Boundless Love (A Limitless Love Series.): (Christian Romance)

CHAPTER 23

Dedicated to LuckyPlum

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Mrs. Fareedah Salim Hussein sat at a private corner in the sparsely occupied restaurant. She checked the time on her wrist watch and turned to look away at the door. She wondered what was taking the girls so long. Fatima must have gotten distracted by the shopping mall next door. She thought. That child and her impulsive shopping tendencies, I should probably call her... She reached for the cellphone on the table and was about to dial the number when a burst of unmistakable melodious laughter filled the room.

She turned her head to the entrance where she saw Fatima walking in, hand in hand with a beautiful foreign girl. They were whispering and giggling like school girls. Scratch impulse shopping and add overly social, she probably even forgot about her sister. Thought Mrs. Hussein.

The pair arrived at her table, wide grins plastered on their young faces. Mrs. Hussein looked up, "Fatima, I thought you were going to wait for your sister." She said trying to control her annoyed tone.

"Oh, yes I did find her. This is her friend, Diamonique. She'll be here in a minute." Fatima gestured towards the princess. "Diamonique, meet my mom, Mrs. Fareedah Salim Hussein."

The smile on Diamonique only widened. "It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am," she said extending a hand out to the elderly woman.

Mrs. Hussein took it and gave a firm handshake," the pleasure is all mine. You look awfully familiar, tell me, where is that accent from?"

"Mama, let Nika eat something before subjecting her through a grilling session," said Halima as she came up from her mother's other side.

The quizzical look on Mrs. Hussein broke into a pleasant smile at the sound of her daughter's voice. She lifted herself up and pulled her into a warm bear hug. Halima readily sank into her mother's bosom. "Halima, don't you ever do that again," she whispered into the messy curly locks caressing her chin."Don't you run away again without speaking to me."

"I missed you too mum," said Halima easing herself out of the firm cuddle.

"No problem is too big to solve, you come to me if you are in trouble, okay?" Continued Mrs. Hussein. "If you do such a thing again I will turn you over my knee, I don't care how old you are, do you hear me?"

"Yes ma'am," she whispered. "I'm sorry I worried you."

Mrs. Hussein smiled at her then at the other three spectators. "Now introduce me to your friends. Your sister clearly has no idea how to introduce a member of the royal family." She said taking in the startled looks. "I pride myself at always being able to remember faces." She turned to the princess and continued. "My husband and I visited the kingdom of Garviland a few years ago and had the good fortune to meet the royal family, you were a little younger then, but I would never forget that face."

Halima exchanged amused expressions with her friends, "well, so much for being discrete, you are like a walking flair gun!" She chuckled. "Your Highness may I introduce to you my mother, Mrs. Fareedah Salim Hussein. Mum, meet Princess Diamonique Liannet Montreal IV, crown princess of Garviland." Halima finished and watched mouth agape as her elderly mother curtseyed to the twenty-four-year-old princess.

The unexpected gesture caused the princess's pale cheeks to flame. She quickly closed the gap and instead locked Mrs. Hussein in an embrace, which was returned eagerly.

"You don't have to do all that, as you can see, I am not here on any official capacity. I even came alone." She let go and beheld the woman's aged eyes. "It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am."