Falling In Love

by Emma Easter

  She reached out and caressed his cheeks. “I am glad you came to rescue me, Faizan. And there are worse things than being shot. I had started to pray that I would die in that man’s house.”

  Faizan burned with rage. “Did he touch you?” he asked, trying to control his anger. “Because if he did…”

  She shook her head. “No, but if you had not come when you did, he would have.” She took his face in her hands, lowered his head, and hungrily kissed him.

  He kissed her back, relishing the softness and taste of her lips.

  And then she gasped and pulled away from him. She said, “I’m still a married woman, Faizan. Until we get my marriage dissolved, I don’t think we should be kissing.”

  He wanted to argue and say the marriage was a farce, but he thought better of it. He gave a long sigh and looked longingly at her lips. She chuckled and then the expression on her face became somber. She fingered the spot on his shirt that was stained with her blood and said, “I’m glad you were able to leave America without being caught, Faizan, but it means you will not be allowed back.”

  He nodded and said, “I don’t care. All that matters is that you are alive and we can be together.”

  Her brows knit together and she said worriedly, “But what about your sisters? You won’t get to see them again. I know how much you love them. Oh, Faizan, I am…”

  He put his finger on her lips and stopped her words. “Shh, all that doesn’t matter right now. All you need to focus on is getting better. And then we can get married.”

  She frowned, “Talking about getting married, from my father’s apology, I am sure he won’t be against dissolving my marriage, but what about Jibril? He might not agree. I think he has something on my father. If we can’t dissolve the marriage, we can’t get married, Faizan.”

  “Stop worrying about all that, Zainah,” Faizan said. “Let me do the worrying for both of us.” He bent down and planted a kiss on her cheek and then he sighed. “I forgot you said we can’t kiss until your marriage is dissolved.” He searched her eyes. “I’ll make Jibril agree to dissolve the marriage. In fact, he already said he wasn’t interested anymore.”

  “Yes, but that was when you were holding a gun to his head, wasn’t it?”

  Talking about his gun, he had almost forgotten about the weapons. Somehow, in all the confusion yesterday, he’d still had the presence of mind to carry his backpack with him to the hospital. It was sitting on the chair beside the bed. He reached for it, unzipped it, and found the weapons inside.

  She suddenly gasped again, and his heart jumped in fear. “What is it?” he asked her. “Are you in pain?”

  “Leila! Faizan, you have to go get her!” Zainah covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh my God! I hope that Dauda hasn’t touched her.”

  “I was going to get her after I got you, but the shooting changed my plans,” Faizan said. “By now, her husband would have heard what happened and beefed up security at his house. The element of surprise is gone. I don’t know if I can successfully get her out of the house on my own.”

  Zainah nodded. “That’s true. It would be too dangerous for you. I think the only solution would be my father talking with Leila’s husband and mine and convincing them to get end the marriages. But like I said before, I think they have something on my father. He won’t be able to convince them easily, even if he pays back all the money they paid for my dowry.”

  “Perhaps he owes them money.”

  She nodded. “I have been suspecting that he does owe them money. He loves money, my father. That is probably why he has been acting so crazy.”

  “Plus, he doesn’t know the Lord,” Faizan said to her.

  “Yes. That is the main thing.” She winced and then shifted. When he asked if she was in pain, she smiled, but didn’t answer. Instead, she said, “Getting my father to convince his friends to dissolve the marriages now is the only option we have. And it has to be done as soon as possible. Who knows what Leila is going through now?”

  He stood and said, “Let me go talk to your father about it. You need to rest for now.”

  “No, I want to speak to him myself.”

  “Zainah, you just survived a harrowing experience. You shouldn’t stress yourself in any way. Please, rest. I’ll speak to your father.”

  “No, Faizan. He might not take you as seriously as he’ll take me. He regrets what he did and the fact that I nearly died. He will listen to me. I need the marriage dissolved as soon as possible, especially because of Leila. I am so worried about her.”

