by Holly Rayner
“Oh, good,” Olivia said. “I was worried that you’d think it was too dark. But then, you can always change it up.” She took her sister’s hand. “Come on, I want to show you the rest of the house.”
“Before you show me the rest of the house,” Jennifer said, “where is my beautiful niece?”
Olivia smiled. “She’s down for a nap,” she said. “I bet that she’ll be awake by the time we get you settled in.”
They dropped off her bags in her new bedroom and walked the rest of the house, ending the tour with the sky dome.
“You should see it at night,” Olivia said.
Jennifer sighed. “I bet it’s gorgeous.”
Olivia nodded. “I’ll have to bring you up here after dinner tonight. Maybe we can all have a glass of wine and watch the stars.”
“That sounds great,” Jennifer said. “Wait—since when do you drink wine?”
She waved her hand. “I don’t drink often, but Yasin found some fantastic dessert wine that I occasionally enjoy.”
They walked back down to the top floor and decided to pass by the nursery to see if Munira was awake. As they opened the door, they saw her stir ever so slightly and inched closer just in time to see the sweet one-year-old’s eyes flutter open. She blinked at her mother and then at her aunt, raising her arms at the latter to pick her up.
“Oh, Munira,” Jennifer said. “I can tell that I’m going to love living here.”
Dinner that night was lively. Dinner with Munira was always lively, in fact, since she was starting to eat actual food now. Yasin was excited to feed her whatever he could. He loved being a father and was attentive and delightfully playful.
They ate in the dining room, a room that wasn’t used often. Yasin used to just use it for guests, and he didn’t entertain too often. Olivia liked the idea of family meals. Since their family was growing, eating in front of the TV or at the breakfast bar seemed a little too informal for dinner purposes.
The dining room was beautiful. A crystal chandelier hung from the center of the ceiling, illuminating the meal with a warm ambiance.
The table sat eight, so the three adults and high chair only took up one end of the large piece of furniture, but the room was filled with happy noises all the same: laughter, playful infant giggles, and chatter. Having her entire family under one roof was an incredible feeling, Olivia realized, and she couldn’t be happier that Jennifer was here to stay.
“So,” Yasin said to Jennifer as he fed Munira a spoonful of mashed carrots. “Have you met up with Rashad yet?”
Olivia looked up at her sister and watched her cheeks flush red. She laughed. “I totally forgot about that,” she said, a little too happy about her sister’s embarrassment.
“Oh, stop it,” Jennifer said sheepishly. “I just talked to him a few times over the phone.
“He is awfully smitten with you, you know,” Yasin said.
Jennifer pursed her lips and tried to act casual. “Oh?” she said finally.
Yasin grinned. “Yup.” He smiled at Munira, who mimicked his expression and got a spoonful of mashed carrots in return. “He’s excited to meet you.”
“Just promise me,” Olivia said, “that you’ll do it the normal way.”
“What does that mean?” Jennifer asked.
“Dating properly before marriage and babies. Not the opposite, like Yasin and me.”
The three of them laughed.
“Hey,” Yasin said. “It worked for us.”
Olivia smiled at her husband. “It sure did.”
She thought about the events of the last year as she ate. She had taken it upon herself to mend her relationship with Rashad after Rashad had apologized to her. They’d spent some time together. One of the first things she’d done was to show him the art studio she had made for Yasin, which seemed to impress him.
“You really do love my brother, don’t you?” he had said.
“I just want him to be happy,” she’d replied.
Rashad had turned out to be a really nice guy. Under all of the brotherly jealousy and the petty bickering, he was very much like Yasin—kind and genuine, and keen to look out for his family.
“You’ll have to take me to the States one day,” he’d said to Olivia. “Maybe you can introduce me to some nice girls over there—I don’t suppose you have a sister,” he had joked.
“Actually,” she’d said, “I do.”
And that had been that. She’d shown Rashad a picture of Jennifer and he had been instantly smitten, though he’d tried to hide it at first. She’d given Jennifer Rashad’s number and they had begun talking on the phone not long after. Jennifer had gotten to know the real Rashad before meeting the handsome playboy, and Olivia had known that if anyone could break of him of his playboy habits and make an honest man out of him, it would be her sister.
A few weeks after Jennifer’s arrival, Olivia woke up bright and early, too excited to sleep. She rushed into her closet and began flinging clothes everywhere, desperately unsure of what to wear. It was an important day, and she didn’t want to mess it up.
Her husband’s groggy voice came from the bedroom. “I thought you found something to wear last night,” Yasin said from bed.
Olivia continued to toss clothes around, looking for something trendy yet professional. Something that didn’t scream “I’m a try-hard,” but conveyed her dedication all the same.
“I changed my mind,” Olivia said. She stopped for a moment. Her head popped straight up like a prairie dog as she imagined Yasin in the next room, rolling his eyes and mouthing out the word “women” to himself.
“I heard that!” she called from the closet.
“What?’ he sputtered, his voice tinged with mischief. “I didn’t say anything.”
Olivia poked her head out of the closet. “I could hear the eye roll from here,” she replied. “Can you do me a favor?”
Yasin nodded. “Anything, honey,” he said.
“Can you get Munira up and fed while I get ready? Jennifer should be up soon. She’s excited to spend the day with her while we’re both gone.”
Olivia’s eyes widened with the thought of not seeing her little girl all day.
“No,” Yasin said, reading her expression. He jumped out of bed in just a pair of gray boxer briefs. “You said you wouldn’t do that. You wouldn’t have second thoughts about leaving today. I know it’s your first day away from Munira, but this is an important step for you.”
Olivia nodded. “My first day at law school,” she replied. She could barely contain her excitement as she popped back into the closet to find something to wear.
When she finally got dressed (in a gray pantsuit, a white button-up, a simple silver necklace, and a pair of fashionable-yet-sensible flats), she rushed downstairs and into the kitchen to grab a mug of coffee and say goodbye to her family.
Yasin was sitting with Munira at the table. They tossed cereal into each other’s mouths—of course, both of them were missing and just throwing cereal onto the floor. They giggled at each other and continued to toss food around the kitchen.
Olivia rolled her eyes playfully; this was exactly what she needed to see before leaving for the day. She grinned, her morning slowing down as she gazed at her beautiful family and her beautiful life. This was what happy felt like.
Her husband looked back at her and smiled. “Darling, you look great! Are you leaving?”
Olivia nodded.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you, too. I love you both,” she said, blowing them kisses.
The sun was shining bright as she stepped onto the porch. Birds sang in the trees. In front of her, their driver pulled up in the black sedan. He held the door open for her.
“Are you ready, miss?” he asked, his smile wide.
She nodded. “Yes, I believe I am.”
It was a beautiful first day of the rest of her life.
The End
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