A Harem of One

Just a little history tour. Thanks Annette for the beta read and Steve for the editing and making it a better story.

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We met Abdul when my twin brother and I were thirteen. It was not unusual for foreigners to attend our private schools, but this was the first one from the Ottoman Empire. The three of us were in the same dorm room with five others. From day one Abdul was picked on by two of the other boys, first because of the way he dressed and then about his high than thou attitude.

Though Elroy and I were twins we didn't look alike. Elroy was big and strong where I was thinner and shorter. My name is Cort, I got the brains and Elroy got the brawn. Elroy and I took Abdul under our wings and became the best of friends.

When we turned sixteen and were in the second year of our Lycee education starting our next phase of education, Abdul was summoned back to Constantinople to become the next Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Before his departure he extended his hand in friendship and said that we would be as brothers till the end of time.

After we graduated in 1841 we realized our parents were on the wrong side of Louis-Philippe the First's rule so at eighteen, we set off for Constantinople and a new life.

Abdülmecid the First welcomed us and made us feel like family. One of the new customs we had to get use to was the idea of being able to have a harem. Harems were usually only for those of the wealth or nobility. Abdul had given us a large plot of land with which to start our new life in the summer of 1842. Elroy ran the workers like a general in the military and I ran the books like a banker.

In 1843 Elroy took his first wife, Abdul already had six. I just couldn't seem to find someone that appealed to me. In 1844 Abdul and Elroy both took two more wives. We were sitting around a feast just after the latest harvest when a chambermaid drew a knife and lunged towards Elroy. Not thinking I dove in front and took the dagger in my left shoulder. The chambermaid was subdued while I was bandaged up.

When Abdul was informed, he sentenced her to be beheaded. I sent forth a plea that as it was my life she had tried to take it should be me that determined her fate. Abdul granted my wish and she was remanded to my custody. I had her hands bound and had the rope thrown over a rafter then tied to a wall so that she had no movement.

When I first saw her face as she was lunging at Elroy I saw the face of a person in conflict. It was the face of an angel doing something against her nature. It was the face of the person I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

Her name was Shirin. She was the daughter of a merchant and had been purchased from a small village on the Black Sea. Shirin was told that if she didn't kill Elroy or me her family would die. The people holding her family hostage were the landholders whose land Abdul had taken away the then given to us.

With my bad shoulder I could not control her without her being tied up so most of the day she would hang with her hands above her and at night lying on her back with her feet tied to the opposite wall. I spent most of my day and all of the night with her. I fed her and cleaned her up. I helped her use the chamber pot and changed her clothes. Never once did I do anything inappropriate.

As the days passed, my shoulder healed. After a week of being tied up I took her down and led her to the bath chamber. I stripped her and then myself and sat her in the bath to clean her. I washed her body with a light hand and then washed her long black hair. More than once, I heard a sigh. I patted down her body, put a robe over her shoulders and walked her back to our room.

"Cort, why have you not tried to take advantage of me?"

"Shirin, you are the most beautiful woman I ever seen. The first time I saw you I knew I had to have you, so I couldn't let you throw your life away. I live on the hopes that some day you too will want me."

I led her to the bed instead of the mat on the floor, untied her, took off her robe and told I would not bind her any more. Laying her down, I crawled in behind her and wrapped my arms around her. I kissed the back of her neck and bid her a good night.

I woke the next morning to see Shirin watching me. I smiled at her and she looked even more confused.

"Cort, do you really trust me so much that you don't fear I might try to kill you again?"

"Shirin, the depths of my love for you go so deep that if my life was what you needed to make you happy, I would give you the knife. I can't see a future without you by my side."

"Cort, I do love you too, but what about my parents?"

"That has already been taken care of. When I told Abdul your story he sent 15 guardsmen to free them. You and I will be leaving tomorrow to go see them. I will ask your father for your hand then."

"With the Sultan as a benefactor, do you need my father's blessings?"

"No, but as you will be my only one I want to do this right."

"Would you like to take me now?"

"All good things come to those that wait. When Elroy and I first got here Abdul granted us all the pleasures we wanted. I was amazed at all the beautiful girls we had available to us. Elroy found two that he wanted and I'm sure, as time goes by he will find more. I on the other hand plan to take just one and it has to be the right one."

"Why did you choose me?"

"At first it was your eyes, when I saw you rushing towards Elroy the look in your eyes told me you didn't want to do what you were doing, I couldn't let you die alone. As I recovered I asked your name and when I was told that it meant 'Kind and Sweetness' I was hooked."

