Love Means Everything

by Emma Easter

  She pushed away all her worries about Bryan and focused on the road.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Zainah hugged Fatima tightly as tears ran down her cheeks. “I’ll miss you, Fatima. Thank you so much for everything you have done for me and Leila.”

  Fatima patted her on the back and said with a voice choked with emotion, “I’ll miss you too, Zainah. Remember that you can come back here anytime you wish. You don’t have to spend money to find a place of your own.”

  Zainah shook her head. “It’s time I did. I can’t keep taking advantage of your kindness. Once I return from visiting my family, I’ll get my own place.”

  Fatima gave her a resigned smile. “You’re like a younger sister to me now. I’ll be waiting with open arms whenever you decide to visit.”

  Zainah drew back from Fatima, and Fatima wiped the tears running down her cheeks with her fingers.

  “Come here, all of you,” Zainah said to Fatima’s kids, Yasmine, Youcef, and Samir. They were looking at her with sad expressions on their faces. They went to her and she hugged them tightly. Safia was talking with Leila near the taxi Zainah had hired to take them to the bus station. Their suitcases were already in the taxi.

  Zainah kissed the children’s cheeks and then let them go. She hugged Safia last of all and then entered the taxi next to Leila. She put her hand out of the window and waved to Fatima and her children as the taxi began to drive away. She didn’t stop waving until they had disappeared out of sight. She sighed sadly and turned to Leila. “I’ll really miss them all, especially Fatima.”

  Leila smiled, tears shimmering in her eyes. “I’ll miss Safia. That girl is so funny.”

  Zainah pressed her lips together as she thought about their time in Fatima’s house. She’d enjoyed the unique combination they’d had there—a mixture of regular Christian fellowship, and interesting experiences and opportunities.

  The driver reached the bus station fifteen minutes later, and Zainah and Leila exited the taxi with their suitcases. After Zainah had purchased their tickets with almost all the money she had, she and Leila entered the backseat of the bus going to Kazi, a small city an hour away from her community. When the bus finally filled up and was about to start the long, tedious journey, Zainah held Leila’s hand and squeezed it out of nervousness. “We’ve spent almost all the money we have. If my family doesn’t welcome me, we will be in serious trouble.”

  “You’ve always told me to trust God, now let me return your advice. Trust in the Lord. He’ll work all out for our good.”

  Zainah nodded and exhaled.

  All through the first day of the journey, Zainah silently and incessantly prayed that God would grant her favor before her family, especially her father. She was taking a huge risk. If they refused to take her back, not only would she not be able to find Faizan, but she and Leila would probably end up on the streets.

  Hours later, the driver stopped briefly at an old motel. A lot of the passengers changed their clothes and bought food there. Zainah and Leila did, too.

  On the second day, when she wasn’t praying or talking with Leila, Zainah slept on and off. A few times, she stared out the window and marveled at how some of the landmarks she remembered had remained unchanged after more than a decade, while others were totally different.

  Nighttime soon fell and she stopped looking out the window. She sat back on the bus and shut her eyes.

  She felt someone shaking her shoulders. Looking out of the window, she saw it was morning again.

  “We’re here, Zainah,” Leila said in a soft voice. “We are in Kazi.”

  Zainah rubbed her eyes and looked out the window again. They were parked close to another similar bus in a busy station. Some of the passengers were already getting off the bus.

  “Let’s get out,” Leila said and stood up from her seat.

  Zainah followed her.

  They collected their suitcases from the trunk of the bus and walked to the road. They soon found another taxi to take them to Nira, Zainah’s tiny community.

  Throughout the hour-long trip, Zainah said nothing to Leila, too anxious to speak. She clenched and unclenched her fists and took constant deep breaths.

  “Zainah,” Leila said thirty minutes into the journey. “Relax. I’m sure your family will be overjoyed to see you.”

  Zainah nodded and tried to relax, but she couldn’t.

  As they neared Nira, Zainah felt like she was having a mini panic attack. She began to pray for tranquility, and then felt a supernatural peace descend on her. She took a final deep breath and silently gave thanks to God. She looked out the window as they entered her community and shook her head. “It looks basically the same as when I left,” she said to Leila.

  Leila smiled encouragingly at her.

  She gave the driver specific directions to her family’s house and sat at the edge of her seat as the driver turned onto the road leading to her father’s house. Her heart drummed as she saw the house, a plain, single-story building with a red roof. Somehow, the house looked smaller than she remembered, but it wore a fresh coat of white paint. There were other mud huts around it that hadn’t been there when she lived here.

  The driver stopped in front of the house, and she and Leila got out of the taxi. Her stomach suddenly jerked as someone screamed and rushed out of the house.

  “It can’t be!” the tall woman who had come out of the house said.

  Zainah’s mouth hung open as she stared at her mother, who had grown noticeably older, much older. There was more than a sprinkling of grey hair on her hairline, and there were lines on her forehead and cheeks. Zainah cried, “Mama!”

  “Zainah!” her mother rushed up to her and enfolded her in her arms.

  They both wept together and held each other tightly. Soon, other people began to gather around them. When her mother told them who she was, they yelled and gathered around her, touching and hugging her.

