by Dyanne Davis
For some reason Heaven’s attitude was pissing Tanya off big time. “You’re talking that way because you can. Hamid’s a millionaire. You can have anything you want. Are you jealous that I might be able to have the same thing?”
The moment the words were out Tanya regretted them. “Heaven, I’m sorry. Listen, I really do want to come out and visit you and Hamid. I want to see that baby of yours.”
“And?”
“And I want to make one of Hamid’s brothers fall in love with me. Dag! Why did you make me say it? Heaven, help me okay. You can talk me up to the brothers before I get there. If you put in a good word for me… then who knows?”
“Don’t you want to see which you’d prefer? Who lights your fire?”
“They’re all millionaires, right?”
“Right.”
“And they’re all handsome right?” Tanya held her breath and waited.
“Yes.”
“One last question,” Tanya said. “Are they nice?”
“Yes,” Heaven laughed. “They’re all very nice.”
“Then, Heaven, either one of Hamid’s brothers will do. So go ahead and talk me up to all of them and let me pick the one that picks me.”
“This is so crazy. If Hamid finds out what you’re coming here for or that I knew anything about your crazy plans you’re going to make problems between us.”
“Please, Heaven, Hamid adores you, and you know it.”
“Yeah and I want to keep it that way,” Heaven laughed. “Maybe part of the reason my husband adores me is because I’ve never done anything to trick his brothers. He can trust me and that’s important in a marriage. Tanya, I know how much you want to help the kids, but what about love?”
“What about it?”
“I have a better idea. Hamid has a cousin I think will be perfect for you.”
“Is he a millionaire?”
“No, but…he’s such a nice guy.”
“And broke.”
“Tanya.”
“Don’t Tanya me. I can love a rich man as well as a poor one. So start working on Hamid’s brothers. I’ll start preparing for coming and I’ll let you know when I've made the final arrangements.”
Tanya ignored the long sigh from Heaven. She was doing what she had to do, the same as Heaven did what she had to do in order for Hamid to be happy. No one had complained when she’d just up and followed him to Pakistan. Well they had, but it hadn’t done any good. And Heaven’s badgering her about finding someone to love wasn’t going to do any good. Besides, if Hamid’s brother were anything like Hamid she didn’t think there’d be any problems.
She thought of baby Jo Jo. He deserved a better life. While it was a long shot at best that she would ever have him as her own, it was a real possibility that she would one day be raising her cousin Lettie's six kids. Lettie was fighting cancer and Tanya had promised her that if God forbid she didn’t make it, she would step in. For now she didn’t want to tell Heaven that.
“Tanya, stop ignoring me. Your plan is crazy. Just come and visit me and have a good time. Forget about Hamid’s brothers.”
“Okay, Heaven, enough. I have to go,” Tanya said deciding to end the conversation.
“Don’t forget to go to the health department for shots. Your insurance won’t cover everything, so I’ll pay for the things that it doesn’t.
“Dag, Heaven, I’m not a beggar. I can pay for the shots myself. You’re already paying for the ticket.”
“You can get mad at me for offering to pay for your shots but you tell me outta your own mouth that you’re going to come visit me so you can get a rich husband. And I offended you? Tanya you’re crazy,” Heaven laughed. “You’d best be glad you’re one of my best friends and that I love you. See you soon.”
Heaven disconnected and Tanya stared for a moment at the phone. She shook her head. Yes, what she was planning was crazy but if she worked it right it could be the perfect thing.
***
Tanya glared at Sassa as he gave her his wrapped gift for Heaven’s baby. “Sassa, you’ve already sent a ton of gifts to Pakistan. You even went to see the baby. Why are you giving me more packages?” She looked around the room at her friends. “If I have to pay for over the limit you all are going to pay me back.” She glanced at Peaches. “I thought you guys wanted me to pretend to snub Heaven’s baby.”
“We do, but just for a minute,” Peaches explained as though Tanya should have already known what they’d meant. “Then we want you to give her our gifts. Tell her that she was wrong for not naming one of us as the godmother.”
