, Sarah is so distant.’

She patted his hand. ‘As long
as you are there for each other you’ll get through it.  There must be some
hope to hold onto.’

Standing up she smoothed down
her dress. ‘I will fetch Charles for you.  There are business matters you
need to discuss.’  Pausing in the hallway she took a deep breath and
closed her eyes thinking of the further pain that was about to be inflicted on
the
Stantons
.

Charles was direct and to the
point. ‘John took all the money from the
business,
everything we earned from your trading trip is gone.  I have started
rebuilding from what I had myself and you are welcome to join me but we are
starting with very little I’m afraid.’

Peter’s jaw dropped. 
‘Everything?’ he whispered.

Charles sat beside him. 
‘I’m sorry to lay it on you the minute you are here but it’s all gone
Peter.  We made a handsome profit on the goods you shipped and he took it
all.’

Reaching out he put a hand on
the younger man’s shoulder.  ‘I am so sorry to hear of Catherine’s
disappearance Peter, if there’s anything we can do at all.’

Still in shock Peter nodded.
‘I will talk to Sarah, we’ll have to sell the house and buy something smaller
but I would like to stay in business with you if I can.’

‘I still can’t believe it,’
Charles said, ‘all that time we were in business together with your father and
then you.  From what I hear he had debts that he told no one about and
desperate took the money and ran.’

After more tea and talking
Peter headed home to Sarah, telling her what had happened.  Surprisingly
she took it better than he had expected.  ‘There is no point in being
upset about this, what’s done is done.  I would give all the money I had
to get my baby back.’

Peter wrapped his arms around
her.  It was the most she had said in days.  ‘I know sweetheart, I
know.’

He took a deep breath.
‘Charles has offered me a partnership but we’re going to have to sell the house
so I can buy into the business.  With John running the way he did we
haven’t lost any of our clients so we can rebuild.’

She nodded.  ‘I
understand.’  Looking up at him he saw her blue eyes filled with tears.
‘When Catherine comes home she won’t know where we are.’

‘She’ll find us love, no
matter what she’ll find us,’ he said, holding her tight, kissing her cheek and
wiping her tears.

Catherine Stanton woke up to
the dust and noise of a carriage.  Feeling the bumps on the uneven road
she screamed, realising she was not where she was supposed to be and her
parents were nowhere to be seen.

From the other side of the
carriage an arm appeared, and then another and the little girl was given more
of the drug to keep her still until they got to their final destination.

When she awoke again she was
in a very familiar place, the Sultan’s palace in
Ajara
where he now stood over her.  She struggled but he held her down so she
couldn’t get away.  ‘Please let me go,’ she said, ‘My Mama will be very
worried.’

‘You don’t need to worry
about that anymore,’ he said, ‘You will be living with us here now, your mother
and father have gone home to England and left you here so you can be playmates
with
Arif
.  Didn’t you like having him as a
friend?’

‘I did but I want my Mama,’
the little girl wailed. 

‘It will take time to adjust
but you will like living here, I will put you in the care of the Sultana and
she will look after you. 
Arif
has missed you
since you left; you are very dear to him.’ 

Catherine cried and the
Sultan picked her up and carried her to the door of the harem.  ‘See to it
that she is dressed appropriately and taught the ways of our people,’ he said,
‘she is to be a playmate of
Arif
and as such treated
like my own daughter.’

Irina looked at him. 
‘Husband, this is not something you should have done.  Sarah will be
heartbroken and the little girl needs to be with her mother.’

His nostrils flared. ‘You
dare question me?  Believe me her family have been well paid for
her.  Now take her and settle her.’

The Sultana smiled at
Catherine and took the girl from his arms.  Catherine squirmed but the
woman was surprisingly strong and she was unable to break her grip.  She
sobbed for hours until there were no more tears, her grief for her mother
consuming her. 

Over the next few weeks
Catherine stayed in the harem.  The women dressed her as a girl of the
palace would be dressed and she was educated in their language and customs.
 At night she cried for her parents and Irina would hold her and rock,
ashamed of her husband’s actions.  She had made a good friend in Sarah
Stanton and for them to have stolen her child was so wrong.  In the harem
at night with the weeping child she vowed that one day she would make
everything right for her friend and the daughter she would be missing beyond
reason.

As time went on Catherine
adjusted to palace life, she talked about her parents less and while the Sultan
rejoiced at what seemed to be her new attitude she hid her sadness and talking
about them made the heartache worse.

Omar was horrified to see her
back, realising that the Sultan had kidnapped her but having no way to find
Sarah to tell her.  He vowed to take care of her as if she was her own and
look for an opportunity to return her to her mother.  His heart ached for
Sarah’s loss as it did for his loss of her.  He was a man of passion but
had not opened himself to many, she had been a shining light in his life and he
felt the pain of her leaving greatly.

The children weren’t allowed
outside the palace but they had the courtyard to play with and its lush garden,
Catherine would stand and look up at the moon sometimes wondering where her
parents were under that same moon and if they were thinking of her. 

She had her own room which
glittered with gold and jewels and any toy that she desired.   Catherine
also had
Arif
, who she spent her days with and who
would tell her in whispered tones that one day when they grew up his father
would die and he would be Sultan with her as his Sultana.  As time went
past and the pair grew along with their dream together to someday be man and
wife.

As Catherine grew it was
clear she would be a beauty, with her alabaster skin, kept out of the sun she
looked like a china doll.  She had her mother’s long brown curls and the
big blue eyes with impossibly long eyelashes.

It wasn’t long until the men
in the palace started noticing her, as she grew into adolescence she started
developing breasts and her hips took on their shape. At thirteen Catherine
started her courses.  The Sultana had told her about what would happen and
she had been dreading it.  Irina had told her that from that time onward
it would be only a matter of time before the Sultan married her to
Arif
.

Arif
knew when it happened of course.  The women had
rooms to seclude themselves in away from the rest of the palace when it was
their time and Catherine was no different.  She greatly enjoyed the time
away from everyone.  Able to take her beloved books with her she got to
indulge in the silence being away from everyone provided.

It was also the only time the
Sultan’s wives were released from the harem.  Catherine longed to leave
her room and visit them but that wasn’t permitted.  The women were truly
isolated during their time.

When
Arif
began to act strange around her, Catherine couldn’t guess why and decided to
ask him about it. ‘Why are you behaving differently around me now?’ she asked
one day as they sat in the garden, hidden from view of anyone else.  It
was their favourite spot to get some time alone even as children but now being
alone with
Arif
was different.

‘You are nearly a woman,’ he
said, ‘
Soon
you will be my wife and I will be able to
bed you.’  She flushed with colour.  ‘You are very beautiful,’ he
continued, ‘I would like very much to kiss you.’

Catherine nodded.
Arif
was growing into a most handsome young man as well as
being her best friend.  Over the last few years he had also caught up to
her in height and now was a head taller than her.  He leaned over and
softly, gently touched his lips to hers.  It only lasted a few seconds but
when he pulled away from her his cheeks were flushed too and his eyes were
wide.  She giggled. ‘I liked it too,’ she said and he leaned in for
another.