by Dyanne Davis
“Heaven, I’ve saved almost five hundred dollars in the three months since it happened, Tanya attempted to soothe her friend.
“Did you tell Peaches and Ongela?”
“Yeah I did… but….”
“But what? They’re your friends and I’m not?”
Tanya sighed. “You know it’s not like that, Heaven. But come on we both know how you are. You would have sent me a check for the money the moment I was off the phone.”
“And why are you so sure I won’t do it now?”
“Because now I’m not crying and stressing out about it. Now I’m just thinking that shit happens and my life isn’t over, far from it. And since I’m talking with some sense, I know you can respect that. The fact that I’ve managed to save some money tells you that I’m okay. Right?”
Heaven sighed. “Tanya, don’t worry. I’ll respect your wishes. I hate it though that you have started thinking you can’t tell me things. If I had been home you would have told me when you told the others. I don’t like that my being here in Pakistan has changed things between us.”
“Heaven, that’s not what changed things. And this time I’m not jealous when I say this. Your now being a millionaire is what changed things. I’ve used you for almost two years to help me out of jams, to buy things for the center and for the kids. I told you I wanted to stop doing that. I told Peaches and Ongela because they have no money. They can’t do anything but feel bad for me and that’s cool. That was all that I needed. That’s all I need now. I love you, Heaven. Give Hamid a big juicy kiss for me and kiss the baby. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Hold on don’t go rushing me off the phone. What’s happening with Lettie?”
“She has her good days and her bad days. Thank God the good days are beginning to out number the bad days. We’re all keeping our fingers crossed that the experimental drugs will work. So far, so good. Just keep her in your prayers.”
“I’m keeping all of you in my prayers. Good bye, Tann. I’ll talk to you later.”
Tanya sighed when she hung up the phone, feeling a weight lift from her chest. She’d felt bad about not telling Heaven what was going on in her life. She’d not intended that her friend feel left out, but this was something she’d had to do alone.
***
Heaven hung up the phone and turned in time to see Hamid and Imran holding Tsukama watching her. She swiped her lips with her tongue knowing they’d heard her conversation and tried hard to think of a convincing lie.
Hamid was giving her a warning glare. She shrugged her shoulders and turned away to walk toward the kitchen.
“Heaven, what’s going on? What’s wrong with Tanya? What happened to her?”
She put water on for tea and fussed with the cabinets, wasting time, not wanting to lie, but not wanting to betray Tanya. Imran was one of the main reasons Tanya had not told her what had happened. Heaven knew that without Tanya telling her. “Nothing’s going on,” Heaven said at last and brought out a bowl of fruit from the refrigerator.
“Heaven, we heard you. You were panicked and angry and you called Tanya by name. Don’t lie and deny it.”
Oh no he didn’t just call me a liar. Hell no! “Who the hell do you think you are, Imran? Don’t you dare talk to me like that if you know what’s good for you. You have no business listening to my damn conversation.” Heaven was pissed. She threw the tea kettle into the sink making a loud clanging noise startling the baby. When he began to cry she went and took him from Imran. “Give me my son,” she hissed between clenched teeth.
“Heaven, please,” Imran pleaded.
“Go to hell,” she answered.
Imran turned in confusion toward Hamid. “I’ve never seen this side of her. I’ve never heard her talk in this manner.”
“You’ve never pissed her off,” Hamid laughed. “I should have warned you that Heaven has a fiery temper when riled. She has quite a mouth on her when she’s angry, much like Tanya has all the time,” Hamid finished.
“Ah, so Tanya told Heaven what I said and Heaven told you.” Imran looked toward the nursery where Heaven had gone with the baby. “Hamid, can you get her to tell you if Tanya is in trouble. I need to know.”
“I thought you were over Tanya.”
“Don’t be a fool. I love her. I bound myself to her. Now would you please make nice with your wife and find out what I need to know?”
Twenty minutes later Hamid had not had much luck. Imran poked his head in the nursery door. “Heaven, I’m sorry for behaving so badly and for listening in on your conversation. Please won’t you forgive me and tell me what’s going on with Tanya?”
When she’d finally forgiven him and told him what had happened she still refused to give him Tanya’s phone number and her address.
“Stop it. This is enough, Heaven.” Hamid marched to the kitchen, opened a drawer and pulled out Heaven’s personal phone book holding her away as she hit at him to try and take it away. He wrote the information on a piece of paper and passed it over Heaven’s head to his cousin.
“I said for you to stop it, Heaven. This is nonsense and I refuse to tolerate it anymore. You started this matchmaking business when I told you to stay out of it. This is no longer just your concern. Imran loves Tanya and he deserves to be able to talk to her and assure himself that all is well with her. I would do no less if it were you.”
Imran shook his head. “I’m not calling,” he said to his surprised cousin. “I’m going to Chicago. I’m going to see for myself that Tanya’s well. And I’m going to tell her again that I love her. I’ve decided that she was correct in what she did six months ago. A lot of my love was based on our passion. That is not the case now. I love her and lust has nothing to do with it. Just do me a favor and not tell her that I’m coming.” He glanced at Heaven who was glaring at Hamid. “Please, Heaven,” he begged.
