Broken Trails

Marriage talk

Three years had passed since their escape. Fatima graduated at the top of her class and Janaan started high school.

"It's time you started thinking of marriage Tima." Ghaada teased one afternoon while they were sitting in the living room talking about a wedding they had attended the day before. Fatima laughed "yeah, but there's no one to marry, none of these guys around here are husband material." "hmmm, what about Haroon, he's a good candidate don't you think?" Ghaada suggested with a little smile. "what! Nooo, Haroon is like my brother, I could never marry him!" Fatima exclaimed looking shocked. "yeah... no...uh uhn" Janaan agreed shaking her head sadly "he's a bum." Ghaada laughed "you all sure did turn into siblings, didn't you?" "yep" Fatima said chuckling. "I guess we'll have to look elsewhere for husbands.... Haroon might know someone." Said Ghaada. "yeaaah!" Janaan replied nodding "he showed me this picture of one of his friends at university... hot! hot! hot! I mean so your type, Fatima." "Hmph! Quit lying Janaan." Fatima muttered. "I swear! It's true, just wait, he promised to bring him the next time he comes." "Then I guess we shall see." Fatima replied still doubtful. "You two are too much." Ghaada said laughing "Janaan is right, Fatima, Haroon wants me to meet his friend, Amar, and I hear he's a nice young man." "told you!" Janaan said smugly. "Whatever." Fatima replied. Ghaada rose from her seat shaking her head "hush, both of you, I'm going to take a nap and I don't want to hear all that noise." And with that she made her way to her bedroom, smiling as she went, for even without looking, she knew they were making faces at each other. Ghaada was a new person with girls around, life was great. She tried to get the girls to talk about their parents but it seemed, that, was pretty much, a closed book. She found that, understandable. (It's painful to talk about but they'll open up in time." She told herself.

"Hey, did I tell you guys, Haroon is writing a dissertation." "No, what for?" asked Fatima. "Well, this year being his last year in university, it's his final assignment?" "Oh, what's he going to write on?" Janaan wanted to know. "It's something about farming in the countryside. He is planning to go up country this weekend to do some research." Ghaada informed them. "what's his interest in farms?" Fatima asked unenthusiastically. Ghaada shrugged "well, you can ask him when he comes." "Yeah, remind me to, Janaan." Fatima said getting up and heading to her room. "What's her problem?" Ghaada wondered "she must really hate farms."

Ramzia had a baby boy and they named him Yusuf. "Allah gives and he takes." Mayra said. "Don't say it like that, Mayra, it's not like they're dead." Ramzia told her with a frown. "I know, I didn't mean it like that." Mayra replied "I believe we will be reunited. Inshallah." "So do I, so do I." Ramzia agreed nodding sadly.