“Hey,” Ongela chimed in. “Tell her we all hate the baby’s name that she should have given him an American name.”
Tanya couldn’t help laughing. They all missed Heaven and wanted to see the baby and be a part of it. She’d decided like the rest of them to razz Heaven and Hamid a bit. It might be fun.
“Don’t you all forget, technically Heaven’s a black belt in karate. What are you all going to do if she decides to kick my behind all over Pakistan for talking about her son?” When everyone shrugged and started laughing Tanya gave them a look and an ‘I-thought-so’ and laughed with them.
The blowing horn of the taxi didn’t stop last minute messages everyone wanted her to give to Heaven and Hamid.
“Enough,” Tanya said hugging each of them. “I have to go before I miss my flight.” She waved and blew more kisses at them as the taxi took off for the airport. Then she settled back to think about what she was doing. A two month leave of absence…burn out, she’d cited and not a peep was made. It happened a lot in her field. She had gone to check on Jo Jo, who was doing well. She’d also called all of her kids letting them know she would be gone for a time, telling them who their new social worker would be. And telling each of them that she would bring them back a gift from Pakistan. She had thirty kids. That was a lot of money, but she was determined to keep that promise.
Chapter Two
Hamid’s brothers had better be worth it, Tanya fumed silently after her third trip from the tiny airplane lavatory. At least the thought of thinking of it as that, made Tanya smile. Her idea of a lavatory was something a lot bigger than what she’d been using to puke her guts out. That was one little piece of information Heaven had managed to keep to herself—the side effects of all the medications she’d needed to make the trip to Pakistan. If she didn’t leave the country with one of Hamid’s brothers falling madly in love with her, Tanya just might not ever speak to Heaven again.
Luckily, when the plane landed the rumbling in her stomach dissipated. Grabbing her bags from baggage claim she made a mad dash through the airport heading through customs, ignoring the way the custom agent looked at her gaily painted fingernails in varying colors and moved his gaze over her in disapproval.
Forget him and what he thought about her clothes. She was American, baby, and she was going to let everyone in Pakistan know it. She had no plans to wear anything other than what she wanted to. In her opinion Heaven had gone soft since she’d moved to Pakistan. Tanya's plans didn’t include living in the country. She was there strictly to ‘bag em and tag em.’
Retrieving her passport Tanya admitted that she did like traveling and if she were being honest she’d have to acknowledge that she’d always wanted to visit a Moslem country. She glanced around the crowded airport and finally spotted Heaven and Hamid. Tanya squealed and raced toward them.
“Look at you two. I can’t believe it. Heaven, you’re a mommy now. And, Hamid, you’re a daddy.” She lunged herself at Hamid knowing that within seconds Heaven was going to pull her away from her husband.
“Down girl,” Heaven laughed. “This one’s taken.”
This time when Tanya hugged Hamid it was more sedate. She grinned at him as he smiled at her, then looked at Heaven, his look clearly saying, ‘Pakistan is not ready for your crazy friend.’
With a bold gaze she appraised Hamid. Tall, drop dead gorgeous, long, black, curly hair, eyes that sparkled, and a behind
that was perfect for the black jeans he was wearing. She then turned her gaze to Heaven, short, beautiful and stacked. She grinned and touched her hand to her friend’s hair. “You’re not wearing your twists anymore,” she said looking at Heaven’s pony tail.
“I haven’t been able to find a beautician here who can do it. Maybe before you leave you’ll twist it for me.” Heaven turned pleading eyes on Tanya and put her hands together, bringing them under her chin in a sign of supplication.
“We’ll see. Besides, I like you in a pony tail. Your hair has really grown since I last saw you. I did bring you a gift though, something for your hair. I kinda thought you’d need something to help you out.” Tanya smiled at the couple, their happiness something she envied and wanted for herself.
“Come on show me to this paradise you claim to have found. Then I want to go and meet Hamid’s brothers.” The look that passed between the couple didn’t go unnoticed by Tanya. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Doesn’t Hamid know why I came?” When Heaven groaned she knew he didn’t.