  Another loud scream pierced the air as two adolescents, Zainah’s sister, Khadija, and her younger brother, Sekou, came out of the house. Zainah gasped. She couldn’t believe how big they were now. They hugged her and wept loudly. Soon, they were all laughing and talking at the same time. After a while, Zainah’s mother shooed everyone away, except for her siblings. The three of them led Zainah into the house and Leila followed. The living room, which had seemed large when she was younger, now also looked small and a little empty.

  Zainah smiled as she sat on the sofa and her mother and siblings sat next to her. After she had introduced Leila as her best friend, she asked where her father was.

  “Your father is at his farm,” Mama said, touching her cheeks with a look on her face that said she didn’t quite believe her long lost daughter was sitting right next to her. Mama broke down again and began to weep, causing her siblings to do the same.

  “Mama, Khadija, Sekou, stop it! Why are you all still crying?”

  “Because we’ve missed you so much,” Mama answered. “And for me, because I am ashamed in the part I played in your leaving this community. I am so sorry, my dear daughter.”

  Tears poured down Zainah’s cheeks as she hugged them again and told them she didn’t hold anything against them. At last, they all stopped weeping.

  “I guess I’ll have to wait till evening to see Papa,” she said.

  Her mother shook her head. “Someone from around here would have gone to call him. Mark my words; he will be here anytime now.”

  Just as Mama finished speaking, a tall, strapping man rushed into the house and then stopped a few feet away from where Zainah sat. His eyes were as round as saucers.

  “Malik,” she cried and rushed to her half-brother. He was five years older than her, but they had been quite close when they were children.

  He hugged her and then pulled away. “When they told me you had come back, I thought it was a lie, but I had to come see for myself.” He gazed at her. “Is it really you, Zainah?”

  “Yes,” she laughed, and he hugged her again. She to
ok his hand as they walked back to Mama and their siblings. Zainah sat down and then blinked when Malik stood staring with his mouth agape. She turned to look at what he was staring at, and found that his eyes were on Leila. Leila’s eyes were also firmly planted on his, and her face had turned slightly red.

  Zainah sighed wearily. Great! Now Leila is smitten with my brother, and he with her. Leila had just come out of a relationship that hadn’t worked partly because the guy was not a Christian. As far as she knew, neither was Malik. She grabbed his hand, pulled him down onto the chair beside her, and said reluctantly, “This is my best friend, Leila.”

  Malik and Leila didn’t say a word to each other; they only kept staring. Zainah ignored them and turned back to her mother and other siblings.

  “Where is she?” A loud voice called from outside the house. “Where is my daughter?”

  Zainah stood up. “Papa!” she called out.

  Her father came into the house and immediately went to her with tears in his eyes. “It is true. My daughter has returned to us.” He hugged her and she wept, not just because she had missed him, but also because she clearly remembered his role in the events that had led to her being chased out of the house and their community. She’d forgiven him and her entire family, but she had suffered so much being separated from them for so many years. Now she realized that they had suffered just as much as she had.

  Her father held her away briefly so he could look at her. “You have become such a beauty,” he said proudly.

  She thanked him, slightly embarrassed.

  He hugged her again. After a while, they all sat together on the couch asking her a lot of questions about where she’d been. She evaded most of them, partly because she did not want to say anything specific about the women’s camp in order to protect their location, and partly because she wasn’t ready to tell them she’d been in a sort of Christian refugee camp.

  She asked Malik where his mother, her father’s other wife, and the younger siblings, were.

  “They went to see her old dying mother in their village,” her father answered for Malik. Zainah studied her older brother. He wasn’t really paying attention to what they were all saying. His eyes were constantly straying to Leila. In turn, Leila couldn’t take her eyes off him.

  Zainah pursed her lips and then turned away from them. She focused her attention on her parents and siblings and continued to chat with them. Two hours later, after the novelty of her appearance had begun to wear off, her mother stood. “Let me go and prepare something special for you and your friend to eat, Zainah. You must be starving.” She left quickly.

  Her siblings, Sekou and Khadija, went to their rooms.

  Malik also stood, albeit reluctantly. The look on his face reflected his reluctance to leave as he said, “I have to go and get Fanta from her maternal grandmother’s.”

  “Who is Fanta?” Zainah asked.

  “My daughter,” he said, glancing at Leila.

  Zainah heard Leila gasp and then Malik quickly added, “I’m a widower. My wife, Aminata, died giving birth to our daughter three years ago.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Zainah said. She lifted her brows in surprise when Leila, who hadn’t spoken for hours, said in a soft voice, “I’m sorry too.”

  He smiled at Leila, nodded, and left. Zainah noticed that he had only acknowledged Leila’s words of commiseration. She would have found it all funny if not for the fact that she was afraid Leila was setting herself up for more heartbreak.

  Her father looked at her and said, “I’m so happy you are back, Zainah.” He held out his hand and she took it. He looked so happy, she didn’t want to tell him she wasn’t planning to stay forever. He squeezed her hand and said, “I have to get back to work, but if you need anything at all, just let me know.”

