Loving Ali - Shånnon Marie (romantic story to read .txt) 📗

We pulled into the driveway, where my bags of clothes sat. I sent a quizzical glance Ali's way. 
"I had Benton drop them off," Ali explained.
"So, is Benton like your chauffeur?"
"In a matter of speaking. Driving is only one of his tasks. He and his wife are the caretakers of my bungalow in the Catskills."
"He drove all the way out here just to take me to the hotel?!" I shrieked.
"With as large as his paycheck is, he'd better!" Ali laughed. 
"Just how many places do you have?" I frowned as we walked to my door. 
"Too many," Ali stuck out his tongue, "but what was I supposed to do with all the money?"
Just then, a set of blinding headlights pulled into my driveway, and I heard car doors slamming. 
I reached out for Ali, who gathered me against him protectively. 
"ALI?!" I heard a man bellow, and the headlights shut off.
I blinked as my eyes adjusted, then made out the figures of four people approaching us. The first to draw near us was an older man of average height and build, but other than that he was almost the carbon copy of Ali's, although his eyes blazed with fury instead of playfullness. He approached us with a snarl of fury on his face and began speaking harshly to Ali in what I guessed was Arabic. 
As he was talking, the other three figures pulled up alongside him. Ingrid was one of them, and then there was another beautiful woman, although her breasts and blonde hair were obviously fake. I knew instantly it had to be Ingrid's mother. She held the arm of the party's final member, another man with the same tan skin as Ali's, but other than that, there was really no resemblence. 
Ali grew more and more tense as the first man's scolding continued, until the man paused and seemed to notice me for the first time.
"Ali, who is this woman?!" he demanded in a heavy Middle-Eastern accent. I cowered against Ali, who held me tightly.
"This is Dr. Claire Bennet, from the Geneva Medical Institute," Ali replied icily. "Tonight is our night out, so if you don't mind," Ali began taking me into the house.
"Ali!" The man yelled, and Ali turned to face him with an angry glower on his face. 
"What?" he hissed with such venom in his voice that even I winced.
"Oman!" the man turned to face the other male in the party. "Please explain to my son why I am so upset, since he seems to lack the brains to figure it out himself!"
So that's Ali's father, I thought to myself. It's no wonder he hates him so much!
Oman approached Ali, a pleading look on his face. "Please, Ali," he asked gently. "You know Kahan has a furious temper, and you know how much he hates your flagrant disrespect for his rules. Just do as he says, for your own good!"
Kahan, Ali's father, butted back in. "If you only want one woman, then so be it, crazy as the idea is. But you know it could never be her!" he pointed angrily at me. 
"I don't want any woman!" Ali hissed. 
"You will marry, and you will produce an heir, Ali," Kahan's voice lowered dangerously.
"No," Ali said firmly, then stumbled backwards as Kahan's hand came out of nowhere and struck Ali across the face.
"Ali!" I cried, then turned to face Kahan. "Sir, you may be his father, but he's a grown man! You have no right to bully him around like that! He has a life, too!"
"You know nothing of our lives!" Kahan snarled. 
"I don't care! Hitting him won't solve anything!" I snarled right back. 
Kahan raised his hand to strike me as well, but Ali's arm shot out and grabbed Kahan's wrist.
Kahan glared at Ali. "You dare defy me?!"
"You dare hit a woman?!" Ali hissed back, so angry he was trembling. "She may not be strong enough to fight back, but I am. And I'm not that frightened little boy you used to beat around the house, either. You strike her, and I swear you will rue it."
"Ali," Ingrid's mother stepped foward. "Ali, just give up this whole New York fiasco, and let's just return to Arabia where you belong?" She turned to me, and I was shocked to see genuine warmth and kindness in her eyes, as opposed to Ingrid's haughty disdain. "Hello dear," her accent was every bit as heavy as Ingrid's. "My name's Rebeckah. Sorry we had to meet under such rotten circumstances. You're probably wondering what on Earth is going on, aren't you?"
I nodded. 
She smiled wistfully. "Kahan, Ali's father, was furious when Ali fled Arabia with his cousin Achmed, but let him go once my daughter promised Kahan she would follow Ali to New York and keep an eye on him. For the longest time, Kahan has been pushing Ali to wed and produce an heir, even if he only wants one wife instead of a dozen. As long as an heir is produced, that's all Kahan wants. Ali refuses, and you can probably see that Kahan is not a man you normally wish to trifle with. But Ali is every bit as stubborn as Kahan, so it's come to this."
"Why don't you marry Ingrid?" Kahan interrupted. "Even if she's not of Arab descent, at least she's accepted amongst our people, and she'd make a perfectly respectable wife in society!"
Ali's lip snarled as he prepared to respond, but Rebeckah held up her hand which surprisingly silenced both Kahan and Ali. I stood in awe at this woman's power. She faced me again. "I'm sorry, Claire, I truly am, but I think it would be best if you stayed out of Ali's life, and he out of yours."
I gulped and tried to fight the hollow pit of dread and despair that built in my gut. I wasn't allowed to see Ali anymore? I turned to him, but he wouldn't meet my eyes. 
"She's right, Claire," he said bitterly. "It's best if this was goodbye."
I sat down on the porch step, stunned and dazed, while Ali went inside to gather his things. He came back outside with his bag of clothes and his weights, and sat down beside me. "Can I please have just a few moments?" he asked the others. 
Kahan started to protest, but Oman pulled him away, and they all headed back to the car. Ingrid hesitated, obviously not happy about Ali being alone with me, but reluctantly followed after them. 
"Sorry you had to see all this, Doc," Ali gave a heavy sigh. "My father's a cruel and sick man."
I nodded. "He's not my favourite guy ever, not gonna lie."
He gave a half smile. "I don't blame you." He sighed again, and turned to face me. "I'm gonna miss this, Claire," he took my hand in his.
"I'm going to miss you," I whispered, gulping back the lump in my throat and trying to fight back tears.
"Yeah," he nodded. "It's been good."
"So I'm really never going to see you again?"
"Well, it's not like I'm going anywhere," Ali shrugged. "I'll still be here, in New York. Maybe I'll see you around downtown sometime. But you knew nothing was going to come of this anyways, Claire. I was going to leave, whether they'd shown up or not."
"Yeah," I bit my lip. "I know."
"Hey, Doc, come on now," he smiled softly and cupped my cheek in his hand, forcing my eyes to meet his. 
I covered his hand in my own. "Goodbye, Ali." The tears spilled over despite my valiant attempts to restrain them. My heart was breaking, and it hurt something awful.
Ali wiped my tears with a gentle smile and kissed me softly on the lips. "Goodbye, Claire," he said, rising to his feet. "You know, you're a real good woman, Doc. Someday-"
I held my hand up. "I swear to God, Ali, if you give me that 'You'll make a great wife someday' speech, I'll stick you with the biggest needle I've got."
He gave a half-hearted chuckle. "Bye, then," he waved, and walked to the car, never once turning back, despite all the foolish dreams that flooded my mind of him running back. They drove away, and I was left alone in the dark with my tears.