  “I can threaten him again with my gun,” he said, partly teasing and partly serious.

  She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “I’m serious, Faizan.”

  Faizan looked at her for a full minute and saw she wasn’t going to back down. He nodded and said, “Okay. I will go and get your father. But promise me that after you speak with him, you will rest.”

  She smiled. “I will. I promise.”

  He bent to kiss her and then straightened immediately. “Oh, Lord. I am not supposed to kiss you. I forgot again. I’m sorry.”

  “Go, Faizan,” she said, smiling.

  He nodded and walked to the door. He turned once more to look at her, overwhelmed with gratitude to God that she was alive. And then he walked out of the door to find her father.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Leila’s heart skipped a beat as someone barged into her room. She lifted her head from the pillow and then gave a huge sigh of relief when she saw it was Rekiya, Dauda’s first wife.

  Yesterday, he had told her without mincing words that she was going to spend the night with him. As she walked down the hallway of the big house, completely horrified at what was now her fate, some women, who she guessed were the other wives, had stared at her with looks of bitterness and hostility on their faces. Only Rekiya had been nice to her. The first wife had smiled sympathetically at her as they entered her new room together and said, “Dauda isn’t a bad man. Don’t worry about it. Everything will work out somehow.”

  As much as Leila appreciated her kind words, she knew they were empty. Nothing was going to work out. All she could look forward to from today was hell on earth.

  She had stayed curled up on her bed, asking God to somehow perform a miracle and rescue her.

  And it seemed he had done so. At least, partly. Dauda had not come into her room the night before, or this morning. Still, she knew she wasn’t yet out of danger. She frowned at the frightened look on Rekiya’s face, which only buttressed her fear. Sitting up on the bed, she asked, “What is it, Rekiya?”

  The middle-aged woman answered, “Our husband had to rush out of the house yesterday when he got a message from his brother. None of the wives know where exactly he had gone. But he has just returned, and he told me why he left the house in a hurry yesterday.”

  Leila’s heart raced wildly with fear. She didn’t care why he had rushed out yesterday; only that Dauda was back, and that meant she would soon be summoned to his room.

  “. . . brother’s new wife was shot . . .”

  “What did you say?” Leila gasped. She looked intently at Rekiya, and said, “Did you just say that his brother’s new wife was shot?”

  Rekiya nodded. “A man claiming to be her fiancé came to Jibril’s house yesterday wielding a gun. Apparently, there was some kind of shootout or something, and his new wife was shot by mistake.”

  Leila shot out of the bed and looked at Rekiya, fear wrapping itself around her. Her voice trembled as she asked, “Do you know if the new wife’s name is Zainah?”

  Rekiya’s eyes grew round and then she covered her mouth. “I just remembered that both of you are friends. I should not have told you like this. I am so sorry.”

  Leila began to shake her head slowly. “No, no, Lord. Please, it can’t be Zainah!” She searched Rekiya’s eyes and asked, “Please tell me the truth. Is my friend alive?”

  “I don’t know. Dauda didn’t say. The only thing he said was that we have to start p
acking.”

  “Why?” Leila asked.

  “He said we will be leaving for Saudi Arabia soon. He seemed very frightened. I think he said something like the man who claimed to be your friend’s fiancé was working for the American government. Dauda is afraid that the Americans will send men to come and raid the house, and that they may hurt him and us as well.”

  Leila sank to the floor and began to weep. It was all too much. First, she had been married off to a stranger, and now Zainah had been shot. And then, to add to it, her so-called husband wanted to pack and ship them all off to Saudi Arabia. If she went with him, she would never ever see Malik or Zainah again.

  She cried out, “That is if Zainah is still alive. Oh, Lord Jesus! Please let her be alive!”

  Rekiya stooped down and put her arm around Leila. “I’m really sorry.”

  Through her tears, Leila looked up at Rekiya and asked, “Can you find out from Dauda if my friend is still alive?”