“Don’t worry, Imran. My wife will keep her pretty nose out of it this time.”
As Imran left the home of his cousin he laughed. Life was really strange he decided. For the two years Heaven had been in Pakistan, Imran had thought both Hamid and Heaven to be two different people. He’d thought Heaven had taken all of the fire out of Hamid because of his great love for her. And as for Heaven, he’d seen this mild mannered, smiling, always cheerful woman. Tanya had been right after all. He thought of all the wrong misconceptions he’d made about Tanya. Yes, she was a loud mouth party girl and used foul language. But she was his loud mouth party girl and he loved her. She’d gone through hell without him and he’d gone through hell without her. Now he was going to go and claim her, something he should have done six months before. No matter, Imran thought as the dialed the phone and made reservations.
***
One week later Imran was in a taxi heading for Tanya’s apartment. He’d talked with Hamid and had found that when Hamid had surprised Heaven she’d been unable to hide her feelings for him. He was hoping the element of surprise would work equally as well for him also. He blew out a breath and said a quick heartfelt prayer to Allah for success. Then he rang the bell.
When Tanya asked who it was he didn’t answer just rang the bell again.
“Get the hell off my bell,” Tanya bellowed.
Imran pushed the buzzer again.
“Do it again and I’m going to come down and squirt pepper spray in your face,” Tanya’s angry voice blasted over the intercom. “Now get away from my damn buzzer.”
Again Imran rang the bell and moved back as he heard angry footsteps running down the stairs. Silly woman, he thought. If I were a criminal I could have a gun to counteract her pepper spray. He’d have to reprimand her about her foolhardy ways. Thinking of the pepper spray he moved to the outside door and waited.
Tanya was in no mood for whoever was playing games. She had a pounding headache and she was frustrated as hell. Her entire week had been lousy, too many kids to place, not enough hours in the day to do it. She was heading for burnout fast and this time it was for real.
“Wh
ere are you?” Tanya screamed when she reached the lobby and no one was there. She heard a soft knock on the outer door and turned with her finger on the nozzle ready to let loose with a stream of pepper spray. She wasn’t kidding. She saw Imran’s face and thought she was dreaming. It couldn’t be. The spray fell from her hand crashing to the floor and her hand came up to cover her mouth.
“Imran,” she said when he opened the door cautiously and came inside. “What are you doing here? When did you get here? How did you know where I lived?” she asked.
He stood before her not speaking. Tears sprang to her eyes and ran down her cheeks and she threw her arms around him. “Damn, am I glad to see you. I’ve missed you so much.” She stood on tiptoe to kiss him wondering why he was not immediately kissing her back. “Imran, even if you’re going to be mad at me, please, just kiss me once.”
With those words Imran gave up fronting it. He’d not traveled all the way from Pakistan to not hold Tanya in his arms. Praise Allah, he thought as he took her in his arms and kissed her thoroughly. His prayer had been answered. The element of surprise had worked in his favor.
When they came up for air Imran ran a finger lightly down the side of her face and sang to her as she closed her eyes and pressed her face to his chest. “I love you, Tanya,” he whispered when he was finished with the song.
“I love you too,” Tanya said against his chest not wanting to keep the words in any longer. “What are you doing here?” she asked again.
“You needed me,” he explained. “You needed me and didn’t tell me. I had to hear about it from someone else. I should have head about this from you. Regardless of what you said, I always knew in my heart that if I need you, I would call you and you would be there for me, that you would come. I thought you knew that you could call me also.”
“I did, Imran, I did.”
“Then why didn’t you call me?”
“I wanted to. God, how I wanted to. How could I call you after the things I said to you?”
“It matters not the things we say. It matters what we do, how we feels. I will always be there for you and you must never forget that.”
“Imran, you came just for me, for no one else, no family wedding, nothing?”
“Nothing but you,” he answered following her up the stairs. “Why do you ask?”
“Because when Hamid returned to surprise Heaven, it was because of Sassa’s wedding. I just want to make sure you came just for me.”
“I came just for you. I promise,” he said smiling. “Does that mean more to you?”
“Yes, you have no idea how much it means to me. Here I was thinking that Hamid was the perfect man, that Heaven had snared the last true gentlemen and that only she could have someone that loved her so much. But…” She gazed into his eyes. “I have you. I have my own sweet prince and you love me just as much as Hamid loved Heaven.”
“If possible I love you more.” Imran ran up the last couple of steps. “I can’t believe we had to go through all of this to make you admit to loving me, to not throwing me out, but being glad I came. You are glad aren’t you, Tanya? You’re not going to throw me out are you?”
“Please, Imran, the last thing on my mind is throwing you out. You have no idea how much I missed you.” Stopping in her tracks she looked at him and touched her hands to his long curly locks. "It's a nice look."
"Glad you approve."
Tanya shivered as she rushed into her apartment then slammed the door, pressed Imran against the wall and kissed him while sliding one hand between his thighs to cup him. “I have really been missing you,” she admitted.
Imran grinned. “Is that the only reason you’ve missed me?”
“No, but it’s a big part. What did you do to me? I haven’t even looked at another man since I returned home.”