“Do you think you could have given me a chance to make introductions to Hamid’s brothers and see what happens? Dang, Tanya. Could you be a bit more blunt?”
At that remark Tanya stopped moving and planted her hands on her hips and did a head roll. “What are you talking about? You know I love the culture. I love learning new things and I could have easily fallen for Hamid if he hadn’t been so gah gah over you.” She stopped and smiled up at Hamid. “Now you’re fronting. You’ve got me all the way here, made me take shots which we both know I hate. I’ve been sick as a dog.” She pushed Heaven’s hand away as she tried to shush her.
“No, you’re not going to stop me from talking. I get it. You don’t want Hamid to know. That’s your deal. He’s your husband, not mine.” Ignoring the blazing fury in Heaven’s eyes Tanya turned toward Hamid.
“Hamid, Heaven has been trying to get me to come here. When I kept refusing she dangled your brothers in my face. She told me they weren’t married.”
She tilted her head toward Heaven and gave a smirk. “And she told me that they were as fine as you. Now I’ve been on a plane for what seems like a hundred hours. I’m tired. I want to see this utopia Heaven told me you two found. And I want to meet your brothers pronto.” She swished past both Hamid and Heaven and straight out the door.
***
“Heaven, tell me you didn’t do that.” Hamid turned soft, adoring eyes on Heaven. “You know Tanya is not my brothers’ type. My family will never accept her as they have accepted you. She’s a bit crass. My brothers are not going to fall in love with her.”
Heaven turned from the door Tanya had just gone through to give her husband a look. “Are you saying my friend isn’t good enough for your brothers?”
“Those are your words, not mine. Why did you do this? ”
For a long moment Heaven held her husband’s gaze. “I was lonely for my friends.” She shrugged and looked away, knowing that this would be one of the times Hamid would forget about the limited touching of her in public places. He reached for her hand and pulled her to him, giving her a light kiss and a hug.
“You’ve given up a lot to remain in Pakistan with me. We can return to America if you want, us and our son. It’s okay if you’re ready to leave. I will not hold that against you.” Hamid gave her fingers a squeeze. “Whither thou goeth I will go dear wife.”
Making her husband feel guilty wasn’t her intent. Well, maybe just a little. “Hamid, don’t worry, I love having you happy and you’re happy in Pakistan. I just missed my friends and thought it would be nice to have at least one of them come to visit. Tanya is the only one of them bold enough to give the country a try. But you know how she is. I had to give her a good enough reason for doing so.”
Pulling back a little Hamid looked into his wife’s eyes. “So you devised a plan to use possible marriage to one of my brothers as the bait?”
“Not exactly. To be honest, Tanya came up with the crazy scheme to marry one of your brothers. I know she’s not right for them, but she’s perfect for Imran. The two of them are so alike and they’re both a lot of fun. I really do think Imran will like her. Tanya needs a nice guy,” Heaven answered softly. “Will you help me get the two of them together?”
After pretending to think it over Hamid tilted his head a slight bit then turned to look toward the door and spotted Tanya waiting for them. He did like Tanya, and she was a lot of fun. Imran needed a woman who was fun. That was one thing Heaven was right about. They did have a lot in common. He sighed as his wife discreetly gave his fingers a squeeze. “Yes, for you, I will do what I can,” Hamid answered at last, then smiled. “But you’re going to have to make my part in your little conspiracy worth my efforts.” He grinned and gave her another kiss before going out to join Tanya.
***
Tanya gazed at the white mansion taking in the well kept lawn and enough trees that one could easily think they were in a forest preserve. “Dang gurl, is this really your house?” Tanya asked before the car had come to a complete stop.
“You never told us you were living in a mansion. I am so not going home without one of Hamid's brothers.” She laughed at the pained expression on Hamid’s face. “Don’t worry, Hamid, at least I’m not after you.”
Tanya followed Heaven into the house demanding to look around, oohing and aahing at the paintings, the costly furniture, not stopping until Heaven stopped moving, her hands planted on her hips and a glare on her face.