"Cort, are you a romantic?"

"Guilty as charged. Shirin when I am around you I feel a calmness I have never known. After we visit your parents we will come back here to be wed and then make plans to travel to France so you can meet mine."

"Would you allow me to lie with our bodies touching for just a while?"

"It would be my honor to hold you."

Shirin crawled to me, pressed her naked body to mine and gave me a light kiss. We dressed and went and had a meal together for the first time with no bindings on her. When Elroy entered the room, Shirin got down on her knees and begged for his forgiveness.

"Elroy, this will be the last time Shirin will bow to you. I will respect your wives and I hope you will do the same. Now, how goes the harvest?"

The next morning we rose for their journey to Burgas. By boat it would take two days, by land it would take us a week; we chose the boat. After we docked, Shirin led me to her parents' family market. Her parents were happy to see that she was all right. Shirin introduced me and as good as my word I asked for her hand in marriage. After staying with her parents for a week, we returned to Unkiar.

We were wed in an Eastern Orthodox ceremony in the fall of 1845. Keandre was born in the winter of 1846 and Shadi (Full of Joy) in 1847. In the fall of 1847 Samuel Morse after receiving his patent from Abdul had started setting up the Ottoman Empire's first telegraph lines. In the spring of 1848 Elroy and I sent a telegram to our parents in Marseilles. The return message stated that our father was not doing well so Shirin and I with our two children prepared to make the trek to France.

The trip took us four days by ship. When we docked we hailed a carriage to take us the 20 kilometers to my parents' farm. I introduced Shirin and the kids to my parents and they welcomed them with open arms. My father had come down with a terrible cold and his health kept declining. My younger sister was doing her best to aid our parents but she was becoming overwhelmed. I surveyed the fields and then the books to see how bad things were.

Shirin helped mom and dad with the house while Yvette and I took over the fields. My family grew grapes for wine and it was at the beginning of the season. We thinned the vines and restrung those that needed it. I tilled the rows and we started the watering. I took one acre close to the house and took out all the vines replaced them with ¾ of an acre of grass and a ¼ for a garden. One thing we had learned in Unkiar was the need to make the farm as self-sufficient as possible.

I went to the bank and moved half of my parents' funds into some stock. I took a chance on a captain who was going to Greece for a load of olive oil. The shipment was successful, and I quadrupled my investment. I took a second chance on this captain and his next voyage was to Constantinople for a load of spices and silk. I gave him a name of a supplier that gave us a great deal again quadrupling my investment.

Captain Fitzgerald enjoyed doing business with me, and we went in together and bought a warehouse to store our own goods, not just supplying others. I spent five days a week at the farm and two in town running the warehouse. As the money flowed in, it made it easier at the farm when it came time to pick the grapes. I invited Captain Fitzgerald out to help but he declined.

With the grapes picked we started the process of making wine and letting it ferment. With our shipping and warehouse doing so well I chose to let the wine sit for a year to age. When we started to bottle, it I set ten cases off to the side for Elroy and Abdul. On Captain Fitzgerald's next trip I had him take it with him to deliver to Elroy. I sent him a telegram to let him know and to be waiting.

Elroy gave six cases to Abdul and he kept four. A month later we received a telegram from Elroy wanting to know if we had any left as everyone wanted some. I sent him one back with the terms for selling it. We had one thousand cases in the warehouse but I would only send one hundred at a time.

As time moved forward my love for Shirin only grew deeper. Keandre and Shadi grew into fine young teens. The Ottomans became our largest buyers of our wine and Elroy ran the distribution there.

In 1861 at the young age of 38 Abdul died from tuberculosis. He was succeeded by his half-brother Abdulaziz. Elroy decided to return to France with his wives and put one of his brothers-in-law in charge of distribution there. We purchased two hundred more acres so we could produce more wine. Elroy built a large house on the grounds and took over managing the fields.

Dad had died two years before Elroy had come back home but mom was pleased to have him back Yvette had married a local man and they had four kids. Mom had so many grandkids with my two, Elroy's ten and Yvette's four.

Mom died at the tender age of 90 in 1902, she had managed to see a new century come into being. Shirin and I celebrated our 58th wedding anniversary. We now had six grandchildren and fifteen great grandchildren. In twelve more years our world would end as we knew it. The First World War would devastate not only our farm, but also our warehouses. We took as much money as we could and boarded a ship bound for America.

In 1915 Shirin and I laid in our bed in our new home country and both passed into the next life. We had taken what could have been the end to both of us so many years ago and turned it into a wonderful life in a Harem of One.