“I bound us together when we made love.”
“Come again?”
“Old secrets of love making. I bound us to each other. Do you mind?”
“Not in the least, not as long as you promise to do it again.”
“There is one spot I didn’t make love to. When I bring you pleasure in that manner you will never again be able to love another man, even if you hate me.” He grinned. “Are you ready for me to show you?” He was hoping she’d say yes. She was burning him up with her tantalizing scent.
“Show me,” Tanya panted.
With a wide smile Imran pulled the lobe of Tanya’s left ear into his mouth and begin to suckle it. When moan after moan slipped from her mouth he ceased his actions and looked at her sternly.
“Six months. Six, long, agonizing months. I can’t believe you’d let it go this long that you wouldn’t call, wouldn’t write to me.”
“Can’t we do this later? Finish, Imran, you’ve got me so hot I could explode. It’s been six months since I’ve had release.”
“It’s been that long for me as well.” He kissed her lightly on the lips. “Explain how you could let this much time pass then I will bring you pleasure. I’d never attempted a bond before. I never wanted to. But I had thought by doing so you would not have been able to leave me. You not only left me, you didn’t reach out for me even when you should have. I want to know how this is possible.”
“I guess you need to learn a little bit more about how that bonding thing works, or perhaps you need to learn a little bit more about me. I’m a very strong woman, Imran.”
“Strong enough to resist this?” he said and suckled her earlobe. When he felt a shudder of lust claiming her, he gazed at her just as her eyes rolled to the back of her head. “Now tell me why you didn’t contact me. How you could be so cruel?”
Tanya rubbed her hand over Imran's fast growing erection. “But I thought about you every single minute of those six months.”
“Then why didn’t you contact me?”
“You didn’t contact me either.”
“I wasn’t the one who left.”
He was right and Tanya knew it. She wrapped her arms around him. “Imran,” she began to sniffle not wanting to cry. “My life is such a mess. It has been almost since I returned home. Everything has gone wrong. How could I bring you into this nonsense? My dreams are dead. All of my money is gone. I lost it all I was such a fool.”
Finally taking a glance around Tanya’s apartment he took her hand and moved with her to a sofa, sat and pulled Tanya into his arms. “Tell me what happened.”
“You’re going to think I was stupid.”
“Well, I already think you were not the brightest for leaving me.” He kissed her forehead before she could become angry over his remark. “Tell me what happened, Tanya.” Of course he knew the story but he wanted to hear it from her. He listened quietly and when she was done he stared into her eyes. “Why does this destroy your dreams?”
“I don’t have any more money. Don’t you understand?”
“I understand that you want to give a loving home to children. And that you want to give them two parents who will do the best they can for them and love them always. Let’s start with us.”
“What are you saying?” Tanya whispered. “You want us to adopt a child together?”
“That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but maybe later, yes. I want you to marry me and have babies with me.”
“But what about the babies that are already here, the ones no one wants?”
“They’re wanted, Tanya, you want them.”
“Then how?”
“Shh-shh,” Imran whispered softly putting his finger against her lips. “Have you ever thought how a mountain came to be? Someone once told me when I asked the question that a mountain started out as one man’s dream, and that he took a pebble, and every day he added to the pebble. And one day he had a mountain, his dream was fulfilled. Marry me, Tanya and let’s start your dream with our family, our babies. Then we can extend our hearts and our home to others.”
“What the heck are we going to do for money? How will we accomplish all of this?”
“If we have to
we can work three jobs each. It can be done. It will be done.”
“You don’t mind?”
“Not in the least, not as long as the two of us are together.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a jeweler’s box. He watched as Tanya’s eyes went wide and wider still as he opened the box.
“The earrings, you bought me the earrings.” Her tears ran freely down her cheeks and she hugged him tightly. So he had known the reason she refused to accept the earrings from either Ali or Hamid. She hadn’t wanted any gifts from any man other than Imran. She looked into his eyes and saw his love. Then she thanked God that she hadn’t blown things. She never wanted to let him go, never.
“Is that a yes?” Imran asked.
“It’s a definite yes.”
“And you care nothing about the money, that I don’t have any?”
“Neither do I,” Tanya tried to smile. “Like you said we can build together.”
“If you were given your money back at his moment would your answer still be yes?”
Tanya smiled and looked at him and smiled knowing she’d meant it. Her broken dreams weren’t nearly so hard to bear when she had him there beside her, ready to share in the rebuilding of it. “I love you, Imran. I can think of no better dream than to be your wife.”
“Then show me to your shower so I can love you properly,” he said standing and pulling her up. He grinned when he pulled her lobe into his mouth for the third time. He had plenty of time to tell her that he’d finally sold not one, but two books, that he’d sold them for an unprecedented figure, and had finished the third which his agent was in the process of auctioning. They would have more than enough to finance their dreams. As her hand found his erection and began caressing him he shuddered. There would be plenty of time for talk late.
Author’s Information:
Dyanne Davis is an award winning author. She lives in a Chicago suburb with her husband Bill, and their son Bill Jr. An avid reader her love of the written word turned into a desire to write. She retired from nursing more than a decade ago to pursue her lifelong dream.