  “I will. Please try to be hopeful.” She smiled sadly at Leila. “Dauda instructed me to tell all the wives to pack up their things now. We will probably leave tonight or tomorrow morning.” She rubbed Leila’s back comfortingly and then stood up and left the room.

  Leila stood up and wiped the tears from her eyes.

  I have to find a way out of here. I have to find a way to get to the hospital to see Zainah.

  She couldn’t bear the thought of leaving without ever seeing her again.

  Maybe if she asked Dauda, he might let her go and visit Zainah. Rekiya had told her several times that he was not a bad man. Even though she didn’t want to see him, there was no other way to leave the house except with his permission.

  With grim determination, she left her room to look for Dauda.

  Lord, please make him agree to let me go and see Zainah, she prayed quietly as she made her way down the long hallway. She wasn’t sure exactly where Dauda’s room was, but she would open all the doors in the house and accept any abuse that came her way if she opened the wrong door, until she found him.

  She reached a door that was slightly separate from the other rooms. Without knocking, she opened the door, praying this was his room. She walked in, her stomach churning. If he refused her request to go see Zainah, she didn’t know what she would do.

  His back was to her as she came into the room, but he swung around and his eyes widened in surprise when he saw her. He stared at her as she approached him, seemingly lost for words.

  “Please,” she began, “I heard my friend, Zainah, was shot yesterday. I would like to go and see her.” Tears flooded her eyes. “I need to know that she is alive.” Leila became frantic as she spoke. “She is my best friend. I have to see her!”

  Dauda frowned deeply and Zainah knew he wasn’t going to let her go. She sank to her knees. She would crawl on the floor and plead with him if she had to. But she needed to see Zainah.

  He looked down at her and then lifted her from the floor. He shook his head and said with surprising kindness, “I am sorry, Leila. But I can’t let you leave the house as I think it’s not totally safe for you to do so. However, I heard your friend is alive and on the way to recovery.”

  Leila suddenly felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. At least Zainah was alive and well. She took a deep breath and gave God thanks silently. She looked up at Dauda and found him staring intently at her. His eyes looked kind. Maybe he would let her go to Zainah if she begged him again.

  She said, “Thank you for telling me that. Still, I need to see my friend. She has always been there for me and I need to be there for her now.”

  She held her breath as he looked at her for a long moment. She could not read his thoughts, as he had an even expression on his face. Finally, he shook his head again. “If I let you go, you might try to run away. Besides, that man who claims to be your friend’s fiancé is still in Nira. Who knows if he has an army somewhere?” He turned away from Leila and said in a firm voice. “I told Rekiya to instruct all the wives to pack up. That includes you, Leila. We will all leave the country tonight. Now, please leave me. I need to start packing my things and so do you.”

  Leila stared at his back in anger. She wanted to scream at him, to attack him, and tear out his beard, but she knew that would not go well for her. She pressed her lips together tightly, turned around, and walked out of the room. She strode back to her room and collapsed on the bed. After a while, she knelt on her bed and looked out of her window. Some guards were patrolling the house while some stood at the gate. It was as though Dauda had hired more men to watch the house overnight. There has to be a way out of this house, she said to herself.

  But whatever that way was, she had to find it before nightfall.

  *****

  Leila watched as her suitcase, containing the clothes and toiletries that Rekiya had gotten for her on the day she moved into Dauda’s house, was hauled into the trunk of the bus that would transport all the wives to the airport.

  She had tried to find a way out of the house by checking all the windows to see if there was one she could climb out of. But all the windows had iron bars and the house was surrounded by guards. She had been forced to pack her things when Rekiya came to check on her and told her they would be leaving in a few hours. “In a few minutes, Dauda will be checking to see that each wife has all her things packed. You need to pack your things now,” Rekiya had said.