  She smiled as her raced with uncertainty and anxiety. Should I tell him about the money I need right now, or is it too early? She decided to tell him now. She needed to find Faizan as soon as possible. “Papa?”

  “Yes?”

  “I do have something to ask you, and it’s very urgent.”

  “I’m listening.”

  She hesitated for a few seconds and then began, “I… I need some money now for a project I am embarking on. I promise to pay you back as soon as I can.” She held her breath while praying he would not ask her what the project was and that he would agree to loan her the money.

  He laughed. “You look so scared. And why would I loan you money? I just told you now to ask me if you need anything. Tell me, how much do you need?”

  She told him.

  “I’ll give it to you. Don’t bother paying me back.”

  Her heart soared and she hugged him. “Thank you,” she said, pulling back.

  He patted her shoulder and stood up. “I’ll see you in about three hours,” he said, beaming at her.

  She smiled back. “Okay.” She waved to him as he walked out the door and then turned to Leila and whooped. “God is so wonderful, Leila! Everything went better than I imagined it would go.”

  “I told you it would,” Leila said, smiling.

  “I’m just afraid of what they will say when I tell them I’m not staying for long.”

  Leila looked disappointed and said nothing.

  “You want to stay here because of Malik,” Zainah said, slightly irritated.

  “Do you disapprove of us being together?” She looked away with a dreamy expression on her face. “It’s not as if he has said that he’s interested in me…”

  Zainah cut in. “Yes, I disapprove. Malik is not a Christian as far as I know.”

  “You think I don’t know that?” Leila scowled at her.

  “Well, you should keep that in mind when he next appears.” Zainah sighed, knowing she was being too harsh. “I’m sorry. I just don’t want to see you get hurt the way you were in your last relationship. I know you really want to get married… and I want that for you. But Malik is a Muslim. I doubt that he would want to marry a Christian woman. Besides, you shouldn’t even be thinking about being with someone who doesn’t share your faith.”

  “I know, but…” She stopped talking as Zainah’s mother came into the living room holding a large casserole dish in her hand. She placed the dish on the dining table at a corner of the living room and said, “Food is ready.”

  Zainah whispered to Leila, “We will continue this discussion later.” She stood up and went to the dining table. After she’d thanked her mother, Zainah sat at the table with Leila to eat, while praying that Leila would put away this infatuation with her brother. If not, knowing her best friend, Leila would put up a fuss when it was time to leave; or worse, she would refuse to go.

  As they ate, Zainah noticed Leila pouting, but ignored her. She turned her thoughts to her father and his promise to give her the money she needed. Hopefully, he would give it to her soon.

  *****

  Sienna looked around the empty living room and sighed sadly. This had been her home for the past year, and even though it was tiny, she’d grown to love it.

  Someone tapped her on the shoulder and she turned. “It’s time for us to go, Sienna,” Bryan said. He put his hand on her shoulder and said sympathetically, “I’ll miss this house too.”

  She smiled sadly. “It’s not just the house itself. It’s the memories we made here. We moved in when we got married. Remember how excited we were to get this tiny house? Even after I got Dad’s inheritance and we could move out, we decided we would stay here because we had come to love it so much.”

  He nodded. “Yes. We will always remember it because it’s where we started our married life.”

  They held hands and walked out of the house together, and Sienna realized it was the most intimate thing they had done in two weeks. They both got into the back of the cab that would take them to the airport. Most of their furniture had already been donated and their heavy luggage sent to Peru ahead of them. Only their suitcases containing their clothes and other smaller items were in the trunk of the ca
b.

  “What time is everyone arriving at the airport?” Bryan asked as the taxi backed out of their driveway.

  They had spent most of the previous day with Bryan’s family. Today, they would spend it with hers at the airport before they left the country.

  “Umm… at about seven o’clock.” She glanced at her watch and saw it was a quarter past six. “That means in forty-five minutes’ time.”

  Silence reigned as they continued the drive to the airport. Sienna stared out the window as they sped past several cars. This was how it was with her and Bryan these days. They hardly had anything to say to each other. Or, rather, she hardly had anything to say to him. For two weeks, he’d tried to get her out of the shell she’d crawled into, but it was useless. She always felt resentment bubbling up in her whenever he spoke to her. Because of that, she’d decided to limit the amount of time she talked to him in order to prevent herself from verbally vomiting all her pain and resentment on him. He’d given up trying to get her to open up to him just a few days before.

  She couldn’t wait to see Audrey, Trisha, and Faizan at the airport. Audrey and Ken had arrived in Rosefield only the previous evening, just to see them off today. She was glad Trisha and Audrey had mended their relationship. It had hurt her heart when they weren’t talking to each other.

  The same way you and Bryan aren’t now, a voice in her mind whispered.

  She brushed away the voice. It wasn’t true. She and Bryan were speaking to each other. Just not as much as before. But it was only temporary. She would begin to talk to him as much as she did before once she got over her resentment. She hoped that would be soon, before it began to cause a rift in their marriage.

  They finally arrived at the airport and stepped out of the cab.

  After they had checked in for their flight, they walked to the food court and ordered some snacks and then went to sit at one of the booths while they waited for everyone to arrive. Sienna glanced at her watch again just as Bryan said, “There they are!”