"Welcome back, Claire!" Leslie gathered me up in a giant bear hug. "Look at what Michael bought me!!" She flashed a beautiful emerald engagement ring in my face. 
"Wow, Leslie!" I tried my best to grin through my envy, momentarily envisioning Ali putting a ring on my finger. "How'd he propose?"
"Well, we actually were arguing about something-I forget exactly what-and he said something about how he wouldn't marry me if I was the last woman on Earth and I asked him since when were we talking about marriage? He said he didn't mean for that to slip out, but since it had, and he got down on one knee!"
"He better treat my girl right," Rico came up next to us with a grin on his face and tousled Leslie's hair affectionately.
"You say that to all the ladies, mate," Leslie rolled her eyes.
"That's because there are so many beautiful women in the hospital with me," he leaned over and kissed my cheek. "Good to have you back, Claire. You're looking really good!"
"What do you mean?" I frowned. I felt like hell.
"You look like you enjoyed yourself on your time off. Your cheeks are all rosy, all the stress and worry lines are gone...happiness fits you!"
I blushed. "Well, I did have fun, I guess."
"Oh?" Rico grinned. "You'll have to give us all the dirty details, then."
I laughed. "Nothing to tell, really. He was sexy. But he's gone now, so it's time to move on."
"I'll bet I know someone who'd take you out, love," said Leslie.
"Who?" I asked.
"Kip!"
"Please," I rolled my eyes. "Kip Brighton? The head of the pediatric ward? Where'd that come from?"
"Even I could tell he liked you!" Rico laughed. "He always stares at you like you're a goddess or something, and he keeps coming through the ER, but never has the guts to talk to you."
"He talked to me just fine when I worked with him," I frowned, and picked up my clipboard.
"That's because he couldn't avoid you there!" Leslie insisted. "Go on! Take the bloke out for a try!"
"He's sweet, but I'm not interested in a relationship right now," I shook my head.
Rico frowned. "Just how long have you known that Ali dude?"
"I'd seen him twice before he came to the hospital," I said, "but that was over the course of three weeks or so. I've known him since early February."
"So about two months? And you're already that into him?"
"Who says I'm into him?" I put on what I hoped was a look of convincing denial. 
"I do," Rico and Leslie both replied.
"Whatever," I stuck my tongue out. "He's not interested in settling down, so what does it matter how I feel for him?"
"Aww, Claire!" Leslie put her arm around me. "You're upset, poor little ducky!"
"Am not!" I sniffed, and started off to my first patient.
"Just don't do anything stupid on the rebound!" Rico called after me.
"Any stupid activites that were going to happen already have," I muttered to myself, and went inside my patient's room.


"How are you doing today, Ben?" I asked the twinkle-eyed elderly man laying in the bed.
"Doing great, Doc!" he grinned. "So what's the diagnosis? Will I live?"
"You sure will!" I smiled back, and began unhooking his IV