  Leila straightened her abaya, the one that Rekiya had given to her just this morning. It felt very unfamiliar and uncomfortable to have her entire body covered, but she had said nothing when it was given to her. She was not planning to wear it after today. Since she didn’t find a way out of the house, she’d decided that the best place to make her escape was at the airport. With all the wives and the children traveling together, she hoped there would be enough commotion at the airport so she could easily sneak away without being seen.

  One of the bodyguards watched closely as she entered the bus. She took an empty seat near the window and prayed silently to the Lord, asking that he would help her escape easily at the airport.

  She looked around the bus. The other wives had already boarded. They were all dressed in abayas. She had not spoken to any of them yet and had only seen them when she’d arrived yesterday. She looked out the window at the white bus beside theirs and smiled at the children on the bus. There were about twelve or thirteen of them, as far as she could see. Their ages ranged between three and about seventeen years, and the older ones were in charge of taking care of the younger ones.

  The bodyguard shut the door of the bus and an unsmiling driver entered the driver’s seat and started the vehicle.

  Leila looked out of the window again and then turned when someone came to sit beside her. She smiled at Rekiya, a genuine smile for the woman who had been so kind to her since she arrived at the house.

  “You still look so worried,” Rekiya said. “I heard that your friend is doing well so why are you still so upset?” She nodded. “You are worried about leaving this country for another, aren’t you?”

  Leila sighed and said, “I am worried about a lot of things. Even though my friend is doing well, I wish I could be with her now. I’m worried that I will never get to see her again. And also . . .”

  “What?” Rekiya stared quizzically at her.

  She pressed her lips tightly together. She had nearly blurted out that she was worried about Malik, the only man she’d ever loved. Thankfully, she’d managed to keep that piece of information to herself. Once she escaped at the airport, the first thing she planned to do was to go see Zainah. After that, she would do everything in her power to find Malik.

  As the bus began to move, Rekiya regaled her with stories about Dauda and the other wives, and especially about the children’s antics. Leila listened half-heartedly while she pictured herself making her escape.

  “…the private plane.”

  Leila blinked as she focused once again on what Rekiya was saying. “Did you just say private
plane?” she asked Rekiya.

  The older woman tilted her head and her eyes studied Leila’s. “You have not been listening to what I’ve been saying, have you? You also weren’t listening when I was speaking with you in the morning. Are you always this absent-minded?”

  Leila’s heart raced with dread. She was afraid to ask Rekiya to clarify what she had said earlier. However, she went ahead and asked, “You said something about a private plane. Are you saying we are not going through customs or checking into our flight at the airport?”

  “We usually don’t when we travel with Dauda. He holds all our travel documents and all the checks are usually done before we travel.” She stared curiously at Leila. “Why do you ask?”

  Despair settled on her. She bit her lip, shook her head, and said, “No reason. I was just curious.” She looked away from Rekiya as tears flooded her eyes.

  Oh Lord, Jesus, what am I going to do?

  Without the commotion that going through customs and fully checking in a huge family would cause, she had little hope of ever escaping.

  She felt Rekiya’s hand on her shoulder but did not turn around this time. The tears poured down her cheeks, and she quickly wiped them away.

  Rekiya said, “I know how you feel, Leila. You’ll miss your loved ones here. I will, too. But Dauda is our husband and we have to follow him wherever he goes.”

  Leila wanted to scream at Rekiya and tell her she had no idea how she felt. She wanted to shout at the top of her voice that Dauda was not her husband, and that she did not have to go wherever he went. But she didn’t. Doing that would only get her into trouble. The last thing she needed at this time was to attract undue attention to herself.

  She kept staring out the window, praying that the Lord would show her another way for her to escape. She couldn’t go with Dauda and all these women to Saudi Arabia. It would be the end of her life.

  Rekiya droned on about their duties as wives in the house, but all Leila could think about was Malik. His face remained in her heart. If she couldn’t find a way to escape, without a doubt she would never see him again. And she would never see her best friend again, either.