"Haroon and his friend should be here any minute, is everything ready?" Ghaada was asking Fatima as she fixed a pillow on the sofa. "Yeah, I think so."Fatima replied as he headed to her room. She put on a plain black abaya and her favorite dark green scarf. She was putting on a little lip balm when Ghaada came in. "Somebody is set to catch." She said chuckling. Fatima laughed shyly "whaaat! This isn't anything special." Ghaada smiled "well, you look very pretty. I'm guessing this will be a case of, love at first sight." "What, no, I'm not even really thinking about him, like that." She lied, trying to hide the smile she fought by suddenly making herself busy with arranging things on the dressing table. Ghaada looked at the already, neatly arranged table and had to smile. "Oh don't worry, I knew that." She said as she left the room shaking her head. Fatima sighed, and stopped her useless fumbling at the table. Truth was she had barely gotten sleep at all, she spent most of her night thinking about this handsome stranger who would arrive shortly. (Phew! That was such a lie, I already have two kids with the guy, thanks to this very busy imagination of mine.) She thought smiling. Janaan was still at school and wouldn't be back for another hour or so. Fatima literally jumped when she heard knocking at the gate. "I'll get it!" She heard Ghaada saying. Fatima's heart beat quickened and she rushed to the window and waited for the first glimpse of this man... and then... there he was, he stepped in right behind Haroon, tall and lean with caramel colored skin a beard similar to that of Haroon's and the most beautiful white teeth. When he smiled, Fatima had to sit down. He was THE ONE. Fatima lay back on her bed and prayed to God that he was as handsome on the inside. "Tima!" it was Haroon calling her "Tima get out here!" "I'm coming" she answered taking another look in the mirror, straightened her dress and sailed out of the room with her heart in her throat. "There you are! This is my sister, I was telling you about them, this is Fatima." Haroon said with a grin. Ghaada laughed "Yes, she and Janaan have become family to us." Fatima smiled shyly, wringing her hands as she gave salams "welcome." She added softly. Her eyes were glued to the pattern on the rug. she stared so hard she noticed things she had not noticed in all the years she had spent in Ghaada's home. (he's even hotter close up, I didn't think that possible) she thought. Amar smiled "Wa alaikum salam and thank you" he said in a deep rumbling voice. (Oh my God! And it gets better!) she exclaimed mentally. "Despite my friend's bad manners, I'll introduce myself... I am Amar Muhsin." He said glaring at Haroon. Haroon laughed "My bad, I forgot." Ghaada feeling the tension, came to Fatima's recue and she hadn't, Fatima feared she would have pulled her fingers right off. "Come Fatima, let's get them something to drink." Once in the kitchen, Fatima sat down and rested her head on the table, her stomach was doing summersaults. Ghaada was grinning so hard, her face could split. She patted Fatima's back as she passed and began humming as she prepared a tray to be served. "Needless to say, you liked what you saw." Fatima sat in silence, watching Ghaada work. "You coming?" Ghaada asked when she was done. Fatima came back to earth and grabbed a tray. She followed Ghaada to the living room, where Haroon and Amar were enjoying an interesting conversation. "Thanks ma." Haroon said grabbing a piece of cake. "we were just talking about the research, I have to do up country, what do you think of it Teems?" Fatima looked up "umm, I don't know, I'm just not so into farms so I doubt I could be of much help." "But you did live on a farm once, right?" "uh yeah... but I can't say I enjoyed it." Haroon grinned "well you could still fill out one of my questionnaires and one of his." Fatima nodded "sure." Amar listened in silence, sneaking glances at Fatima once in a while. Ghaada was recording it all to save for the girls later that night.

Janaan arrived just as they were leaving. "and this is my other little sister, Janaan." "Assalamu alaikum!" she greeted, her eyes widening with approval. "It's a pleasure finally meeting you in person, I've heard lots about you." "It's a pleasure meeting you too, likewise." "I hope you enjoyed your visit." "I did, I did." Amar replied with his head down. "Alright then, Inshallah next time."

Behind closed doors, Fatima and Janaan counted to three and began screaming, which turned into peels of laughter. Ghaada knocked on the door. "girls.." she said coming in, to find them sprawled on the floor. "okay really, what is so funny?" she inquired with her hands on her hips. "Funny? Wait were we laughing?" Ghaada squinted her eyes at them . "He is so hot!" they both squeeled. Ghaada shook her head "m.m.m... I'm going to bed and I don't want to hear any more of that loud cackling." She told them before walking out, closing the door behind her and She walked down the dark hall smiling.

"I hope this doesn't ruin our friendship but I have to say ...Your sister is... stunning... man... I don't know what to do with myself. Is she available?" Amar said stumbling over his words. Haroon laughed "As far as I know, she is." "Do we have to go up country tomorrow? Can't we just go back to visit your family tomorrow?" Amar wondered. Haroon laughed again "yes, we have to go up country tomorrow and no we cannot go back to visit my family. We need to get an early start." "Man!.. what's her story again? Where did you find her?" "We didn't find her, she found us... and there isn't much of a story to tell, except that she lost her parents and my mom took her in. that's all I know anyway." (hmm) Amar thought as they crossed the street.