“Are you never going to ask to see my son?” Heaven asked as she glared at Tanya.
“Our son,” Hamid came behind Heaven and slid his arms around her. “Well, Tanya, would you like to take a moment from touring the house to have a look at our real treasure?”
“My bad,” Tanya laughed, embarrassed. She couldn’t even lie her way out of this one and say that she hadn’t been so impressed with the house that she’d forgotten about the baby. But she did try. “I thought maybe he was sleeping.”
“Nice try,” Heaven laughed, reaching for Tanya’s hand and pulling her toward the nursery that was next door to her and Hamid's rooms.
“Fatima, this is my friend Tanya. Tanya, Fatima, Hamid’s sister. I think you two will get alone and become great friends.”
Then Heaven raced for her son, but Hamid beat her by a step and had lifted the baby from his crib. He was looking down at the baby with awe the same kind that he had each and every time he held him. Heaven watched as Hamid walked toward Tanya.
“Tsukama, this is your mommy’s friend, Auntie Tanya.”
Tanya reached for the baby and gave Hamid a look when he moved away from her with his son in his arms.
“Hamid, what are you doing?” she asked.
“Do you know how to hold a baby?” he responded.
“I work with kids for a living, you know that.” Tanya laughed holding her arms out for the baby.
“But most of the kids you care for are older. I’ve never actually seen you hold a baby.” Hamid held the baby closer to his chest. “In fact I’ve never heard you even mention that you’ve ever held a baby.”
“Give me that baby.” When he still refused she looked toward Heaven in disbelief. “Are you two crazy or what? Heaven, give me that baby before I go off on you.”
When she finally snuggled the baby in her arms she looked across the room and saw Fatima eyeing her warily. Damn, she’d gotten off on the wrong foot with the first member of Hamid’s family that she’d met. She looked down at the baby. At least he liked her. He had a big grin on his face and was bouncing. At least she was hoping it was a grin. Either way she didn’t come to Pakistan to fall in love with Hamid’s sister. If she liked her, she liked her, if she didn’t…. well, if that was the case, she could just go to hell. Tanya had no intention of living in Pakistan with her new husband as Heaven had done with Hamid. No, she was taking Hamid’s brother right back to America.
A few moments later the grunts from the baby told Tanya it might have been so
mething other than a grin for her. “Here change your kid,” she said and handed the baby back to Hamid and walked out of the nursery. She saw the stunned surprise on all three faces. What? she thought. She hadn’t traveled this many hours to play nursemaid, nor was she fond of watching parents change a baby’s poopy diaper and go crazy over it. And the way those two behaved she could just tell they were the kind of parents to do something crazy like that. She heard Fatima mumble something and was positive it wasn’t anything nice, but oh well.
“Tanya, what do you think about Tsukama?” Heaven came and stood in front of her friend.
“Well, I wasn’t going to say anything. But why the heck did you name that child Tsukama? Don’t you think Black men have enough problems without you and Hamid giving him a name like that?”
“It’s an African name. It means ‘learner’”. Hamid walked from the nursery.
“And I repeat, that child isn’t African. Why saddle him with a name like that?”
Tanya wasn’t backing down on that. It was her opinion and she was sticking with it. Besides, she’d promised everyone she was going to give Heaven a hard time on the baby’s name for not making one of them the godmother.
“Hamid chose the name long before we were ever married. In fact he chose it when he was so angry with me, I didn’t know if I’d ever see him again. The name has great meaning for us.” Heaven stood next to Hamid and defended their newborn’s name.
“It’s still ugly.” Tanya glared first at Hamid then Heaven. She was finding it hard not to laugh at the looks on their faces. She wondered how long she’d keep it up before confessing that the idea of giving a baby a name with a meaning really appealed to her. The baby smiled at her and the smile tugged on her heart.
Maybe it was time to lighten up, just a bit. “It was an ugly name to give to such a cute little baby,” Tanya smiled and blew a kiss at the baby and walked out of the nursery.