Ali awoke to the feeling of being watched.
Slowly she opened her eyes to see Ardeth's beautiful dark eyes.
"Good morning, my love" he said before gently kissing her.
"Good morning" she said into their kiss.
Ardeth then pulled back and looked at her again.
Ali could tell something was on his mind so she asked "What are you thinking?"
Ardeth moved his hand under the cover and with butterfly touches ran his fingers along the scar that ran down her stomach.
"Basel told me what happened. She informed me of many things in your life, although she never let me ready your letters."
"Oh, I knew she told you some things."
"Yes, she told me that you almost died during Elizabeth's birth."
Ali nodded "Yes, we knew that there was something wrong early in my pregnancy. I was sick much of the time and I can't quite explain it but I just knew something wasn't right. When my doctor realized late in my pregnancy that the baby had not turned, he became alarmed. He directed us to a specialist"
She closed her eyes remembering back to what a terrifying time it was. Ardeth saw the pain and fear play across her face and pulled her closer as if to try to protect her from it.
She continued talking "The specialist tried to turn the baby"
Ardeth interrupted "How?"
Ali shuddered and quietly said "He reached in and try to move her"
"Oh" was all Ardeth said. He imagined it was painful.
As if reading his mind Ali said "It was very painful and unfortunately it didn't work. I was in such pain He knew we had to do something. He also knew I would never have the baby naturally, so he very strongly suggested a cesarean section."
"We knew we didn't have much choice. I was terrified, but I knew the baby and I would die if we didn't go through with it"
"That must have been terrifying" Ardeth said.
"It was but we didn't have a choice. During the surgery I started to hemorrhage. They were able to born the baby but I almost bled to death. They had to give me a blood transfusion. And with all that was happening with my body, it caused me to not be able to carry more children" She stopped for a moment then continued. "I was unconscious for several days and honestly it took me about 5 months to recover"
Ardeth held her for a few minutes then said "I am so sorry you had to go through yet another painful experience. You have been through so much in your life". Pulling her a bit closer he kissed the top of her head.
Ali nodded "It was a horrible time but in the end it turned out alright. Elizabeth and I were both okay."
After a few minutes of silence she added "I know you too had a close call during our time apart"
Ardeth sighed "Yes, there was a group that went to Hamunaptra and of course we stopped them. Somehow I let one of them sneak up on me and before I knew it he had stabbed me from behind. As I turned to fight him he stabbed me again. One of my men killed him, but I was bleeding profusely." He stopped for a minute and then added "They didn't know if I would make it back to the village".
Neither spoke for a few minutes. Finally Ardeth spoke again "I really don't remember much. I was in and out of consciousness for several weeks. Basel said that I talked and called out for you during that time."
Ali was shocked by his confession. Pulling away from their embrace she looked at him "Oh Ardeth".
"I do not remember calling for you, but I do remember one night you spoke to me, or I thought you did."
Ali looked at him "What do you mean"
"One night I woke up, or I thought I did and you were there. You touched my arm, then my face and told me I had to get better, that my people needed me and that one day we would see each other again. 2 days later my fever broke and within a week I was back to my normal routine."
"I knew you had a terrible time of it, but I didn't realize that"
"You saved me" Ardeth said matter of factly, pulling Ali back to him.